Batman’s illustrious, costumed family of heroes get their own video game in Gotham Knights. It takes place in a universe separate from Batman Arkham, where the death of Bruce Wayne/Batman leads his family to investigate the League of Assassins, whose leader, Ra’s Al Ghul, who also died, is responsible for the death of the former. Following their findings, rumors of a centuries-old mythical group controlling the city of Gotham begin to stir.

Gotham Knights is a 2022 superhero action RPG. It was developed by WB Games Montreal and published by WB Interactive Entertainment. It is currently available for PC, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Gotham Knights and the Batman Arkham series may be present within this review.

The Bat Fam come together for their most significant case yet.

The last time we received an action game based on Batman was 2015’s Batman Arkham Knight. That game was an adaptation of sorts for “Under the Red Hood,” whereas this game is a bit of an adaptation of “A Death in the Family,” but with Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd, as well as the greater Batman Family switching roles. In Gotham Knights, you choose one of four Batman kids between Dick Grayson/Nightwing, Jason Todd/Red Hood, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, and Tim Drake/Red Robin. You can also team up with a friend to complete the story campaign or two others for the Heroic Assault mode, essentially an enemy wave mode.

Gotham Knights introduces co-op into a new type of Batman title.

THE GOOD: Sometime after fighting with Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne returns to the Batcave, where he’s confronted by Ra’s al Ghul, who the influence of the Lazarus Pit has entirely overcome. During their battle, Bruce sacrifices himself and kills Ra’s by exploding the Batcave. Nightwing and the other Batkids, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Red Robin, begin an investigation into Bruce’s death. Initial evidence leads the group to three central Batman villains: Harley Quinn, The Penguin (who’s gone straight having opened a nightclub), and Mr. Freeze. They learn that Bruce and Harley were working together on something before his death and meet her at Blackgate Prison, where they gather further evidence, but Harley escapes, causing havoc in Gotham with a new cult. Meanwhile, The Penguin informs them of the reality surrounding the legendary Court of Owls group, rumored to have controlled Gotham City for centuries.

Mr. Freeze has teamed up with a tech game to retrieve technology to keep his freeze suit active, having felt betrayed by Batman, who was trying to help cure him. After dealing with Quinn and Freeze, the Bat Fam investigates the Court. They confirm that the group is real and has had some mass control over Gotham. Things become even more complicated when Ra’s daughter and Bruce’s former lover, Talia al Ghul, returns to Gotham, claiming to be removed from the League of Assassins. She ensures Ra’s death by cremating him so The Lazarus Pit can’t revive him and meets Nightwing to warn him about the Court. The group learns that Bruce’s uncle, Jacob Kane, is not only a member of the Court but a high-ranking member known as The Voice.

Kane’s wife, Catherine, the head of the GCPD, attempts to arrest Jacob, but Talia kills him. Talia reveals she never really left the Court and wanted her father dead because she felt he was destroying the League with his recent behavior. After chasing down Talia, who reveals a war between the League and Court, the group encounters Clayface, who has returned to Gotham following a long disappearance. Deluded and violent, the group is forced to take Clayface out after he becomes more powerful when combined with the city’s water flow. They defeat Clayface and return to tracking Talia, leading them to the now-abandoned Arkham Asylum. There, the Bat Family finds that the Court has used stolen research from Dr. Langstrom (who had earlier been killed by the Court) to experiment on willing members, turning them into bat-like monsters.

The Bat Family defeats the Batmen and confronts Talia and the League of Shadows at the remnants of the destroyed Batcave. There, they fight a revived Bruce, who is trying to beat the influence of Talia and The Lazarus Pit. Bruce beats the pit’s control, and the others allow him to rest as they face Talia. Talia, who is using the power of the pit, is defeated, and the Court attempts to take over the secret Lazarus Pit that was placed underneath the Batcave. Bruce uses the Batwing to destroy the pit, sacrificing himself. Following Bruce’s second death, the Bat Family publicly reveals the Court of Owls and swears to protect Gotham from them.

Unlockable costumes through crafting feature some fan-favorite eras of our leads.

Much to like about Gotham Knights comes from its gameplay. It’s not as flashy as past games, but it has some fun to it that shows its own sort of brilliance. Some RPG mechanics are present, such as gaining XP to level up your character and using elemental attacks for the best damage possible to enemies. There are a lot of costumes to unlock and wear for the four Bat Family members, about sixteen, each spread across a multitude of different arcs and eras. You unlock them by obtaining material to craft them all in-game by completing missions. You can also craft new weapons, both close and long-range-based, with each weapon having different attributes such as elemental damage and base attack power increase.

There are also abilities to unlock, such as jumping attacks and defense-breaking moves. Support abilities such as bigger stat buffs and ally heals are also included. Most damage-dealing abilities are meant for specialty enemies requiring an element to defeat more straightforwardly. The story is solid enough for a single playthrough, but I wish they would have featured more of Batman’s expansive rogue gallery rather than focusing on the much more popular ones and, even then, at a limited number. The map is decently sized, and you unlock shortcuts through side missions with Lucius Fox. Speaking of side missions, these were often limited to defeating and interrogating enemies and fetching quests. However, some did connect to the campaign, which was cool.

While I tested it on and off between two and four players, I was surprised by how well co-op worked. Yes, it sucks that all four Bat Family members can’t play campaign together, but it’s something you get over quickly. When you get to a four-player co-op with Heroic Assualt, which is a beat-em-up and, at times, tower defense mode, it can be insanely fun seeing all the chaos ensue on screen.

Character switching is as simple as clicking on the costume at the Belfry.

THE BAD: If you give Gotham Knights a chance, you must come in, recognizing that it is not an Arkham game. And I’m already aware and fully understand how that will be an instant turn-off for most, especially coming from the admittedly less-than-stellar Arkham Knight. At the same time, though, Gotham Knights never advertised itself as an Arkham game. It was made known early that the two had separate universes. As for the game itself, combat doesn’t flow as well as in the Arkham series, which is strange because WB Montreal has worked on that combat system before and has done an excellent job with Arkham Origins. The mobile mock-up of the UI hurts my head and feels like a chore to cycle through. I’ll never know why they chose this design, but rumors and leaks suggested this was initially meant to be a live service-like game.

The game’s GPS often felt useless to the point where you would create your own shortcuts because the map wanted you to go two miles out of your way to the tracker. Eventually, I just had a “fuck it” attitude with the batcycle and traversed by climbing buildings on foot for a good portion of the game. It was pretty fun, honestly, and made finding secrets easier. Crafting more powerful weapons and unique costumes also becomes a chore towards the end game, with the material necessary being harder to obtain.

Explore a semi-open world Gotham to take on The Bat’s rogue gallery.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Gotham Knights is a sound attempt at separating the DC action games away from something like Arkham, but it ventures on being just okay to, at times, good. The story, for the most part, was solid, but some character changes felt odd like Bruce seemingly feeling content with killing. This can be forgiven because it is based within a new universe, but diehard fans will undoubtedly be upset over these changes. While not as polished as Arkham, the gameplay is still solid enough for the team behind it. Co-Op was surprisingly enjoyable. It sucks that the campaign can only support two players, but understandable. We won’t likely receive a sequel, but more non-Arkham action titles existing alongside future titles based on Arkham can work. At the very least, Gotham Knights does a decent job proving this true.