Spoiler warning 

 Gotham Knights came out Oct. 21 on Playstation 5, Playstation 4, Xbox Series X and S and PC. The copy used for this review was on Playstation 5.

 I have been playing Gotham Knights since the day it came out. I’ve been a fan of the Batman extended universe for a long time. Needless to say, I wanted the game and I was ecstatic when it came out. The main question is did it hold to my expectations? 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. The less enjoyable parts were made more enjoyable by the great story and the best parts of the gameplay.

 First off, the game does the impossible; it kills off Batman in a 12 minute-long opening cutscene. The story is an ok Batman story. I’ve read much worse in the comics. I think it’s a great take on the Court of Owls. The Court of Owls is Gotham’s secret society that controls everything in the city. Though the best part of the story is the heroes who are learning to work together and grieve over the loss of Batman. However, I don’t like the portrayal of Red Hood. It was like listening to a whiny goth kid. It was mostly him whining about dying and coming back to life. The other characters are pretty dynamic and have many interesting traits. My personal favorite is Robin. He is kind of funny and has a lot of quips like Spider-Man but he is also mourning Batman’s death and is hurt by it. 

The voice acting is okay. I’ve heard better but it’s fine. Red Hood’s voice actor was a standout. His voice worked for the game. Even though I didn’t like the writing for the character,  the voice actor made Red Hood tolerable. 

The gameplay wasn’t amazing. It’s not as satisfying as Insomniac’s Spider-Man which I played to get a better grasp on what this game would play like. The combos in the game were boring to watch and the stealth is not interesting in the slightest except for Robin who has the best stealth in the game. This is because the skill tree gives Robin more options than other characters. The rest of the gameplay is really good; the finishers are the bread and butter of the game’s combat. 

The game menu isn’t as bad as other reviews have made it seem. The customization of the characters’ super suits is amazing. There are so many options. It’s what I’ve wanted for Insomniac’s Spider-Man. The open world is filled with crimes and a few secrets, but the crimes don’t have much to them. The main side quests are good, but not the best. 

The Clayface side quest is horrible. There are three missions and the player goes around the map and collects the samples of Clayface. The player then has a really cool chase scene followed by one of the most annoying boss fights ever where Clayface puts three versions of himself in the arena with a lot of smaller versions of him in there as well. 

Then if it wasn’t horrible enough, the smaller versions of Clayface explode in the third phase of the fight. The third mission is another boss fight and it takes forever. I didn’t even get to the second phase before I quit. 

The game has its glitches like when Redhood’s hoodie decided to defy gravity. The frame rate is also choppy. If the game wasn’t 30fps (frames per second) I wouldn’t notice it. Despite my harsh criticisms, it’s not as bad as some people say it is. I love the game. It’s what I wanted in a Bat-family game. It’s a great game and it’s a great fix for anyone who has a superhero game deficiency.