By Dean Moses
Game: Gotham Knights
Platform: Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows
Rating: T for Teen
Cost: $69.99
Gotham Knights is a an open-world, action RPG set in our favorite cape crusaders city—Gotham. The nitty-gritty streets are overrun with criminals, but Batman is dead and only his young mentees are around to save the day. You must choose between Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Red Hood, members of the Bat family, to take down all criminal activity. This noir journey takes into the seedy underbelly of Gotham City—where you can either play on your own or have one friend assist you online.
Story
It’s no spoiler that Gotham Knights focuses on his fellow caped crusaders picking up the mantle after his death. The game begins with Batman battling well-known villain Ra’s al Ghul, and, unfortunately, the only way to stop his nemesis from “purifying” Gotham City was by blowing up the Batcave with both men in it. It is now up to Nightwing, Red Hood, Bat Girl and Robin to finish Batman’s unsolved cases and discover the real story behind Batman’s death.
Gameplay
Some gaming outlets have berated this new Batman iteration by stating that the fighting style is an atrocious, and yes, it is a bit clunky and battling the same adversaries can be a bit cumbersome, the overall gameplay is still entertaining. Additionally, what’s great about Gotham Knights is that you are not forced to stick with the character you first bootup the game with. So, if you start as Red Hood and decide that he isn’t really your speed, after finishing a section of the story you can head on over to the new bat base—The Belfry. Additionally, you can customize your character’s attire. For example, instead of Red Hood usual sleek costume, you can adorn him in a lengthy Crow-style leather studded jacket.
Conclusion
Graphically Gotham Knights is nothing to brag about, it’s not exactly up to the power of PlayStation 5 of Xbox Series X’s 60 FPS visuals, but it’s not an eyesore either. Overall, the game is very much like that, it’s not extraordinary but it’s not terrible. There are few unusual particulars surrounding the story, especially since Batman’s man rule is not kill and yet he ends up killing himself and Ra’s al Ghul in the begging all to really serve the game’s plot—his sidekicks become the main protagonists. Overall, if you are a fan of the Batman franchise, you might just enjoy the game since it focuses more on the lives of his sidekicks.
