Gotham Knights

The latest DC adaptation struggles to craft something spectacular from its ensemble cast and role-playing action.

Where Batman infested the city’s crevices, his underlings merely invade them: you can work together to set up terrain traps or create distractions, but it’s a world away from the older series’ puzzlebox intricacy and it’s always more fun to barge in swinging. But each has a distinct flavour that carries over to the moderately engaging story scenes, where the cast squabble about methods and unpack their feelings about Bruce Wayne. There’s overlap between roles: Robin is perfectly capable in a brawl and Red Hood no less menacing in the shadows, making it possible to play as any one hero for the entire game. Red Hood is the muscle, either grabbing throats or holding crowds at bay with 360-degree pistol salvoes, while Nightwing is a hyperactive flea, bouncing from head to head. It also spoils the feel of combat, where differences in level between character and foe aren’t reflected in the animations. Gotham Knights is a spirited work but gawkier, less assured, at once more expansive and somehow less immense.

Batman is dead. Four heroes are left to defend Gotham from countless enemies. It's an intriguing start, but Gotham Knights doesn't quite deliver.

Unfortunately, neither Batman nor Gotham Knights trusted them enough to give them a chance to prove themselves and create their own legacy. Moreover, the Knights can't get away from the Bat-shaped shadow of their fallen mentor. Is the Gotham part of Gotham Knights fun? They display a pride flag on the wall in their base. But past conventions overwhelm the new tone. It's clear that Gotham Knights wants to introduce a new generation of heroes. These details add up to an endearing glimpse of a modern Gotham. Well, there certainly isn't a lack of things to do in the city. Each day begins with your Knights checking a detective board at the Belfry, a gargantuan skyscraper located in the heart of Gotham. The Talons, a major foe in the comics, can be easily defeated by a two-step technique explained from the get-go. Standing over the ruins of the Batcave, Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Batgirl are left with a mystery to unravel — one that intertwines familiar villains with the Court of Owls, a secret society of billionaires and people of influence that has been operating from the shadows for centuries. Most of the time, however, I found myself button mashing and spamming each character's unique abilities.

Gotham Knights is a game full of ideas that haven't been fleshed out or given room to breathe. It wants to do everything, and comes up short.

Gotham Knights is a game with a fistful of threads it is never quite able to knit into a sweater. I’m sure it was a hard decision to make but, I believe, it was the right one. Its streets are menacingly lit, and the shadows deepen to the kind of stygian tones perfect for a mugger to hide in. I love a silky smooth frame rate as much as the next person, but I also love it when a game allows the artwork to pop. In production terms, such a change would have been less of an agile juke to the left, and something more akin to getting an oil tanker to do a handbrake turn. Indeed, the game makes a huge noise about revealing this device to the player, only to reveal in the same breath you can’t actually fly it. And if you do want to go for the kind of dive-in, dive-out play that Arkham excelled at, you’ll find that difficult to manage too. The combat in Gotham Knights recalls a lot of the Arkham series’ touchstones. The placement of enemies and the options you have at your disposal are greatly increased. However, the Arkham series cut such a striking template for what superhero games should look and play like, that we’re still seeing riffs on it to this day. In a version of Gotham Knights that was actually interested in its RPG mechanics, various suits could have been turned into armour sets for the player to hunt down. And it required undertaking a bit of risk and exploration to get them?

Gotham Knights takes the Arkham blueprint and reimagines it as a loot-brawler, often feeling similar, but where it's different, it's worse.

