Gotham Knights

Gotham Knights managed to be one of the few fall releases that did not get pushed to 2023 this year, but from the looks of the review scores currently ...

“Gotham Knights is a game that draws its line in the sand very early on and rarely wavers. It is a game that emphasizes the importance of support and empathy while sprinkling in every element we've come to expect and adore from these titles along the way. From what I can tell, this lands Gotham Knights in a tier of lackluster sports releases (NHL 23, Madden 23) and the biggest game to review lower is Saints Row with its crushing 61 score. Taking what worked before while seeking to evolve it is admirable, but the obsession over loot is ill-conceived, cynical, and tasteless. Here is the “verdict” from While that may sound “average” based on the number alone, with the way game scoring works, that’s actually not great, and the aggregated score includes some eye-poppingly negative reviews from major outlets.

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.

That's not to say that this is a sequel to those games – WB Games Montreal decided to splinter off into a separate version of DC comics canon – and in a lot of ...

Unfortunately, combat in Gotham Knights is one of the worst parts about it – and that’s not a great thing to have to say about a game that’s virtually all about combat. Gotham Knights also suffers from performance issues that range from amusing bugs to annoying hindrances, the most grave of which is that the framerate. Gotham Knights does have a New Game+ option, so you could definitely take your hard-won loadout with you to a tougher version of the campaign… At its best, dishing out justice is merely boring as you repeat the same attacks and wait for your special ability meter to charge up and enemy health bars to whittle down (yes, they have health bars over their heads); at its worst, it’s actively frustrating as you’re hit by attacks that seem almost impossible to dodge and don’t feel like you have full control of your character. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever played but if you were hoping for a return to the smooth, incredibly fine-tuned brawls of the Arkham series, you’re in for a rude awakening when you’re smacked in the face with the simple and underwhelming substitute that sits at the center of this disappointing adventure. As you gain XP and level up, you’ll acquire new weapons and armor, mod components, and crafting schematics to aid your power creep, but unless you’re extremely lucky or willing to grind a whole lot of repeatable crimes in Gotham’s open world, you’re unlikely to have much power over what you’re able to use or craft because drops aren’t frequent or targetable enough to organically build the character you want to play. Really, my only major complaint with swapping characters is that each character has to unlock their abilities and be geared up individually, so the longer I played as one the less feasible it was to actually switch to someone else – I’d have to stop making progress to catch up one character and unlock all their special abilities before proceeding. One key difference is that here you get to play as your choice of the four mostly lovable heroes (Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin) as you zip around an open-world Gotham, delivering justice to all manner of superstitious cowards and unraveling a troubling mystery in the iconic city’s murky streets. It doesn’t help that the oddly brief campaign is padded out with busywork, like repeated sections where you have to wander around Gotham interrogating a string of different criminal factions headed by everyone from Harley Quinn to Mr. But when you’re stealthily grappling from ledge to ledge, crawling through ventilation shafts, and beating up groups of criminals in a rhythmic combat system, it’s impossible not to compare it to the vastly superior Arkham games. Like Bruce Wayne it was born to a well-respected and rich family, in this case the four third-person action games in the Arkham series. [Gotham Knights](/games/gotham-knights) appeared to have all the makings of the ambitious, action-packed smash hit that it was clearly intended to be.

Reviews for Warner Bros. first Batman game since 2015's Arkham Knight dropped today, and they are not reassuring. While a few critics like Gotham Knights ...

