Nine years after Batman Arkham Origins, the WB Games Montreal team is back in Gotham City with a very different game from Rocksteady’s flagship series: Gotham Knights.
As its name suggests, the title puts aside the Black Knight announced as “dead from dead”. It is therefore the turn of his proteges Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Red Hood (Jason Todd) and Robin (Tim Drake) to take over. Gotham Knights necessarily presents a different DNA from the adventures that we experienced in the Arkham saga. For the best ? We were able to bring justice to the city for more than 2h30, here are our half-enthusiastic impressions.
A love letter to comics
Gotham City is orphan of its Batman. The masked vigilante perished under mysterious circumstances. The disappearance of Mr. Wayne combined with the apathy of the police and the conspiracies of the Court of Owls constitute the perfect cocktail to explode the crime syndicates that are rampant in the city. It is up to the first four members of the Bat-Family to ensure the succession of the Dark Knight. The opportunity for WB Games Montreal to shine this quartet ultimately quite unknown to the general public, without denying their roots. Moreover, from the few sequences and interactions that we have seen, Gotham Knights promises to be particularly faithful to the comics, not without some liberties.
Whether in the writing of the characters, with philosophies and personalities modeled on the source material, in their individual relationships with Bruce Wayne or in the writing of the dialogues and the sometimes piquant exchanges between them, the game’s narration will know how to resonate with both regular and casual readers. This fidelity also implies lighter or even kitsch moments and the humor of certain Bat-Fam comics. Gotham Knights should therefore abound with references of all kinds with several winks directly addressed to fans. It’s all the more unfortunate that some dialogues between the heroes are regularly cut by cutscenes that are triggered automatically when you get too close to a given point. It remains to be seen whether the story holds up and whether the fan service isn’t overdone, but the narration could clearly be one of Gotham Knights’ strengths. For gameplay though…
A strong quartet for Gotham Knights
If in the final game it will be possible to patrol as we see fit, alone or in pairs in cooperation, in the dark streets of the city, our handling was done entirely solo and the conditions did not allow us to roam freely. However, we had the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with each of the playable characters, interchangeable at will between each mission in the Belfry, their HQ. Each Vigilante has their own set of skills, arsenals, and gear, giving them a noticeably different feel when it comes to going after thugs.
Nightwing, more athletic, shines with his liveliness and ease on the ground and in the air. Red Hood, more clumsy, favors firearms and close combat using his mystical powers drawn from his resurrection in the Well of Lazarus. Batgirl will undoubtedly be the one who comes closest to her mentor with hacking abilities and a perfect mastery of several martial arts. The youngest of the band, Robin is not left out. Specialized in infiltration, the last sidekick of the late Dark Knight knows how to be particularly versatile. From what we have been able to play, there is not one that stands out more than the others. It’s all going to be a matter of personal tastes and playstyles. However, they all add enough of their personal touch to make you want to not stick to just one hero.
Proven gameplay
Action-RPG requires, Gotham Knights operates some changes. Without going into details, we find slightly redesigned investigation phases, as well as infiltration sequences clearly in the vein of the Arkham saga. On the other hand, where the fans will undoubtedly be the most disoriented, it is on the fights. The title swaps its system of combos and takedowns for a whole range of abilities assigned to key shortcuts. A change transforming the dynamics of the game which suffers from the absence of counters. This puts even more emphasis on perfect dodges, but the vigilantes quickly find themselves chaining pirouettes. It may be because we lacked skills, or because the remote preview conditions were not optimal, but the gameplay did not fully convince us. The contrast between the fairly permissive combo window and the vivid animations leaves us with an eerie feeling. We therefore have some reservations about this aspect while waiting to get our hands on the final version, but for now, we have the impression that it lacks punch.
However, we had the opportunity to rub shoulders with Harley Quinn during a more nervous boss fight than those against the small fry and WB Games Montreal manages to temporarily make people forget its faults during a few clashes with a particularly successful atmosphere. On the contrary, the studio has done a goldsmith’s job on the animations. Whether it’s the acrobatics between each combo, the finishes or the silent eliminations, all the movements are of absolute class. To see if it helps to ensure a little show on the length, but they fully capture the spirit of the comics. A sense of detail that has also been found in the costumes that can be unlocked and personalized as in Marvel’s Spider-Man. Those seen during our session were particularly successful with tributes to certain periods that will catch the eye of fans. It now remains to be seen whether the city will be entitled to the same preferential treatment.
If unfortunately we were not able to freely explore one of the five districts, we were nevertheless able to familiarize ourselves with the main means of transport: the motorbike. Or rather the Bat-scoot since there is absolutely no feeling of speed, the scenery does not advance, there is no effect. It also doesn’t look very glorious with the grappling hook or gliders quite laborious to move properly. But it’s certainly due to the lack of improvements that could make everything more fluid as you progress like in Batman Arkham.
We are waiting for Gotham Knights … with a certain desire
It is difficult to form an opinion on Gotham Knights after this first contact as it has not shown us enough. The after Arkham promises to be a real love letter to the Bat-Family as well as to the comics and the studio seems to have taken particular care in everything that encompasses the characters, but the gameplay and the fluidity of the game. action left us unmoved. It remains to be seen whether the game will be able to reveal its full potential as it progresses and what the RPG aspect of the game, the open world activities and the cooperation, will really give, set aside here.