News Gotham Knights (WB Montreal) - announced for 2021

[prudis]

Watch the world premiere of Gotham Knights.

Batman is dead. It is now up to the Batman Family - Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin - to protect Gotham City, bring hope to its citizens, discipline to its cops, and fear to its criminals.

You must evolve into the new Dark Knight and save Gotham from chaos. Your legacy begins now. Step into the Knight.

Watch the first gameplay walkthrough of Gotham Knights.

Get a glimpse of open-world Gotham City where Batgirl and Robin join forces to take on Mr. Freeze in one of several Villain encounters found within the city.

They’ll use a variety of abilities, weapons, and unique combat moves to neutralize their foes.

 

[TioChuck]

I'm excited and worried, game looks great tho'.

 

[Acidote]

Single / Two Player coop and looks fine. My jam. Those slowdowns are worrying tho...

 

[Deku]

Looks nice. I like this more than the avengers game

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Damien Frikin Wayne

 

[prudis]

snippets so far

• Not GAAS game.
• A brand-new open-world, third-person action RPG videogame.
• Batman is dead. It is now up to the Batman Family - Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin - to protect Gotham City, bring hope to its citizens.
• You must evolve into the new Dark Knight and save Gotham from chaos.
• WB Games confirmed Gotham Knights will feature two-player online co-op, though the Gotham Knights can also be played solo.
• Five boroughs of Gotham City for players to explore
• The ability to drive around via Batcycle
• An arsenal of combat and gear that will grow as the game progresses.
• Enemies have levels and will grow as you become more powerful.
• 2021 on PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox SX

• Batgirl - is a determined fighter and a skilled hacker wielding her melee tonfa, and harnessing her training in kickboxing, capoeira and jiu-jitsu.
• Nightwing - mastery in acrobatics is complemented by his expertise use of his signature dual Escrima Sticks.
• Red Hood - an intense and volatile anti-hero. His training has given him peak human strength and proficiency in multiple combat techniques with all manner of weapons – both traditional and high-tech.
• Robin - an expert fighter armed with his collapsible quarterstaff and skilled in a variety of stealth techniques, Robin also possesses a background in combined psychological warfare and behavioral sciences.

 

[TioChuck]

Damien Frikin Wayne

Its not Damian, is Tim Drake, no swords =/

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Its not Damian, is Tim Drake, no swords =/

But he looks like a child!

 

[TioChuck]

But he looks like a child!

The costume is definitely Damian's, but not the move set.

 

[d00d3n]

I wonder how they will adapt arkham style stealth rooms to co-op. Probably by heavily nerfing them? Making it possible to beat everyone up if you fail? Or maybe stealth is gone because that is a batman thing?

 

[Phoenix RISING]

The costume is definitely Damian's, but not the move set.

I am going to hold out hope.

 

[Dandy]

How am I supposed to choose between Dick and Babs?

 

[gabbo]

And then it was a ll a ruse by Bruce Wayne and he's alive at the end.
Still between the two Batman games, this one I'm more interested in.

But he looks like a child!

Tim's pretty young when he don's the Robin outfit, so it's not out of the question

 

[prudis]

WB Games Montreal is creating an original story in the DC Universe, one separated from the Arkham lore, comic books, and movies. Patrick Redding, the creative director of Gotham Knights, says that "it's been a dream" for the studio to be given the freedom to leave its mark on Gotham. "This is a universe many of us on the team have been invested in since we were old enough to read. The real test of that was when we actually started working with DC and began talking about what we wanted for characters and storylines, and our specific interpretations. They encouraged us to double-down on our unique take."

That unique take depicts a Gotham 15 years into Bruce Wayne's tenure as its protector. The Rogues Gallery is already well established. Low-level criminals fear Batman's presence, his intervention anticipated by the underworld's rising forces, and loathed by large swaths of the Gotham City Police Department following the murder of Commissioner Gordon. It'll be our responsibility to restore order with a little vigilante justice, although that'll be easier said than done.

"The toughest part is the embarrassment of riches," Redding asserts, speaking to the decades of storylines that the studio could draw from for inspiration. "We can't try to shoe-horn in every last piece of interconnected lore or it won't be coherent. It's the essential difference between a medium like comics – where you can read inner thoughts and study each panel for clues – and gaming, where the player experiences the fantasy of these characters by making choices and taking action."

And so that action will unfold in an open-world Gotham City, in what we believe could be the most interactive and dynamic rendition of the space ever committed to a video game. Five distinct boroughs make up Gotham, and you'll need to wrangle back control of each while iconic villains, such as Mr Freeze, and powerful new threats, like the mysterious Court of Owls, emerge from the shadows following the fall of the Dark Knight. You'll be tasked with clearing up escalating threats to the city, protecting the citizens of Gotham from street crime, and with figuring out what happened to Bruce. It's this balance between investigation and insurrection that has shaped Gotham Knights' direction.

"Even when we had the outline of our central mystery, we forced ourselves to focus on characterisation first, and how that should shape not only narrative and performances, but the action-set of each of the four heroes," says Redding. "We looked at the overall tone of our Gotham City and used that to decide which supporting cast and villains we should build the game around. That became the foundation, it shaped the game systems, and then we built the game's story and found our cast of characters to work on top of that."

