Online co-op superhero action game Gotham Knights is set in an open world. And as with all recent open-world games, people are asking: Just how big is the map? Ignoring that this is a pointless piece of information—both big or small maps can work if what’s in them is good and interesting—WB Montreal devs recently discussed the size of their Gotham City. Apparently, it’s the biggest version of the famous Batman location ever seen in a game. I’m both excited and very tired.
In a new interview with Game Informer, Gotham Knights’ executive producer Fleur Marty and director Geoff Ellenor answered various questions about the upcoming superhero game, including sharing that Gotham City is “pretty big” in this new DC adventure.
“I haven’t put one map over the other, but our Gotham is a big place,” Ellenor told Game Informer. “I tend to spend a lot of my Zoom calls on the Batcyle driving around Gotham. It is one of the fastest and most chill ways to move around the city. It feels like a big place.”
Executive producer Marty further explained that the city has “a lot of layers” and that the team cared a lot about making sure its version of Gotham City had a lot of “density and verticality.”
“For sure it’s the biggest version of Gotham that has been represented in video games,” Marty claimed.
He also described the Batcycle as the game’s primary “long-range mode of transportation.” So while you’ll run and glide and…ghost hop(?) around the rooftops of Gotham during missions, in between quests, you’ll likely be spending a lot of time driving around the streets of the city, probably not following any traffic laws either.
The idea of a massive Gotham City sounds exciting for a co-op game like Gotham Knights. Having a shared world that is large, dense, and filled with details that I can explore with friends for hours and hours could be fantastic. However, if that content is dull or the map is mostly empty or filled with boring side quests, the large size could end up being a detriment more than an advantage.
First announced in 2020 with a 2021 release and then delayed in March 2021, Gotham Knights does look rough and perhaps needs more time. But if the combat is even half as fun as the Arkham games, I can see myself having a good time in this massive version of Gotham City. Of course, I’d also much rather have a new, singleplayer Arkham game instead.
Still, I’m hopeful about Gotham Knights, a game that, thanks to other delays, has quietly become one of the biggest next-gen only releases of 2022. At the very least, perhaps the Batcycles will be fun to drive.
Gotham Knights is set to launch on October 25, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. It has nothing to do with the terrible-looking CW show, either.
