Highlights

  • Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League faces criticism for being a multiplayer game that imitates superhero humor seen in modern superhero media.
  • The game introduces an iteration of Task Force X to the Arkhamverse, with Harley Quinn being a key connection.
  • The game must explain the events of the past five years, the return of Bruce Wayne's Batman as a public superhero, and supplement lore within the new open world.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is in an unenviable position in nearly every way imaginable. It’s already been maligned due to being a live-service multiplayer game that requires online connectivity on release, but it’s also been criticized for not simply being a Justice League game and attempting to imitate the same ensemble superhero humor as seen in The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy. These are all valid concerns, but with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League pushing the Arkhamverse’s envelope anyway, there’s a lot to be caught up on this time around.

  • Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League debuts the Arkhamverse’s take on Metropolis with hardly any lore known going into it.
  • Task Force X is also new to the Arkhamverse with Harley Quinn being its most salient connective tissue.
  • Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League needs to explain what has occurred in the past five years, particularly how Bruce Wayne’s Batman is a public superhero again.
  • Most importantly, Rocksteady needs to establish world-building that can carry the franchise forward beyond the nostalgia and impact of the Arkham games.
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Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad Has a Lot of Storytelling Slack to Pick Up

Suicide Squad Already Takes Place in a Massive Open-World Metropolis

To put things into perspective for why Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s leap to Metropolis is gargantuan, the Arkham franchise had two games before it actually introduced a traditional Gotham in Origins, and Rocksteady didn’t portray a traditional Gotham until Arkham Knight, its last game. It makes sense from a gameplay standpoint to not backpedal to a smaller open world now, but because the Arkham games had so many installments to craft world-building for its eventual open-world Gotham City it arguably had a larger impact when players were finally able to grapnel boost and drive the Batmobile around.

Metropolis has had little to no information shared about it in previous games and with no world-building leading up to it before Task Force X is already traversing it, that might seem like a missed opportunity. The only concrete detail known is that Metropolis has been architecturally dedicated to the Justice League, and it would be terrific if players got to learn about villain stomping grounds in the city or any other bits of environmental lore they might not otherwise be privy to in Rocksteady’s original take on Superman’s bustling, glistening city.

Rocksteady Can’t Ride the Arkham Games’ Coattails Forever

If Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is meant to continue the Arkhamverse continuity in a meaningful way, it’s important that it takes the necessary time to explain the gap between Arkham Knight and it while also giving its new playable characters enough time to truly make it their own game. Batman is obviously going to be the star of the game and steal any scene he’s in thanks to his renowned history in the franchise, but whether Task Force X actually gets to kill him or not he needs to end up not being what players say they loved about the game most.

If Batman is the best part of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, that might only add more argumentative fuel to the fire of Batman no longer being the playable protagonist. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League may still be a Rocksteady game, but it has a lot it must fulfill in order to be a meaningful installment in the Arkhamverse.