Xbox has announced that Gotham Knights' Game Pass debut will occur on October 3, and those of you who don't want to pay for it can check out the game after its mediocre critical response. Party Animals, Cocoon, and PayDay 3 also join the Xbox Game Pass lineup over the ?next few?? weeks.

Xbox Game Pass will be a?dding five new g??ames to its service, which include:

• Party Animals (September 20)
• PayDay 3 (September 21)
• Cocoon (September 29)
• Gotham Knights (October 3)
• The Lamplighters League (October 3)

Gotham Knights will be available to all Xbox Game Pass subscribers as it launches for the service on Xbox Series X|S, PC, and cloud. Each of these games will be available on the Cloud, except Cocoon.

Perhaps Gotham Knights will find an audience within the Xbox Game Pass community. The current Steam player base at the time of writing is at 199, according to SteamCharts, so this news could give a g?ood boost to WB Games' mu??ltiplayer title.

Destructoid gave Gotham Knights a mediocre 5/10 review score. "After playing Gotham Knights, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a lot of it had the air of an Arkham-verse fan game," says our review. "While there is?? something there, you can almost reach out and touch the design-by-committee elements and witness the souls of some of the developers leaving their bodies."

Despite a slew of awesome games coming to Xbox Game Pass, there are plenty that are leaving the service on September 30, says Xbox Wire. They include:

• Beacon Pines
• Despot’s Game
• Last Call BBS 
• Moonscars
• Outriders
• Prodeus 
• Weird West 

If you dig any of these games, y??ou can get a 20% discount to keep them.

The post Gotham Knights g?lides to Xbox Game Pass next month appeared first on Destructoid.

In an era that's still filled with previous-and-current-gen simul-releases, Gotham Knights buck??ed the trend with a PS5 and Xbox Series X/S exclusive console release. Now, it might be coming to the Switch, roughly a year since the original's de??but.

This is according t??o a new ESRB rating that popped up, which added Switch as a platform to its listing. Note that ESRB ratings don't usually apply to Switch cloud-based games, so in all likelihood, this is a legitimate port. We've reached out to WB fo??r clarifi?cation.

[caption id="attachment_403613" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Even if Gotham Knights doesn't come to Switch, you're not missing much

A?s a reminder, here's the ESRB rating reasoning itself, which is a hoo??t:

"This is an action role-playing game in which players control one of four Batman Family members through missions around Gotham City. Players explore open-world environments while investigating crime scenes and fighting criminals/villains. Players mostly engage in melee-style combat using punches, kicks, and takedowns to defeat enemies. Combat is highlighted by impac?t sounds, cries of pain, occasional gunfire, and explosions. Stealth attacks and takedowns result in brief cutscenes: characters slamming enemies' heads into floors/walls; kicks/knees to the head; close-range gunshots to enemies' torsos. Blood stains are sometimes depicted on wounded characters' faces and/or clothing and splattered around crime scenes; some bodies can be examined for autopsy during investigations. The game contains several alcohol references (e.g., wine, beer, whiskey, drunkenness), and one scene depicts a villain drinking whiskey. Some characters can be seen smoking in various areas of Gotham City. The words “sh*t�and “a*shole�appear in the game."

"One scene depicts a villain drinking whis?key." Classic!

But in all seriousness, Gotham Knights is extremely mediocre, so don't feel like you're missing out if this doesn't come to fruition, or it runs like a buggy mess.

[Thanks John!]

The post Gotham Knigh??ts, a current-gen exclusive, rated for Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

It's about to get chilly

The Bat-Family has a new outing scheduled. A new Heroic Assault dubbed "The Kelvin Incident" is being added to Gotham Knights today, adding a 15-floor raid for endg??ame Knights.

The Kelvin Incident is a new Heroic Assault, which is WB Games Montreal's label for four-player co-op raids. Separate from the main story campaign, this standalone mode lets up to four players join up in online c-op and run through floors of challenges, eventually taking on big Bat-vi?llains.

//twitter.com/GothamKnights/status/16516173873?79081216/

Taking on The Kelvin Incident will require you to make a dent in the Gotham Knights campaign, however. For normal game players, you'll need to complete the Villain Crimes and unlock Heroic Assault. Those on New Game Plus will have the incident unlocked, s?o long as Heroic Assault is unlocked; you'll be able to access The Kelvin Incident through Quick Match or the "Launch He?roic Assault" option.

Today's patch notes also include some other sizeable additions. Mythic gear, a new tier of s?tr??onger gear that only drops in the raid, is being added to the loot list. New materials will also drop from the raid, too.

A new suit transmog and four ne??w Batcycle tansmogs can also be unlocked, and there are some stronger enemies to tackle as well. On the Accessibility side, English text-to-speech options will support built-in screen readers for all text and some menus, and screen reader support has been improved in areas where it already existed. Plus, controller remapping has been implemented, and buttons that prev?iously had to be held down can now be set as a toggle.

