Gotham Knights: Release Date, Court Of Owls Story, And Everything We Know So Far

Gotham Knights will be our first trip back to the mean streets of the titular city since Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015, and this time, there's a host of new masked faces ready to take up the mantle as the city's watchful protectors. Batman is no more, or at least that's what we've been told so far, but stepping in for him is the Bat-Family: Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Red Hood. if you're looking for the Gotham Knights release date, story and gameplay details, or anything else about the upcoming superhero brawler, here's everything we know about Gotham Knights so far.

Release date and platforms

Gotham Knights was once set to release in the first half of 2022, but it's been officially dated for October 25, making it likely to be one of the biggest games of another busy holiday season.

When it was first announced, Gotham Knights was planned to release on PC as well as current- and last-gen platforms including Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4. However, a more recent announcement has revealed that the game will no longer release on those older platforms and will instead come out exclusively on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. Though the team didn't expound on why that is, it can be reasonably inferred to be a result of the aging tech of the old systems--not to mention by the time Gotham Knights launches, the newer models of consoles will be nearly two years old already.

Storyline and gameplay

This is a comic book story, so what we know so far is likely to eventually be subverted by twists and turns we can't see coming, but even the hard facts are enough to excite most Bat-fans. At the center of the storyline is, of course, the Bat-Family rising up in place of the deceased Bruce Wayne to carry on his legacy as guardians of Gotham.

What's important to note here is, although the game can look like the Arkham games, this is a new continuity according to WB Montreal. Instead, the Arkham-verse lives on in 2023's Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. It gets more confusing when you consider that Batman is said to be dead or missing in both of them.

While it's safe to expect a train car's worth of enemies to make appearances throughout the story, it centers on the Court of Owls, a fairly new storyline in the Batman mythology. First introduced by Scott Snyder in his now-monumental debut work as a Batman scribe in 2011, the Court of Owls is a secret society comprised of Gotham's most elite that has existed for many years but is rarely acknowledged--with the vast majority of the city's denizens not even knowing of its existence.

In Gotham Knights, the Bat-Family will be going head to head with the city's seediest underbelly of them all. In practice, this means players choose from one of four characters either alone or with one friend in two-player co-op--that's right, the story is without a four-player mode despite the character options. The PlayStation Store listing did previously say there would be four-player online functionality, which has led some to expect there may be a four-player mode planned outside of the main story.

With a similar freeflow combat system to the Arkham games of yesteryear, Gotham Knights looks a lot like those beloved games but will seek to give each hero their own flourishes. Nightwing is more nimble and acrobatic, naturally, while Red Hood doesn't quite pull his punches as the rest of them may, for example. We got to see some of this--and a lot more--in a recent gameplay demo that focused on the pair.

It's safe to assume we'll see Batgirl and Robin teaming up on rooftops and in dingy alleys soon too. The game also focuses a lot on gear pieces and custom character builds, perhaps like Crystal Dynamics' Avengers game--though that may not be a comparison WB Montreal is eager to make.

For now, fans have seemed split, with most just excited to get back to Gotham in a new big-budget game, but there remains a vocal minority of would-be players who are wondering if this game has been designed like those before it, a story-centric superhero saga, or something more like a live-service game that puts long-tail content above all other priorities. The video above includes examples of characters unlocking incremental upgrades in a similar vein to Marvel's much-maligned loot brawler. Even that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it may not mesh with what some fans are expecting, so the hope is Gotham Knights can serve all intended audiences when it swoops down from the gargoyles and onto PC and current-gen platforms this fall.

Preorders and preorder bonuses

Gotham Knights is now available to preorder on your preferred platform, including Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. Preordering on any platform will also get you the 233 Kustom Batcycle skin, which you can use as you cruise the rainy streets of Gotham looking for bad guys to pummel.

If you'd rather go bigger, you can get in on the Deluxe Edition of the game that includes a bundle of digital add-ons. The base game will be $70, but for $90, you'll also obtain:

• Knightwatch by Jim Lee transmog
• Beyond Suitstyle, inspired by Batman Beyond universe
• Salvage to build new gear
• Boosted gear
• Exclusive emote
• Three exclusive suit colorways

If you really, really like the Batman universe, you could spring for a limited $300 Collector's Edition, which includes the Deluxe Edition digital goodies, the preorder skin, plus the following exclusive mix of physical and digital items:

• Gotham Knights exclusive New Guard statue, inspired by Jim Lee
• Promethium New Guard transmogs
• Jim Lee certificate of authenticity
• Augmented reality Talon Key
• Gotham City: City of Bridges collectible map

Gotham Knights swoops into stores on October 25 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.