Gotham Knights: Everything we know about the new co-op action game

We're about to be spoiled with DC games, starting with Gotham Knights next year. Main man Bruce Wayne has allegedly died in an Batcave explosion, leaving four other Bat Family members in charge of protecting Gotham in the lawlessness that follows his death. 

You'll play as a crew comprised of Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Red Hood up against some familiar antagonists like the Court of Owls and Mr. Freeze. Although it's not actually a continuation of the Arkham series, the developers at WB Games Montreal were behind Arkham Origins back in 2013. Montreal was also responsible for some Arkham Knight content in 2015, so the game's in familiar hands.

Here's everything we know about the new Gotham Knights, the game's story, and its co-op action so far. 

Check out the Gotham Knights reveal trailer

The original reveal trailer for Gotham Knights sets up the backstory and the heroes you'll be able to play as during the story. Batman has blown up the Batcave and has entrusted the safety of the city to four of the other Bat Family members. 

Which characters appear in Gotham Knights?

Gotham Knights features four members of the Batman Family who've been tapped to keep Gotham safe without big guy Bruce himself. Gotham Knights definitely isn't an origin story, featuring several of the vigilante crew pretty far into their character development after a couple name changes. 

Robin - Tim Drake

The Robin of this Gotham story is Tim Drake, the third inheritor of the Robin moniker. Drake is the young one of the group, but also the smartest and a master sleuth. 

According to WB, Tim is "an expert fighter armed with his collapsible quarterstaff and skilled in the art of stealth, Tim also possesses a background in combined psychological warfare and behavioral sciences, all of which sets the stage for him to accomplish any mission."

The reveal trailer shows him in action with his preferred staff. You can also catch a couple possible costumes for Tim between the reveal trailer and gameplay breakdown below. 

Batgirl - Barbara Gordon

Batgirl aka Oracle aka Batgirl again, Barbara Gordon is another member of the Knights. She's the daughter of deceased GCPD commissioner Jim Gordon and a tech wiz with martial arts chops. 

WB says that in Knights she's "highly trained in a variety of fighting styles, such as kickboxing, capoeira, and jiu-jitsu. Her signature weapon is the tonfa. Barbara also displays great skill when it comes to hacking or coding in computers and technological systems to dig for information."

You can spot a wheelchair in the foreground of Batgirl's hideout in the reveal trailer, marking the game as taking place after her tenure as Oracle during which she was paralyzed. She's now recovered and returned to her Batgirl name alongside the veritable flock of Robins.

Nightwing - Dick Grayson

Original Robin Dick Grayson, now Nightwing, is the acrobatics master of the group known for fighting with his two escrima sticks. 

Knights calls him "a natural leader, an optimist, and the most charismatic of the Batman Family. He grew up in an unorthodox but loving circus family, so he values close personal bonds."

Dick and Barbara have a romantic history that would be neat for WB to tap into a bit while throwing them together on the Knights crew.

Red Hood - Jason Todd

Robin number two, Jason Todd, joins the group under his later name Red Hood. He's got a pretty complicated relationship with the Batman Family, especially his Robin successor Tim. His death, resurrection, and a lot of resulting personality changes put him at odds with Bruce and co. for a time. By the time of this story, he's fully reconciled with the Bat gang, WB say, though that history could potentially be another source of conflict.

As for his other skills, WB say "Jason has trained to reach the peak of human strength, and he’s proficient in multiple combat techniques with all manner of weapons—both traditional and high-tech. After reconciling with the Batman Family, he has embraced Batman’s non-lethal combat methods." Nevermind those dual pistols. They're definitely not deadly, we hope.

What's the gameplay like?

The gameplay walkthrough released alongside the reveal trailer shows a pretty good slice of gameplay in Gotham Knights. You can spot a bit of stealth, some of Batgirl's moves, traversal around the level, and a boss fight with Mr. Freeze.

WB refer to this fight as a Villain Encounter, which they say will change depending on what level you are. Boss fights won't just have increased health totals and other stats. Apparently the kinds of moves they use during fights will change to match your character's level as well.

There are definitely some RPG elements at play here too. Throughout the gameplay walkthrough you can spot level indicators next to enemy health bars and damage numbers accompanying attacks. There are still plenty of action game bits too, like the purple bar in the bottom right corner that looks like a powerup meter for special attacks.

You can take on Gotham Knights entirely as a singleplayer game or two player co-op. In the gameplay preview above, Robin drops in to help Batgirl put Mr. Freeze's plan on ice (er, on defrost?). Robin seems to pop into the session as Batgirl is still headed to the objective, so it looks like we can expect drop-in co-op.

What's the Gotham Knights story?

Gotham Knights kicks off with Bruce Wayne dying in an explosion. Prior to his demise, Batman had planned to leave Gotham in the hands of some other Bat Family members. The Bat Cave has been destroyed, by Bruce himself no less, and he's left the team the Belfry tower as a base of operations instead.

Robin, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Nightwing assemble to protect Gotham despite being on bad terms with the Gotham City Police Department after the death of former commissioner Jim Gordon.  

Gotham's secret society, The Court of Owls, will play a role as well. By the looks of all those rows of frozen containers at the end of the reveal trailer, it seems there may be quite a number of their Talon assassins to contend with around the city.

Don't be fooled by continuity here—Arkham Knight ends with what could be a setup for a similar storyline, but WB has confirmed that Gotham Knights is set in a different continuity. The Arkham mantle is being picked up by Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League instead.

Is Batman really dead? Well, we'll just see about that.

So what's the Belfry?

According to the comics, The Belfry is a hideout built by the game's current Robin Tim Drake. It was built in the bones of the old Wayne Tower with a ton of law enforcement monitoring tech. 

In Batman's farewell message during the reveal trailer, he says "some of the technology is outdated but it has the gear you need and all of my files."

The game's Tim seems to be a bit young to be the architect of the hideout, nor is he accompanied by some of the other Gotham Knights from those stories. We could be looking at a sort of alternate origin story for the location instead.