Reforming the Bat-family

This is a neat free update to see, as part of Gotham Knights' post-launch roll-out. The Bat-family co-op brawler didn't launch on a high note, and we've already seen one other co-op costumed brawler shutter its doors this year.

Now, with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League moved into next year, maybe some more Gotham Knights can fill the virtual void in DC fans' hearts. Or at least give Robin, Nightwing, Red H?ood, and Batgirl more baddies to beat up. The Kelvin Incident Heroi??c Assault is live now.

The post Gotham Knights adds a new 15??-floor Heroic Assault raid in latest update appeared first on Destructoid.

One console, two players

Pretty recently, a new expansion for Powerwash Simulator came out. I liked Powerwash Simulator well enough when I played it back in 2021, but this was the first time I was tempted to dip back in for more. That's because the latest update features locales from Final Fantasy VII, and the game added co-op a little while back. My girlfriend finished the original Final Fantasy VII not too long? ago, so I figured this would be a f?un way to spend a few hours.

Until I took to Google and discovered that Powerwash Simulator's co-op is online only.

Lately, I've watched this play out with a number of AAA games. Games like Gotham Knights and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were total slogs, not just because of their poor technical optimization and bizarre design choices, but because I knew that I could have had more fun if I shelled out an extra $300-600 to play them with my partner. Both of those games heavily touted their co-op offerings in marketing, but neither of them offered anything for folks in the same room. Halo Infinite, a game I loved, would have been that much better if I coul??d've roped in a friend without telling them to burn money on a new console or PC.

Where did the couch go?

I've always been a local multiplayer kind of person. My earliest exposure to video games was a Wii my parents bought to force family bonding. Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart are good online, but I'll usually only break them out when I have people over. I don't have anything against online gaming (it got me through lockdown, and any friend of mine will tell you how often I pester them about playing Final Fantasy XIV with me), but I love local multiplayer.

[caption id="attachment_361397" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

I especially adore local co-op. If I'm working w??ith someone else towards a goal, I want to be with that person physically. Having the option for online play is always welcome, but if I can conceivably play the same game as my companion, in the same room and on the same screen, I'll always take that option. I recognize that games are constantly getting bigger, and it's getting harder and harder to justify rendering the same things twice at the same time just to satisfy an increasingly smal??l group that cares about this kind of thing.

But for me, there's simply no energy quite like the energy shared between two (or more) people in one room sharing an experience. It's the difference between calling a friend and going out for dinner—sure, you'll fi??nd out what they've been up to either way, but sometimes you want to be in that space, sharing that experience together.

So as franchises like Halo, which was once known for its split-screen co-op, shy away from the cou??ch-sharing experienc??e, I can't help but feel a little sad.

Quiet revival

Blessedly, local multiplayer is down but not out. It's becoming more and more sparse in the AAA space, but indies have kept the dream alive admirably. Spelunky 2 retained the local mayhem found in the 2013 not-quite-original, and the Overcooked series has built its identity around intense, frantic same-screen sessions. It Takes Two recently became the only indie game ??in the history of the Game Award??s to take home the GOTY prize, in large part because of its local co-op offerings.

[caption id="attachment_365200" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

There are also still a few studios in the AAA space preserving the local multiplayer experience. Nintendo has been ruthlessly committed to keeping local co-op offerings available on the Nintendo Switch, a platform that initially sold itself, at least in part, on its two in-built controllers. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an absolutely perfect local experience, and the more recent Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe bumps the player count from two to four. Outside of Nintendo, Diablo 4 is slated to follow in its immediate predecessor's footsteps with a couch co-op mode. The most recent crop of Borderlands games offers local play on consoles as well. The scene i??sn't thriving, necess?arily, but it is surviving.

All of these games also have online offerings, and that's a great thing. Not everybody lives near the people they want to spelunk with, and I will always advocate for better online options. But all? of these games also recognize that there is a good reason for players to want to be near each other physically. Video games can be an isolating hobby, but they also have the capacity, as a medium, to force people together. I wish more games took advantage of that inherent strength of the format, but for now, I'm? simply glad that there's still space for that kind of game somewhere.

The post I love you, couch co-op appeared first on Destructoid.

Holy spinoff, Batman

Every so often, things pass us by. October in particular was a packed month, full of games like Vampire Survivors, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, A Plague Tale 2, Alan Wake Remastered Switch, Scorn, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, NHL 23, and No Man's Sky Switch: to name a?? few (and in this case, I'm being literal, comparatively!).

So it makes sense that Gotham Knights would slip through the cracks, especially when codes were semi-limited for it at the time. It's time for Gotham's crew to face the musi??c.

[caption id="attachment_358113" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Gotham Knights (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S [reviewed on an Xbox Series X])
Developer: WB Games Montreal
Publisher: WB Interactive Entertainment
Released: October 21, 2022
MSRP: $59.99 (PC), $69.99 (consoles)

As soon as I saw the RPG elements of Gotham Knights in that very?? first gameplay showing, I felt deflated. So you're going to take a highly narrative-focused action series and dump mid-2010s sensibilities (that have been done to death by now) into it? Bold choice! It didn't really pay off.

