Video Game Review - Gotham Knights

Rob reviews Gotham Knights on Xbox Series X...

Gotham Knights is a game that's a great insight into the meaning behind Bruce Wayne's tenure as Batman. It's a journey through Gotham City as its status quo changes in the face of the Dark Knight's defeat. It also asks the important question of who can take on the Bat's legacy.

Developed by WB Games Montreal, Gotham Knights takes its inspiration from the comic book of the same name. Bruce Wayne is dead and Gotham City is in a state of change. With the instrument of their fear now gone, dormant enemies return to the streets, and secret organisations plot their next move. Caught in the middle of this are Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood who must band together to investigate Batman's demise, and bring justice back to Gotham's streets. 

It was always going to be a big risk with WB Games Montreal killing off Batman in the first five minutes. But thankfully having a Batman-less Batman narrative works. Without the omnipotent shadow of the Dark Knight, we're able to see a side of Gotham that's not been explored before. As such it also gives a lot of room to subvert Bat-fan expectations while remaining faithful to the source material. It's no secret that the main narrative focuses on the mysterious Court of Owls, and while there's a lengthy comic series that deals with the secret society, it's not adapted into Gotham Knights. 

Instead, we get great insight into how this shadowy organisation has always subverted Gotham's inhabitants to their gain - all under Batman's nose. It's certainly an interesting premise, which is backed up by an impressive array of case files that feature the likes of Clayface, Harley Quinn, and the League of Shadows. 

While the narrative is a bit of a slow burner, it helps to flesh out its cast of playable characters and their motivations behind taking up the mantle. The versions of Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood that we see here are all different to previous iterations, but again the game only slightly deviates from the established backstory. The differences however are all delved into via cutscenes and interactions at their base of operations, The Belfry. 

The gameplay consists of heading out on nightly patrols to investigate active case files, thwart criminal activities, and gather resources. While the array of side activities does start to repeat, it's great fun playing superhero.

Each time you rescue kidnapped civilians, foil a bank robbery or even clamp down on illegal organ trafficking, you feel like a proper superhero in doing so. Whether you're tackling the Mob, Freaks, or Regulators, everything you do out on patrol is tallied up into a nightly score. It doesn't particularly go towards any overall rating, but it's a nice indication of your night's work. 

During the day, you'll be hanging out at the Belfy. The Belfry acts as the game's hub location as well as the character's base. Here you'll be able to craft equipment upgrades, as well as interact with the other characters, and take on various AR training challenge that is overseen by the Dark Knight. It's also here where you're also able to switch between the four player characters. 

Naturally, each of the Bat family has unique skills that are tailored to certain playstyles. Batgirl being the jack-of-all-trades can utilise her hacking prowess to neutralise technology such as cameras, as well as being able to revive herself. Robin has the highest stealth stat and has a few decent combos with his staff. Meanwhile, Nightwing can utilise the most support abilities, while Red Hood rounds things off with a pretty decent ranged attack. As you're able to switch between the four heroes, you are also free to experiment with each playstyle as you wish. 

When it comes to combat, Gotham Knights takes inspiration from the Arkham series, but on a slower scale. Instead of the attack and counter system, you have both light and heavy attacks mixed with a ranged attack and dodge. You'll have to utilise all four skills to then take on the enemies until you charge your focus meter which then gives you character-specific "special moves". For instance, Nightwing has a fancy jump attack, while Batgirl calls in a drone to keep her health topped up. 

The Gotham Knights combat is certainly a lot slower than what I originally expected, and for the most part, it works. The downside comes to the surface when you start to fight the many bosses. With their gigantic pools of health, these fights soon turn into a repetitive nightmare as you slowly chip away at them until their health depletes. It would have been great to see Gotham Knights utilise the co-op nature to see some pretty impressive set pieces - or even quick-time events. But alas, it plays out as a safe action game experience. 

Another annoyance is that stealth isn't a viable option to combat. There are small details such as being able to perform stealth takedowns and hiding in the shadows, but it never feels as gripping and tense as Arkham. Yes, I know that Gotham Knights isn't Arkham, but with striking from the shadows and fear being a big thing within the Batman ethos, it would have been nice to see it implemented more. 

Taking inspiration from live-service games such as Destiny 2 and The Division 2, Gotham Knights not only has each character's level but a gear score too. There's a lot to grapple with as character levels then unlock new momentum abilities, while gear levels manage your combat effectiveness. On top of this, there are also mods to collect which then add a buff to your attack and defensive moves. 

It is a bit overwhelming, to begin with, but you combat the level grind and each character level up concurrently. So whether you switch and change throughout the story, or play as a single hero, to then switch at the end, you're never truly at a disadvantage. 

Since Gotham Knights' announcement, it's been known that the game would offer a co-op experience, as well as a single-player. It's also this that will be the biggest draw for a lot of players. With the whole game offering every aspect of it being playable with friends, Gotham City becomes one giant playground. Whether you team up and tackle crime together, or patrol different sides of the city, the game doesn't tie you together and allows complete freedom. Story missions are also available in co-op, and while the cutscenes and choices take the POV of the host, it's still great fun taking on the many famous enemies with a friend. 

Sadly, at the time of writing the co-op is only limited to two players. However, WB Games Montreal have said that four-player support is coming. Now, that would be the true Gotham Knights experience!

Now on to the controversial part of this review...presentation.

Before the game's release, WB Games Montreal caused an Internet uproar by saying that Gotham Knights will be locked to 30fps on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, despite being a current-gen exclusive. Yes, the developer had their reasons for locking down the frame rate which all boiled down to offering an untethered co-op experience. 

The harsh reality is that locking the frame rate it's dampened down what the game could have looked like. The current guise of Gotham City has plenty going for it, yet it suffers from texture pop-ups and very poor draw distance. This also resulted in the game crashing back to the Xbox dashboard on a few occasions as it seemed to not be able to keep up with the Series X. 

I also had a lot of trouble with the appearance of a neon blue fog appearing on the screen at intermittent times. While I initially assumed this was an issue with Gotham Knights, the actual cause was my console failing GPU. Anyway, a quick trip to buy a new one, and I was back still feeling the disappointment. 

I hope that Gotham Knights does get a performance mode in the future as the game is crying out for it. Hell, even if it was locked to the single-player mode I'd be happy. Instead what we do get is a game that's comparable to Arkham Knight - which is another game that's crying out for an Xbox Series X|S/PlayStation 5 upgrade. 

Overall and Gotham Knights is a very mixed experience. It suffers from being the middle child in an already prestigious family. On one side you have Rocksteady's superb Arkham-verse, and on the other is the highly anticipated Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (again developed by Rocksteady Studios). Sadly, this does mean that much of Gotham Knights is let down by a reputation it never had. It was never going to be like Arkham, and as such it doesn't play like Arkham. Yet to its detriment it will always be compared to it. 

However, what we DO have is an exciting superhero experience that delves into a world without the Dark Knight's influence. Its narrative ultimately works with this risk, yet it's let down by mediocre combat, and some poor visuals. 

Rating: 7/10

A code was kindly provided free by Warner Bros Games for this review. 

Gotham Knights are available now and can be purchased via the Microsoft Store. 

Like this review and want to support the blog further? You can do so by heading over to Ko-Fi.com/GeekCultureRev. Any donations will be greatly appreciated, but more so is the fact that you took the time to read this review Thank you!

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev