MadCap's Trailer Reactions - "Gotham Knights"

Well, DC Fandome is off to a cracking start, isn't it? It's still going on at the time of this writing, so let's go with that. Even for a guy who is and has always been a Marvel fan like myself, there's a lot to like in here, particularly since I started picking up on watching the Arrowverse family of shows. While I think that the clickbait-y pronouncements that DC has put Marvel on the back foot with this are hilariously divorced from reality, I will have to tip my hat to the Distinguished Competition on their showmanship when Marvel's current counter to this all...are bad character designs and a deconstruction of Jack Kirby's Eternals that nobody asked for.

Just stop, I know you're going to click into a new tab to look up who those are.

In the still-going 48 hours of hype we've seen the Robert Pattison Batman trailer (I'll probably get to that later), new The Suicide Squad trailer, trailers for the upcoming seasons of the Arrowverse, that one Suicide Squad game from Rocksteady that no one seems to really want, and...this curious little gem among all the titans.

...no, not those Titans, although one of them is in the game.

When the Arkham series of games ended with Arkham Knight a few years back, I was glad if a little confused. Was Bruce Wayne still alive at the end or had he become some sort of Batman-Scarecrow hybrid spirit of vengeance looking over Gotham City?

Well, Gotham Knights won't be giving us the answers to those questions because Gotham Knights apparently has nothing to do with the Arkham series besides apparently boring the same art style with character faces, tone, and the fact that the focus this time seems to be around a Tim Drake Robin and Barbara Gordon Batgirl - two characters who were most definitely alive at the end of Arkham Knight and further DLC for that game had working together to fight crime.

The nail in the coffin for this not being an Arkham game is the suspicious absence of the Caped Crusader himself from the events in question. Given that DC is so eager to whore out Batman to anyone willing to pay money that they will set up stories specifically to defy logic to get him front and center, I'm honestly shocked that they green lit this.

...unless you're running Smallville or one of the Arrowverse shows, then the best you can get is flashbacks or reference jokes.

Although they are being assisted by Alfred, who's fate is just as unknown as Bruce's following the events in Arkham Knight, so what do I know?

That gripe aside, the demonstration is a rendered pre-alpha and so certain details about it may change by the time the game actually comes out. That said, much in the Arkham style, the game does actually look really gorgeous. The characters are distinct looking and the environment that they've rendered - that of a building overtaken by one of Mr. Freeze's contraptions - looks nice. You also get to rome around on the Batcycle, which looks about as fun as you'd expect.

The UI is a bit different from the Arkham series, showing the level of opponents along with a health bar as well as damage being done to them being represented by numbers. Whereas Batman was keen to lurk in the shadows, pick off opponents, and reacted with Spider-Man-esque precision to counter his opponents whenever he did get into one on one combat, Barbara Gordon is apparently much more of a brawler as, while acrobatic, her fighting seems to follow more in the beat 'em up style than Arkham's sneaky flourishes.

The game also has a level up system, but one that actually factors into the gameplay beyond just giving the Bat family some fun new toys to play with. This will also, however, see enemies level up accordingly as the demo mentions with Mr. Freeze, with others presumably having the same occur. There's also some differences in abilities. While Barbara does have the standard Arkham skills of swooping down on opponents and feeding them their own kneecaps, Tim has the ability to tap into the Justice League satellites for short-range teleportation.

This is, seemingly, also part of the drop-in drop-out co-op mechanic. Besides Batgirl and Robin as shown in the demo, Nightwing and Red Hood are also apparently going to be playable characters. They will also have their own special abilities, although the demo doesn't cover either of them so we can really only speculate.

Keep in mind, this is all a pre-alpha build but it looks damn good for one, I will say that much. That said, looking good isn't particularly hard in this business anymore.

The game looks gorgeous and while it may not officially be an Arkham game, it seems like it might as well be. Batman is apparently dead and has left instructions to the aforementioned four to defend Gotham City, Alfred is helping out the team, and the overall tone is very reminiscent of those games in particular. Given that WB Montreal worked on Arkham Origins, this really isn't that surprising. What is surprising is that they insist that it isn't a sequel to Arkham Knight...when it really kind of is. There's really no reason to make a distinction given how much it follows on from that game and that series.

It's two player co-op wearing the hat of the Arkham series and that is just enough to interest me and maybe you, too. I'll be keeping an eye out for this one.

Gotham Knights is projected to be out some time in 2021 from WB Montreal and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment for a variety of consoles.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.