Gotham Knights, the upcoming action-RPG from WB Games Montreal, is aiming for an October 2022 release. The game is set in the DC Comics universe, and should be expanding upon the gameplay formula established by Rocksteady's popular Arkham series. Gotham Knights will allow players to explore an open-world version of Gotham City, either alone or via two-player co-op.
One of the more interesting features that has been revealed is Gotham Knights' crafting and upgrading system, which will give players even more ways to build out their characters. Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood will each have a range of suits for players to create and upgrade, offering increased stats and special bonuses dictated by the player's preferred style.
Suit Crafting in Gotham Knights
Gotham Knights' crafting system was revealed during the recent Nightwing and Red Hood gameplay showcase, with a variety of different suits available for each of those heroes. Players will find the blueprints for new suits while exploring Gotham City, and earn the materials to craft them through completing missions and fighting crime.
Each suit has a range of stats to help players differentiate them:
- Rarity - A general indicator of the suit's quality, including Uncommon, Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Heroic.
- Level - This stat isn't fully understood yet, but it's likely an indicator of the suit's strength, or possibly requires players to reach that level to equip it.
- Grade - This mysterious stat doesn't apply to all items, and might indicate that some suits can be upgraded.
- Power - Another unknown stat, Power most likely represents how much the suit boosts a character's offensive capabilities.
- Armor - As with most games, armor negates incoming damage.
- Health - Health indicates how many hits the player can take while wearing a suit.
- Momentum Generation - This stat seems tied to Gotham Knights' powerful super-moves, which require players to charge up before usage.
- Elemental Resistances - Suits with this stat will be better at negating certain elemental attacks.
- Conditional Stats - An unknown stat that may convey additional bonuses in certain situations encountered across the city.
- Mod Slots - These slots allow players to insert Mod Chips, unlocking different bonuses for their abilities.
- Style - The overall look of the suit, which almost certainly won't have an effect on gameplay.
- Colorway - The suit's color theme, with four different shades ranging from main colors to highlights.
Players will be able to craft any of the suits they've found blueprints for at the Workbench in the Belfry, which is the headquarters for the Gotham Knights.
Weapon Crafting in Gotham Knights
It seems players will also be able to craft weaponry while working at the Workbench in the Belfry. The Nightwing and Red Hood trailer briefly showed off full crafting options, which included categories for both melee and ranged weapons. While it's unlikely equipped weapons will change a character's overall fighting style or animations, they do seem to offer unique bonuses.
The melee weapons that Nightwing has equipped in the latest gameplay showcase are Cryogenic Escrima Sticks, which have rarity, level, and melee power stats. They also seem to contain Mod Slots like the suits, though it's unclear whether these will use the same Mod Chips or a different set. Finally, the melee and ranged weapons each have a base power rating, as well as an elemental symbol indicating whatever special kind of damage they may inflict upon enemies.
Both Nightwing's Cryogenic Escrima Sticks and Modular Cryogenic Darts are marked with a snowflake symbol, indicating they deal cold damage befitting their "Cryogenic" moniker. This elemental damage can also cause special status effects, and it's possible to see Nightwing briefly freeze an enemy using these sticks. How crafting will affect every tool in the team's arsenal remains to be seen, so fans will have to wait for more details in future trailers.
Gotham Knights is currently scheduled to release on October 25 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S.