This version of Gotham is not its best rendition, but it is massive and benefits from the basic video game truth that most everything is better in co-op. Instead, there's little reason to separate, as the peripheral content is so rote that you'll want to only do what's required of you to unlock the next major story beat, nothing more. The Court of Owls, perhaps the biggest and most beloved new addition to the Batman mythos in a long time, fails to live up to the potential of its comic book source material. It lands as hard as intended, and it's compelling to see them pick up the pieces and grow together. It emphasizes the Momentum meter over the actual learned techniques that Batman must've taught the foursome, and seemingly all in the name of being an RPG that demands sturdy enemies who can't be dispatched with the same ease that Batman has shown before. I'd have less of an issue with this number if the final battles within each of them were more diverse or interesting, but they each inevitably devolve into an arena battle against a damage-spongey villain and maybe an intermittent horde of goons. The problem, however, is it fails to evolve as the game goes on. Becoming Gotham City's watchful protector should be a meaningful journey for the characters and the players controlling them, but it rarely amounts to feeling like anything more than busywork. The issue won't be a shortage of them, but rather a lack of intrigue around any of them. Boss battles are where excitement should be expected, but there are too few of them and they lack the variety and ingenuity of past showdowns, even in developer WB Montreal's past Bat-effort. Meanwhile, iconic characters like The Penguin and Lucius Fox are made to be nothing more than immobile quest-givers doling out missions that are more like basic challenges to earn a new suit blueprint or a mess of crafting resources. It is full of icons ranging from main story beats to one-off time trials and challenges, so at first glance this version of Gotham doesn't seem all that different from other versions of it, or other open-world games for that matter.

We open with Batman dying in a battle with Ra's al Ghul. In his absence, Gotham City is stricken with crime once more. Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Red Hood, ...

I would’ve loved to have seen more of the villain files – these are three sets of storylines that follow three villains with missions that feel like they could be part of the main story. It’s a great and colourful game that still feels as brooding and moody as a game set in the world of Batman should be. Even gliding around the city with each of the four characters was enjoyable. No matter what you do, the map populates with activities at the beginning of each night, so things are always changing, and there’s a sense of living within the city. But the way that the game uses these activities, too, once again, makes things longer than they should be, which can be a little frustrating. I’d be introduced to a new character a few times, but before they’d talk to me, I’d have to go off and do three or four side quests. You can switch between them at the start of each night, so playing with each of them to find your style is recommended. That said, anybody with a cursory knowledge of the world of Batman will easily find their footing in the world of Gotham Knights. Most of the main story missions are great – mixing stealth and action in just the right amount – though some later levels get a bit repetitive. But there’s one thing that can really hinder the flow of battles: how enemies react to your attacks. But while Gotham Knights lacks some of the finesse of those games that came before, it’s still an enjoyable experience, even if it takes a bit to get going. [Each of the characters has their own unique moves, abilities, and tools](https://press-start.com.au/features/2022/10/19/gotham-knights-characters-abilities-explained/) that cater specifically to a type of playstyle.

Suit up and step into the knight. Gotham Knights is a brand-new open world, third-person action RPG featuring the Batman Family as players step into the ...

Each of the four heroes has a skill tree tailored to their specific style of play. Gotham Knights is a brand-new open world, third-person action RPG featuring the Batman Family as players step into the roles of Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin, a new guard of trained DC Super Heroes who must rise up as the protectors of Gotham City in the wake of Batman’s death. It’s drop-in, drop-out and completely untethered, meaning Gotham is at the mercy of both you and your partner. Nightwing, the team’s leader, was born out of pride and a want to mature beyond Bruce’s youngling sidekick. The Gotham Knights are a quartet of those who Bruce let in—his closest confidants. Suit up and step into the knight.

Gotham Knights offers a fun and satisfying gameplay loop, but many features lack the follow-through needed to make a great, cohesive game.

[Gotham Knights' story](https://gamerant.com/gotham-knights-prequel-comic-expand-story/), with the ending feeling like the game was never played at all, and a lot of the story is very slow. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem the rest of the game is held up to the same level and a lot of it doesn't blend like the gameplay. The game only features a handful of boss battles as it is, and this is probably why. Yet, anyone interested in anything more than that is going to face a lot of disappointment with its story beats, gameplay elements, individual features, and many other elements. There's a lot about the game that feels half-baked, from major features like this to small details like Investigations, and these elements bring down what's otherwise a solid title. All the characters end up being a little one-note, unfortunately, and while there is character development, each character tends to retread familiar territory. What happens is that players are able to self-pace their advancement of various side activities, and it's a pleasing way to interact with the world when something as simple as saving one citizen from Players will see major story developments on the map, but to complete activities like premeditated crimes, players have to investigate random crimes, interrogate enemies, and unlock them. At night, players don the cowl as one of the four playable characters and enter a patrol of Gotham City. The city is beautiful, feels alive, and is constantly filled with activity. Batman is dead, Gotham City is in shambles, and players must pick up the pieces as It is a truly fun game, and for many players, it may be easy to overlook many of its shortcomings as a result.

