Highlights
- Rocksteady's upcoming game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, is receiving mixed reactions due to its multiplayer live-service looter-shooter format, which comes with balancing challenges.
- While Rocksteady has a history of memorable boss fights in its games, Suicide Squad may struggle with side bosses that are neither too weak nor too strong for the four-player team to take down.
- To address the balancing issues, Rocksteady could consider introducing adversaries like the Teen Titans, who pose a significant threat to the Suicide Squad without reaching the power level of the Justice League. Balancing gear and weapons is also crucial in avoiding overpowered player advantages.
Rocksteady is still one of the most influential superhero video game developers out there, and its groundbreaking Batman: Arkham series will always be remembered fondly. But that doesn't mean that every game Rocksteady creates from here on out will be inherently great, and the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is still looking pretty rough. Announced back in 2020, Rocksteady maintained radio silence around Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for quite some time, with only one or two cinematic trailers sneaking their way to DC FanDome.
For years, Rocksteady had been pretty cagey on what Suicide Squad's gameplay would be, and back in February of this year, it finally decided to spill the beans, which didn't go down too well. Fans were less than pleased to discover that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was going to be a multiplayer live-service looter-shooter, a combination that already comes with a great deal of baggage in the current gaming climate. One of the most common obstacles a live-service game faces is balancing, which Suicide Squad may suffer from in several different areas, in particular its boss fights.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League May Have a Side Boss Problem
Rocksteady has always had a pretty good reception when it comes to boss fights in its games. While Batman: Arkham Asylum didn't have many, the boss fights that were there were largely very memorable, with sequences like Scarecrow's nightmare, Bane's arena, and Killer Croc's sewer chase still standing out all these years later. Batman: Arkham City doubled down on boss fights, and though they weren't perfect they're still incredibly memorable. Then, Arkham Knight put too much emphasis on Batmobile boss fights, while encounters on the ground were some of the best in the series.
It seems very likely that Rocksteady will want to continue this legacy into Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. And while boss fights against the Justice League, and presumably Brainiac, have been all but confirmed, it's Suicide Squad's side bosses that might run into some serious balancing issues. The main problem that could threaten Suicide Squad's side bosses is finding a set of bosses that strike the perfect balance between not being powerful enough to be considered a proper threat, and still being strong enough to require four Suicide Squad members to take down.
With the Justice League and Brainiac presumably being saved for the main story, Rocksteady needs to find a set of adversaries that are still worthy of the entire Suicide Squad's time and firepower. Tried and true Rocksteady villains like Two-Face, Riddler, Penguin, and even Bane wouldn't cut it, all being strong enough foes for Batman alone, but paling in comparison to the powers of the entire Suicide Squad combined.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League needs to find a set of villains, or heroes, that are just slightly more powerful. An ideal solution for one side boss encounter could be the Teen Titans, with them posing a significant threat to the Suicide Squad, but not being on the same power level as the Justice League.
But that's only one half of Suicide Squad's boss balancing issues, with the title's actual gameplay bringing in a whole new layer of complicated. Being a looter-shooter, it's always a possibility that players find some kind of overpowered weapon or piece of gear early on in the game, and that can essentially trivialize any boss the game throws at them, especially any optional foes. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League needs to tread very carefully when it comes to balancing its gear and weapons.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be released on February 2, 2024, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
