Gotham Knights Would’ve Succeeded Without The Arkham Games

Players form their opinions about games after their release, whether good or bad. If a title is received negatively at launch, then there are cases where the consensus turns around thanks to the support it gets, and vice versa. However, there are some titles where players judge it harshly before even getting their hands on it, which was the case with Gotham Knights.

Gotham Knights is a third-person action-adventure game set in the Batman universe, but unlike the games before, this one focuses on the Bat Family instead of Batman himself. Fans bashed the game thanks to two facts; it isn’t in the Arkhamverse and has multiplayer elements.  However, I think Gotham Knights wouldn’t have been as hated without the constant comparisons with the Arkham series.

A Long-Awaited Online Gotham Experience

One of the biggest selling points for Gotham Knights is that it’s an immersive multiplayer experience that players can enjoy with their friends. While there are many Batman games, most are strictly single-player, whether it be Batman Begins, Vengeance, or even the Arkham games. The closest these games got to multiplayer was a leaderboard that compared statistics with other players.

Played for the first time, def not as bad as I heard when it launched
byu/Sensitive-Tax2230 inGothamKnights

Gotham Knights has two individual multiplayer elements. The first is combat. Imagine fighting against hordes of enemies, thinking you might not be able to win when your buddy hops in just in time. You both pull off some insane team takedowns and make quick work of anyone foolish enough to stand in your way.

Additionally, and my personal favorite, is the exploration element. Gotham Knights allows players to roam the streets and rooftops of Gotham in a way only someone from the Bat Family can. While grappling and gliding around in the Arkham games was fun, doing it with my friends in Gotham Knights is arguably a more enjoyable experience. After all, whether it be Los Santos in GTA Online or Harran in Dying Light, an open-world game is always better with friends.

Step Aside Batman, Let The New Kids Play

Batman is one of the most beloved superheroes around and that’s a fact. However, with so many games featuring him as the main character, I’m glad someone had the gals to finally give others from the Bat Family a chance to shine in the spotlight.

As a comic book fan, I love the Bat Family, and almost everyone in it. Sorry, I’m a Damian hater because of that one scene in the Injustice comics, but that’s a story for another time. ****, Tim, Barbara, Luke, Kate, Cassandra, I adore all of them. While Gotham Knights focused on the more popular members of the family, I found it refreshing to play a game where Nightwing and Red Robin were among the main characters.

Additionally, the developers nailed the emotional aspect of the game. By the end, I saw the Bat Family as, well, a family. The little arguments they got into and how they were down to defend each other no matter what. I’d argue that this is the most relatable DC Comics game since 2013’s The Wolf Among Us.

It’s Gotham Knights; Not Arkham Knights

I think the biggest reason fans disliked Gotham Knights is that the Arkham series set the bar for what a Batman game should be. Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are among the best superhero games of all time, so fans wanted a game that could compete with that series.

However, comparing Gotham Knights with those games is like comparing apples to oranges. One is a multiplayer-focused game delving into family issues and all that stuff, while the other is a single-player-only game that wants to make Batman look even cooler than he is.

Many Arkham fans see Gotham Knights’ separation from the Arkhamverse as a negative, but I believe that’s good. Batman’s story ended in Arkham Knight, with his demise and the activation of the Knightfall protocol, so there’s no need to add more things.

This is one reason why Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League did so poorly. Arkham Batman’s story ended almost a decade ago but Rocksteady still went and shoehorned in an unneeded ending. Gotham Knights dodged the bullet altogether by focusing on a different universe and keeping things fresh without affecting the lore of the Arkham verse.

Much Of The Blame Is On WB Games

Now, it isn’t as though the comparison with the Arkham series was the only reason Gotham Knights flopped. The game also has multiple technical and gameplay limitations that could and should have been handled better by the developer WB Montreal.

The game launched with many bugs and glitches, some of which are now fixed thanks to patches. However, the locked 30fps still holds the game back. For a billion-dollar corporation like Warner Bros, it wouldn’t have taken much to properly optimize Gotham Knights so it ran at 60fps, especially since the game skipped previous-generation consoles.

Another thing Gotham Knights falls flat on is the combat. While perfectly fluid and seamless combat like the Arkham games is tough for an online game, the developers could have still taken some elements from them. Namely, the combat feels too slow and sluggish. I don’t want to see my character freeze up when I grab and throw an enemy into another enemy, especially when multiple snipers are aiming at me.

More combat animations and variety would go a long way. Every time I compare Gotham Knights’ one-button combo system to the Arkham series’ counters, stuns, and vaulting, WB’s multiplayer game consistently loses. When you look at things this way, are the comparisons between Gotham Knights and the Arkham series even shocking?