WB Games Montreal, the studio that developed Batman: Arkham Origins, is returning to the DC lineup with Gotham Knights, an open-world action-adventure game set in Gotham after the death of Bruce Wayne. Players will be able to take on the role of four of the Caped Crusader’s successors, Robin, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Nightwing.
Although Gotham Knights has strong connections to the Arkham universe established by Rocksteady, it takes place in its own separate continuity. There’s one great way, however, that Gotham Knights could distinguish itself from the Arkhamverse to give its own version of Gotham a unique feel, and to avoid direct comparisons between its new project and the Arkham series.
WB Games Montreal has already revealed that there will be at least a few classic Batman villains still at large after the death of Bruce Wayne. Mr. Freeze, for one, appears in a gameplay video as part of a “villain crime,” which Gotham Knights’ creative director Patrick Redding describes as “a series of encounters where the player has to do a certain amount of legwork and detective work to hunt down the villain at the next major confrontation.”
This makes it seem likely that, as well as the main plot involving the Court of Owls, there will be classic Batman villains returning throughout Gotham Knights’ open-world version of the city, which provides a great opportunity for Gotham Knights to distinguish itself from the Arkhamverse. The Arkham games, like each new version of the Batman comics, movies, and TV shows, had its own spin on its villain designs, with many being conceived as grittier versions of their counterparts in Batman: The Animated Series.
The design of Batgirl’s costume in Gotham Knights still strongly resembles Batman: The Animated Series, as does some of the architecture shown off in the game’s Gotham so far. However, if Gotham Knights too closely emulates the design of The Animated Series and by extension the Arkham games, it risks not being able to create its own feel for the city while also inviting comparison to Rocksteady’s own upcoming co-op Arkhamverse game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. While the two games are always going to draw comparison, finding areas to experiment with its own visual style could go a long way towards making Gotham Knights stand out.
That’s where villain crimes come in. There have been so many different designs for the huge variety of bad guys in the Batman rogues gallery over the years that WB Games Studio could easily draw aesthetic influence from. With more rumored returning villains like Poison Ivy in Gotham Knights, that variation in design could make Gotham Knights stand out. Of course, having characters who died in the Arkhamverse like Poison Ivy in the game will also be a reminder that they’re separate continuities, but by exploring different designs fully in Gotham Knights could make that distinction seem worthwhile rather than just technical.
For now, much remains to be revealed about Gotham Knights’ plot and which characters fans of the franchise can expect to see appear in-game. However, drawing on different artists’ runs, different actors who played the characters over the years, and the other ways that Batman’s villains have been reinterpreted in the long-running franchise could be key if WB Game Montreal wants to encourage people to judge Gotham Knights on its own merits instead of comparing it to the Arkham games.
Gotham Knights will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X in 2021.
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