Gotham Knights no longer appears to have Denuvo anti-tamper protection implemented. The controversial DRM software has historically helped keep certain blockbuster games from getting cracked and pirated for months at a time, but it's also been widely criticized for its alleged effects on game performance, specific hardware incompatibilities, and the fact that it forces online connectivity for periodic legitimacy confirmations.
Having launched to middling reviews, Gotham Knights has been widely criticized for its poor performance and the way it handles its gameplay loop. Comparisons with the seven-year-old Batman: Arkham Knight didn't help either, as the older game both runs and looks better than its standalone successor. The pre-release announcement that Gotham Knights would rely on Denuvo for anti-tamper protection certainly didn't help its case.
While perhaps some of the chagrin related to Denuvo isn't warranted, it's still worth pointing out that last year's Denuvo outage made many games unplayable until the issue was resolved, underscoring one of the key critiques that are usually highlighted in discussions about it. According to the latest database update shown on SteamDB, Gotham Knights has jumped ahead of this problem by removing Denuvo just a few days after its release, which may be interpreted as a way for Warner Bros. to get back some community goodwill after the troublesome launch.
To be fair, Gotham Knights needs many more fixes that don't even necessarily relate to the game's technical makeup. Setting aside its poor performance and the user interface that reminds players of mobile phone games, there are still issues with the game's content and progression. On top of that, there are also strange design choices that have persisted throughout its development, such as the inability to pause the game even though it's a solo experience or a two-player game at most.
Gotham Knights has had a rough launch, that's for sure, and it remains to be seen whether Warner Bros. can do anything to get the entire community back on its side. Since unfavorable comparisons with Arkham Knight appear to be all the rage as of late, it's hard to see how Gotham Knights could spring back from this unless the developers push out a series of comprehensive updates over the next couple of weeks and months.
Difficult though this may be, it's not outright impossible by any stretch of the imagination, and it's worth pointing out that not everything about Gotham Knights is bad. On top of providing players with a new Bat-Family gaming experience with decent combat and a reasonably engaging gameplay loop, Gotham Knights has plenty of unlockables for players to chase after too. And with Denuvo seemingly out of the picture, that's one less technical problem for players to deal with.
Gotham Knights is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: SteamDB