Batman is gone, and the city of Gotham needs new heroes to take control. As sidekicks become big players, which character should you pick?

On the momentum ability front, you can deal a lot of damage with Beatdown or use Drone to summon a drone to damage enemies and heal Batgirl. Alternatively, you can use Cloak to make Robin completely invisible for 10 seconds, giving you an easy way to escape and get stealthy again or a few moments to take out a couple of enemies before the start of the fight. As a result, she’s the best choice if you plan on playing It can be annoying to have to be sent back to a previous checkpoint or lose resources upon death, and playing as Batgirl ensures you’ll never run into that problem when alone. While many of his momentum abilities are more focused on combat than stealth, you can use Bo Spin to get Robin out of a sticky situation and deal some damage along the way. With Vigilante Resolve, she can do it twice, and with Second Wind+, she gains a momentum segment and a 10% critical hit chance buff. Robin can also use to teleport during his Knighthood traversal ability to do a Slideways Takedown that can instantly take down any enemy in sight. Mystical Rounds allows him to shoot a Lazarus Pit-powered attack that deals massive damage to enemies, and Portable Turret lets Red Hood set up a mini-turret that can take on some enemies while you’re fighting someone else. All four of them have very skills, Knighthood traversal abilities, and Momentum Abilities they can use to take on enemies they encounter while patrolling Gotham City. If your ally dies, the Revive Darts skill also gives you a quick way to heal them. Meanwhile, two of his Momentum Abilities, Elemental Shockwave and Whirlwind, do great area-of-effect damage, knocking enemies back and possibly dealing elemental damage to them. Red Hood doesn’t have as definitive of an advantage or use case as the other three heroes; he’s just very strong up close and from afar.

Street Art locations: Bowery; Bristol; Cauldron; Financial District; Gotham Heights; Old Gotham; Otisburg; Robinson Park; Tricorner Island; West End.

Bristol in Gotham Knights has one piece of street art for you to find and, unlike most of the street art, it’s not located along a stretch of road. If you’re having trouble finding this street art, head to the statute of a globe being held aloft by tentacles in Robinson Park. The first - Our Friend Joe - is the easiest to find as you’ll clearly see it by crossing the bridge linking the Financial district to the West End. Here, on the left-hand side, you’ll find the street art, entitled Origin of Evil. This is because Otisburg’s street art actually sits on the border between this district and Bowery, so you might not think to look there. It’s located within the tunnel which runs beneath Chambers Street, lying on the border between Robinson Park and Gotham Heights. This is an easy mural to find, because it’s painted on a building east of Gotham City Cathedral. For this piece of street art, you need to head to the bridge which connects the Bowery to Bristol, but don’t go on the bridge. Once there, you’ll want to jump over eastern side and this should land you directly in front of the art, entitled Faces of Gotham. It will appear on your left-hand side on a building, which has high wire fences in front of it. If this list contains a spray can symbol, a piece of street art is hidden within the district and, once found, it will be ticked off! It’s important to note that not all Gotham City districts contain a piece of street art.

Gotham Knights boasts a seriously stacked cast of supporting characters all brought to life by an impressive group of voice actors.

