Gotham Knights Review

Like taking up the cowl of the Caped Crusader, WB Games Montréal had a legacy to live up to, whether they were ready for it or not. Their new action-RPG Gotham Knights may take place in a completely original universe disconnected from other interpretations, but that won’t prevent comparisons to the Arkham series, especially with the team’s history with Arkham Origins. Pivoting the focus to the well-known members of the Bat Family in the Dark Knight’s absence feels like a statement unto itself that the studio is looking to step out of the influential action series’ shadow and pave a crime-fighting path of its own. Unfortunately, Gotham Knights is a flawed sidekick with a great deal to learn, far from the hardened hero it wishes to be.

Batman is dead. Without its greatest protector, crime in Gotham is rising as the city becomes desperate for a hero to take on the Dark Knight’s mantle. The four prominent members of the Bat Family – Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl and Robin (Tim Drake-flavoured) – are left to pick up the pieces, investigate the death of their late mentor and bring their home back from the brink.

Best arse in DC should be listed here as well

Donning the costume of one of the four protagonists (of which you can switch between at any time at the Belfry), it’ll be up to you and a friend in online co-op (if you so choose) to take on the villainy plaguing an open-world Gotham. I’ll try to keep the comparison of Gotham Knights to the Arkham games to a minimum, but some parallels will need to be drawn here and there. Combat is both familiar and new in certain ways. One face button executes a melee attack, with another performing a ranged move, with a heavy variant available if the corresponding buttons are held. Repeatedly tapping the attack buttons will result in a basic combo, and more damage can be inflicted if you rhythmically chain your attacks together. The combos are extremely basic, and there’s little synergy between melee and ranged, but this lets you quickly get to grips with the combat.

The wrinkle in the combat comes with the Momentum abilities that are tied to a meter that charges as you fight. Once unlocked, these abilities allow you to perform flashy moves specific to each hero, providing a unique quality to each of their fighting styles. Nightwing is an acrobatic fighter, so his Momentum abilities allow him to launch into the air and bounce off enemies’ heads or gracefully spin around, creating a damaging tornado with his escrima sticks. If you’re playing as Robin, however, you’ll have access to holographic clones that take aggro and temporary invisibility, as Tim is more adept with stealth. As this is an RPG and not a straight action game, the meter-filling makes sense, and the Momentum abilities inject fights with some much-needed edge. Still, combat largely lacks weight, making it fairly unsatisfying outside of the visually impressive takedown animations.

Geez, Tilted Towers is looking a bit gloomy

Each of the four characters has their own skill trees and sets of gear that can be crafted or found in crates throughout the open world and during missions. The unlockable skills range from buffs to damage to new abilities, like Batgirl being able to remotely hack cameras or Robin performing a stealth takedown on larger enemies. Each character can also access a Knighthood skill tree after completing a rather laborious mission that requires a fair bit of grinding. Unlocking Knighthood gives you access to one final Momentum ability that’s meant to be massively powerful but varies depending on who you’re playing as.

The character design for the four playable characters is brilliant, and that extends to all of the unlockable outfits, with some notable nods to the comics to be found. Cosmetically, the gear system is fantastic, as all the pieces can be altered and swapped out, letting you customise your chosen Knight’s appearance. Functionally, gear comes down to arbitrary numbers that increase damage or armour. Alongside this, you’ll collect mods that can be fitted onto gear to increase stats further or add elemental effects to them, though this system feels tacked on as it’s only mentioned to you in passing. You’ll pick up a slew of non-descript resources that can be used to craft suits and weapons, though you’ll likely ignore it entirely and whack on whatever gear you have with the highest number attached to it.

The Belfrey acts as the team’s own Batcave, just with more natural light

I don’t inherently hate the RPG mechanics found within Gotham Knights, as it’s somewhat thematic, seeing as the team is still growing as heroes. Still, the implementation ends up padding the runtime more than it adds to the enjoyment. Missions will often be peppered with objectives that have you interrogating a member of one of the three gangs in Gotham, or stopping a certain number of premeditated crimes, before dragging you back to the Belfry, playing a short cutscene and sending you out to do it all over again. The campaign structure feels decidedly like a live-service game, though Gotham Knights doesn’t commit to being just that.

