Gotham Knights Preview: Played for the First Time!

On October 21, 2022, we will finally be back in virtual Gotham City. This time, however, something is different. We don’t take on the role of Batman, nor do the Arkham makers of Rocksteady have anything to do with the game. The developers of the Arkham spin-off Origins are responsible for Gotham Knights, the title is not an action adventure but an action RPG, and we can choose between four playable heroes, all of which differ in their abilities. In addition, the entire adventure can be contested online in two-player co-op. It all sounds pretty good on paper, but until recently there was little information or gameplay insights about Gotham Knights. But that’s the end of it now! We visited the WB Games Montréal team at their studio in Canada, chatted with the developers and got to play the game on the PS5 for about two and a half hours, recording gameplay ourselves. So shortly before the release we can finally tell you whether Gotham Knights will be a festival for DC fans or whether it will be rather unheroic.

Four young heroes and a death

First, let’s look at the Gotham Knights story premise (buy now €94.99 /€53.99 ). And it’s simple, but quite interesting because it turns a lot of things upside down: Batman is dead. The Dark Knight was murdered during a mysterious investigation that he didn’t tell even his closest confidants about. “He’s not coming back either. Batman is irretrievably dead,” Creative Director Patrick Redding clarifies when we greet him. When we asked why they decided to take this step, Game Director Geoff Ellenor later tells us that Batman simply got in their way.

In addition to protecting the city, the Gotham Knights must also learn to deal with Batman’s death.

Source: WB Games Montreal

Even before the Gotham Knights story was written, the idea for a co-op game in Gotham City was born. It was experimented with on early prototypes, but the balance between the characters never quite worked out. “Eventually one of our team members suggested we just take Batman out,” Ellenor continued. “That eventually made our game feel a lot better, and also the story of the game.”

But as happy as the developers may be with the decision to kill Batman, a world collapses for the bat’s protégés in the game. Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin and Red Hood vacillate between sadness, incomprehension and anger, but have absolutely no time to process their feelings. Of course, word of Batman’s death quickly got around among Gotham City’s villains. Bad guys like the penguin, Harley Quinn or Clayface try to exploit Gotham’s apparent defenselessness for their own ends.

In most scenes we can decide whether we want to proceed insidiously or wildly beating.

Source: WB Games Montreal



To make matters worse, without Jim Gordon, the police are skeptical about the heroes. The cops see their chance to break free from Batman’s shadow and ensure law and order in their own way. A war between rebellious gangs and police officers is raging on the streets of Gotham and the residents have little choice but to wait and see who will ultimately win. So a lot of work for the Gotham Knights.

In the open world, which is divided into different districts but can be freely explored directly after the tutorial, you have to rescue citizens from gangsters, bring cops and criminals to their senses and, of course, track down all sorts of well-known villains. Of course, above all this is the search for Batman’s killer. Step by step, the Knights get closer and closer to the mystery, eventually confronting a secret society that comic book readers should be very familiar with. However, neither the trailer nor the developers go into detail about the Court of Owls, and during our introductory session we didn’t get much insight into the main story of Gotham Knights.