The recent Gotham Knights official reveal at the DC Fandome was fairly well received, but left fans confused somewhat about the nature of the game. Developer WB Games Montreal has since confirmed that Gotham Knights does not take place in the Arkhamverse, and now, the developer touched on a number of other details players picked up on watching the footage. The question at the top of everyone’s mind was whether Gotham Knights is a game-as-a-service. The footage showed RPG-style elements: numbers flying out of enemies when attacked, level progression etc. Couple that with the co-op element, and fans were sure this is Warner Bros’. GAAS game. Not so, apparently. Speaking to IGN, senior producer Fleur Marty said that Gotham Knights is not a game-as-a-service, despite sharing some elements with those games. “This is very much not designed as a game-as-service,” Marty explained. “There is an ability tree, which is different for each of the characters, and then there’s gear that you craft - and so choices that you’re going to be making - but that does not mean that this is a game-as-service.” With that in mind, WB Montreal hinted that post-launch content is being planned, to expand the story and the world.
Marty further added that Gotham Knights has its own self-contained story that can be played solo, entirely offline. You can even play the whole thing as one hero, and the game won’t force you to switch between them. “We think that teaming up and living that dynamic duo fantasy can be also a really great experience for players, but we won’t force it on them,” he said. “You could go back to the Belfry and say, ‘Oh, I’ve just unlocked the next major piece of the mystery. And I need to go deal with this thing.’ And you can decide that this is the perfect opportunity for me to swap out and play somebody else, so we allow you to dip in and out of those characters,” added creative director Patrick Redding. “But we know most players will typically gravitate towards that one hero that really reflects their style.” As for co-op, the developer confirmed that both players can play as the same characters. The depth in each hero’s skill tree was designed to allow for different mutations on the same base. “Because the characters are so distinct from each other, there’s a bit of asymmetry, a bit of the complimentary skill set and ability set that actually makes teaming up kind of awesome if you happen to have different characters,” said Redding. “Now, if you happen to have two Batgirls, you can also do that. Obviously, the potential of having different Batgirl builds, and how they look different and play differently is really cool, too.” There’s more at the link, including why the game is only limited to two-player co-op. Gotham Knights is out next year on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