I couldn't shake the sense that much of the Batman mythos was squandered here. "Batman is dead" is still an interesting premise if done right (even if it's been touched in various forms), and having his team of sidekicks come together to stabilize Gotham could allow for a lot ?of cool character interactions and growing pains. That's not even including the raw potential for The Court of Owls: the shadowy organization that's barely been covered outside of the source material. But the game is so concerned about gamey things like numbers, crafting, and minimap blips that a lot of the impact of said narrative falls to the wayside.

A lot of your personal enjoyment is going to come from the character you pick (your options are Nightwing [Dick], Robin [Tim], Batgirl [Babs], and Red Hood [Jason]. For me, the majority of the game was spent with the latter, who is, let's say, uneven at best. There's some cringey dialogue in there (that thankfully doesn't get too edgy), but his moveset, which involves non-lethal guns, does show some form of evolution from the Arkham formula. Choosing between all? four characters to try and find your groove is a cool idea at the very least, and one of the few live servicey elements that actually has a point to it. It helps that you can swap at any time, and all of them level up together: avoiding one path of painful grinding.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSJTK8-R_sk

Strangely, one of the very first things you do in the action game Gotham Knights is completely stop ??said action dead in its tracks, and look a??t a clue-based minigame to try and open a door. It's bizarre, and you can tell that someone really had a bone to pick with the idea of copying the Detective Mode and wanted to do their own thing. Well, it's different!

Characters are loaded up with abilities and skill trees, and it's not nearly as intrusive or as busy as it could have been. Many of those skills are actually pretty fun to use and easy to trigger, and I found myself changing Bat-people often to see how everyone else handles. There's a bit of a disconnect here with the encounters: particularly how many enemies can feel spongey without putting up too much of a fight. As is the case with prior Arkham games boss fights can be a bright spot, but ??there simply aren't enough of them.

Where things go wrong is basically all of the other collectibles, which are rote "crafting" reagents or slow-drip cosmetic unlocks. The big red flag is collecting "clues" from enemies in the form of arcadey vacuumed pickups, which can trigger new leads. I don't know about y'all, but I don't want to spend copious amounts of time "chasing leads" and interrogating criminals. I just want to go from mission to mission like the old Arkham games and do my thing.

[caption id="attachment_358124" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Once you're playing the actual missions themselves, things do pick up. It's fun to zoom around the city, and missions are relatively bi?te-sized, broken up into m??ultiple interludes that all play into a chapter-based system. Not all the beats hit, and not everything comes together, but you do get the sense that you're chipping away at a mystery, and the parts that involve the team itself are often insightful.

I couldn't help but see many of the same mistakes as the DCEU's Justice League film, though: in the sense that so much was rushed, and so much was jammed in without the proper amount of development. The events that unfold in this game almost feel like it could have been a trilogy, with Batman mentoring some of t??he squad in the first game, relying on them more in the second game, and then you spring the "Batman is dead" gimmick. If you don't already care about these characters, a lot of the nuances will probably bounce off you: justifiably so. Too many factions are crammed into this narrative when each of the major players could have carried a single entry.

I wouldn't say that the map that's presented in Gotham Knights is authentically Gotham, but it's not a bad open world setting either. There are plenty of opportunities to zip through with various grappling hooks, and although the map itself is too busy, it also means that you can reasonably wander around and find stuff to do randomly. Fast travel points and a vehicle that can be summoned nearly anywhere a??lso add to the convenience of getting around.

[caption id="attachment_358125" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Going along with the live service theme, the core game has two player support, and there's also a four player side mode called Heroic Assault. At this point, I've been able to try two player co-op many times (mostly through the instant hop-in feature), and it was often a riot. In one session, I spent some time with another person who also played Red Hood (you can double up), who yelled, in character, "you want some?!" every time we wou??ld get into a skirmish. Then there's the co-op partner who didn't realize I was in their game for a solid 30 minutes, despite following them the entire time. It was seamless, and when I was done, I could hop back into my game quickly. If you're interested in co-op at all, you'll definitely want to jump in with someone you know (perhaps on a deep sale or when the game is eventually part of some promo) to get the most out of it; but I see where the team was going with it.

After playing Gotham Knights, I couldn't shake the feeling that a lot of it had the air of an Arkham-verse fan game. While there is something there, you can almost reach out and touch the design-by-committee elements and witness the souls of some of the developers leaving their bodies. If you're looking for anothe??r "Open World: The Game," this one has you covered.

The post Review: Gotham Knights appeared first on Destructoid.

Why is everyone so loud?

Every December, I, like many others, take a look back at the biggest games of the year. Usually, I limit myself to the games that I actually liked, but this year, I dipped my toes into Horizon Forbidden West, a sequel that I don't care for to a game that I don't care for. I also watched a few YouTube videos of God of War Ragnarök. I was going to play it in full, but Horizon Forbidden West put me off of paying full price for sequels to games I dislike (and 2018's God of War left me pretty cold). I just wanted to get a feel for the year's big trends. What I discover??ed was one major through-line: ?distressingly talkative characters.