That cast of characters is vital. With Batman's most iconic villains flooding the city, this isn't a mission you can accomplish on your own – you'll need a little help from your friends. While Gotham Knights has four playable heroes, it has been designed around two-player co-op to deliver on a rather specific superhero fantasy. "The two-player dynamic fits the fantasy and the Gotham City setting. The 'duo' or team-up is such a central feature of the universe that there's a literal shorthand for it in the comics, animation, film, and TV versions," says Redding, who notes that this was also a way of ensuring that the city's narrow streets and ancient architecture doesn't feel claustrophobic as you're fighting alongside a friend. "Gotham is a city of alleyways and rooftops, so the footprint for gameplay needs to be compatible with that."

Fight for the future
Gotham Knights is an action-RPG with a rotating cast of heroes, each of which you'll be able to improve over time, investing in new abilities, combat gear, and costumes as you progress. While Gotham Knights can be played solo, it also features seamless drop-in, drop-out co-op so that you and a friend can take on Gotham as you so choose. Marty tells me that it was important to WB Games Montreal that you never feel as if you are locked into playing as just one character and, as a result, there is a fluidity and freedom to Gotham Knights' core design.

"The game allows you to switch to a different character pretty much any time you want, as long as you go back to The Belfry to do so." With the Batcave destroyed the moment Code Black was initiated, The Belfry is the new base of operations for the Gotham Knights. This is where you'll go in the daytime to regroup and rest, push the narrative forward as you accept new challenges and missions, and tinker with your heroes' suits, weapons, gear, and playstyle build. When night falls, and you're ready to get back out on patrol, you'll be able to head back out into Gotham as any one of the characters, and without any fear of being under-levelled or prepared.

"Since the story progression is shared between all the characters, it also makes sense that you don't have to level them up from scratch every time you want to switch. It also stays very coherent in terms of our narrative," Marty continues. "Since the other members of the Batman family are always present in some way in the background, while you're out in the world fighting crime or unravelling the mystery, they don't stay inactive. So it makes sense that they are also progressing and getting stronger."

This design decision serves two purposes. First, it ensures we won't be spending all of our time stuck in The Belfry arguing with a friend over who will get to play as Barbara Gordon. Secondly, there won't be any need to grind through experience for character unlocks and levels. Enemies will scale to your progression level too, ensuring that we'll always feel free to experiment with different heroes and their unique playstyles, weapons, and abilities. Gotham Knights is going to present us with the most challenging mission the Bat-Family has ever faced, and you'll be able to tackle it on your own terms.

Gotham Knights wants to transform you and a friend into a truly dynamic duo

Big in 2021: WB Games Montreal takes us inside Gotham Knights, the next generation of superhero games

www.gamesradar.com

 

[Paul]

So this game is apparently huge flop, but having obtained it in the humble charity bundle, and having played some 5 hours or it so far, I am enjoying it so far quite a bit. The city is a bit dead but still has pretty good ambience/atmosphere, and playing as Batgirl is fun. I am curious where the story will go to be honest, the beginning is a bit dry (apart from the whole batman dying thing, which is kinda novel).
It runs great on PC now - in 4K, DLSS quality, all maxed incl. raytracing, I get stable 60 everywhere no matter what. No shader stutter either.
Of course, it should have ran like this before release. It is a shame developers so often seem to get terrible rep first and fix things later instead of just releasing games in great state and getting great reviews from the start.

 

[Dandy]

I enjoyed it, but after 10 hours I lost interest and just forgot about it. Being Batgirl was a blast though!

 

[bobnowhere]

I'm now getting a bug where sometimes in random fights the framerate drops from a stable 60+ to about 1fps for no reason. I then have to run around a corner and hope it comes back before I die.

Only happened since the patch yesterday.

 

[Paul]

I'm now getting a bug where sometimes in random fights the framerate drops from a stable 60+ to about 1fps for no reason.

I experienced this today as well, only once so far, although the frame drop was to around 8fps - still unplayable. I just went to main menu and reloaded, 60fps again. Really hope it won't be regular occurence.

 

[bobnowhere]

I'm also now at the point where I just nope out of any fight with Drone Handlers. 3 drones that constantly interrupt you with little warning, a super spongey handler that dodges combos and constantly drop mines. Terrible encounter design.

 

[LEANIJA]

 

[Paul]

Apparently there were quite a lot of mods already made for this game and the patch that vastly improved performance not only broke them, but made it impossible to update them. Disappointing.

 

[Paul]

I'm now getting a bug where sometimes in random fights the framerate drops from a stable 60+ to about 1fps for no reason. I then have to run around a corner and hope it comes back before I die.

I just left the STAR labs, got into a fight, then decided to escape and go towards the cobblepot mission, and while running, my framerate dropped from 60 frames-per-second to 1 frame-per-three-seconds or so.

In Afterburner OSD I could literally see 0fps and some 1500ms per frame. I have never seen this before!

Something is indeed still fucked up with this game.

 

[TioChuck]

Just finished it, as a Arkham type of game, its pretty bad.

Combat is jank, the story is forgettable, all the rpg stuff is pointless and confusing, the patrol system is awful, the batcycle is useless.

The side missions with Harley and Mr Freeze are ok tho', the Clayface one is pure garbage.

Theres some fun to be had, but I can only recommend for someone who really loves the characters.