While Freeze sadly doesn’t make incredible puns like that one in Gotham Knights, he’s certainly one of the game’s most intimidating villains as well as one of the biggest threats to post-Batman Gotham. Keane has popped up in everything from House of Cards and Ray Donovan to The Gilded Age and Dopesick. You’d probably expect The Penguin to immediately step up and become the crime lord of Gotham now that Batman’s dead, but his role in the game is a bit more complicated than that. Brian Keane certainly assumes the role of Clayface quite nicely in Gotham Knights. Mylène Dinh-Robic’s voice will probably sound very familiar to gamers thanks to her recent appearance in 2021’s Guardians of the Galaxy game as Meredith Quill. In a game all about people stepping up to fill some big shoes, it’s fitting that Talia Al Ghul has a major role to play in Gotham Knights. While Gotham Knight‘s heroes worried that Alfred wouldn’t know what to do with himself without Bruce Wayne in his life, it turns out that he’s more than willing to assume a similar role for Gotham’s new heroes. Red Hood’s path to becoming one of Gotham Knight‘s playable protagonists has been interesting, to say the least. Nightwing has been honing his craft for quite some time, and his skills are certainly being put to the test now that Batman is going. Video game-wise, he most recently played Arokkeh in Horizon Forbidden West and has previously lent voicework to titles like Ghost of Tsushima. Of course, it’s the voices of those characters as much as their faces that really sell how much they belong to be the stars of an unlikely Gotham adventure. While some fans balked at those creative decisions, it’s certainly nice to see Batgirl patrolling the streets of Gotham again.

Gotham Knights is the rare modern open-world game that doesn't let you fast travel around its setting, Gotham City. Here's how to unlock fast travel.

That makes scanning some drones pretty tedious, as you basically have to follow their lazy, looping flight paths until they stop for a rest. Fox has developed a mech-like wing suit that can ferry you around the city in seconds, but of course, things can’t be quite that easy. Fox aided Batman by providing him with gadgets and R&D, and he’s eager to do the same for the Bat-family now.

Who should you play as: Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, or Robin? Learn what they're best at before you decide.

Using mystical satellite technology, he can teleport long distances, which effectively means holding the right trigger and slowly maneuvering a cursor to where you want him to reappear. Leveling him up further can increase the efficacy and uptime of those effects, as well as making Robin more resistant to them when inflicted by enemies. Several of his abilities, including his ranged attacks and the aforementioned decoys, deal elemental damage. These abilities can be augmented with the power to knock down enemies and gain momentum energy more quickly, letting him use special attacks more frequently. This traversal power is most similar to the ones found in the Arkham games. The degree to which the game world bends depending on who you’re playing as is one of the game’s impressive hat tricks.

From Warner Bros. Games Montreal comes Gotham Knights, a brand-new, open-world, third-person action role-playing game featuring the Batman Family. Players step ...

So, buy it if you’re a fan of the Bat Family. There’s also the trusty Batcycle — a reasonable way to get around if you happen to be at ground level, like some sort of plebe. Unfortunately, it’s extremely twitchy, and the grapnel gun that allows us to latch onto buildings and catapult us across Gotham doesn’t always go where you aim the camera. Most of the game involves doling out justice with our fists, and leveling our heroes isn’t just a way to become more powerful: It’s part of our emotional arc, to become a hero that can fill Batman’s bat-boots. There are only minor differences between the gangs and hoodlums that need taking down (and the dialog from gangs and passersby can be repetitive or even ridiculous). (See The voice of Batgirl in our What we didn’t like section below.) The game begins with the death of Batman, along with the destruction of the Batcave. We get to know the people behind the cowls, and they’re all fun to hang out with — even Red Hood, who is more self-aware than you would expect from a bruiser like him. Thanks to help from our augmented reality (AR) tech, we uncover clues that ultimately lead us to our shadowy nemeses, the Court of Owls. Gotham Knights is a brand-new, open-world, third-person action role-playing game featuring the Batman Family. We got our hands on a PS5 copy of the game ahead of its launch date, have sunk two dozen hours into gameplay so far, and even checked out its co-op mode with PS5 gamer and ZensPath 4 Button podcaster [Jeremy Powers](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zenspath-4-button-podcast/id684071828). Players step into the roles of Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin, a new guard of trained DC Super Heroes who must rise up as the protectors of Gotham City in the wake of Batman’s death.

The Batman of recent films has mostly been a solitary figure, but DC comics fans have a different picture. In the source material, the Dark Knight is just ...

