Batman and his protégées often prefer to handle enemies from the shadows rather than deal with their foes head-on, and today's new new Gotham Knights reveal was teased on social media yesterday, May 9, and earlier this morning fans were treated to a wealth of new footage showing two of the superhero adventure's playable vigilantes in action.
From what has been shown of Gotham Knights so far, it appears that developer WB Montreal is borrowing heavily from Rocksteady’s critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham series. This is no accident either, as WB Montreal once worked on the 2013 prequel Batman: Arkham Origins. These games strongly emphasized the Dark Knight’s ninja-like stealth abilities and brutal takedowns, and Gotham Knights looks to build on the formula that made the Arkham games such a smash hit with gamers and comic book fans alike. The game will feature four unique Gotham Knights playable characters with their own different skills, equipment and preferred approaches to handling missions as they work together to protect Gotham City in the wake of Batman’s apparent death.
Posted to YouTube by the official each of Gotham Knights' playable characters has their own unique takedown moves and that takedowns come in two distinct varieties. Ambush strikes are faster to perform, but make more noise and can possibly alert other enemies to the player's presence. Meanwhile, Stealth Takedowns are slower but will allow the player to silently subdue their foes.
Today’s Gotham Knights trailer highlighted several other aspects of the game, such as the differences in Nightwing and Red Hood's fighting styles, the Augmented Reality vision that assists the heroes in following trails and discovering clues, and Gotham Knights’ vehicle-based traversal and Fast Travel mechanics that will allow players to reach their objectives within the open world of Gotham City as quickly as possible. Previous Gotham Knights trailers have hinted at a few of these promising gameplay mechanics, as well as showing off Batgirl’s melee attacks and Robin’s new satellite-powered teleportation.
Now that fans have gotten a closer look at Nightwing and Red Hood in action, it looks like Gotham Knights will indeed serve as an evolution of sorts to the Batman: Arkham games, building on the gameplay mechanics of that series under a brand-new continuity. Stealth looks to retain the grappling hook system and takedown attacks of the Arkham franchise while adding in new varieties that will require players to choose between a swift Ambush Strike and a quieter Stealth Takedown. Fans will get to see more of these stealthy attacks from Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Robin when Gotham Knights releases on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S this October.
Source: GothamKnights/YouTube
