The nextBatmangame has recently been revealed to beGotham Knightsfrom Warner Bros. Montreal. While many gamers had been hoping for a continuation of theBatman Arkhamgame in the series,Gotham Knightslooks to be going in a different direction with its own canon universe that is separate from that of theArkhamgames (it is worth adding thatSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguefollows Arkham continuity).Gotham Knightsfollows four playable Bat Family characters: Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Batgirl, who are taking up the mantle from a now reportedly deceased Batman.
Superhero games have ranged in quality over the years, but one of the top hits in recent years wasMarvel’s Spider-Man. While Batman and Spider-Man may come from rival comic universes, it looks likeGotham Knightsis taking a leaf out of the book of Marvel’s Spider-Man game in one way.
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New York City vs Gotham City
One of the main reasonsMarvel’s Spider-Manon PS4felt so immersive was thanks to its fully interactive world of New York City.Spider-Man’sManhattan was created beautifully, featuring well-known locations such as the Empire State Building and Central Park. But what really made the city feel lifelike was the level of interactivity Spider-Man had with everyday citizens. The city basically became another character in the game thanks to the crowds of people roaming the streets of New York, along with Spider-Man’s ability to interact with these citizens at any time during the game.
On the flip side, Gotham City inArkhamgames was always free of normal citizens due to plot reasons. This meant the city was free of any innocent bystanders who might get in the way, but left Gotham feeling isolated and menacing, particularly as it was only thugs and enemies left on the streets. It looks likeGotham Knightsis moving away from this approach by utilizing amore interactive Gotham City. In the first gameplay footage fromGotham Knights,it can definitely be seen that Gotham is very much alive with cars on the road and citizens on the streets. The gameplay clip also shows that the people of Gotham are reactive to the events of the game’s narrative, meaning player’s have that extra motivation to stop crimes before innocent citizens are harmed.
Bringing Gotham City to Life: Time Passes
Where theArkhamgames always took place over one very long night in Batman’s career,Gotham Knights’timeline is going to span a bit longer. WB Montreal seem to be focused on allowing players to evolve their different characters from start to finish. To make this more realistic, the game will occur over the course of several nights, possibly even weeks or months, of night patrols and crime fighting.Marvel’s Spider-Manis a good example of this as time can be shown passing in both the environmental systems and the narrative of the game.
Giving a broader timeline for players to upgrade and grow their characters should help to encourage more exploration inGotham Knightsas players won’t feel the pressure to complete story events until they are ready. Some more good news is thatGotham Knightswill be followingSpider-Man’slead bynot level-gating any of the missions in the game.
Home Base
Along with a longer timeline is the introduction of a home hub system, which inGotham Knightsis confirmed to be the Belfry. TheArkhamgames introduced some safe house areas for Batman, such as the Clock Tower, Batcave, or GCPD. But these areas were never anything but places for cutscenes or locations to retrieve gadgets and they never offered players any interactivity.Marvel’s Spider-Manhas a number of home bases that players can return to such as Peter Parker’s apartment, the F.E.A.S.T building or Octavius Laboratory which gives players interactive clues to find and mini-puzzles to complete.
The Belfry inGotham Knightsis an opportunity for players to return to a safe house at the end of their night of crime fighting, and it may potentially provide a place to interact with or swap playable characters. Hopefully, the Belfry will also provide the same level of interactivity asMarvel’s Spider-Manand give players extra influence overthe Bat Family’s progressionvia upgrades, costumes, and gadgets.
Gotham Knightswill be released on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X in 2021.
