After the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham franchise, Rocksteady Studios together with Warner Bros have unveiled their latest game set to continue inside the Arkham universe. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was revealed last August 22 during the DC FanDome livestream. The game is set to be released by 2022 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be a 4-player co-op action-adventure shooter featuring Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Boomerang and King Shark. The trailer reveals the four villain-protagonists in the midst of a mission in battle in a war-torn Metropolis with Amanda Waller calling the shots for the infamous “Task Force X.”
The trailer also shows Brainiac—who we assume to be the game’s big bad—orchestrating the attack from afar. Near the end of the trailer, however, Superman suddenly comes out of nowhere in intercepts a helicopter crashing down towards Task Force X, seemingly saving the pilot before incinerating him in front of the squad, indicating that he’s now a bad guy for some reason (we’re betting Brainac and mind control are involved).
During an interview after the trailer reveal, Sefton Hill, creative director and co-founder of Rocksteady, gave out more details of the game. He revealed that on top of the four-player co-op gameplay that was hinted in the trailer, the game would also have a singleplayer campaign that will allow players to switch between characters, each of which wields weapons that are unique to them, as shown in the trailer.
Fans on the other hand stood divided over the released trailer. While some users over at Reddit and Twitter have applauded the game for already being “better” than its 2016 movie counterpart based from the trailer alone, other users were quick in expressing their dismay over a completely CGI trailer with no hints of gameplay and a relatively far-off release date in comparison to Gotham Knights—the other DC Comics game revealed at the event, which is set to arrive in 2021.
Complaints regarding the overly-recycled “evil Superman theme” and the game being co-op were also apparent from tweets and comments from a number of users who are clamoring for the game to be released as a PVE instead. Even minute details such as inconsistencies in character detail from the Arkham universe being carried into the game were also pointed out.
Rumors surrounding the development of the game first surfaced around June when an article published by Forbes hinted at the upcoming game when a leaked domain name under “SuicideSquadKillTheJusticeLeague.com” was registered along with “GothamKnightsGame.com.” Eurogamer also reported on the domain leaks as well. Fast forward to August when the official Twitter account tweeted a poster confirming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League with Superman as the main poster boy with a crosshair bearing “SUICIDE SQUAD” aimed at his head.
Apart from the upcoming Suicide Squad game, DC fans will also be getting the aforementioned Gotham Knights which features a Gotham City sans Batman who died an untimely death which leaves his four successors: Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing and Red Hood to fight the evil that lurks in Gotham.
Other notable announcements from the DC FanDome livestream were the trailers for Wonder Woman 1984, The Batman, The Snyder Cut of Justice League and the upcoming The Suicide Squad movie release by James Gunn.