Even though they don't share a universe, comparisons between WB Games Montreal's Gotham Knights and Rocksteady's Arkhamverse were unavoidable. Indeed, the same can be said of any superhero game title and the Batman: Arkham series simply because of how much the latter reinvigorated the genre.
The Arkham franchise has some years behind it now, but these games have aged like fine wine. So, while Gotham Knights is not as bad as some would lead others to believe, many still understandably believe Batman: Arkham Knight and its predecessors to be the better titles. That's subjective, of course, but for those debating on returning to the Batman games, a new YouTube video by Niktek has popped off by comparing the two games.
As of this writing, Niktek's video has garnered nearly 50,000 views in five hours, which seems mightily impressive. It shows some gameplay of Gotham Knights before switching over to similar gameplay of Batman: Arkham Knight, ultimately comparing the graphics of Gotham City, summoning and using the Batcycle and Batmobile, traversal elements like Gotham Knights' grappling hook and Batman's cape glide, and so on. The differences are pretty obvious, but it should also be noted that clips are obviously specifically curated for a reason.
With the video titled "These Two Games are 7 Years Apart," it's clear the goal is to, at least, feed the ongoing discourse about Gotham Knights and the Batman: Arkham games. It should be noted that a few of these things are more akin to apples and oranges than direct comparisons. For example, the Batcycle is not built for combat, not really, while the Batmobile is. It would also be better to compare Gotham Knights' heroic travel to Batman's cape glide. But all things considered, which of these games are better deals less with age or studio experience and more so with personal taste.
It's important to remember that, despite all the bad things said about WB Games Montreal's latest title, Gotham Knights reviews are ultimately mixed. Some hate it, some enjoy it, and some outright love it. That's the nature of the games industry, especially with titles that teeter around the 60/70s on composite scores on sites like Opencritic and Metacritic. Just because it doesn't set the bar for superhero games on modern consoles doesn't make it a bad game, and for those looking for simple fun, there's plenty of that to be had.
Gotham Knights is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.