I am not the first to make this observation. Most people, Destructoid's Chris Carter included, liked Horizon Forbidden West more than I did, but it was critiqued for protagonist Aloy's constant internal monologue. Ragnarök's cast of overly-helpful companions got a shoutout in nearly every discussion of the gam??e. Once I was aware of the Year of the Loud Game, though, I starte?d noticing it everywhere.

It's all around us

[caption id="attachment_356215" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Nintendo[/caption]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 carries the Xenoblade torch by having characters constantly yell their favorite quips at you; Gotham Knights, a game about being a quiet, bro?oding vigilante, brought back the Totally Natural Citizen Banter that has plagued superhero games for years. Both of these examples are games that would have been dramatically improved by just a little more peace and quiet, time to luxuriate in their evocative and interesting settings without hearing "You're on fire, Lanz!" But the trend didn't stop at new releases. No, even games that have been blessing our ears for decades saw the addition of full voice acting in 2022.

Both Live A Live and Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion brought great games to modern platforms in pleasant packages, but they also came with new voice acting. Both games are paced around their text-only dialogue, but neither remaster provides significant updates to their scripts to accommodate the newly talkative characters. They both feel awkward, as though voice acting was only included because the games needed more noise, and I spent much of my play time wishing the largely likable characters in both games would just shut up.

[caption id="attachment_356216" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Square Enix[/caption]

Then, I got around to revisiting one of my favorite games of the year. And I was very relieve??d.

Rise, Tarnished... but keep it down

Elden Ring has a lot going for it. It's got one of the best open worlds in the history of video games, its combat is the natural culmination of the last decade of FromSoftware games, and the ghost horse is very cool. The thing I appreciated most about revisiting Elden Ring, though, was its blessedly silent protagonist. The silent hero is a dying art, and Elden Ring resuscitated it at just the right time.

[caption id="attachment_356217" align="alignnone" width="640"] Image via Bandai Namco[/caption]

The Tarnished in Elden Ring is not really a character. That's fine. 2022 had a lot of video game characters who were desperate to prove that they were characters, with a lot of personality and pizzazz, and ?a l??ot to say. The Tarnished doesn't need the player to know who they are. You can project any story you like onto them, or you can choose not to project anything onto them at all. Crucially, you can choose to simply ignore them.

Most of the games I've talked about here have had really beautiful worlds with lovely music and sound design, all of which is totally drowned out by party members helpfully reminding you to attack the enemy. Elden Ring has no such party. There are speaking characters, but they're not too talkative, and you have to actively seek them out. Elden Ring is full of design decisions that encourage the player to appreciate the artistry of the world, the mechanics, the music. The ??game wants you to experience everything, and its quiet star is central to ??that ethos.

The post In 2022, everyone was chattering except the Tarnish??ed appeared first on Destructoid.

To the Batmobile

Grab your batarangs, cattle prods, and... erm... magical stun bullets, as Warner Bros Montreal has released a new update for its DC Comics-inspired adventure, Gotham Knights �?Now available for free on all platforms, the Heroic Assault content drop adds new co-op action for our cap??ed vigilante force.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX22XjOJ9-k

The new upda?te consists of two all-new standalone gameplay modes, both focusing on multiplayer mayhem for heroes Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and The Red Hood. The first mode "Heroic Assault", is a tower-climbing survival challenge, and allows up to four players to pick their way through 30 floors of increasingly dangerous enemies and boss battles. Should your squad reach the top of the tower, they will face not only the human hybrid Man-Bat, but, somewhat surprisingly, they will also have to tackle the alien lifeform Starro the Conquerer!

The second mode, "Showdown" will allow one of two players to take on supercharged versions of the main boss battles from Gotham Knights' story mode, such as Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze, and Talia Al Ghul. As players defeat each megavillain, they will be rewarded with brand new in-game goodies, including legendary gear blueprints and unique colors for character suits and Batcycles. Both Heroic Assault and Showdown are made available once each competing player has defeated Gotham Knights' rogues' galley.

Gotham Knights is now available on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

The post Battle Starro in Gotham Knights free ‘Heroic Assault’ update appeared first on Destructoid.

Longer the wait, the more it hurts

Welcome back! It’s another Tuesday, which means tonight there will be a new episode of Spot Dodge: A Live Nintendo Podcast exclusively on Destructoid. Topics: It's been quite the year of disappointing video games. From CrossfireX to Babylon's Fall, in tonight's opening topic we discuss the worst games of the year. The crew also discusses the recent Pokemon Scarlet and Violet leaks and Square Enix's major NFT blunder. All of that and so much more on Spot Dodge!

//www.youtub??e.com/watch?v=0WgbNB6S??YnA&ab_channel=SpotDodge

Video game development cycles are getting longer. The days of receiving three Uncharted games in the span of five years are over. So when a highly anticipated game ends up being aggressively mediocre, it hurts, even more, knowing you won't see the studio's next effort until five to ten years later. The most recent example that comes to mind is Gotham Knights.

