Gotham Knights Review

The world was ready for another installment of the Arkham series. Hell, the world was prepared for a completely new game set in the dark, grim streets of Gotham, one that strayed completely from the shadow of the Arkham series. But what we got instead is an uninspired and indecisive game that does not know where it stands as of yet.

Granted, the Arkham series did not have particularly unique storytelling techniques or gameplay mechanics, but it is inevitable that a game set in the same city will be compared to its precursors. So, to be fair, while it is true that the Arkham series did not revolutionize the genre, Gotham Knights does not do anything groundbreaking either.

But while the former had incredibly satisfying, smooth combat mechanics, an interesting story, Mark Hamill as the Joker, and fun puzzles to solve, the latter has very few redeeming qualities, all of which feel like small victories compared to the Arkham series.

Let us start by talking about the combat mechanics first. Since a large part of the game is actually solving crimes and beating up the bad guys, combat is a vital component for a game like this. While Gotham Knights has some big shoes to fill, it feels like the game did not even try.

The combat is nothing extraordinary compared to other games in this genre. You do not get combo points, but you do get something very similar called the Momentum meter, which enables you to perform special moves when it is full.

Until the Momentum meter is full, you're basically button-smashing.

Button smashing is fun, but it is only natural for people to prefer combat mechanics, where you have to actually follow the fight to see when you are going to counter. In short, the combat in Gotham Knights is neither very advanced nor very fun. It is somewhere in between.

Both the camera and action controls feel like going back to the older Assassin's Creed games. You can pretty much climb any surface; you cannot jump at will, and you can crouch to sneak and press R to see your objectives, as well as criminals in the streets. So, there is nothing revolutionary here either.

The most fun part of Gotham Knights is the grappling hook.

The grappling hook is such a convenient device that makes pretty much any game incredibly fun to play. There is just something about swinging from one place to another that elevates the game. Thankfully, in Gotham Knights, you can zip around Spider-Man style and quickly get from one.

Another method of transportation is the Batcycle. Batcycle is a very advanced motorcycle, and riding it is incredibly easy. You just kind of… Press RT. That is basically it. It is also very simple and nothing groundbreaking.

In short, you see, gameplay-wise, Gotham Knights is not an earth-shattering, thunder and lightning, ground-breaking, revolutionary game. It is basically a game that exists. While it would make sense for us not to wait for something that is going to shake us to our core, it is still fair for us to feel disappointment after playing Arkham.

While the criticisms about how every reviewer discusses the Arkham series when talking about this game are incredibly valid, personally, I cannot see how we could discuss Gotham Knights without discussing Arkham.

In the same way, we cannot talk about Avengers without comparing it to Spider-Man, or the way we cannot talk about any roguelike without bringing up Hades or The Binding of Isaac at some point, we have to discuss how this game is inspired by or adds to what the Arkham series brought us. Because it just does. It has to.

The Arkham series is way too influential for this genre not to be discussed.

As mentioned above, Gotham Knights has incredibly large shoes to fill, and the development team must know that and move accordingly. So, it must be a conscious decision on the developers' part to either stray away from it or take bits and pieces from it.

But what about the story? How can we discuss the story of this game? Well, Batman is dead, and now we have Gotham as his legacy. The four main characters, Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin, strive to save Gotham from its own filth and a fair share of supervillains.

We play as one of these characters and beat up the bad guys. To avoid spoiling the story, I will refrain from delving into details, but it is very easy to guess from the get-go, and once again, nothing special.

The art direction in the streets of Gotham, as well as the character designs, is marvelous. But they are not very next-gen either. We are very used to seeing every tiny detail of a character's face now, so when something that looks like it could belong very well to a lesser gen comes along, we scorn it.

But to be fair, if you are not looking for incredibly detailed and realistic graphics, the character designs are amazing.

The voice acting is fine, aside from Batgirl, in my opinion. That is not to say that Batgirl's voice acting is bad; let us make it clear: America Young voices Barbie in many different shorts and series, and her voice fits Barbie perfectly.

Subjectively, however, Young's voice is not very Batgirl-sounding, whatever that means. It just felt bizarre to hear Barbie in someone like Barbara Gordon, if that makes sense. But the music is fine, so that counts for something, right?

Let us now talk about the infamous launch of the game. Gotham Knights’ launch on consoles is famously capped at 30 FPS. This means that while PCs can run the game at 60 FPS without any problems, anyone playing Gotham Knights on consoles would get 30 FPS tops.

Obviously, such a big letdown for anyone who was waiting to play the game in the best possible way, but let us guarantee you that even on PC, there are performance issues.

The FPS is never stable: sometimes it is 30, sometimes 15. Hell, at times, it is even 10. But, like every game released in the 2020s, Gotham Knights will hopefully be patched over time and free of bugs and misfortune like these.

In conclusion, Gotham Knights is an incredibly average game that brings absolutely nothing new to the table. The graphics don't look next-gen, the story is easy to guess, and the combat is nothing new. It does not get any more 5/10 than that.