Upcoming open-world action game, Gotham Knights, will allow you to freely swap between four playable characters, and as recently revealed by the project’s Cinematics Director, the story will vary depending on who you’re playing, so you’ll need multiple playthroughs to experience everything the game has to offer narrative-wise. In a recent interview with PLAY magazine (as first reported by MP1st), Cinematics Director Wilson Mui and Game Director Geoff Ellenor shed some light on just how swapping between characters is going to affect the story.
Gotham Knights is set in a DC universe where Batman died, and so, four willing heroes must take up the mantle to defend the peace of this crime-addled city: Batgirl, Red Hood, Nightwing, and Robin. Players can freely choose any of the four characters for each particular mission. “We actually made four [stories],” Mui told PLAY. “That’s actually true,” Ellenor corroborated. “You will not see all of it in a single playthrough. Just because there’s so much content that is unique to the hero’s perception of what’s going on and what’s happened.”
Mui went on to speak on the challenges of having to create variations of every cinematic in the game. He proclaimed that the scenes will be “very similar,” but that each one will “fall in the flow” of the specific character that is being used. “Each character has their own version [of the scene],” he added. Since every character moves differently, speaks differently, and has different histories, the developers strived to make the cutscenes reflect this. ” If you were to look and play Batgirl,” said Mui, “you’re gonna get Batgirl’s version, but if you play Robin, you’re gonna get Robin’s version of that same scene. Some of them are very similar in how they do it, but they’re gonna have little subtle differences.”
Gotham Knights is being made by WB Games Montreal, the developers of the prequel title Batman Arkham: Origins, which released back in 2013. The studio has yet to release a title since then. Whatever the internal turmoil was that caused a 9-year gap between games is not yet clear, but many are hopeful Gotham Knights will be a strong comeback for the team. It will vary heavily from their first AAA game, as there is no Batman this time, and there’s a heavy focus on online co-op since players can freely roam the open world with their friends.
It’s clear from the studio heads’ comments that the story won’t suffer any major changes between characters, which makes sense, as it still has to stay on a linear path in order to allow players to switch freely. Regardless, the dialogue adjustments that attempt to display each character’s unique personality are a welcome addition and will add further replayability to the game.
Gotham Knights releases on October 21 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