If you’re the kind of hero that prefers to work alone, you can, but Gotham Knights is undeniably better suited for co-op. At any point, you can invite a friend to join your game, dropping them into the action whether you’re in a mission or roaming the city. You can both explore Gotham independently of each other or fight side-by-side, performing team takedowns left and right. Progression is handled exceptionally well, with the guest player being given the option to skip content they’ve already played once they head back to their own game

Unfortunately, a major issue with co-op is the damage it causes to the game’s performance. The game struggles to hit its 30fps cap at the best of times, but it can start to look like a flip book during co-op sessions. The troubles I ran into ranged from irritating to unplayable, but I hope this will be patched after launch. My co-op partner and I also noticed a strange lack of any haptic feedback or trigger support, which is a significant reason why the combat and traversal lack weight.

Surely a massive beam of freezing energy can’t be a good thing?

Gotham itself is visually impressive and well designed. Moreso than any other video game depiction, this version of the iconic city feels true to the source material. Steam rises ominously through utility holes, neon lights reflect off the damp, cobblestone streets, and the entire city is littered with brutalist skyscrapers. Each Knight has access to a Batcycle and a grappling hook to freely traverse the winding roads, dingy back alleys and underground stations of Gotham, which is exciting in the early hours of the game. This excitement does fade, however, once you realise that the streets are largely lifeless.

Using your AR vision, you can highlight random and premeditated crimes being perpetrated around Gotham before swinging in to stop them. Despite being told that the city is more or less on fire, these crimes can genuinely be hard to find, leaving you to wander around, trying to pick a fight aimlessly. This is disappointing, but disappointment can lead to frustration when the mission you’re attempting requires you to stop the crimes you can’t find.

The driving force behind all of the Knight’s actions is Batman’s last case. Picking up where Bruce left off, the Knights are soon embroiled with the Court of Owls, a secret society of the wealthiest families in Gotham. The story weaves in several recognisable friends and foes, including Renee Montoya, Harley Quinn and Mr Freeze, and there are a few moments that’ll make DC fans pretty pleased, but the overall narrative falls flat, mainly due to some shoddy writing. The dialogue afforded to the leading quartet frequently steers into cringey drama, and the villains’ motivations never feel clear.

This interrogation isn’t going well, he won’t tell me a thing about the Court

While I can see past questionable motives, I find it harder to forgive the ultimate showdowns had with the handful of villains. General combat is enjoyable enough, but there’s not a single boss fight in the game that’s anything more than a frustrating slog. I’d focus on one example, but all of the climactic battles with the likes of Harley, Clayface, Mr Freeze and the like devolve into mashing the attack button to wear down a comically large health bar. Worse still, a few boss encounters introduce annoying gimmicks like bombs that need to be defused every few minutes for fear of an instant failure. Knowing that this studio was behind the best boss fight in the Arkham series with Deathstroke makes these battles feel all the more unfortunate.

Final Thoughts

No matter how you package it, Gotham Knights will always be fighting an uphill battle. Directly connected to it or not, the comparisons between it and the Arkham games will always be there, making its many flaws all the more noticeable. While I genuinely believe that the RPG approach can work in this setting and hope that a sequel might be able to steer it on the course, this first attempt is a misstep. While nice to look at, the open world is shallow, and the mission structure is cumbersome and unengaging. The combat tries to do the heavy lifting, but the unnecessary bloat, half-arse implementation of gear, and levelling systems let it down in the long run. I wanted so badly to enjoy Gotham Knights, but, in the end, the weight of Batman’s legacy was too heavy a burden to carry.

Reviewed on PS5 // Review code supplied by publisher

Click here for more information on WellPlayed’s review policy and ethics