Remember all those empty streets while flying through the city of Gotham in the Arkham games? Well, Gotham Knights has fixed that glaring issue of prior Batman games; there will be a bustling city to explore.
The PlayStation Blog's Gillen McAllister spoke to the Creative Director Patrick Redding for more details on the game. He explained that Gotham itself is "one of the biggest characters in the Bat universe," and WB Games Montreal's interpretation of all five boroughs is inspired by the many comics, movies, and TV shows that came before it.
One of the most interesting things Redding mentions in his interview with McAllister is that there are residents of the city who work and go to the grocery store for supplies and add to the traffic, and there are some who get back home from the train station (likely trying to avoid conflict in a crime-infested city). The city feels alive in Gotham Knights, as opposed to Arkham Origins' awkwardly empty streets. WB Games Montreal won't have to come up with a lame lore reason to not include citizens on the streets this time around.
As you walk/glide/ride around Gotham, you will also see Gotham City Police Department officers, different criminal factions, and Batman's rogues gallery - I'm hoping Calendar Man makes an appearance.
Additionally, the city will change, in accordance with what happens in the game. "It’s going to serve up a ton of variety, a ton of complexity that you can keep evolving, modifying and adding to as the player advances through the story," Redding said to the PlayStation Blog.
Redding brings to light the 350-year history of Gotham and according to the Game Director, “History is embedded in the architecture and bedrock, in the very foundations of every square of the city.” Much like New York in Spider-Man, it sounds like Redding and the team at WB Games Montreal are diving into the comics and finding landmarks and buildings that are historic to Gotham.
Maybe we'll see Haly's Circus, Arkham Asylum, or the alley to the movie theatre where Bruce Wayne's parents were killed. There's a lot of possibilities with this open-world title. Keep in mind it won't reference the Arkham games as those are in a different universe to this one, but there may be a tip of the hat.
The open-world of Gotham Knights will be littered with enemies of varying levels and difficulties. "It presents you with some choices that you're going to have to make," Redding said to IGN, "Like, 'Is this a situation where I'm going to maybe swap out a piece of equipment, because I think I'm going to handle it better that way?" With the PlayStation Blog, the director says that l0w-level thugs should inspire you to "try something flashy."
Gotham Knights is scheduled to release sometime in 2021 for the PS5, Xbox Series X, PS4 Xbox One, and PC.
Source: PlayStation Blog