WB Montreal's last game was Arkham Origins. A severely underrated Batman game I adore. So of course, I was extremely eager to play Gotham Knights. Unfortunately, it was not worth the ten-ye??ar wait. Let's talk about it!

Our lovely cast from around the web: Brett Medlock (me) and Mary Stowe from Destructoid, John Friscia from The Escapist, Greg Bargas from PC I??nvasion, and Brett Larsen, our extra special guest. Behind the scenes, Gamurs�Eric Weichhart is live-editing this week’s show.

Spot Dodge is a weekly Nintendo Podcast here at Destructoid where we dedicate an hour or two to go over the latest Nintendo news and discuss the games we’re playing. If you’re a fan ?of Nintendo Switch, RPGs, or having a good time, Spot Dodge will be a great addition to your podcast rotation.

Spot Dodge is streaming live every Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. PT / 7:00 p.m. ET on Twitch channel. PSA: We now have a dedicated Spot Dodge YouTube channel! All future episodes will be live??-streamed and uploaded there. What do you think are the worst games of the year? Don’t be afraid to join the chat and be pa?rt of the show!

Afterward, the show will be available on-demand for audio listeners via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more. The live video version will remain on both YouTube and Twitch (don’t forget to? follow and sub??scribe). So many options!

The post Long-awaited mediocre games hurt even more now appeared first on Destructoid.

Multi-monitor support and a bevy of graphics options

The Bat-Family's new escapades aren't far off now. Today, WB Montreal released a new trailer highlighting some of the options PC players will have for their crimefighting ventures in Gotham Knights.

In a special PC trailer, we get to see some more of the crew in action, as well as footage captured using the PC version. Gotham Knights will support 4K resolution and ultra-high frame rate opt??ions, as well ??as ray traced reflections.

WB Games also confirms that Gotham Knights will have Intel's XeSS A.I.-enhanced upscaling as an option. More options are shown in t?he trailer, including a menu full of toggles like resolution render and FPS limits, as well TAA upsample and more.

Particularly cool is the option to support ultrawide and multi-monitor PC setups for Gotham Knight. You k??now, so you can play the new Bat game on a Batcave-style computer layout.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=REicHG5ZR3U

Basically, there are a bunch of tools and toggles for making the Bat-family's fight? for Gotham look really pretty.

The fight for Gotham

Gotham Knights is the new title from WB Games Montreal. Rather than following Batman like other Arkham-style games, though, this one sees the associated Bat-crew taking up his ?mantle after Bruce's untimely departure.

Batgirl, Robin, Nightwin??g, and Red Hood are all playable, and the story looks set to focus in on the mysterious Court of Owls. Still, today's trailer is a reminder that we won't just be seeing owl masks all the time; ot?her villains like Mr. Freeze and Harley Quinn will also be showing up to cause some chaos.

The added PC options are nice to see, especially as Gotham Knights is focusing on the current generation of console hardware. Hopefully?? it results in a good-looking Gotham to roam around in.

Gotham Knights lands for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on October 21.

The post Gotham Knights showcases its PC feat??ures in new ??trailer appeared first on Destructoid.

New launch date set for October 21, 2022

Warner Bros. Montreal released a brand new trailer for its upcoming comic adaptation Gotham Knights. Spotlit during Gamescom Opening Night Live, the trailer contained a new release date of October 21, pulling the DC Comics' title forward a few days from its earlier announced October 25. ?Make sure to pass the word along to your co-op buddy.

The cinematic trailer featured Batgirl, Red Hood, Robin, and Nightwing as they attempt to protect the ci?ty from a who's who of its sickest villains, including the tragic and brilliant Mr. Freeze, the thesp-like monstrosity Clayface, and the mistress of mayhem herself, Harley Quinn. We also saw more from the aristocratic but highly dangerous Court of Owls, and possibly an appearance from (a much svelter-looking) Professor Pyg.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaRNa86pR2s

As part of the Gamescom Opening Night Live festivities, WB Games also highlighted Harley Quinn and Mr. Freeze with a new pair of Gotham Knights screenshots.

[caption id="attachment_341386" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{This is the face of someone you shouldn't screw over.}[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_341387" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{Uh, ditto.}[/caption]

While there were bumps in the road for this at one point 2021 release, Gotham Knights officially launches on ?October ??21, 2022, for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

The post Harley Quinn, Clayface, and Mr. Freeze ?are set to rock the Gotham Knights appeared first on Destructoid.

Locked 'n' Loaded

Warner Bros. Games has released another character trailer for its upcoming open-world actioner Gotham Knights. Following on from previous showcases on Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl, this new trailer takes a look at the brutal, no-nonsense, gun-toting style of perhaps Gotham's most dangerous vigilante, Red Hood.

