Gotham Knights explores the darker side of Gotham City's villains and criminals after Batman's death. Players will patrol the city as a member of the Bat family - Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, or Robin. The open world is very active, with crime sprees occurring throughout the city. It's up to the player to challenge enemy groups and take them out, typically with hand-to-hand combat using melee or ranged attacks. These encounters are easier whenever heroes use their Momentum Abilities.
Momentum Abilities are high-powered special attacks in Gotham Knights unique to each hero. They are similar to Skills, but instead of taking AP, they are earned by completing Momentum Challenges, which happens naturally as players move through the storyline or complete side missions. Momentum Abilities have specific perks that come in clutch during battles against all factions of enemies. However, players can only use them consecutively after first charging up their momentum.
How to Gain Momentum
Whenever players want to use Momentum Abilities, they need to ensure they have enough momentum built up. Momentum gain can be tracked by the purple bar at the bottom right side of the screen. There are four segments that will slowly fill with purple when momentum is gained. The four segments on the momentum bar turn white when filled.
Here are the ways to gain Momentum in Gotham Knights. First, momentum grows whenever the Knights damage an enemy. The amount of momentum depends on the type of attack used. For example, standard attacks gain less momentum than heavy melee or combo attacks. Next, players will gain momentum using advanced skills like Perfect Evades, Timed Strikers, or Attack Chains. These can be practiced during training at the Belfry as they require perfect timing to pull off. Finally, some heroes have skills that build momentum. Examples of this include Batgirl's Second Wind+ skill which gives her an entire momentum segment after reviving herself and Nightwing's skill Momentum Regen which gradually increases his momentum during fights automatically.
Using Momentum Abilities
Building up all that momentum isn't just for fun; when the momentum bar is full, it's time to use Momentum Abilities. Momentum Abilities fall under various categories, including the following:
- Guard Breaker - Larger or higher-level enemies will put up their guard, using a shield or defensive stance, and players won't be able to land any hits. Momentum Abilities with guard breaker holds enough force that they can break through this defense and cause damage.
- Piercing - Piercing abilities are able to interrupt enemy attack combos and chains to cause large amounts of damage. Larger enemies that use melee weapons are prone to powerful attack combos, so stopping them in their tracks is incredibly useful.
- Fear Inducing - Fear-inducing abilities indirectly affect nearby enemies after knocking out or hitting a target by making them cower in fear and momentarily stunning them.
- Area of Effect - Abilities with an area of effect target multiple enemies within a small radius around the hero. Some abilities may have a partial area of effect that will only hit enemies standing in a specific area near the hero.
- Damage Over Time - Abilities that deal damage over time will cause continuous damage to nearby enemies for a specific amount of time.
- Ultimate (Knighthood) - Ultimate abilities are potent and hard for enemies to avoid. The catch is that they have a countdown to use, so they are best for big, slow enemies. They are only available after completing Knighthood Skills and challenges.
Momentum Abilities drain momentum depending on their attack power. Usually, the abilities furthest to the left above the momentum bar use the most, while the ones on the right are less substantial. If a player doesn't have enough momentum, an "X" will appear when they attempt to use that ability.
Gotham Knights was released in 2022 for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC.