Gotham Knights (2022) 🦇🌆⚔️

Batman Died… And So Did The Games Momentum

Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

🦇 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Gotham Knights is a 2022 DC video game from WB Montréal, and this game had every reason to be amazing. On paper, this should have been one of the easiest slam dunks ever. Batman is dead. Gotham has lost its protector. The Bat-Family has to step up and protect the city without Bruce Wayne leading them. And on top of that, the game finally gives us the Court of Owls, one of the coolest modern Batman villain groups, as a major threat.

That premise sounds awesome. That sounds like the kind of story Batman fans had been waiting for. Gotham without Batman should feel terrifying. It should feel like the city is bleeding. It should feel like every criminal, every mob boss, every freak, every corrupt rich person, and every secret society is crawling out of the shadows because the one man holding the city together is gone.

And to be fair, the game does start with a strong hook. Bruce Wayne dies fighting Ra’s al Ghul, the Batcave is destroyed, and the remaining members of the Bat-Family are left trying to figure out what the hell they’re supposed to do now. You play as Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood as they patrol Gotham, investigate crimes, and slowly uncover the Court of Owls conspiracy.

But the problem is, the game never fully becomes the emotional, dark, gripping Bat-Family story it should have been. It keeps feeling like there is a better game buried underneath all the weird RPG mechanics, repetitive crime missions, gear crafting, health bars, and loot systems.

That’s what makes Gotham Knights so frustrating. It isn’t completely unplayable. It isn’t one of those games where I’m sitting there like, “Wow, who allowed this to escape the lab?” There is some fun here. I do like playing as Red Hood. That is one of the few real compliments I can give it. Running around Gotham as Jason Todd sounds cool because Red Hood is already one of the most interesting Batman-adjacent characters. He has the anger, the violence, the baggage, and the attitude to make him fun in a game.

I also like that the game tackles the Court of Owls. At least for a while. The Court is such a strong idea because they make Gotham feel bigger than Batman. They make Gotham feel like a city with hidden rot underneath the floorboards. The idea that this secret society has been controlling Gotham from behind the scenes for generations is creepy, gothic, and perfect for Batman.

But then the game doesn’t stick the landing. The Court stuff is interesting, but it does not last as long or hit as hard as it should. It feels like the game starts with this amazing idea, then slowly drifts into other stuff, and I’m sitting there like, “No, go back. The creepy owl people were the good part.”

👥 Character Rundown

Nightwing, voiced by Christopher Sean, is supposed to be the natural leader of the team after Bruce dies. That makes sense. Dick Grayson was the first Robin, the one who grew up under Bruce, the one who actually managed to become his own hero instead of just becoming Bruce 2.0 with more trauma and better hair. He should be the emotional center of the story, and sometimes the game gets that. You can feel him trying to hold everyone together, but the writing does not always give him enough personality. He should feel charismatic, confident, charming, and weighed down by grief, but sometimes he just feels like “team leader guy.”

Batgirl, voiced by America Young, is probably one of the better characters in the game. Barbara Gordon has a lot of history, and the game does try to address the fact that she has recovered and returned to crime fighting. I do think there was room to make that more emotional, because Barbara becoming Batgirl again after everything she went through should feel huge. Still, she feels capable, focused, and more grounded than some of the others.

Robin, voiced by Sloane Morgan Siegel, is Tim Drake here, and he is fine, but I don’t think the game makes him as interesting as he should be. Tim is supposed to be the smart one, the detective-minded Robin, the one who figured out Batman’s identity because he paid attention. That should be fascinating in a game where Bruce is gone and detective work matters. But instead, he sometimes just feels like the younger tech guy who is there because the Bat-Family needs a Robin slot filled.

Then there’s Red Hood, voiced by Stephen Oyoung, and he is easily the character I gravitated toward the most. Jason Todd is fun to play as because he feels different from the others. He is heavier, angrier, more brutal, and he brings a different energy to Gotham. He is not trying to be Batman in the same clean way. He has his own violent history, and that makes him more interesting.

Now, I do need to talk about his traversal because what the hell was that? Red Hood having mystical jump powers is still one of the funniest and strangest choices in the whole game. This man is jumping through the sky on weird ghost platforms like his unresolved trauma unlocked a Mario power-up. I get they wanted each character to have a unique way of moving around Gotham, but Red Hood bouncing around like an angry haunted kangaroo never stops looking ridiculous.

The villains are mixed. Harley Quinn is in the game, and she is fine, but at this point DC puts Harley in everything. She is basically the ketchup packet of modern DC projects. Mr. Freeze looks cool visually, and the ice effects are nice, but his story is nowhere near as emotional as the best Mr. Freeze stories. Clayface is actually fun because his boss fight and transformations let the game get weird and monstrous.

But the Court of Owls should have been the main event. They should have been the thing this entire game revolved around. Their whole presence is creepy. The masks are creepy. The Talons are creepy. The idea that Gotham’s rich elite have been secretly controlling the city is creepy. That should have been the meat of the game, not just one part of a bigger story that eventually starts wandering away from them.

