After months of leaks, rumors and deliberate plagues by Warner Bros. Montreal officially unveiled Gotham Knights at DC Fandome. And what a revelation it was, with a full-length movie trailer setting up a seven-plus-minute gameplay trailer featuring the slick moves of Batgirl.
Watch the first Gotham Knights trailer below:
What’s surprising is the fact that you don ‘t actually play like the Caped Crusader itself, at least judging by the trailer and gameplay. It is always possible that will change later on, but for now we can only speculate. Although, the big reveal at Fandome confirmed some key details about Batman: Gotham Knight, and we’re here to break down everything we know about the Warner Bros. sequel to the famous Arkham series, from playable characters to window release and more.
Gotham Knights release date is set for next year
Warner Bros. was kind enough to provide a release window for Gotham Knights, and it’s soon encouraging. Excluding possible delays due to the pandemic, we are poised to “finally step into the knight” in 2021.
Although it feels like it was years ago that we started hearing about a new Warner Bros. Batman game, it’s just officially announced, so a release date early next year is a positive sign that development is well under way, if not nearing completion. The gameplay footage we got from DC Fandome was from a pre-alpha build, and even so, it looked pretty dang good. We can only imagine what the vertical product will look like when we (* fingers crossed *) get to play next year.
There are at least four playable Gotham Knights characters
Batman: Gotham Knights takes place after Batman’s death, saw the Gotham Knights gather to carry the Dark Knight torch. Warner Bros. confirmed during an interview after the unveiling that Gothan Knights will have “a whole host of playable characters”, but the recordings so far are mostly central to Batgirl. We also see Joker collaborating with Batgirl on a few points for some co-op gameplay.
That said, it’s highly confirmed that you’ll be playing as Nightwind and Red Hood as well. While we have no real recordings to prove it, the Warner Bros. scene for the game suggests so much.
Look at the first one Gotham Knights gameplay walkthrough below:
“Batman is dead. It’s now up to the Batman family – Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin – to protect Gotham City, bring hope to its citizens, discipline to their police officers, and fear for their criminals … You must evolve into the new Dark Knight and save Gotham from the chaos. Your legacy begins now. Step into the Knight. “
The Batcave is gone, and in its place is the Belfry
Surprise, surprise, the new Batman game takes place in the dimly lit streets and bustling streets of Gotham City, and it looks like there is a range of several weeks to explore. However, you will notice that the Gotham Knights did not operate out of the Batcave – which was probably destroyed when Batman was assassinated – and instead use the Belfry as their new base.
Thanks to the insight of our friends at Newsarama, we know that the Belfry was introduced back in 2016 as a school for Batman to train superheroes, while Batwoman resumed day-to-day operations. It was also the basis for a team called the Gotham Knights, consisting of Batman, Batwoman, Clayface, Orphan (a former Batgirl), Spoiler (another former Batgirl), Red Robin (Tim Drake, a former Robin), Batwing, and Azrael. Gotham Knights was never the name of a comic book, but it’s clear that Warner Bros. los was inspired by this team-up for their next Batman game.
“In [Detective Comics #935], we are introducing a new secondary Batcave that will go on in Gotham City. It’s called the Bell Chair, and it’s the – honestly, I had to sit down and design my own Batcave. And it’s honestly one of the coolest things, “writer James Tynion IV told Newsarama about the location back in June 2016.” When I saw the pages coming in from Eddy Barrows who designed it for the first time, I was just damned. This feels like a new iconic setting in Gotham City, and I can not wait for people to see it. “
In the comics, the Belfy even has a room similar to the X-Men’s Danger Room or Star Trek’s Holo Deck, called the ‘Mud Room’, where Clayface can make skins and so on for the team to train on. We saw something like that in the trailer, so we’re just speculating, but it should be interesting to see how Warner Bros. implements the new base.
Mr. Freeze is one of the villains of Gotham Knights
There are certainly several baddies that stand between the Gotham Knights and the security of Gotham City, but we know that one of them Mr. Freeze is an expert in cryogenics and the product of a laboratory bug that confined itself to a cryogenic suit for survival.
For some context, Mr. Freeze tried to take over and / or liberate Gotham a few times in the comics. On one such occasion, from the 2017-2018 miniseries Batman: White Knight, Mr. Freeze a massive free cannon under a lighthouse in Gotham City. Harley Quinn (named Neo-Joker) finds the cannon and takes it over, liberates Gotham completely and leaves Mr. Freeze and Batgirl work together to repair the mess. It’s unlikely we’ll see some sort of partnership between one of the heroes and villains, but there’s still nothing out of the question.
There’s drop-in Gotham Knights co-op
Combat in Gotham Knights is a clear evolution of the Arkham Series’ punchy, fluid fighting, but there’s also the welcome addition of easy, drop-in co-op. You can see Batgirl doing her thing with the help of Robin, showing off some really satisfying-looking takedowns.
The process of joining and leaving co-op sessions of Gotham Knights looks seamless, with a message “ROBIN joined the session” appearing when another player enters the action or story without interruption. Co-op is limited to only two players at a time, despite the fact that, given the number of playable characters, it seems to be the preferred choice to make co-op with four players an option.