As a former Robin and close confidant of The Dark Knight himself, Jason Todd learned his master's ways in the art of close combat, steal??th tactics, and precise detective work. However, following his death at the hands of The Joker and subsequent resurrection in the Lazarus Pit, Todd returned with a much shorter fuse, a deeper hatred of criminality, and an immensely more brutal approach to the concept of crime-fighting. While still a staunch ally of The Bat Family, Todd typically walks alone, perpetually on the razor-thin line of becoming the very thing he hates most.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDGtXujeQfM

Lacking the finesse of his Gotham Knights brethren, Red Hood brings core strength and ranged dominance to the party, taking down foes with bone-breaking close-quarters-combat and an array of firearms-based abilities. What he lacks in grace, Todd makes up for in raw power and earnest brutality. Unequipped with grapple abilities, Todd is able to traverse the high points of the city via air-bending skills powered by his trip to the Lazarus Pit. When the acrobatics of Nightwing or the precision of Batgirl cannot get the job done, Red Hood is here as your Mack Tr??uck �the Knights' terrifying battering ram.

Hilariously, we are assured Todd is "non-lethal" in Gotham Knights, despite his rat-a-tat-tat actions.

Gotham Knights la??unches October 2??5 on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

The post Red Hood is ba??ck with a vengeance in Gotham Knights appeared first on Destructoid.

Also, Batman is "really dead"

Gotham Knights is set to pit the rag-tag Bat-family against the enigmatic Court of Owls. There's a good chance we'll see some other classic Batman villains as well. But it sounds like the Joker won't be among the rogue's gallery of Gotham Knights.

Speaking at San Diego Comic Con 2022 yesterday (via IGN), Gotham Knights creative director Patrick Redding says the Joker won't be in Gotham Knights. The door's st?ill open for another clown-crime doer though; Redding would not confirm or?? deny whether Harley Quinn is in the game.

Redding also notes that Batman is "really dead" in Gotham Knights. There's ??been some speculation that may not be the real case, and who knows? Bat-stories have pulled off stranger twists. But for now, the focus is on the extended Bat-family.

To wit, there was also a new trailer shown, spotlighting Batgirl's crimefi??ghting capabilities.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxJcx86-vJU

A bad night in Gotham

It seems like Batgirl's got the usual lineup of Bat-gadgets and gizmos in Gotham Knight?. She also has her own Bat-bike, which looks like it could make a big entrance.

I'm really a fan of the baton she has though. At multiple points it acts a regular blunt object or ?like a tonfa, but we also see it extend out into a longer reach weapon and cause sho??ckwaves. Seems like she's set on making sure Gotham's evildoers don't stop fearing the bat symbol, even in Bruce's absence.

Batgirl is one of the four playable characters in Gotham Knights, alongside Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood.?? And while she won't get to take down the Joker, she and the other crimefighters will still have plenty to deal with in the Court of Owls, it seems.

Gotham Knights will take a bit out of crime on October 25, 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

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No not that Robin

Look, there's a lot of Robins out there. Here's where some of you will cue the "I grew up in the '60s when there was just one Robin!" voice: but each Robin has had a chance to shine in various stories with strong writing at the helm. There's more Robins even still that aren't in Gotham Knights! And there will continue to be Robins until the end of time. Batman isn't going anywhere, and neither are his wards. In the meantime, we have this Gotham Knights Robin trailer to watch. To be clear, it's Tim Drake!

So to be clear, we have Dick Grayson's Robin (who stars in Teen Titans Go, and eventually becomes Nightwing), Jason Todd's Red Hood (who was Robin at one point in most Batman timelines), and Tim Drake: who is typically seen as the "new younger Robin" in the classic costume after Grayson bailed. WB Games Montréal is showing off Tim with a new shortish clip, which focuses on his speed, "natural intelligence," and detective skills that "are on par with, if not better than Batman himself" in this particular universe, according to the developers. Man, I'm really anxious to see how that's shown in-game, because the actual "detective" work of many Batman adaptations can be clumsy at best.

That said, Tim's story probably interests me the most out of the core four. He's arguably the most attached to Batman, and hopefully the absence of Bruce informs Tim's personal journey throughout the game. That is, if the game is able to juggle everyone and the narrative all at once: it's a tall order. Hey, we actually get an explanation for his teleporting powers in the trailer (it's from Justice League tech)! It's a start. Man, I hope those team-bas?ed combos attacks are as ?smooth as they look in the trailer.

Remember, when Gotham Knights comes out on October 25 of this year, it's only on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, and will be one of the few third-party games that are exclusive to the current generation?? of consoles. Hopefully it'll justify that exclusivity.

Given that this was scheduled at the same time as this morning's Nintendo Direct Mini, I assumed maybe th??ere was going to be a miraculous Switch ne??ws sighting: but no dice.

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Big enough for the whole Bat Family

WB Montreal's Gotham Knights is sounding like a prett?y big game. Or at least big in square mileage, when it comes to the city of Gotham.

