Warner Bros. Montreal’s Gotham Knights was announced during the DC FanDome event this weekend, and the developers revealed that Gotham Knights will have four playable characters: Nightwing, Robin, Red Hood, and Batgirl. Though the game is not developed by Rocksteady Studios, Creative Director Patrick Redding said combat with these four heroes will “be comfortable to people who are familiar with third-person brawler type experiences” like the Arkham series.
During an interview with IGN published today, Redding says Gotham Knights was always planned to be “the start of something, not just the continuation or the prolonging of something” like Rocksteady’s popular titles. It will be a new franchise, set in motion by the decision to kill off Batman, but it will carry on some tenets of Arkham-style beat-em-ups with offensive and defensive choices, unique combos, and variations in attack types.
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However, there will be some variance in the combat through means like accessing special moves and abilities, which Redding said are tied to a sort of stamina bar, and will differ based on how players invest into ability trees. “There’s a bit of a strategic approach to it,” according to Senior Producer Fleur Marty, and Redding says players can choose any one character to stick by throughout Gotham Knights if they prefer a type of combat.
Ability trees and differing gear will make it so the four Knights can play like completely different characters depending on the player, and “that range [between character builds] remains actually quite robust throughout the entire game,” according to Redding. Gotham Knights also has a fully open world and a range of enemy levels during each encounter, which suggests the developers are trying to differentiate the experience for players.
The upcoming title will be available on PC as well as current and next-generation consoles, but it is unclear whether there will be cross-platform or cross-generation play. Warner Bros. has confirmed Gotham Knights will have two-player co-op, though some are disappointed this means they cannot gather a party to use all four Knights.
Even so, the official reveal of Gotham Knights has been positively received for the most part. The title stood out for having gameplay to show off at DC FanDome, unlike Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, which reportedly will be set within its long-established Arkham universe.
Gotham Knights is set to release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2021.
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Source: IGN