Play Station Official Magazine - UK (2020-11)

008

The Big 10

STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

‘open world’ has a certain dynamic

to it, and especially if you’re on

these fast-moving Batcycles, or

you’re traversing using your

traversal abilities.”

The team are also taking the

brave step of allowing us to play as

any character in any co-op match-

up, meaning there could be two

variants of Batgirl roaming Gotham.

GOTHAM GREATS

Each character has a distinct

combat and visual style, and you’ll be

able to customise both in the game.

“We’re building distinct ability trees

for each character,” confirms

Redding, who also reveals everything

is locked into the DNA of the heroes

and their connection to Batman. You

can upgrade suit styles that can

impact on combat, but you’ll never

over-mod your character as you

would in a GAAS.

“The idea is that you can use your

style, you can use your tools, and the

game will respect that and sort of

valorise it by giving you great

opportunities,” shares Redding, who

tells us you can approach combat

however you wish, stealthily or not,

whether in the open world or a main

story mission.

Combat is different to the Arkham

games, though that series’ DNA is

still evident – after all, these heroes

were all trained by Batman. The

closest to ol’ Bats looks to be Batgirl,

her blend of jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, and

capoeira corresponding nicely to the

rhythmic counter-attack combat of

the other series. Nightwing is

Batgirl-like in his use of dual Escrima

sticks, and Red Hood brings an

arsenal of weaponry, while Robin is

the go-to stealth class. In action the

boy wonder uses invisibility tech to

sneak up on enemies and traverse

the city by using the Justice

League’s satellite to teleport to

targeted areas. It calls for a

suspension of belief that’s not

required when playing as Batgirl,

who can swing across rooftops on a

familiar Bat-grapple or take to the

streets on her Batcycle.

CITY LIMITLESS

Gotham City itself is as big a

character as ever, and has its own

ecosystem. “I think what was

important for us, especially because

this is a new guard of heroes, they

don’t have a friendly GCPD. They

have a GCPD that’s post-Jim Gordon,

that’s hostile to mass vigilantes

running around,” says Redding. He

explains crime is rife as word

spreads of Batman’s demise. There

are also citizens milling about Gotham.

“It’s a city that’s alive,” states

Redding. “It has people going about

their business. And obviously that

creates an ecosystem that the

player has to drop themselves into

in order to fight crime.”

He then tells us those citizens will

see your heroes differently as the

game progresses.

This sense of development

appears to be central to the game

as a whole, with Redding revealing

the nature of the mysterious Court

Of Owls and its influence on Gotham

is a story we’ll need to piece

together for ourselves.

Redding says: “The reason we

went for a mystery sort of structure

for our main story is that it isn’t

something that you just grind

through over a weekend. It’s

something where you uncover a

piece of it, and you get a chance to

explore that piece. And it has

implications, and it changes the

world. And then you have to kind of

go and do the detective legwork in

order to get access to what that

next piece is going to be.

“So it really is a mystery arc. And

so with the Court, the things start

out as one thing, and then they

definitely end up somewhere else.“

WE WENT FOR A

MYSTERY SORT OF

STRUCTURE FOR OUR

MAIN STORY.

Q Batgirl employs a familiar blend of

stealth and melee combat.

Q The streets of Gotham are much

busier than those of Arkham City.

Gotham Knights will release on PS4 and

PS5 in 2021. @OPM_UK with your views.

CO-OP COMBO

Classic Arkham combat goes co-op:

characters now have complementary

combos. We see Batgirl grapple and

kick-flip an enemy into the air before

Robin leap-smashes him into the ground

with his trademark quarterstaff.

Red Hood, Robin, Batgirl,

and Nightwing can be

customised and levelled up

with new skills and gear.

008

The Big 10

STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

‘open world’ has a certain dynamic

to it, and especially if you’re on

these fast-moving Batcycles, or

you’re traversing using your

traversal abilities.”

The team are also taking the

brave step of allowing us to play as

any character in any co-op match-

up, meaning there could be two

variants of Batgirl roaming Gotham.

GOTHAM GREATS

Each character has a distinct

combat and visual style, and you’ll be

able to customise both in the game.

“We’re building distinct ability trees

for each character,” confirms

Redding, who also reveals everything

is locked into the DNA of the heroes

and their connection to Batman. You

can upgrade suit styles that can

impact on combat, but you’ll never

over-mod your character as you

would in a GAAS.

“The idea is that you can use your

style, you can use your tools, and the

game will respect that and sort of

valorise it by giving you great

opportunities,” shares Redding, who

tells us you can approach combat

however you wish, stealthily or not,

whether in the open world or a main

story mission.

Combat is different to the Arkham

games, though that series’ DNA is

still evident – after all, these heroes

were all trained by Batman. The

closest to ol’ Bats looks to be Batgirl,

her blend of jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, and

capoeira corresponding nicely to the

rhythmic counter-attack combat of

the other series. Nightwing is

Batgirl-like in his use of dual Escrima

sticks, and Red Hood brings an

arsenal of weaponry, while Robin is

the go-to stealth class. In action the

boy wonder uses invisibility tech to

sneak up on enemies and traverse

the city by using the Justice

League’s satellite to teleport to

targeted areas. It calls for a

suspension of belief that’s not

required when playing as Batgirl,

who can swing across rooftops ona

familiar Bat-grapple or take to the

streets on her Batcycle.

CITY LIMITLESS

Gotham City itself is as big a

character as ever, and has its own

ecosystem. “I think what was

important for us, especially because

this is a new guard of heroes, they

don’t have a friendly GCPD. They

have a GCPD that’s post-Jim Gordon,

that’s hostile to mass vigilantes

running around,” says Redding. He

explainscrimeis rifeasword

spreadsofBatman’sdemise.There

arealsocitizensmillingaboutGotham.

“It’sa citythat’salive,”states

Redding.“Ithaspeoplegoingabout

theirbusiness.Andobviouslythat

createsanecosystemthatthe

playerhastodropthemselvesinto

in ordertofightcrime.”

Hethentellsusthosecitizenswill

seeyourheroesdifferentlyasthe

gameprogresses.

Thissenseofdevelopment

appearstobecentraltothegame

asa whole,withReddingrevealing

thenatureofthemysteriousCourt

OfOwlsanditsinfluenceonGotham

is a storywe’llneedtopiece

togetherforourselves.

Reddingsays:“Thereasonwe

wentfora mysterysortofstructure

forourmainstoryis thatit isn’t

somethingthatyoujustgrind

throughovera weekend.It’s

somethingwhereyouuncovera

pieceofit, andyougeta chanceto

explorethatpiece.Andit has

implications,andit changesthe

world.Andthenyouhavetokindof

goanddothedetectivelegworkin

ordertogetaccesstowhatthat

nextpieceis goingtobe.

“Soit reallyis a mysteryarc.And

sowiththeCourt,thethingsstart

outasonething,andthenthey

definitelyendupsomewhereelse.“

WE WENT FOR A

MYSTERY SORTOF

STRUCTURE FOROUR

MAIN STORY.

Q Batgirl employs a familiar blend of

stealth and melee combat.

Q The streets of Gotham are much

busier than those of Arkham City.

GothamKnightswillreleaseonPS4and

PS5in 2021.@OPM_UKwithyourviews.

CO-OP COMBO

Classic Arkham combat goes co-op:

characters now have complementary

combos. We see Batgirl grapple and

kick-flip an enemy into the air before

Robin leap-smashes him into the ground

with his trademark quarterstaff.

Red Hood, Robin, Batgirl,

and Nightwing can be

customised and levelled up

with new skills and gear.