The Making of Gotham Knights, available now for Xbox Series X|S

The conversation in the briefing room had shifted to a handful of names written on a chalkboard, some underlined for emphasis.

As part of our exploration of a different type of game set in Gotham City, our Warner Bros. Games Montréal team spent weeks talking about the superhero fantasy – the kind that tends to dominate DC’s Batman universe – and what aspects of which we have been able to bring to life for the first time. Over several sessions, the group of experienced developers from game design, narrative, animation, art and other disciplines began to focus on two main aspects of this fantasy: the evolution from street level crimefighter to legendary superhero and the superhero team. high.

The first theme allowed us to draw on roughly eight decades of DC Comics publishing history to see how comic book characters grow. Dick Grayson’s version of Robin had split from Batman by college age and led the Titans, eventually taking on an entirely new (non-Sidekick) identity as Nightwing. Having started her Batgirl career as the rebellious teenage daughter of Commissioner Jim Gordon, Barbara Gordon then adjusted to a life-changing injury by developing a new approach to crime-fighting as Oracle. Reinvention and growth are cornerstones of the genre, but also a natural reflection of how gamers interact with games. They want to start out as great, ambitious heroes, but they also want to know that they can get better. Set goals and discover new ways to achieve those goals.

On the second point, we’ve seen the superhero fantasy amplified over and over again as two (or more) heroes team up to take down the arch-villain for good. And for some of us, that mirrored experiences from other games where co-op play and social connections became a driving force. Gamers love narration, but some gamers love narration even more when they can experience it with their friends by their side. Players enjoy taking on a challenging encounter, but for some, that fun deepens as communication and coordinated action between teammates open up new possibilities.

We stared at the names on the board. Someone would occasionally note a signature trait and draw a line to one of the heroes to provide an early glimpse of how a particular character might flavor combat, stealth, or movement. We talked about how the heroes differed from each other and how they could become more different.

We were thrilled to bring a roster of playable heroes to life in a way that celebrates their potential both as future versions of themselves and as teammates. We knew that if we could cast the right combination of heroes, we would offer players with a wide range of playstyles enticing asymmetry and unique gameplay opportunities.

We could give them heroes to become invested in.

Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin were largely defined by their closeness to and working relationship with the Dark Knight himself. They’re all alumni of what our game director Geoff Ellenor put it – of “Batman’s school of crime-fighting,” but throughout their stories, they’ve seen their greatest growth when they’ve been forced to step out of their famous mentor’s shadow. While Batman is a fully realized and hyper-competent paragon of expertise, preparation, and unwavering belief, this younger generation of Batman-like heroes had plenty of room to grow, many challenges, and limitations to overcome.

These heroes, while characteristically somber at times given the darkness of Gotham City, also had room to mature. They could be reckless, irritable, naive, self-centered, or occasionally arrogant because that’s how people really are. But crucially, they could grow beyond that youthful immaturity when needed. If they were forced to face the big life events that come with superhero adulthood, they could become better people and better heroes.

And as we talked about it all day, it became clear that we would give our aspiring heroes – and the players – the space they needed to develop and express their different styles and abilities in order to become the bigger icons who Gotham City needed to take reassurance into their world. We would have to remove the support structure that had always been there. We would have to force them to face the challenges and threats from which they have hitherto been isolated.

So we decided to create a world without Batman.

We did it to disrupt the status quo of Gotham’s criminal ecosystem and remove control over its excesses, thereby building the story of Gotham Knights. But also to apply the kind of pressure our heroes (especially the ones the player plays) needed to spur them on to grow.

Gotham Knights is now available for Xbox Series X|S. We hope you like it!