Gotham Knights

I wonder if Gotham Knights had a development story akin to Redfall in how it was maybe intended to be a live service title but then, for whatever reason, pivoted away from it before release. Perhaps Warner Bros. as a publisher and/or the developer studio in Montreal decided it had no staying power. Or WB deemed the then-still-in-development and now recently-released Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League more fitting as their title for Batman universe microtransactions.

Initially passable Batman-universe ARPG

Redfall and Gotham Knights have a similar setup: a co-operative title with a selection of four heroes. In Gotham Knights' case the co-op is limited to two players maximum outside the post-release addition, Heroic Assault mode which allows up to 4 players. I reckon the 2-player limit was due to the decision to have no tethering on the players while out in Gotham City. That is taxing for hardware and even by capping the game at 30 frames per second on consoles did not help for it to avoid performance issues when the two players would go their separate ways.

Gotham Knights is completely playable as a singleplayer game; it doesn't even have co-op requiring achievements -- which is always nice. It also ran quite well even on my old PC unlike Redfall despite being likewise an open world Unreal Engine 4 game. Gotham Knights is clearly better optimized.

One should not go into Gotham Knights thinking it's a continuation to the Batman: Arkham series. While it's in third person, it's not stealth-action-adventure but an action roleplaying game. Stealth is largely just an opener to fights, and there is leveled, crafted gear and enemies. Numbers go up etc.

The story could technically fit in the same continuum after the Arkham games but it is separate, even from other Batman works that share the name. In the rather great opening movie, Batman dies while fighting Ra's al Ghul. It's up to for the rest of the Bat family to continue his work. The main villain of the game is a mysterious cabal Court of Owls whom Batman had never been able to flush out. You can pick from Batgirl, Robin, and two former Robins: Nightwing and Red Hood. (And switch between them at will at their Belfry base.)

Not dead, by the way

The whole no-killing thing is even more questionable here than in the Arkham games -- although honestly the Batmobile in Batman: Arkham Knight with its shocking and non-lethal rounds was far from plausible. I think in the Arkham Knight DLC with Red Hood, he simply kills bad guys with his guns but Gotham Knights really tries to convince you that he's using some sort of non-lethal rounds. Then there's all the elemental damage all the characters do: I'm sure being set on fire or applied with whatever toxins they are is completely non-lethal.

The most hilarious thing are ledge takedowns from below an enemy. Batman always made sure to attach a rope to the guys so they wouldn't hit the ground but not these delinquent vigilantes. In the open world, there's at least one encounter location high up in an unfinished skyscraper where you can pull enemies over the edge to make them fall all the way down to street level.

Gotham Knights is practically a proof-of-concept for a 4-player co-op Darksiders 4. As shown, it is very possible to have 3 mainly melee characters while one, Strife/Red Hood, plays more like a third person shooter, all in the same game. I wish that game happens one day...

I chose to play as Batgirl. In Arkham Knight, Barbara Gordon had become the Oracle because Joker had shot her and put her in a wheelchair. In this game's timeline, she has recovered from some severe injury as well though I don't think the cause is ever detailed. When she gets knocked out in a late game mission, her first worry when coming to is if she can still (walk?) and Alfred is right there to assure her back will be fine.

I think Batgirl is a pretty good choice for solo play. With perks she eventually becomes permanently invisible to all electronic security measures (except for pressure plates that appear in about 3 short missions). That includes mines some baddies like to lay on the ground. It's pretty nice that you can completely ignore them although you should be aware that the charged Batarang throw does blow them up.

Each hero gets initially the same traversal ability which is physics-defying grapple. After some progression, each gets to unlock their own in addition. I have actually no idea what the other characters get but Batgirl's is the classic cape gliding -- which didn't feel quite as good as in the Arkham games. Also the grapple's targeting is far wonkier; it's sometimes immensely difficult to have it target the ledge you want. There is also Batcycle which when driven, adds a bit exaggerated screen effect -- to make it seem like it goes faster than it actually is?

Your character is a tad too chatty to my liking, in this game, thinking out loud too much. Elias Toufexis as the Penguin was also an odd casting choice. I couldn't associate Toufexis's voice with the character at all.

The screenshots I took seem to mainly focus on Batgirl's different suits, and not show much of the game -- very useful; thanks, me. Some of Batgirl's outfits are nice but I think I would have preferred how she looks in Arkham Knight's DLC. I quite liked the look of the city, though. There is fancy lighting and fog. The city silhouette looks pretty when viewed from a high point.

Not a fun one to platinum

I enjoyed Gotham Knights up to a point enough to 100% it even though I was playing it on just Game Pass (which revealed the game's working title to have been Mercury). I think that was a poor decision on my part: the grind heavily soured my experience. All the enjoyment is lost when you have to do the same thing repeatedly and/or enemies get bothersome to defeat.

I did unlock every single achievement after a playtime no one should spend on this game. However, I didn't quite accomplish everything there was: I never got the final skill point because it would have needed chasing all 30 most wanted criminals that randomly spawn in Very High difficulty premeditated crimes. It is incredibly frustrating to do full sweep of every such crime on subsequent nights to not meet a single most wanted criminal. I thought fuck it and uninstalled the game right there.

Achievement grind at release was also much less painful. You just had to beat the game twice -- or technically not even that if you chose to do all side stuff before NG+. Both Heroic Assault modes are terrible grinds, particularly the first with 30 fucking map levels. There's not even any randomness -- with roguelike elements the whole thing might have been actually fun. The mode is somewhat more challenging as solo but it was quite doable for someone who has solo'd Mass Effect 3's multiplayer matches in the past.

Your crafting recipe lists get overly lengthy after playing at the same (max) level for long. And suit/weapon mods have limited space in inventory. After it gets full, the mods start combining on their own, possibly removing one you had intended to keep. They really could have improved the inventory system but I guess it was my fault for sticking with the game for so long.