The Gotham Knights isn’t connected to Batman: Arkham's universe, WB Games Montréal is borrowing several of the gameplay elements that made that saga so beloved. The team of Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Robin (Tim Drake), and Red Hood (Jason Todd) will use a mixture of stealth, gadgets, and stylish martial arts moves to defend Gotham from the sinister Court of Owls and their dreaded Talon enforces, with Batman having been killed prior to the story.
Another element that Gotham Knights borrows from the excellent Batman: Arkham series is the open-world version of Gotham City that players can explore, battle enemies in and locate hidden secrets and collectibles. While 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum was confined to Arkham Island, its 2011 follow-up Batman: Arkham City featured a walled-off section of Gotham that served as a makeshift prison for the various criminals and supervillains of the DC mythos. The Christmas-set prequel game Batman: Arkham Origins (which was developed by Gotham Knights studio WB Games Montréal), featured this same setting in an earlier time period along with a new portion of Gotham, and 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight took advantage of the series’ jump to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles to allow players to drive Batman’s signature Batmobile through the entire Gotham landscape.
It seems that Gotham Knights will continue this escalation, as WB Games Montréal Executive Producer Fleur Marty and Game Director Geoff Ellenor recently claimed that their superhero title will feature the largest version of Gotham City to be featured in a video game yet during an interview with New York City found in Marvel’s Spider-Man. She also noted that Gotham Knights’ game world is large enough to necessitate constant use of vehicles like the Batcycle to travel to a given destination, and Marty described these vehicles as “long-range modes of transportation” in comparison to the many other gadgets that provide a slower-paced means of transversal across Gotham Knights’ vertical environments.
Sure enough, the titular Gotham Knights will have no shortage of ways to get around this massive new version of Gotham City, as gameplay footage has highlighted Nightwing’s high-tech Flying Trapeze glider and Red Hood’s unexpected mystical powers. However, Fleur Marty also revealed that vehicles like that Batcycle won’t be upgradable in Gotham Knights and that the majority of the skills and abilities surrounding them are mainly combat-related. This is a notable contrast to the Batmobile of Batman: Arkham Knight, which featured its own line of purchasable upgrades for both its standard form and the controversial Bat-Tank mode.
Nonetheless, fans will have plenty of territory to take these vehicles out for a spin on the mean streets of Gotham City, as Gotham Knights will feature the largest version of the perpetually troubled city in a video game to date. Gotham Knights is set to launch on October 25, meaning it won’t be too much longer before the quartet of Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood set out to fight crime and unravel the mystery of the Court Of Owls in this massive open-world playground.
Source: Game Informer (via Game Rant)
