Game Rant was able to go hands-on with about 2 1/2 hours of Gotham Knights to see how WB Montreal’s title is shaping up. While there are some changes to the formula, namely an RPG setup to gear, co-op (which was not part of the preview), and some twists to combat, the experience should be plenty familiar to fans of the Arkham games.
At the center of Gotham Knights is the Belfry, a home base for the four playable characters. Here, the player can choose any of the four, customize their visual look with a handful of skins, apply skill points on an upgrade tree, trigger exposition with other characters, and take stock of the story thus far. The Belfry is Gotham Knights’ version of the Bat Cave and it is readily available to the player when not in a main story mission.
Regardless of character, the core combat of Gotham Knights is the same. A basic melee attack is mapped to one of the face buttons, and a ranged attack to another. Players can also hold either attack button to deliver a charged version of said attack. Again, veterans of the Batman series should feel right at home with the combat, although the introduction of ranged attacks adds a fun new wrinkle.
Each playable character boasts a different moveset and ranged “weapon,” so no two play the same. The fundamentals are interchangeable but Red Hood’s use of a gun for his ranged attacks highlights his brutality, while Batgirl’s batarangs evoke a more familiar approach. There has always been a great kinetic flow to the combat in the Batman games and Gotham Knights is no different. Mixing up attacks and launching between enemies allows the playable character to showcase their combat prowess, but it also gives the player a lot to juggle on-screen. It can be challenging at times, but it’s also satisfying to take out a room full of goons.
Gotham Knights’ key changes to the combat formula are the abilities and the dodge mechanic. The dodge mechanic acts as a replacement for the parry/counter system from the Arkham games. Rather than being able to block attacks and then counterattack, players will need to dodge enemy attacks before they connect. This evade can be done at will but if the player dodges the attack just before it hits, they will open up the ability to counter hit and deliver a more powerful strike. Again, the feel is similar and the visual prompts are clear, but the idea is that the characters are dodging attacks rather than parrying them.
While basic enemies are relatively easy to deal with, either by attacking first or dodging their attacks and countering, there are larger enemies in Gotham Knights that require a bit more strategy. These enemies deliver devastating attacks that can only be dodged and usually in quick succession. Gotham Knights also has a few enemies that throw molotovs or grenades that, again, need to be evaded.
In the demo, there were two types of larger enemies, one that had a shield and one that was more aggressive, kind of like a bruiser. The enemy with the shield required a charged attack to break its block before the character could start to deal any damage. While the big bruiser doesn’t have those obvious openings and could attack at a moment’s notice. The archetypes are familiar for any type of brawler, but they do well to change up the pacing of combat.
As players deal out or perfectly dodge damage they will build a Momentum meter and for each full bar on the Momentum meter, the character can use one of their abilities. Each character has a different suite of abilities that play into their strengths and give them a big advantage in combat. Some play into the fear element and will make enemies easier to defeat, while others pack outright damage. Nightwing, for example, has an ability that launches him off an enemy and allows for a stronger aerial attack on a nearby foe. Robin, on the other hand, has a digital decoy that deals elemental (in our demo’s case it was electrical) damage when hit and can stun a group when upgraded.
The abilities mix up combat enough that players can be on the offensive and dodge when necessary, but no strategy felt mandatory. Having enemies with health bars, levels, and that some attacks will deal critical damage is a bit odd, but eventually, players should get used to it. There are bonus rewards (some extra XP) for completing encounters under specific parameters like not taking damage or performing 2 grab takedowns, but just bashing enemies into the ground was satisfying all on its own.
It also seems as though the gear element of Gotham Knights, which gives stats, bonuses, and mods to the suit, melee weapon, and ranged weapon will further deepen how gamers play the game. We didn’t get enough of a look at the system itself but there is a crafting option and crafting materials to collect from enemies and chests around the world, and those would allow for new suits and weapons to be made. And because enemies have an associated level and damage is based on the character’s level, it appears that crafting will be a part of Gotham Knights’ core loop.
Although a lot will be said about the melee combat of Gotham Knights, rest assured that the stealth element is still present. Each character has different upgrades on their skill tree to give advantages but the idea is always the same. Get in silently and take out an enemy before anyone sees. From what was available, it does feel like stealth is not as required as in the games but it does make things easier. Combat can be challenging if the enemy numbers are too high.
Stealth is satisfying in Gotham Knights from what we played and it offers a reprieve from the more reactionary melee encounters. The AI is still not the brightest when it comes to recognizing dwindling numbers, but figuring out how to pick off each target one-by-one still feels like a fun puzzle.
Combat is a focal point but it’s worth mentioning that the visuals in Gotham Knights are stunning. The set design in the linear levels is packed with tons of detail and lots of visual flourishes, and the characters all look incredible. As a next-gen only game, there is the expectation that Gotham Knights would impress and the preview did not disappoint.
There were only two question marks coming out of the Gotham Knights preview: the open world and the leveling system. The open world itself feels a lot like the Gotham of the Arkham games and traversal options like each character’s “glider” (Robin uses a very unique teleport) or the batcycle give that signature Batman movement.
However, it’s unclear how varied the open world is and how much it can offer in terms of emergent gameplay. With only 2 1/2 hours to work with and a major focus placed on story missions, there wasn’t much time spent exploring, just getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible.
While a stagnant or less varied open world won’t hold Gotham Knights back too bad – the linear content we saw was all very engaging – the leveling system could. RPG style progression is nothing new to a Batman game, but turning Gotham Knights into a pseudo live service game, where enemies have levels and there is crafting can turn out many different ways.
During the preview, our character was always at the recommended level for the mission, so it was unclear how much work was necessary to get to that point. Will grinding be necessary to access the story? Will the leveling system get in the way of combat and make it feel tedious? These are questions we couldn’t answer based on the preview but they were concerns in the back of my mind.
Take those lingering questions out and Gotham Knights offers a fun preview. It’s not worth getting into the story elements but the missions still had a general progression that led to new adventures for the four Knights. Yes, popular characters from the Batman series do appear and there appears to be a lot more going on than just a Court of Owls story.
Gotham Knights also uses the four main characters’ personalities to help flesh out the experience and deliver something that should encourage replayability. The way Red Hood interacts with a character like Harley Quinn, for example, is going to be very different from Batgirl. RPG and loot elements aside, there appears to be a core adventure here that fans of the Arkham games will appreciate.
Even just a cursory glance at the menus in Gotham Knights is enough to suggest that the investment necessary to 100% the game could be significant. From four separate skill trees per character, a leveling system, crafting, and side challenges (they are similar to Arkham’s but take place in the open world), there is a lot. But a good preview doesn’t leave that feeling of being overwhelmed but of wanting to dive into the game’s world in earnest. Gotham Knights’ release is not too far off but the preview sparked that excitement for jumping back into the DC Comics universe.
Gotham Knights releases October 21, 2022 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
