Logline: Bruce Wayne/Batman is dead, leaving Dick Grayson/Nightwing, Tim Drake/Robin, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and Jason Todd/Red Hood to finish his final case: uncovering the existence of the Court of Owls.
Gotham Knights, WB Games Montréal’s new Bat-Family adventure, that isn’t a sequel to Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy, but regardless imagines a world without the Dark Knight, was released to mixed reviews last week. It’s a feeling I share: I really felt like I was forcing myself through this, the combat, traversal and crafting/customization were all tedious, sometimes even baffling, and the story? Well, that’s what we’re here to unpack. Please be aware that there will be spoilers after the jump.
1. That’s It?
Let’s not continue to bury the lead: the game’s story ultimately proves underwhelming too, ending abruptly after what turns out to be the final boss fight. Talia al Ghul emerges as the big bad instead of the Court of Owls, with her League of Assassins declaring war on the Court for possession of a Lazarus Pit discovered beneath the Batcave. In a turn strikingly similar to The Batman, Talia manipulates the Knights into apprehending the Voice of the Court so she can assassinate him, further driving a wedge between Bruce’s proteges and Commissioner Catherine Kane; uses Kirk Langstrom’s research to unleash the Man-Bat Commandos on Gotham; and then resurrects Bruce himself as her new pawn with the pit. It’s all awesome (despite not being a fan of their run, I got excited by the use of Grant Morrison and Andy Kubert’s Man-Bat Commandos), which made the ending all the more anticlimactic.
Talia flees Gotham, the Court creeps back into the shadows, and the resentment between our heroes and the GCPD is left to simmer until a presumable DLC or sequel. I can applaud the decision to end with a couple of intensely personal, low-key fights in the ruined Batcave, rather than a giant Dark Knight Rises-style brawl between every faction outside City Hall, but it smacks of making do with time and budget constraints, and crucially, lacks the four leads working together ala all the promotional material. The side stories also feel anemic: Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze, and Clayface are the only other classic antagonists, and they all come across as angry for anger’s sake, only chosen because they haven’t played a huge role in other games and recent media, even though a storyline like this would’ve genuinely benefited from an appearance by the Joker, Catwoman or Two-Face.
2. Four Heroes, One Playthrough
What’s odd about the story is how, despite being a Bat-Family tale, we never actually see the characters interact in cutscenes outside the Belfry: depending on who you’re playing as, you will only see them interacting with the supporting cast and villain(s) in each mission. While it incentivizes you to replay the game to hear all the dialogue, and presumably saved the cast and developers a lot of time crafting each variation of a scene, having only one protagonist be present in these pivotal moments in-universe really hurts the idea of the Bat-Family working as a team: it feels like your chosen character is the poor sap who chose the short straw deciding who’d do the most dangerous job, while everyone else provides “moral support” over radio. Likewise, why is the Knight selected for the last mission the only one who gives the speech to the people of Gotham at the end?
3. A Family Affair
There are two curious decisions regarding the Bat-Family’s supporting cast: the first is how, instead of Dr. Leslie Thompkins, our medical contact is her daughter, Jada (voiced, intriguingly, by Whale Rider‘s Keisha Castle-Hughes), who doesn’t have a comics counterpart. Then we have Jacob Kane, Bruce’s uncle and Kate’s father, whose depiction here is an amalgamation with Bruce’s uncle/surrogate father in pre-“Crisis on Infinite Earths” continuity, Philip Wayne (who happened to be made a Kane in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s “Batman” run.)
Jacob also stands in for Lincoln March, the big bad of Snyder and Capullo’s original ‘Court of Owls’ story, who believed himself to be Bruce’s long lost brother, with Kane being unmasked as the Voice of the Court. I must admit, I really saw that coming: his presence at the start sent alarm bells ringing, as using Jacob would be unusual unless Batwoman was also involved. That said, it feels like another missed opportunity that Kate wasn’t brought in at the end: sure, she didn’t have to become a secret fifth playable character, but her dad did die.
Continued below4. The Bat Stays Dead
I fully expected Bruce to be resurrected by the Court as a Talon, or by Talia, and to be the secret fifth playable character, because you wouldn’t really do a Batman game without Batman as a playable character, right? (In fact, it was quite awkward that you couldn’t control him during the game’s lengthy opening cutscene.) After all, Captain America “died” at the start of Marvel’s Avengers, and Joker died at the end of Arkham City, only to spend the entirety of Arkham Knight as an apparition in Batman’s mind.
To the developers’ credit, Bruce sacrifices himself shortly after his return to ensure the Court and the League won’t get their hands on the Lazarus Pit, using the salvaged Batwing to blow it up with himself inside. As with everything about this game, I have mixed feelings, but only because this version of Bruce was a refreshingly warm and fatherly contrast to the many emotionally constipated takes on the character we’ve had — otherwise, I’m glad Gotham Knights followed through with its main premise.
5. A Wider DCU Gameverse
Unlike the Arkham and Telltale games, which were incredibly shy about acknowledging the wider DC Universe (something that’s going to make Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad even more interesting), Gotham Knights is very comfortable about Batman and Superman living in the same world, with the Big Blue Boy Scout, Lois Lane, Wonder Woman, and Tim’s Teen Titans teammates sending emails to our heroes checking in on them. The subplot involving Clark in Dick’s emails, where it’s revealed he’s filling in for him as “Nite-Wing” in Bludhaven, is absolutely hysterical, and if there’s any justice in this world, we’ll get a comic about his antics. As much as I prefer Rocksteady’s games, something about these emails, and the other wider DCU references here (including Kane’s dealings with a Mr. Lex Luthor, and all the nods to Black Canary) made me feel much more at home.
Bonus Thoughts:
– Every decision about Jason in this game feels contrived, from his very presence (“non-lethal” firearms and all), to his brutish appearance, and his mystical Lazarus Pit-derived means of “gliding,” so I must add… I really enjoyed his characterization, he’s gruff but clearly a sensitive soul, and as much of a big brother to Tim as Dick is. I still think the line-up could’ve been more diverse, but at least Tim’s bisexuality is acknowledged.
– Elias Toufexis’s Penguin has to be my favorite portrayal since Paul Williams’s version in Batman: The Animated Series, he feels genuinely classy, not a cartoon mobster like Danny DeVito, Tom Kenny, Nolan North, Colin Farrell et al.
– It’s a real sign of the times that the GCDP have a largely antagonistic role, although this is all in-line with how the police are portrayed in ‘Batman: Year One:’ it’s not like Renee Montoya resigns and becomes the Question here.
All in all, Gotham Knights is a disappointment, which is a shame because the concept of an open-world Bat-Family game, without the race against time element, or the tedious Batmobile from Arkham Knight, had so much potential, but it comes across as a rush job designed to sell lots of DLCs. I’m personally unsure if I would purchase any: if you’re still curious about playing it, I’d recommend renting it, or waiting until it’s much cheaper — that way, you’re not paying more than the original price when the inevitable ‘Death of the Family’ expansion drops.
