3 Ways Gotham Knights Can Learn From Marvel’s Avengers

Gotham Knights, the next new Batman-themed game coming from WB Montreal, has been stirring up hype since the game’s announcement and recent gameplay reveal. However, upon hearing the game will be sharing similarities with Square Enix’s 2020 Marvel’s Avengers (in regards of loot and combat), I started hoping that Gotham Knights will learn from the mistakes of Avengers that lead to the game receiving average reviews and the eventual skydiving player numbers that still plague the servers today. As I have recently decided to pick Avengers back up again, I decided to write down a list of some aspects Gotham Knights should avoid if they hope to make the Batfamily the next new superhero multiplayer beat-em-up. Also, spoilers will be talked about in both games, so be warned.

Be Wary of Skins and Microtransactions

The marketplace for Marvel’s Avengers was pretty intimidating, to say the least. When booting up the game, a message offers you a free marketplace item (usually something small like an XP booster), but will take you to the marketplace page that bombards you with tons of things to buy. These can range from skins, to emotes, to banners for your heroes, and many more items. Now, it is important to note, none of these are needed to help you beat the game. Yet, when the game is riding on the coattails of the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, dangling the loved costumes for the heroes above player’s noses that can only be acquired through real-life monetary purchases, it feels like a pretty low blow to big fans of the films that want to roleplay as the heroes we know and love from the big screen.

Luckily, in Gotham Knight’s FAQ page, the studio confirmed that no microtransactions will be available in the game. However, players should be wary that things can change at any time, and if a marketplace is introduced, the player-base may revolt against the game. If Gotham Knights want to avoid the controversy surrounding locking beloved costumes and skins behind a paywall that Avengers went through, they should keep to their word and avoid adding a marketplace.

Keep the Combat Fresh and New

Avengers’ combat was fun for the first couple of minutes, with flashy movesets unique to each character, and stylish takedowns to feel like unstoppable superbeings. However, it does result sometimes in button-mashing the attack and dodge buttons, as many of the enemies in the game are sponges for damage, ending in one robot getting ganged up on by all four superheroes. Speaking of robots, most enemies in the game end up being humanoid bots, enemies we have seen in countless past superhero games, with only a few other human enemies scattered here and there.

Gotham is home to plenty of Batman’s greatest foes, and is usually depicted as being more of a realistic city with gangs, mobsters, and psychopaths intent on destroying the city and putting the Batfamily in the ground. Because of this, keeping the enemies realistic yet varied will allow for players to feel grounded in the setting and have them strategically fight each grunt or boss without resorting to mashing the same two buttons until their foes drop defeated.

Stick to the Story, and Respect the Characters

This is where spoilers for Avengers come in. One of the biggest plot points in the game revolves around the belief that Captain America is killed in the first couple minutes of the beginning, only to be reintroduced out of nowhere almost halfway into the campaign. The reveal was pretty much ruined by the cover, however keeping Cap dead would’ve introduced new stakes into the game, forcing the characters to fight as hard as possible as they are down one original member. Speaking of the characters, some complaints about the game from reviewers include how the writing didn’t stay true to their comic book and movie counterparts, coming off more as discount heroes than the ones people grew up reading about.

It is already confirmed through the game’s announcement and trailers that Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon are dead, and for the sake of the game, it better stay that way. Although Batman is a great hero, and Gordon is just as equally as important to the stories as the caped crusader, their deaths should be respected and kept exactly as they are. The Batfamily should also be taken great care of, respecting the source material as well as making them the heroes that Gotham needs. This is the most important part in crafting the game, as if either of these are broken, the game could lose a lot of the hype and goodwill that it has been building over the past couple of months.

Gotham Knights is looking like an incredible game, which leads to room for disappointment. If WB Montreal can avoid some of these mistakes Marvel: Avengers unfortunately fell for, I believe this could be the next new Batman: Arkham series that brings a new superhero family into next generation consoles. Gotham Knights releases for Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC October 21st, 2022.