⏱️ Pacing / Gameplay Flow

The pacing in this game is where things start falling apart.

At first, the nightly patrol structure is kind of cool. You leave the Belfry, go into Gotham, stop crimes, interrogate criminals, collect clues, and return to base. That sounds like a fun superhero loop. For the first few hours, it even works. You feel like you’re protecting Gotham while slowly piecing together a bigger mystery.

Then the repetition hits.

And when it hits, it hits hard.

You start realizing that Gotham has the same crimes happening over and over again. You stop the same kinds of criminals, fight the same kinds of enemies, collect the same kinds of resources, and repeat the same loop until the game starts feeling less like a superhero crime story and more like Gotham hired you for night shift maintenance.

The RPG mechanics make it worse. I do not know who decided Batman’s world needed gear scores, damage numbers, crafting materials, elemental attacks, and enemies with giant health bars, but I want to know why. Why am I fighting street thugs who can survive fifty punches because their level number is higher than mine? Why does a random criminal feel like he has the durability of a refrigerator? Why am I crafting better suits like this is Destiny wearing a cape?

A Batman game should make you feel fast, tactical, dangerous, and precise. Even if you are not playing as Batman himself, you should still feel like part of that world. Instead, Gotham Knights often makes you feel like you are grinding through a superhero checklist.

The combat is not awful, but compared to the Arkham games, it feels floatier and less satisfying. And yes, I know this is not supposed to be an Arkham game. I understand that. But when you are making a Gotham-based action game after the Arkham series changed the entire standard for superhero combat, people are going to compare them. That is just reality. You can say “it’s not Arkham” all day long, but the second I’m punching criminals in Gotham, my brain is going to remember how much better that felt in Arkham Knight.

🦇 The Gotham Knights Naming Disaster

Now we need to talk about something that deserves its own rant, because this is still one of the most confusing branding decisions DC and WB made.

This game is called Gotham Knights.

Then, not long after, The CW released a show also called Gotham Knights.

And they have basically nothing to do with each other.

Nothing.

Same title, completely different project.

The game is about Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood protecting Gotham after Batman dies while dealing with the Court of Owls. The show is a CW teen mystery drama about Turner Hayes, Duella, Harvey Dent, and a bunch of young characters being framed for Batman’s murder.

They are not in the same universe. They do not share the same cast of characters. They do not adapt the same story. They do not have the same tone. They do not connect. They do not crossover. They barely even feel like they are breathing the same Gotham air.

And yet both are called Gotham Knights.

That is confusing as hell.

It got to the point where people online had to clarify every single time they talked about it. Someone would say, “Gotham Knights is bad,” and immediately someone else had to ask, “The game or the show?” That should not happen. That is terrible branding.

And what makes it more frustrating is that the game actually feels like it deserves the title more. The game is literally about Gotham’s knights. The Bat-Family are protecting the city after Batman’s death. That title makes sense for this game. The CW show feels like it grabbed the title because it sounded cool, then went off and did its own teen drama thing with barely any connection to what people expected.

It genuinely feels like WB had two separate meetings in two separate rooms, and both rooms somehow wrote “Gotham Knights” on the whiteboard. Then nobody checked the whiteboards before both projects came out.

That is insane.

And it did not help either project. The game already had mixed reception. The show got cancelled after one season. So now the title Gotham Knights is attached to two different DC projects that both struggled, both confused people, and both made fans go, “Wait, which one are we talking about?”

That is almost impressive in the worst way.

✅ Pros

The visuals are one of the stronger parts of the game. Gotham does look good. There are moments where the city has this rainy, neon, gothic atmosphere that really works. Driving through the city at night can look beautiful. The lighting, the rooftops, the reflections, and the overall mood give Gotham a strong identity.

I also like that the game lets you play as Red Hood. That is honestly one of my biggest compliments. Jason Todd is fun to use, and even though some of his mechanics are goofy, I still like getting to run around Gotham as him. He brings a different flavor than the others, and that at least gives the game some personality.

The Court of Owls material is also a positive, even though I wish the game did more with them. The Court’s atmosphere is strong, and when the game focuses on them, it becomes more interesting. The hidden rooms, the Talons, the owl imagery, the creepy old-money conspiracy vibe — all of that works.

There are also some decent emotional scenes between the Bat-Family. The game does occasionally remember that Bruce Wayne’s death should matter, and when it does, those moments can land.

❌ Cons

The biggest problem with Gotham Knights is that it feels like a game constantly fighting itself.

It wants to be a dark Bat-Family story, but it also wants to be an RPG loot grind. It wants to have emotional grief, but it also wants you to farm crimes for materials. It wants the Court of Owls to feel terrifying, but then it turns Talons into enemies you fight repeatedly until they lose their mystique. It wants Gotham to feel alive, but the activities become repetitive so quickly that the city starts feeling artificial.

The combat is not satisfying enough to carry the repetition. The traversal is awkward. The gear system feels unnecessary. The pacing gets dragged down constantly. The story does not go as hard as it should. And the Court of Owls, despite being one of the coolest parts, does not dominate the game the way they should.

