What The Critics Are Saying About Gotham Knights
Critics have finally gotten their hands on "Gotham Knights," the open-world adventure game (not set in the Arkhamverse) that follows the question of what would happen if Batman died. While players were already not happy that the game lacks a performance mode, critics were able to give a bit more insight into the technical problems of the game while also sharing opinions about other parts of the gameplay, which is pretty darn divisive.
The early Metacritic score for the game was low, but the individual ratings were all over the place. Some critics had issues with nearly every part of the game, while others were much happier with the title at large.
The one thing that pretty much every critic agreed on was the outstanding co-op mechanics. Gamespot's Mark Delaney explained that two people can play together and progress the story, collect loot, and play the game regularly, providing a better experience than a solo run. Plus, when the party splits, the second player can choose to integrate everything they did while together into their own game. This feature, as Delaney explained, sets the stage for future co-op games.
While co-op may shine in "Gotham Knights," other mechanics tanked the game in critics' eyes.
Combat and narrative are lackluster to most
"Gotham Knights" follows the four Bat-proteges, Robin, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Nightwing. Players can choose who to play at any given time, and the skill trees between each character progress no matter which one you're playing. While they each have their strong suits, many critics were unhappy because individual characters don't stand out enough in combat.
Tyler Colp at PC Gamer explained that there's not a good enough reason to switch between characters – even if there's a better "Batpeep" for the job, it's still relatively easy to make do with any of the other main characters. The Guardian's Edwin Evans-Thirlwell felt that the roles of each character overlapped too much, contributing to the problem.
While some critics thought this was an issue, others enjoyed the sense of freedom in being able to choose which character to play. Sam Comrie at Dexerto argued that the game's focus on player autonomy makes it stand out. Whether it's a pro or a con depends on the player, but Mark Delaney explained that each character mainly uses the same moves, they just look different.
The story is another place where the game seems to take a dive for the worst. At best, critics like GameRant's Joshua Duckworth argued that the game's not bad or good, and instead is just mediocre. While the game's heroes are grappling with the death of their beloved mentor, the heaviness doesn't seem to translate to the players, leading to a disconnect between story and experience.
There are major issues with performance
No matter the system it's played on, "Gotham Knights" seemed to have performance issues. Sam Comrie reviewed the game on the PlayStation 5 and mentioned that the game struggled to run at 30FPS. On PC, Tyler Colp struggled to keep the game running at 4K with 60FPS even with a 3080 Ti GPU and Intel i9 2900k processor, which are much better specs than the average PC user has according to Steam's numbers and better than the minimum PC specs the game requires.
Overall, critics argued that "Gotham Knights" was just not up to par. While some things stood out to various critics – for the good or the bad – the game just didn't seem to deliver the satisfaction that other ARPGs do. However, fans of the universe or of the lesser-known Batman sidekicks may find the game more enjoyable than others. Just don't go into the game expecting to see a Batman version of the critically acclaimed "Marvel's Spider-Man," or disappointment may abound.
"Gotham Knights" will be released on October 21, 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.