Gotham Knights review | PlayStation 5

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Let’s get this out of the way first. It’s difficult to avoid comparisons to Batman Arkham games at the best of times in a third-person superhero game, let alone one that not only features but starts its story with Batman, so how does it hold up?

by James Michael Parry

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@james_parry

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Developer: WB Games Montréal
Publisher: Warner Brothers. Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Players: 1-2

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The introduction is extremely compelling, painting the picture of a Gotham that’s had Batman around for a long time, but now with Jim Gordon gone, he finds himself short on allies, as he faces a final confrontation with Ra’s Al Ghul, head of the League of Shadows.

Ultimately, as we’re shown in the trailer, both Batman and Bruce Wayne fall and it’s up to the Bat Family to pick up the pieces: Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing and Red Hood – your player characters.

Each of them have different weapons and skills at their disposal, though they play in a similar way, and you’ll hear the other characters piping up from time to time with playful remarks or vaguely useful intel as they all support one another.

Gotham City as a location has a more metropolitan feel than the sprawling presentations depicted in the latter Arkham titles, and the shadow of the series in general doesn’t give Gotham Knights room to find its own identity. The city is separated into a series of districts, but rather than have a bustling map of things to go and explore from the off, filling the map is extremely dependent on interrogating gang members.

​​This is where the AR scanning feature comes in, which we found to be a little hit-and-miss. Holding the button down to scan while scoping out an area is a little more imprecise than it could be, and the information doesn’t stay on screen for long enough for you to keep track of where you’re going or who you’re targeting in most cases.

There are random events going on in the world, like armoured car heists or citizens being mugged, but rather than keeping track of them in your phone like you do in the Insomniac Spider-Man games, you’re instead forced to throw up the full map from the bat computer each time, breaking the immersion.

​There is a quick reference list you can use to check what investigations are ongoing, but the game seems to put a lot of onus on you finding these things, particularly individual hero challenges, for yourself, with the option to add a waypoint feeling like a bit of an afterthought, and you can only do one at a time.

...it feels like, on occasion, just running around aimlessly in the city, interrogating people almost at random is the only course of action...

Following up leads and studying the evidence board feels well thought-out in the introduction, but once you are into proper missions it isn’t clear which pieces of evidence are active and actionable and which are just there to remind you of important details from earlier missions.

While we would have found just being handed a series of simple steps too elementary to feel like a true detective, here it just doesn’t feel like it comes together, and it feels like, on occasion, just running around aimlessly in the city, interrogating people almost at random is the only course of action. If we were given general areas to explore for clues and more detail, it may have felt more natural – or perhaps we were and it just all hasn’t come across clearly enough.

Travelling around Gotham falls to the Batcycle, since traversal abilities for each character are unlocked, rather than available from the beginning like Batman’s glide, which really limits how easily you can get through the city across rooftops. Unfortunately the Batcycle itself isn’t great for traversing buildings in a single bound, so you’ll have to stick to the streets.

Spawning the Batcycle is fairly instantaneous, providing you’re near what the game considers a main road, and then you’re off fairly quickly. There’s navigation to guide you to your waypoint, but sometimes when you call the bike in it seems to deliberately face the opposite way from where you need to go.

You can’t really use the bike in combat either, even though flattening a load of thugs would be very entertaining, and the actual handling feels quite floaty, even compared to something arcadey like Grand Theft Auto V, which makes it feel like you aren't really in control.

The characters are well-written though, with each of the fab four managing to feel distinct, and there are moments where the narrative hits home. For us, Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl felt like the most compelling character, but it’s clear that balancing all four when you are probably only spending time with one or two is a challenge. Of course, tackling the game in co-op gives the opportunity for a little more camaraderie.

The supporting cast, unsurprisingly, calls on Batman’s extensive rogues gallery, with both Harley Quinn and The Penguin getting face time early on, and even though this is a different universe to the playground of Mark Hamill’s Joker, it’s hard not to feel that sort of charisma missing.

There’s a lot to like about this latest foray into Gotham, but many of the positives feel like just a riff on Rocksteady’s earlier efforts – now over 10 years old – rather than a step forward into something new and exciting with these characters.

If messing around in a beautiful open world and knocking around a few hooligans is the vibe you’re looking for, then this could be right up your dimly lit street. Each of the character does have different weapons to try out, and elements of their backstory to explore, and with some patience, you’ll start to fill out the map and feel like there’s reasons to dive into the various dark places Gotham has to offer.

Pros

• Gotham is back and shinier than ever
• Characters feel fleshed out and add weight to the story
• See a new take on familiar villains and locations

Cons

• Combat and gameplay feels a little stiff in places
• The game struggles to stand out and establish its identity
• The Batbike and traversal in general feel underdeveloped

7/10​