That is the biggest disappointment. This game had such a good setup, but it keeps choosing systems over storytelling. Instead of fully leaning into grief, legacy, detective work, and horror, it keeps pulling you back into number-crunching nonsense.

🧨 Final Thoughts

Gotham Knights is frustrating because it is not completely worthless. There is fun here. Not a lot, but enough that I can say I had some enjoyment with it. I like playing as Red Hood. I like the idea of the Court of Owls being used. I like the visual style of Gotham. I like the basic concept of the Bat-Family stepping up after Batman dies.

But that is also why the game annoys me so much.

Because the good pieces are there.

They are just buried under weird design choices.

This should have been a much better game. It should have been darker, tighter, more emotional, and more focused. It should have fully committed to the Court of Owls. It should have made Gotham without Batman feel terrifying. It should have made the Bat-Family’s grief and identity crisis the beating heart of the whole story.

Instead, it feels like a decent idea trapped inside an awkward RPG shell.

So yeah, I do not hate every second of this game. But I also cannot pretend it is good.

It is a little bit fun-ish.

And I like playing as Red Hood.

That is about as generous as I can be.

⭐ Rating

4/10

It gets points for being visually decent, for letting me play as Red Hood, and for at least attempting to tackle the Court of Owls.

But the rest of the game? Yeah… Gotham deserved better.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning

From this point on, I’m talking full spoilers for the story, including Bruce Wayne’s death, the Court of Owls, the League of Shadows, and the ending.

🩸 Spoilers

The game opens with Batman fighting Ra’s al Ghul in the Batcave, and honestly, that opening is probably one of the strongest parts of the entire game. Bruce is already beaten down, Ra’s is relentless, and the fight ends with Bruce destroying the Batcave and sacrificing himself.

That is a bold way to start.

Batman dies before the game really begins.

And for a moment, the game feels like it understands the weight of that. The Bat-Family receives Bruce’s final message, and you can feel the shock of it. Bruce is gone. The Batcave is gone. The person who trained them, guided them, and cast a giant shadow over all of them is suddenly not there anymore.

That should have defined the entire game emotionally.

And sometimes it does.

The scenes in the Belfry are some of the better parts because the characters are not just dealing with crime. They are dealing with grief. Dick has to step into a leadership role he does not fully feel ready for. Barbara tries to keep the team emotionally stable. Tim is trying to prove he can matter without Bruce around. Jason is dealing with his anger, his trauma, and the fact that he already knows what it feels like to die and come back wrong.

That is good material.

Then the Court of Owls gets introduced, and this is where the game starts becoming genuinely interesting. The Court being hidden beneath Gotham, controlling the city from behind the scenes, and using Talons as undead assassins is perfect for this kind of story. Batman is dead, and now the old monsters of Gotham are crawling out because the city’s protector is gone.

The labyrinth sequence is easily one of the best parts of the game. It feels creepy, disorienting, and psychological. You get these strange hallucinations, twisted hallways, and Bruce’s voice echoing through everything. For a little while, the game actually feels like a Batman horror mystery. It feels like Gotham itself is messing with the characters. That is the kind of tone I wish the entire game had.

The Talons are also scary at first. They are fast, silent, brutal, and they feel like something older than the usual Gotham criminal. They are not just thugs. They feel like weapons from Gotham’s hidden history.

But then the game makes the mistake of turning them into repeated enemies. Once you start fighting Talons over and over, they lose their fear factor. They stop feeling like these terrifying undead assassins and start feeling like just another annoying enemy type with too much health.

And then the story starts moving away from the Court of Owls and back toward the League of Shadows, and that is where I started getting annoyed.

Because why?

Why are we pivoting away from the Court?

The Court of Owls was the main thing people were excited for. They are the most interesting villains in the game. Their whole concept is built for a mystery-focused Gotham game. But instead of keeping them as the central threat all the way through, the game starts shifting into more League of Shadows material, and it feels like the story loses its strongest hook.

Then Bruce comes back later under the League’s control, and this should be a massive emotional moment. The Bat-Family has to face the man they lost, except he is not fully himself. That is tragic. That should be devastating. That should be the kind of moment where everyone’s grief and unresolved feelings explode.

But again, the game does not hit as hard as it should.

It is not that the idea is bad. The idea is actually strong. Bruce coming back only to sacrifice himself again should be heartbreaking. It should feel like the Bat-Family loses him twice.

But because the emotional writing has been uneven, the moment feels more like, “Oh, okay, this is happening now,” instead of completely destroying me.

And that basically sums up the whole game.

There are so many moments where I can see what they were trying to do, but the execution does not fully land.

Bruce’s death should matter more.

The Court of Owls should matter more.

The Bat-Family’s grief should be deeper.

Gotham without Batman should feel scarier.

The ending should feel more devastating.

Instead, the game keeps landing in this middle zone where it has good ideas, but never fully commits to them.

That is why I’m giving it a 4/10.

Not because there is nothing good here.

But because the good stuff is trapped inside a game that keeps making the wrong choices.