Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League recently featured in a large section of a State of Play, and it looks like its gameplay is rather simple. The core combat loop seems to revolve exclusively around shooting stat-based firearms at purple Brainiac aliens and nodes in the distance, and how much fun is generated through that repetition may boil down to having up to three players accompany a host player in multiplayer. Indeed, the main allure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is its titular plot, but its open-world enemy encounters still need to be engaging between each superpowered bout.

There will hopefully be more of a hook to this combat loop than Rocksteady has already demonstrated, especially since Rocksteady had previously put on a masterclass of a gameplay loop for rhythmic Freeflow combat in its Batman games. However, it might be possible that shooter-combat itself is not as much of a highlight as is high-flying traversal, which Rocksteady has also been known to excel at designing. If so, it would be incredible to see Rocksteady’s Riddler trophies reprised to complement Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s open-world traversal.

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Gameplay Proves That Traversal is the Main Selling Point

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The other distinct feature that separates each character is their unique method of traversal, which was only just recently shown off in much greater detail during the State of Play. This footage displayed Harley’s grapple mechanic as she pendulum-swings from a bat-shaped drone, Deadshot’s jetpack flight, Captain Boomerang’s Speed Force gauntlet, and King Shark’s leaping midair dashes. Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark all have access to the same firearms in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, though they each wield unique melee weapons such as Harley’s mallets. There will be other ways of implementing stats and abilities to weapons, but traversal is where the game truly has a chance to shine.

Moreover, while the Riddler has not been confirmed to make an appearance in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a green question mark beacon can be seen in the game’s latest gameplay. Traversal has already earned Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League comparisons to Sunset Overdrive, and such comparisons may be precisely what the game needs to elevate itself beyond its banal combat and live-service controversies.

Riddler Trophies in Kill the Justice League Could Be More Thrilling

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This may be enough to suggest that Edward Nigma has planted a plethora of trophy devices in Metropolis at some point. That could be fascinating, since Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League otherwise has starkly opposite gameplay to previous Arkhamverse games. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League looks to be going all-in on its third-person shooter action, and if the Riddler’s trophies are included as challenges, it is likely that these mechanics will be what they revolve around.

This would also be an excellent way for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League to disrupt the monotony of combat with traversal-based challenges, and could potentially encourage players to try out each Task Force X recruit by requiring certain characters for the completion of particular challenges. Riddler trophies found in Rocksteady’s Batman games were either solved with Batman’s cape-gliding or gadgets, if not through simply scanning an environment with a flash of Detective Mode.

But because those installments were action-adventure games and not live-service third-person shooters, the approach to Riddler trophies would need to be different as well. Riddler trophies were largely a nuisance due to how elaborate and painstaking they could be to achieve, but Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League could relish them as one way to spice up gameplay if fighting waves of purple aliens starts to become stale.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launches May 26, 2023 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

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