After a short hiatus, it’s good for superhero games to start getting more love again. Ever since the explosion of popularity with Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4, superhero games have been coming back in full force after the Arkham series said goodbye in 2015. Now there’s an abundance of them, ranging from traditional fare like Spider-Man to the new stuff from DC like Suicide Squad. Two upcoming superhero games are continuing that trend in 2020 and 2021: Marvel’s Avengers and Gotham Knights.
Albeit, fans know a lot more about Marvel’s Avengers than Gotham Knights since the game is releasing next week. Both Marvel and DC are dipping their toes into expansive, online superhero games all about playing with friends and fighting crime/evil together. At first glance, both games seem very similar in scope and story content, but the mechanics and narrative content couldn’t be more different. From what has been shown so far, here’s how Marvel’s Avengers and Gotham Knights stack up in comparison.
One of the biggest assumptions made about Gotham Knights so far is that, like Avengers, the game may be sold entirely as a games-as-a-service title. Based on the individual enemy levels associated with each of the henchmen in the gameplay trailer, it’s understandable if this quickly becomes a concern for players. WB Montreal hasn’t made an official statement on the matter, but judging from the gameplay itself, this doesn’t necessarily look like the case for Gotham Knights. If anything, this could be an expanded version of the Waynetech upgrade system from Arkham Knight.
Individual and enemy levels are just indicative of a level progression system and possible upgrade trees, like that of upgrades in the previous Arkham games. There’s already signs of this in the UI, and with each dispatched enemy, each character gains a certain amount of points per kill/capture/etc. A proper comparison would be that Gotham Knights RPG systems are more akin to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey instead of Avengers, as the game didn’t show off any new loot, just different character costumes entirely. There are elements of damage calculations for weapons in Gotham Knights, so it is possible that loot plays a bigger role, but it doesn’t appear to be the sole focus of progression.
Perhaps obvious based on the two types of games, but it is worth pointing out that the character roster between both games is vastly different. In a lot of ways, Marvel’s Avengers plays like an arcade-like power trip, as players can control practically any mainstream member of the Avengers. Each of the playable characters coming to the game has their own unique playstyle, but they’re all based on light attack/heavy attack playstyle for simplicity, with some special abilities in between, and more are on the way. Loot and gear aside, the gameplay isn’t particularly complicated or highly skill-based, and only involves minor reaction tests and strategy.
As for Gotham Knights, combat appears to be less hectic but is more reaction-based and tailored to character’s abilities. Each member of Gotham Knights‘ Bat-family has their own unique subset of abilities along with their individual weapons and playstyles. Batgirl, for example, utilizes several special abilities like a bat swarm and flurry attack that drains a special meter under her health. There’s also the classic elements of verticality and grappling-hook-platforming from previous Arkham games. Whereas Avengers is taking a catch-all approach to its variety of heroes, Gotham Knights is honing in on its more concise roster and fleshing out their movesets individually.
Obviously with Avengers, the scope of the game is far greater than Gotham Knights, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re two very different games. Scope isn’t everything either, as some may find that they prefer the concise, controlled nature of Gotham Knights‘ gameplay and narrative when it releases. Marvel’s Avengers largely plays out more like a classic arcade game, on the other hand, and likely does so on purpose. It’s meant to be a strictly fun gameplay experience that flexes its gameplay depth in the loot systems. Gotham Knights, at least from what can be gathered from the trailer and gameplay, seems to be going for a more traditional RPG approach whilst also making combat more mechanically complex.
Like the Arkham games before it, Gotham Knights wants to be a superhero simulation that makes players work for the satisfaction of being like Batman. Avengers wants to make the superhero experience as straight-forward as possible, and that’s not a knock on the game by any means. These are two very different superhero experiences, and it would be interesting to see how the two games compare once they’ve both launched.
Marvel’s Avengers releases September 4, 2020, on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X versions are also on the way. Gotham Knights releases in 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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