WB Games
Gotham Knights, revealing the secrets of the Batfamily
Gotham Knights, we travel to Gotham City... correction, Montreal to reveal the secrets of the Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin family.
Gotham Knights is about to arrive and WB Games Montréal extended us an invitation to get a first-hand look at their latest exclusive for next-gen platforms Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, which will be released on October 21.
A world without Batman
The game will begin in a Gotham City without the Dark Knight, because he has died. In the middle of this scenario, we will have to take the reins of responsibility that he had through the Bat-family Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin. Since we take on the role as a team, all the former companions of the caped crusader will have to keep at bay all the crooks who have decided to make the city a complete chaos and attempt to fill the boots left by the best detective in the world.
A studio that breaths DC comics
It is essential to highlight that in our visit to the studio we could see that in effect the entire development team breathes everything related to the comics of the characters, since everywhere we could find magazines, and above all, references to inspire the lore with which they built the story.
Holy blows, Batman!
During our hands-on, we had the opportunity to play as Batgirl in a part that works more like a tutorial. Here we saw that our character had a movement to climb that is activated with the X button, a button to scan the environment, and the crosshairs to investigate the highlighted clues thanks to our bat gadget's augmented reality.
With the L1 button, you can aim and use the Grappling Hook, either to advance, climb or move.
The attack is given with the Square button and depending on the intensity with which we press it will be the type of attack. We also have stealth attacks from behind, from above, or directly, depending if the enemy allows it and if there are no others around who may notice our presence. We must take into account that the scanning helps us to identify the number of enemies since after its use they will be highlighted.
As in the Batman Arkham Collection games, the final moves are accompanied by a slow-motion sequence, which indicates that we have finished with all the enemies in the area or section.
Another key move is that with the Circle button we evade attacks. Stronger enemies need to be unbalanced with a heavier move, leaving the frame button pressed to unbalance them so they can open their guard.
To the Batcycle!
In order to access this incredible motorcycle, you will have to call it using the up button. This has GPS navigation that tells you where you have to go, you can also attack it by pressing the triangle button. To break you must press L2, to jump X objects, and to get off you only have to use L1.
Different personalities
Each of the characters has different characteristics:
- Batgirl is more into gadgets but she is also focused on one-on-one attack because of her kickboxing, capoeira, and jiu-jistu skills. Her main weapon is the tonfa, the latter is more balanced because she is good at solving riddles.
- Nightwing, on the other hand, is more acrobatic and his fencing batons are of great help in neutralizing enemies.
- Red Hood is stronger with guns because he has two of them, some with high-tech attachments.
- Robin is more focused on stealth fighting because his movements are weaker, although he has an extendable staff.
How are Gotham's problems addressed?
Some main missions, at least from what we could see in this build, are more on-rails, although there are others to explore in an open-world fashion, opening up endless possibilities.
BatRPG elements
It is important to note that each character has her own skill tree, for example, Batgirl can glide, Nightwing has his own drones, Robin has the ability to teleport and Red Hood has his mistical rounds which are a kind of heavy bullets.
Dynamic duos
The cooperative mode can be played from the beginning and has a particular move that you can execute in pairs. One must grab the enemy with R2 and the other can finish him off with X, although it is important to note that this can be done in wide spaces. It is also important to keep in mind that some missions can block the map until you finish them.
All of these can be executed either stealthily or directly, everything will depend on the team's preference and above all on the skills of each character, as there are moves that can cause effects such as slowing down enemies with electricity.
Gotham Knights will definitely bring out the best in its students, and it will be up to us to show how much we have learned our lesson.