I think it’s safe to say, and many would agree, that the Batman: Arkham series, by Rocksteady, set the bar pretty high with its storytelling and gameplay mechanics. So when Warner Bros announced Gotham Knights, developed by WB Games Montreal, I was pretty excited to see what they had in store for us.

Not tied to the previous Arkham games, Gotham Knights is its own story. Batman is dead and Gotham City’s crime is spiraling out of control. Thankfully, the Gotham Knights are here to pick up where Batman left off. You take on the roles of Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, or Red Hood, and as they attempt to restore justice in Gotham City and investigate what happened to Batman, the Gotham Knights come into conflict with the secret society, the Court of Owls.

After a lengthy opening cinematic, you’re able to choose who you want to play with. You don’t need to worry about being stuck with that character, as you are able to swap and change between heroes whenever you like at any point in the game. Each hero comes with their own skill set, abilities, and skill tree giving them their own unique styles. It was a welcome sense of freedom to not be forced to stay with one given character for the entire game. Swapping between heroes is simple. While at the Belrey, which acts as the game’s central hub, simply walk up to one of the other heroes’ suits and swap. It’s that easy.

Gotham Knights splits its missions up into case files. Story-based case files and Villain case files. The story overall was pretty good, mixing a ton of stealth, action, and puzzle-solving at the right moments with an amazing amount of enemy variety, giving you the opportunity to make use of your hero’s abilities. The Villain case files were my favourite. These are kind of like side quests/missions. There are 3 Villain case files in the game at the moment. Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze, and Clayface, with the Mr. Freeze case file by far my favorite. I’d love to see future DLC added to the game where new case files are added allowing us to see what some of the other villains of Gotham City have been up to.

Combat in Gotham Knights is very similar to the Arkham games, but it does have its own twist to it and is solid and very enjoyable throughout the entire game. While you do start off with the basics, the more abilities you unlock and learn, you slowly become an unstoppable machine. Batman would be proud.

You have close and ranged attacks with a button press, though holding them down will turn them into strong attacks or grabs. To trigger one of your Momentum Abilities, once charged, all you need to do is hold down the RB button before pressing or holding down X, B, A, or Y. These help with things like crowd control when you are being overrun with a lot of enemies at once. To make this all even better, it can be done in a drop-in, drop-out co-op with one other friend.

In between missions, you’ll be hanging out at the Belfry. Here you’ll be able to track all your game progressions and upgrade your gear, all before heading out to patrol Gotham City. Each night you head out there will be different crimes taking place that need to be stopped. These crimes range from taking down criminal strongholds, hostage rescue, or bank robberies, all ranging in difficulty from Low to Very High. Completing these objectives will reward you with materials for crafting new gear, XP, and case file intel that provide more information on new crimes taking place.

As you play, you’ll be able to craft new, stronger gear using materials you’ve earned along the way or found in chests, as well as mod chips that can be added to your gear. Mod chips focus on health, damage, or abilities, and inserting them into your gear will increase your gear’s power level and stats.

Gotham City is big, with 3 separate areas to explore. You can get around using your grappling hook by simply aiming at the ledge and pulling the trigger, or you can use your trusty old Batcycle. I found myself using a mix of both. Another way is fast travel locations. These don’t unlock until after you’ve completed a side quest for someone. Once unlocked you’re good to go. I found myself using these to get to one of the main 3 areas, then jumped on either my Batcycle or just grappled my way to where I wanted to go. Gotham Knights does have a New Game+ option after finishing the main story, which also increases your level cap from 30 to 40, and offers a tougher experience of the campaign.

I’ll quickly touch on it here seeing as it’s a hot topic online right now, yes, I’m talking about the game being locked at 30FPS. We played on the Xbox Series X and the 30FPS thing didn’t hinder our game or experience at all. Sure, a higher FPS would be nice, but it was fine. Don’t let it stop you from picking up Gotham Knights. Alright, with that out of the way, back to it.

While the map shows you where crimes are taking place and fast travel locations, what it doesn’t show you are where the collectibles are, and boy are there a lot to be collected. Littered around the map are Historia Strigidae hidden pages, Gotham City art murals, Landmark plaques, Bruce Wayne’s hidden audio recordings, and Batarangs to retrieve. Plenty to hunt down for all you achievement hunters out there.

Overall, Gotham Knights is a solid, yet addicting experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. Even after the credits rolled, I couldn’t wait to get back onto the streets of Gotham City to start tracking down all the collectibles I had missed on my first playthrough. If you are a fan of Rocksteady’s Arkham-style games, whether playing solo or with a friend, Gotham Knights is worth picking up.

Written by: MKAU Gaming