When you get there, the game will give you the option to skip that mission. When you arrive in someone else’s game or vice versa, the world adjusts to accommodate a greater number of players. Depending on what characters you’re playing as, that can include buffs, healing abilities, and combo moves that require both players to execute. What you select determines who can join you; if you want to let friends drop in on you without needing to receive an invite, select “friends” or “friends of friends.” If you want to let anyone at all join, select “public.” If you want to play solo, select “invited players,” and nobody will be able to join you until you send them an invite. That said, you’re free to explore the entire open world together, with no limits on how far you can wander from one another, which is extremely cool. (Ignore the “host heroic assault” option, since that mode isn’t in the game yet.)

As a follow-up to the popular Arkham series, this game brings in the Bat Family -- Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood and Robin -- to investigate the death of the ...

Despite this, the usual array of collectibles, interesting photo points and other ways to spend your time in the city pop up while on patrol. Then in some cases, the camera is clearly fixed on one spot but the Grapple Gun picks a completely different direction requiring you to cancel the movement and try again. Every character rides it the same way, and it moves like a tank when turning. None of the Bat Family really jump off the screen. One sadly lacking aspect of the Bat Family is their lack of character. The outlier is Jason Todd, who goes by Red Hood and played a major role in 2015's Batman: Arkham Knight. As a follow-up to the popular Arkham series, this game brings in the Bat Family -- Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood and Robin -- to investigate the death of the Dark Knight. Most of the stealth takedowns consist of either attacking from a perch above or creeping up behind enemies, but there's a small window where these takedowns seem to suffer from technical issues. Stealth was another important aspect of the Arkham series, and Gotham Knights includes segments where going in silently is the ideal approach. As they work on the big case, there are side missions that let you stop criminals from robbing armored cars, prevent kidnappings and generally fight the crime you'd expect to occur on a Gotham night. The Belfry in Wayne Tower acts as the HQ throughout the game. Gotham Knights lets you play as any of the Bat sidekicks as they chase down evidence from their mentor's last case, to figure out why he died.

Compared to Rocksteady's Arkham trilogy, Gotham Knights feels like a pale imitation that falls flat at every turn.

The issue is that Gotham Knights doesn't hold a candle to any of these games. Gotham Knights isn't a new entry in the Arkham series, of course. This is a third-person brawler set in the Batman universe that visually resembles the trio of best-selling, critically beloved titles that came before it. Aslyum, City and Knight fully immerse you in the Batman fantasy, successfully crafting a depiction of the caped crusader that was deadly, capable and - perhaps best of all - human. [Ed detailed in his review earlier this week](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/gotham-knights-review), Gotham Knights is a bit of a disappointing dud. Rocksteady's trio of Batman-em-ups are essential superhero games, titles that redefined the genre and provided a template that still feels contemporary to this day.

Gotham Knights' oddest cutscene involves Jason Todd's trauma coming to light while playing a Just Dance-esque video game. The new Warner Bros.

One of the strongest parts of the game are various cutscenes that take place in the Belfry, the headquarters for the Batfamily after the destruction of the Batcave, that show Nightwing, It's a rare miss for one of the stronger aspects of Gotham Knights, which does a good job fleshing out the relationship between these characters through cut scenes. The new "Dance Moves" game is a horror-themed game, as a level called the "Pit of Despair" clearly triggers something within Jason.

Nightwing crouches in a dramatic superhero pose in Gotham Knights. Image: WB Games Montreal/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Gotham Knights lets you take ...

You get a ton of them through the course of normal gameplay, so don’t be afraid to apply them willy-nilly. Also, the Batcomputer’s database is a massive repository of information about the game, as well as Gotham City and the larger Batman universe in general. From the workbench in the Belfry, your main base of operations, you can “transmog” the armor you’re wearing. Highlight an item in your loadout menu, then click the left stick in, and you can dismantle it into crafting materials. Sure, it’s fun to swap now and then and experience character-specific story beats, but from a gameplay perspective, you can choose whatever hero suits you best. [Gotham Knights](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23413637/gotham-knights-review-batman-platforms-release-date-characters-30-fps) lets you take control of [four members of the Bat-family](https://www.polygon.com/guides/23415238/gotham-knights-characters-batgirl-nightwing-red-hood-robin) — Batgirl, Red Hood, Robin, and Nightwing — to fight crime and solve Batman’s last case.

