The only thing in a superhero action-adventure game that's more interesting than the mechanics is its potential villains. This is true of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, for example, which features the titular team of heroes brainwashed by Brainiac. In Gotham Knights, guessing which villains may appear has been more difficult, demonstrating that WB Games Montreal may be keeping a lot of its villains secret until release. Looking squarely at Gotham Knights’ combat, it seems that the iconic bruiser Bane is a shoo-in villain.
Harley Quinn was previously teased at SDCC, but Clayface is a good example of a character that had been completely obscured from the player until his reveal alongside Harley. This suggests there may be other villains with their own significant developments that fans are not expecting, but gameplay offers some assumptions about who might appear. If Bane was to be added in Gotham Knights, the game’s combat is perfectly streamlined for his build.
Gotham Knight’s Combat is Heavy on Guard-Break Attacks
Gotham Knights’ combat has been shared for most of its characters. Each protagonist has unique attack animations and abilities that separate them from one another, mainly due to their close- and long-range weapons.
Batgirl’s tonfa, for example, gives her more close-quarters finesse and single-target combat, while Red Hood’s dual pistols give him more long-distance options despite being an exceptional grappler. One of the key similarities between each character’s combat playstyles is their ordinary light and heavy attacks.
Light attacks are chained together between dodges, while heavy attacks look like they will often be employed to break a brute enemy’s guard. Gotham Knights’ faction gangs all seem to have a heavy grunt type who is enormous in stature, often holding a large shield.
Their defense is impenetrable with light attacks, but using a heavy attack will temporarily break their guard and open them up to whatever subsequent attacks players wish to land on them. This combat scheme is elementary, and will hopefully not become stale after myriad combat encounters, but may establish a decent formula for a boss fight against Bane.
Bane Would Make Sense as a Villain in Gotham Knights
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Bane is the ultimate bruiser, but is also known to be incredibly intelligent, and could be portrayed that way in Gotham Knights with telegraphed attacks echoing other grunt characters. Bane would function especially well as a tutorial boss fight, where players could hone their skills fighting big brute enemies as a final test of players’ skill.
This would be comparable to how Bane’s boss fight in Batman: Arkham Asylum is a slightly different Titan brute, where players still somersault out of the way of Bane's charging before attacking. Bane’s minion thugs and faction gang in Gotham Knights’ open-world Gotham could be composed of big brutes, showcasing that he has amassed a gang of mercenaries to help overthrow the city in Batman’s absence.
There is still room in Gotham Knights for several more villains, and while some may be more unique or obscure, the game’s combat is already oriented toward brute enemies. Further, seeing a new interpretation of Bane apart from his appearances in the Arkhamverse would be great. Bane seems like an easy addition to Gotham Knights’ villain roster.
Gotham Knights is scheduled to release on October 21, 2022, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
