Rocksteady is finally ready to start talking about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, after delaying it (again) earlier this year. The studio first announced its upcoming supervillain co-op action game way back in 2020. In a new video series going behind the scenes of the game, the devs explained how big its map will be and showed off some new cutscenes. Conveniently, they barely mentioned any of the live-service aspects fans aren’t happy about.
Rocksteady went radio silent for most of this year after delaying Suicide Squad from May 2023 to February 2024. This followed negative reactions to a leak in January and later to its first big gameplay reveal in February. Many fans weren’t happy about how the game looked a lot like another always-online looter shooter built around shooting purple weak points on generic enemies.
This time around, in the first episode of Rocksteady’s “Suicide Squad Insider,” the studio behind the popular Arkham series wanted to show off more of its upcoming co-op game’s narrative. Some new gameplay details sneaked in, too.
In the behind-the-scenes video, Rocksteady explained that the open world of Suicide Squad’s Metropolis is twice the size of the city in Batman: Arkham Knight. We also saw how the game’s villains—Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, and Deadshot—get access to new traversal tools that let them explore the large city quickly. It will be useful to stay off the streets, it seems as Brainiac’s minions are running wild down there.
Rocksteady also said that, as you’d expect, each villain will play differently, with Quinn being faster and more acrobatic while King Shark is a heavy hitter who can deal large amounts of damage from above.
Throughout the video, Rocksteady developers referenced the Arkham games and their universe multiple times. We knew Suicide Squad was set in that universe, but it seems Rocksteady and WB Games really, really want you to know that and are going to focus more on mentioning how this new game and those older, beloved Batman games connect.
Not surprisingly, there was very little talk of live-service elements in the video. Beyond one mention of free post-launch content and a tease of future updates, this new sneak peek was focused entirely on story and gameplay. The studio downplaying those elements feels a lot like Rocksteady reacting to negative feedback from players and critics.
However, a new press release did confirm that Suicide Squad will have free seasonal updates that add new characters and missions as well as a battle pass with both free and paid tiers. So if you were hoping the live-service elements had been removed following the game’s recent long delay, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is scheduled to launch on February 2, 2024 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The game’s $100 fancy edition will also have a three-day “early access” launch, too, like so many other big games these days.
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