During the DC FanDome event, WarnerBros. Games Montreal officially unveiled their new Batman game, Gotham Knights. The trailer confirmed the Court of Owls storyline that has been teased in the week leading up to the event, as well as revealing that there will be four playable characters from the Bat Family.
Gotham Knights is being billed as an open-world, third-person action RPG, and will release in 2021. The developer for this particular Batman outing is not Rocksteady Studios (who instead are working on a Suicide Squad game) but WarnerBros. Games Montreal, who previously worked on DLC story expansions for Arkham Knight, as well as prequel game Batman: Arkham Origins. Players this time around will not be playing as Batman himself, but as four other members of the Batman extended crime-fighting family. As the trailer reveals, Bruce Wayne was killed in an unidentified explosion, and it is up to Batman's four allies to step up and keep various criminal masterminds from taking advantage of the void left by Batman's absence.
There are four heroes revealed in the Gotham Knights trailer: Red Hood, Batgirl, Nightwing and Robin. Red Hood, aka Jason Todd, is a former Robin who was brutally murdered by the Joker before eventually being resurrected. Red Hood takes a much more violent approach to crime-fighting than Batman and is the only team member to use guns. Barbara Gordon, daughter of former Gotham Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, once again takes on the role of Batgirl. It's interesting to note that a wheelchair can be spotted in her scene, indicating Gotham Knights takes place after the attack that paralyzed from the waist down. Until her recovery, Barbara used the persona of Oracle to aid Batman with her computer and hacking skills. The original Robin, Dick Grayson, will be seen in the game wearing the mantle of Nightwing, while the role of Robin is currently occupied by Tim Drake, a young prodigy and detective who first came to Batman's attention after Tim used his skills to deduce Batman's identity.
How Will the Heroes of Gotham Knights Affect Gameplay?
The entire game of Gotham Knights will be playable either in single player or two player co-op, so players can expect to play all of these heroes at one point or another. Each hero will have a different style of approaching combat. Batgirl, for instance, relies more on melee to trounce enemies, while Robin prefers a stealthier approach. Red Hood will have a variety of weapons at his disposal, while Nightwing will favor his Escrima Sticks. And based on the multiple costumes that can be spotted in the various promotional trailers, it appears players will be able to unlock and swap outfits, adding even more variety to the heroes.
Whether or not these are all the heroes from the Batman universe that will appear in Gotham Knights remains to be seen. It's possible that such characters as Batwoman or Batwing could show up in a supporting role to aid in various missions. It will also be interesting to see if certain missions are only playable with certain characters, or if it will be possible to play the entire game as Batgirl, if that was a player's desire.
Source: Gotham Knights
Gotham Knights will be available in 2021 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and PC