In an interview with Game Informer, Gotham Knights game director G??eoff Ellenor emphasizes the Bat?cycle's usefulness for getting around Gotham.

"It's pretty big. I haven’t put one map over th??e othe??r, but our Gotham is a big place. I tend to spend a lot of my Zoom calls on the Batcyle driving around Gotham. It is one of the fastest and most chill ways to move around the city. It feels like a big place."

Gotham Knights executive producer Fleur Marty follows it up with a more direct comparison to how big this portrayal of Batman's home w?ill be.

"For sure it’s the biggest version of Gotham that has been represented in video games," said Fleur. "The most important thing for us is its density and verticality.?? It has a lot of layers. The Batcycle is the long-range mode of transportation."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFtYcS3DPfM

Knight court

That's a big Gotham then, if we're comparing it to the likes of Arkham Knight. Good t??o know the Batfamily may have lost? Bruce but kept some wheels around.

As for other tidbits from Game Informer's coverage, the pair also addresses what happens when two players pick the same? character. It sounds like it's not only possible, but has some funny ramifications.

"We’re leaving it up to players.," said Fleur. "We know some people will want to have different characters, but some won’t care. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there’s a funny moment in the game?? if you are?? playing as two of the same character."

I'm hoping for a "two Robins walk into a bar" joke somewhere. Gotham Knights is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Oct. 25, 2022.

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Gotham Knights is out on October 25, 2022

This morning, as promised, WB Games has unveiled more info on Gotham Knights, and we finally have a release date folks! October 25, 2022. So here's a particularly interesting tidbit: a WB Games rep has informed Destructoid that "in order to provide players with the best possible gameplay experience, the game will release on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and will not be available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles. Yep, that's the Gotham Knights curren?t gen situation, and every single era elic??its its own set of polarizing responses to the news depending on the timing.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSZN_a9bu8Q

On one hand, this is a way for WB to "cleverly" charge $70 for the standard edition since it's current gen only. On the other, a lot of folks who actually own a PS5 and Xbox Series X have been waiting for the "next gen" to actually arrive outside of a select few PS5 exclusives. That time has come: at least for Gotham Knights. Today, the big reveal is gameplay of Nightwing and Red Hood �a regular old set of Robins �as they take on the Court of Owls, one of the more semi-recent (as far as Batman has been around) popular rogue groups in Batman's gall??ery. You can watch that below!

The 13-minute video is a pure walkthrough, complete with voiceover. It showcases Nightwing and Red Hood's abilities: the latter of which uses "non-lethal rounds," whic?h still lets the creators get away with having a hero who dual-wields pistols. The best part of the video is that it's two-player co-op, so you can see how multiplayer will flow, as well as the team-up syste??m. The UI will be customizable, and we get to see a bit of Belfry (hub) gameplay, where you'll choose story missions (you can fast travel into the open world from it), upgrade loadouts (through the workbench), and watch some cutscenes play out.

And of course, the price tags are public knowledge no?w too:

• Gotham Knights Standard Edition ($69.99)
• Gotham Knights Deluxe Edition ($89.99 - with the base game, the Visionary Pack DLC, "exclusive gear and cosmetics," Beyond Suitstyle character skins inspired by the animated series, "and more")
• Gotham Knights Collector's Edition ($299.99 - Deluxe Edition + an augmented reality pin, a 16-page media book, "exclusive Gotham City map," a four-character statue diorama "and more"
• Pre-orders will get the "233 Kustom Batcycle skin" at launch

//www.tiktok.com/@destructoid/video/70??98403610672860422?is_from_webapp=1&send??er_device=pc&web_id=7052788164067706373

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Waking up to the Bat-Signal

After a little bit of info on Gotham Knights seemingly leaked out, it looks like a more official update is on the way. A new Gotham Knights update is airing tomorrow, May 10.

The update will go live at 6 a.m. PT, 9 a.m. ET. Since there's no stream link, it doesn't seem like it will be a live show??case.

Nightwing and Red Ho??od look to be taking center ??stage for this update though.

//twitter.com/GothamKn??ights/status/1523694379239882752

As for what's in store, we might have seen a hint of it already. A recent update to the PlayStation Store listing for Gotham Knights suggests it might have four-player co-op now. Though originally premiered as a two-player game with four ?character options, this fou?r-player could see the whole Bat Family hit the streets of Gotham together. If it's real, that is.

Knight, knight

It?'s been a little while since we last got an update on WB Montreal's new Bat game. It's set in a universe where Bruce Wayne, the Batman, is apparently dead. And now the extended Bat Family—Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Red Hood—have to contend with the mysterious Cour??t of Owls.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8TCfiF7Z2w

It's taking up the Bat mantle, as Rocksteady has been working on a different DC universe game in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Rocksteady's project isn't due out until spring 2023 at this point. Gotham Knights, meanwhile, is targeting the fitting month of Halloween. WB Montreal confirmed not too long ago that Gotham Knights will launch on Oct. 25, 2022.

