Warner’s Superhero Game Developers Have Returned

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) revealed two new superhero games at the virtual DC FanDome event this past weekend. Both have been so long in coming that it’s tough not to wonder what their developers were doing after so much time.

Gotham Knights is Warner Bros. Montreal’s title, in which players will have the option to control heroic characters who aren’t Batman thanks to him being “dead” in this canon. (Batman/Bruce Wayne is as dead here as Captain America is in the Marvel’s Avengers game.) Those playable heroes will include Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), and Red Hood (Jason Todd), who will fight the criminal underworld that’s expanded through Gotham. Considering the conflicts, the story notably doesn’t follow that of the Batman Arkham games.

It will, however, follow in the footsteps of that series in being an open world game, given the popularity they still demand. It’s only a bit more surprising that it will allow for missions to be completed in single-player or co-op, considering the (initial, at least) choice of four superhero characters. The combat has been modified compared to the Arkham games, partially due to the number of combat systems in other games “inspired” by it over the years. The damage numbers that flash during skirmishes imply this game will have some kind of RPG elements, similar to… look, I’d be here all day if I listed all the other AAA examples.

Whether it will be a “Games as a Service” (or GaaS) title like Avengers, where the title will be constantly updated over several years with free and paid new content, is the big question. Given how microtransaction-heavy WB games can be, how long it’s been since this developer has released a game, and current AAA game trends, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t.

Gotham Knights is planned for release sometime in 2021 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. The release timeframe means it will come a whopping eight years after WB Montreal’s last game, Batman: Arkham Origins. Hell of a gap, and they reportedly weren’t working on four short DLC campaigns for Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Knight after all that time. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said they were working on a Suicide Squad game that was cancelled in late 2016 — shortly after the first movie released. At least they’ve largely been spared layoffs.

Rocksteady Studios, meanwhile, is working on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, taking over from where WB Montreal left off. The third-person shooter action game will take place in an open world recreation of Metropolis, and star Harley Quinn (I mean, duh), Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark. They’ll go on missions together, with the trailer showing that their biggest target will be an evil Superman. He’s been evil in so many works now that I’m starting to feel sorry for the guy, and I’m not even Supes’ biggest fan.

It will also take place in the same universe as the Batman Arkham games, though with already-evident adjustments. Deadshot is Black this time despite being Caucasian in previous games, following in the footsteps of the movie version everyone now knows. King Shark also died in the Assault on Arkham animated movie tie-in, yet he’s alive here, meaning they might eject his death or the whole movie from canon.

The game will allow for one to four players, though it’s clear what the focus will be considering solo players will have to rely on bots for assistance. This is the game following further in the footsteps of Avengers in being a Destiny-like service game with superheroes. Whether more Suicide Squad members will be added following its release is currently a mystery, but it wouldn’t be surprising if theywere.

The Suicide Squad game isn’t planned for release until 2022 for PS5, XSX/S, and PC, meaning it will arrive around seven years after Arkham Knight released. All they’ve done between then were short DLC campaigns for that game and Batman: Arkham VR, but it’s possible they’ve been working on this the entire time. They sure as hell weren’t spending all that time ignoring rampant sexual harassment issues at the company, which the women had to go public for them to even acknowledge in a satisfactory way. If that’s the case, you bet your ass this will be a service game so they can recoup the costs.

If you’re in the camp hoping these, by chance, won’t be service titles, you probably won’t get your wish. In an interview with VentureBeat’s GamesBeat in 2018, WBIE president David Haddad said the company was increasingly moving “everything to games as a service.” The number of single-player AAA superhero games will be minimal in the near future, with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the eventual full-on sequel to the 2018 PS4 game being the only currently-known options.

It’s not the most enjoyable trend to watch for anyone who still wants single-player AAA experiences, which publishers didn’t feel they profited on enough. Gotham Knights should be shown again soon, but it could be a while before even the first glimpse at the Suicide Squad game.