The original narrative in Gotham Knights has a few moving pieces that are rarely as cohesive as conversations between its eponymous playable protagonists. But because characters’ cutscene conversations are optional and unique to each Knight, it is possible that fans could play the whole game without experiencing one of them. This would be a shame since they are responsible for Gotham Knights’ best moments, such as learning more about Barbara Gordon’s photographic memory.
Barbara’s case is particularly troubling, but only if fans are familiar with what happens to her in comic book and animated franchise source material. For example, it was possible that Batgirl could have had a relationship with Batman in Gotham Knights. Gotham Knights does confirm that Batgirl and Nightwing had a past relationship, but little else about Barbara’s past. Instead, Gotham Knights’ narrative decides to concentrate on the trauma associated with her photographic memory.
Batgirl’s Photographic Memory Establishes Gotham Knights’ Most Emotional Moment
If fans do not play as Batgirl, they will miss a storyline in which Barbara creates a diorama featuring her father, the late GCPD Commissioner Jim Gordon, at a gruesome crime scene. Barbara’s meticulous detective work in Gotham Knights is a result of her time as Oracle, who she became while briefly in a wheelchair. As Oracle, she monitored Batman from the Batcomputer, communicating with him while he was on patrol. Now that she has been physically rehabilitated, that attention to detail has apparently translated into hand-crafted diorama work.
The diorama was intended to help Barbara and the other Knights look into previous crimes that Jim solved, which they learn were orchestrated by the Court of Owls. But Barbara soon admits that while she has a photographic memory and can recreate intricate scenes such as in the diorama, she can no longer accurately remember her father’s face.
This is true when she sees the massive Gordon Memorial statue erected in Old Gotham. The emotion is beautifully depicted as she feels like she cannot trust her own memory, that she had failed to learn about the Court sooner, and that she must live up to her father's moral code.
Batgirl’s Trauma Could Have Been Fleshed Out More with a Backstory in Gotham Knights
If more about Barbara and Jim’s past had been revealed in Gotham Knights, their relationship and her character development could have been much more salient. Unfortunately, Gotham Knights reveals almost nothing about Batgirl’s backstory, leaving a lot up to fans’ imaginations and presumptions.
It can only be assumed that her spinal injury was caused by the Joker, though many other important beats are obscured now. Hearing about cases that Batgirl helped Jim on would have been wonderful, or even instances where she knew she wanted to be Batgirl because she was influenced by her father. There is a lot of shared trauma to unpack with Barbara and Jim, and Renee Montoya is a great character to help stitch that familial bond together. Barbara says she does not know if Jim knew she was Batgirl before he died, but she lives up to his ethical stance on crime in Gotham.
It is too bad that more was not portrayed from their relationship, especially if they had experienced other traumatic events together. Barbara’s photographic memory could have produced other dioramas looking into these events, for example, at least to create more Easter eggs for fans to enjoy.
Gotham Knights is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.