It's not the only game set for this fall, though. The release schedule has gradually started to fill up, with Splatoon 3 headed for September and Square Enix isekai Forspoken also picking a date in October. And of course, Starfield is set to lift off in November. With the Summer Game Fest just around the corner, no doubt we'll start to see the fall get a little more packed. We'll see tomorrow what Gotham Knights has in store for October.

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The Bat-Family sets a date for their fight against crime

Co-op action game Gotham Knights has finally ??set a release date. WB Games Montreal's brawler will take to the streets of Gotham on Oct. 25, 2022.

The new date was revealed this morning, and shared on social media. Though originally set for a 2021 launch, Gotham Knights was delayed into 2022 almost a full year ago. The Bat Crew is no??w fin??ally getting their chance to take on crime this fall, instead.

//twitter.com/gothamkni??ghts/status/1501558438681317380

The set-up of Gotham Knights is that Batman is dead (presumably), and his many protégés must take up the Bat-Mantle and fight the evildoers of Gotham in his stead. It's an action game that takes after the Batman: Arkham series, but with charac??ter-specific moves and abilities in play.

The four playable heroes are Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Red Hood. It's also se?t to feature several Bat-verse villains—one of the early trailers centered around Mr. Freeze—but puts the Court of Owls at the center of the drama. The secret society is up to no good, and there's a legion of angry owl-fighters to back them up.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV2op47sKmY

Those itching for some more heroic, Arkham-style adventures have been waiting patiently for more news on Gotham Knights. Now at least, the co-op brawler has set a date and looks to be one of the first big fall releases on the calendar. No doubt that timeframe will start to fill up as we get into the summer of game announcements, but Gotham Knights is getting out ahead of the pack and setting its ?sights on October 25.

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The game was delayed out of 2021 but we'll see more of Batgirl, Robin, Red Hood, and Nightwing 'in the coming months'

The longer Gotham Knights simmers in my mind, the more I actively want to play it. I have reservations, sure – can WB Games Montréal really juggle co-op and character progression and everything else at this scale? – but even if the game ultimately falls short of the Arkham legacy, I'm very much in.

That said, a lot could change in a year. Chris sent me a vague Slack message this morning about "Gotham," and in my pre-coffee funk, I could only assume he was talking about this. For once, he wasn't!

pic.twitter.com/O1U4T0gK3u

— Gotham Knights (@GothamKnights) March 19, 2021

In a short and not-so-sweet tweet, WB Games Montréal said that it needs "more time to deliver the best possible experience for players," and as such, Gotham Knights has been delayed out of 2021.

If you need it, a refresher on Gotham Knights' "open-world city with drop-in co-op" structure:

And a gentl??e nudge that, last we heard, it will be playable offline in single-player.

"We look forward to showcasing more of the game in the coming months," ??the studio added.

One of the big lingering questions, at least for me, is how progression feels in practice – and whether the creators will make the most of the Court of Owls. While we saw damage pop-ups and enemies with level icons in the initial footage, there's supposedly "no level gating whatsoever" in Gotham Knights.

With the summer of news streams looming on the uncomfortably close horizon, I'm sure they'?ll have plenty of opportunities to fill us in; I'm ready to hear about a whole bunch of 2021 games that are actually 2022 games. For anyone out there struggling to snag a PS5, Xbox Series X/S, or up-to-date GPU, you aren't missing much – at least not yet. Next year's game lineup will be a different sto?ry.

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Bat-family Values

Warner Bros. Montreal's DC adventure Gotham Knights has been through something of an ??overhaul. Specifically, the comic-book adventure's combat system has been redesigned and tweaked in order to optimize co-??op play.

Speaking in an interview with GamesRadar+, Gotham Knights executive producer Fleur Marty referenced various additions to the game's design that will allow for better synergy among players and their respective bat-characters. Drop-in/drop-out co-op has been implemented, ??as has cross-progression for all characters. So if you're rocking Batgirl of Burnside for the entire adventure, (as yours truly will be), then Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood will also be leveling up to some degree in the background, and thus not left floundering should they be needed in battle.

"Since the other members of t?he Batman family are always present in some way in the background, while you're out in the world fighting crime or unraveling the mystery, they?? don't stay inactive," noted Fleur. "So it makes sense that they are also progressing and getting stronger."

In regards to actual fisticuffs, Fleur stated that Gotham Knights could be classed as "a brawler," with mechanics that will feel familiar to fans of the Batman: Arkham series, but that the team has worked to define the title's four heroes, with styles attuned to the characters skills and personalities. As for Gotham's notorious Rogues' Gallery, it seems we'll still h??ave to w??ait a little longer for some reveals.

"We looked at the overall tone of our Gotham City and used that to decide which supporting cast and villains we should build the game around," said Fleur. "That became the foundation, it shaped the game?? systems, and then we built the g??ame's story and found our cast of characters to work on top of that."

I can't wait t??o see who made the cut. Let's go, C??lock King.

Gotham Knights will launch in 2021 for PS4, PS5, Xbox ??On??e, Xbox Series X, and PC.

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