Batgirl, Red Hood, Nightwing, and Robin are all looking to fill Batman's shoes, but which is the absolute best character in Gotham Knights?

The biggest problem with Robin is that he’s a stealth character in a game with a surprising number of unavoidable (or difficult-to-avoid) combat scenarios. Given that Barbara Gordon went through a lot to make it to Gotham Knights’ roster, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that she is one of the game’s most durable characters. Again, you can certainly beat Gotham Knights as Robin with relatively few problems, and he can be a pretty devastating character in his own right. Nightwing is a real wild card of a pick. Once you unlock the ability to toss one enemy into a group of foes and essentially make them “explode” for massive AoE damage, you’ll find that there are few groups of enemies in the game that can stand up to you for too long. Her hacking offers her Robin-like stealth options, her critical damage capabilities come close to matting Red Hood’s DPS numbers, and only Nightwing offers a more versatile array of unique combat abilities. While most of Gotham Knight’s other characters certainly have aspects of Batman in them, Red Hood kind of does his own thing in a lot of ways. Red Hood also often relies on a “fear” mechanic that allows him to essentially stun nearby enemies whenever he unleashes devastating damage (which is often). There’s also something to be said for taking the time to really get to know a particular character and the unique aspects of their play style. In fact, he’s the only character that can pull off the specific kinds of “perch takedowns” Batman performed in the Arkham games. While it’s certainly possible to beat Gotham Knights with Batgirl, Red Hood, Nightwing, or Robin and never feel like you’ve made the wrong decision, each character certainly offers a slightly different playstyle. Actually, deciding which character to pick in Gotham Knights quickly becomes one of the game’s toughest challenges.

You don't have to fight crime alone in Gotham Knights, the latest Batman adventure from WB Games Montréal. It stars Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood, ...

You can choose to tackle missions together or go off on your own to fight crime separately. Before diving into cooperative multiplayer in Gotham Knights, you need to unlock it first. You can then select their name and invite them to your game. Head back to the pause menu and then select Social. To pair up with a random player, you’ll want to utilize the Quick Match feature. [Gotham Knights](https://www.inverse.com/gaming/gotham-knights-release-date-batman-trailer-characters-demo-preorder), the latest [Batman adventure](https://www.inverse.com/gaming/gotham-knights-review-batman) from WB Games Montréal.

Gotham Knights' shocking ending is sure to be as controversial as the game itself. Here's what you need to know about its final moments.

The obvious implication is that The Court of Owls and Talia are still in power (or in a position to return to power relatively quickly). It appears that Bruce actually recorded numerous versions of his final message (one for just about every possible cause of death), and the Knights are just trying to get him to come to dinner. Gotham Knights ends with the character you just beat the game with broadcasting a message to the people of Gotham through various devices spread across the city. A mysterious glow in Bruce’s eyes suggests that his actions may have been partially motivated by the lingering effects of the Lazarus Pits, but it’s obviously a little…unusual to see Bruce decide to kill himself and others. While we don’t actually see that all of the Court of Owl members were killed by the blast, it’s heavily implied that at least some of them did die in the explosion. Eventually, we learn that Jacob Kane (CEO of Kane Industries and a former friend of Bruce) is actually the Court of Owl’s leader (or at least the society’s chosen “voice”). She not only fails to kill your chosen Knight, but is soon confronted by the remaining members of the Court of Owls and their new “voice.” While the Court and Talia are obviously enemies, both sides are unfortunately united against our heroes. He uses the plane’s radio to inform the player character that the Knights are stronger together than Batman could ever be by himself. Obviously, the game is suggesting that Bruce has basically been zombified by Talia but this will still be a controversial plot point, to say the least. The more they learn about that case, the more they realize that Gotham is in more trouble than anyone thought. Even still, they decide to do what Batman would have done and turn Kane in to the police with the evidence they have gathered. Truth be told, that red-hot debate isn’t going to be cooled by the game’s controversial and bold ending.