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’sMarvel’s Spider-Manoutings, while DC used to reign supreme withRocksteady’s Arkhamverse franchise. That said,Marvel’s Avengersblemished the IP, leading many fans to believe that it negatively impactedMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’sotherwise favorable reception. Likewise,Gotham Knightshad a lot to live up to in a drought of DC games.
Gotham Knightscomes fromBatman: 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 thatGotham Knightsis its own original IP, which led to a large amount of disappointment it was unable to shed.Gotham Knightswent on toreceive 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’sSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice LeagueorMonolith’sWonder Woman.
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Gotham Knights Failed to Live Up to Its Unachievable Expectations
Some ofGotham Knights’ criticismsare 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 thatGotham Knightsdoes not play identically to aBatman: Arkhamentry, nor does it look similar toBatman: Arkham Knight. It is left to individual fans’ opinionswhetherGotham 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 comparedGotham Knightsexplicitly to the Arkhamverse in that regard.Gotham Knightshas landed sourly for many fans, and it would be unfortunate ifSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice LeagueandWonder Womanboth 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 Leaguewill seemingly release beforeWonder Womandue 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 aloneGotham Knights.
Still,fans may inevitably compareSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice LeaguetoGotham Knights, especially being a DC game that is ingrained in the Arkhamverse directly. The game is also co-op with four players, whichGotham Knightswill be too by the end of the month with its upcoming Heroic Assault mode. Nothing is known aboutWonder Womanbesides its genre, and it is likely incredibly early in development, but there is still a possibility thatGotham Knights’ letdown could affect fans’ anticipation.
IfSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguedisappoints fans to the same degree asGotham Knightsdid, 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 Knightsis available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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