Summary
Seeing what WB wants to make its priority in games is somewhat disturbing based on its choices of late. It’s certainly a choice—a tone-deaf one—consideringSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leagueunderperformed and its upcoming expansions will have to pick up the slack. As a live-service game,Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguemade a sensible narrative decision to have post-launch content for players to look forward to in the form of Elseworld multiverse dimensions, which blatantly tears at the tight-knit fabric of Rocksteady’s previously woven Arkhamverse canon.
The Arkhamverse was a linear continuity centering solely on Batman betweenBatman: Arkham AsylumandBatman: Arkham Knightand, even though it did include many Easter eggs referencing the larger DC mythology, its exclusive adherence to Batman and the Bat Family was its greatest strength by far.Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguewrites its own chapter of the Arkhamversethat basically leafs past theArkhamgames’ pages entirely and Rocksteady now needs to stand by that choice defiantly or else it will have all been for nothing.
BecauseRocksteady’sArkhamgamesillustrate such a cohesive story it is unfortunate to see that brilliant linearity suddenly blown wide open to accommodate the long and unaccountable narrative leash of a multiverse. Before, Rocksteady needed to be smart about recurring characters featured between games and the continuity that would be created between events in each game. Now, Rocksteady could essentially do whatever it wants and explain each divisive choice as something coming from a random multiversal dimension.
Thecharacter development retcons that run rampantly inSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leagueare one thing, but being able to abruptly debut a new Joker is another and ensures that no iconic character death is meaningful anymore. This new Joker isn’t the same one players know from theArkhamgames, yet there’s nothing thwarting Rocksteady from reintroducing that seminal iteration from a parallel dimension if Mark Hamill ever elected to reprise the role.
Likewise, while a new single-player game could arise from the introduction of an Elseworld Batman, it would seem unearned in a multiverse where nothing needs any significance and cameos or Easter eggs are held with higher reverence than a logical story.
If Rocksteady plans to forge ahead with Task Force X and fully embrace a DC multiverse then this could be a fine decision. As long as Rocksteady doesn’t walk back its choice to unravel a proper narrative for live-service potential there might not be anything inherently wrong with whatever content arrives, as bleak as that sounds.
Above all else,Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguecan’t afford to put Batman on a pedestal again if Rocksteady truly wishes to move on, and even though there will inevitably be familiar characters, locations, and other references peppered throughout post-launch DLCs it needs to resist the urge to hop onto theArkhambandwagon wheneverKill the Justice Leaguehas run its course. It’s unclear if Rocksteady plans tocenter all its DC efforts onSuicide SquadfollowingKill the Justice League, though its TFX can’t be left high and dry to indulge in fan service that Rocksteady and WB know would be extraordinarily popular.
Of course, if live-service content is what WB pushes on Rocksteady, it might not ever have a genuine opportunity to fall back to itsArkhamroots regardless. Instead, Rocksteady and WB must take full responsibility for the narrative route they’ve taken and flesh it out with many engaging characters and stories so thatthe Arkhamverse can continue to flourish, even if it is but a shadow of what made the series spectacular initially.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
WHERE TO PLAY
Play as the Suicide Squad to take down the World’s Greatest DC Super Heroes, The Justice League. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, is a genre-defying, action-adventure third-person shooter from Rocksteady Studios, creators of the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham series.