“For all its potential, the game falls flat,” [reported NPR](https://www.npr.org/2022/10/20/1130129906/gotham-knights-review). That’s how beholden the good in Gotham Knights is to Rocksteady’s work—but that good is still present, nevertheless. If my gear is good enough to beat the final boss—and it was—then what incentive do I have to keep playing to improve that gear? [checklist](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2022/10/gotham-knights-review-its-content),” while Gamesradar accused it of [not knowing what it wants to be](https://www.gamesradar.com/gotham-knights-review/). Interior areas ran much better, but considering the bulk of the game has you sifting through the city, it was a pain to have to manage frame drops without falling off a perch and alerting an entire group of enemies. Montreal’s Gotham Knights](https://kotaku.com/gotham-knights-release-date-xbox-ps5-arkham-batgirl-1849445834) follows Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood as they attempt to maintain order amidt the chaos after a terrorist plot by the Court of Owls kills Bruce Wayne. Sure, you can press another button for ranged attacks, but if an enemy is up-close (which is often the case), you really don’t have a lot to work with, even after acquiring upgrades. It’s a multiplayer system that works so smoothly that you won’t notice any complications beyond the chance to beat up some bad guys with a buddy—and that’s as it should be. There’s a compelling game in Gotham Knights, but it’s hidden away behind a messy UX, needless crafting and customization systems, and combat mechanics that have been stretched paper thin to accommodate four heroes. The Metacritic score [currently sits at 69](https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/gotham-knights/critic-reviews), with Digital Foundry’s John Linneman [tweeting](https://twitter.com/dark1x/status/1583055289791655936) that the game doesn’t look nearly as good [as Rocksteady’s seven-year old Arkham Knight](https://t.co/FDjGc3Tv3N). [first Batman game since 2015’s Arkham Knight](https://kotaku.com/gotham-knights-batman-pc-frame-rate-performance-ps5-1849678532) dropped today, and they are not reassuring. Unlike the Arkham games which focused on exploration, stealth puzzles, and a Metroidvania-like arsenal of gadgets, Gotham Knights is primarily combat focused, with players teaming up to grind out missions that progress the story and unlock better gear.

Gotham Knights isn't a sequel to the Batman: Arkham games, but it undeniably toils in their shadow.

That’s how beholden the good in Gotham Knights is to Rocksteady’s work—but that good is still present, nevertheless. The game’s writing and storytelling work more often than not—especially in the quieter moments that play heavily into its themes of found family and legacy. (The other three characters have their own specific movement upgrades to unlock; would it shock you to learn that they’re both cumbersome to acquire, and more complicated to play with than actually fun? You’re going to bring out not just one, but two boss battles with Mister Freeze—whose Arkham City incarnation is still a regular on lists of “Best Boss Battles Of All Time”—and have them be such dull, Video Games 101 slogs?) But all these unforced errors are being applied to a framework that’s so solid that it’s still hard not to have fun with it for a decent proportion of the time. Again, there’s the core of a good idea here—the various suits and sticks allow you to customize your gear and prepare for future challenges, a very Batman thing to do. Instead of shoving loose Bat-Suits or bo staffs into their crime-fighting pajamas, players in Gotham Knights pick up crafting materials and blueprints in abundance, bringing them back to their home base, The Belfry, for later production. Instead, it takes place in a slightly tweaked version of Bat History, albeit one familiar to even passing fans of nearly a century of Bat-Lore: Bruce Wayne is still The Batman, he’s still got a butler, and he’s still got a knack for recruiting teenagers and twentysomethings with a taste for high-impact acrobatics and nocturnal crime-fighting. (Lifted, pretty much wholesale, from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman comics from the early 2010s.) Choosing one of the four heroes (with the option to switch out periodically), players dive into the Gotham, uh, nights, hoping to honor their slain mentor’s legacy and bring the forces that killed him to justice. It makes sense, then, to chart their growth in a more formalized, and maybe even a more number-crunchy, way. Whereas the Arkham games presented a Batman fully formed (give or take a few tweaks to the tech tree), Gotham Knights is a story about heroes on the rise. To wit, expect to spend hour upon hour beating up crooks, grapple-hooking your way across Gotham—and wondering why you’re not just playing 2011's The only real difference between this Bruce, and the one you might be more familiar with, is that this one is dead—slain in the game’s opening cutscene by one of his classic foes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

Gotham Knights has players take on the roles of Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl and Red Hood in a version of Gotham City where Batman/Bruce Wayne has died.

Once all three challenges are complete, you’ll need to return to watch a cutscene. In the Belfry, all four characters can interact with a training dummy that brings up a host of different training exercises. These abilities extend to combat and traversal in the open world of Gotham City. From the rooftops, each sports a grapple gun that makes getting from point a to point b without touching the ground. Gotham Knights has players take on the roles of Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl and Red Hood in a version of Gotham City where Batman/Bruce Wayne has died. Throughout the journey, the band of would-be-knights must rise up and become the heroes Gotham needs.