Marvel and DC are only ever in true contention when it comes to fans’ aligned communities and how the quality of products may be perceived. In terms of games, Marvel has hit a rare stride recently with Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man outings, while DC used to reign supreme with Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse franchise. That said, Marvel’s Avengers blemished the IP, leading many fans to believe that it negatively impacted Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’s otherwise favorable reception. Likewise, Gotham Knights had a lot to live up to in a drought of DC games.
Gotham Knights comes from Batman: Arkham Origins’ WB Games Montreal, and as such it has roots in the Arkhamverse. It was not until launch, though, that fans finally began to understand that Gotham Knights is its own original IP, which led to a large amount of disappointment it was unable to shed. Gotham Knights went on to receive mixed reviews and was generally disliked, and negative impressions that fans take from it may be inevitably brought to future DC games, such as Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League or Monolith’s Wonder Woman.
Gotham Knights Failed to Live Up to Its Unachievable Expectations
Some of Gotham Knights’ criticisms are fair and impartial. Such criticisms include how the game’s narrative is often underwhelming and lacks closure, or how the game’s combat can become stale in the open world between each character. There are other criticisms, though, that have always been out of place and serve to only please Arkhamverse fans.
It was immediately disappointing for some fans that Gotham Knights does not play identically to a Batman: Arkham entry, nor does it look similar to Batman: Arkham Knight. It is left to individual fans’ opinions whether Gotham Knights’ graphical fidelity is adequate in 2022, but it is true that a game exclusive to current-gen platforms should have had a much greater visual presence.
Therefore, not all of its criticisms are unfounded, but it is still unfair to have compared Gotham Knights explicitly to the Arkhamverse in that regard. Gotham Knights has landed sourly for many fans, and it would be unfortunate if Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Wonder Woman both have to experience the same needless comparisons leading up to their respective releases.
Future DC Games May Be Inexplicably Compared to Gotham Knights
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will seemingly release before Wonder Woman due to the former having a delayed release window of 2023. The game has been depicted in a couple narrative trailers and a brief gameplay trailer, and it could not look further dissociated from the Arkhamverse games that came before it, let alone Gotham Knights.
Still, fans may inevitably compare Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League to Gotham Knights, especially being a DC game that is ingrained in the Arkhamverse directly. The game is also co-op with four players, which Gotham Knights will be too by the end of the month with its upcoming Heroic Assault mode. Nothing is known about Wonder Woman besides its genre, and it is likely incredibly early in development, but there is still a possibility that Gotham Knights’ letdown could affect fans’ anticipation.
If Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League disappoints fans to the same degree as Gotham Knights did, and in similar ways, then that would certainly trickle fans’ negativity into whatever future DC games are announced. That gives each upcoming DC game the unfair responsibility of exceeding expectations in order to uplift DC games’ reputation in general so that fans are excited about what is to come instead of remaining cynical based on what they have experienced before.
Gotham Knights is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.