10 Video Games That Are Painfully Behind The Times

Whether justified or not, the initial trailers for Gotham Knights led many players to anticipate it as the next proper entry in the Arkham series.

Although there are some aspects deserving of that lineage – real-time crimes, tangible changes to the world, solid co-op fun, and engaging lead characters – Gotham Knights’ numerous regressions mean that it’s far from the ideal spiritual successor.

Specifically, its emphasis on loot boxes and grinding to level up gets incredibly tedious incredibly quickly, especially since each of the four main protagonists needs their abilities unlocked separately.

Obviously, the messiness of the UI doesn’t help.

Likewise, both puzzles and combat are a step back from the Arkham series, with the former being too scarce and the latter being too focused on offensive meter-building and button-mashing. Yes, it feels and looks great for a little while (even though the framerate is locked at 30 FPS), but it soon becomes lifeless.

Those problems also bleed into the unsatisfying boss encounters, which are comparatively infrequent, banal, and irritating. In particular, the much-hyped Mr. Freeze battles gets unfairly difficult, and there’s a certain sub-boss that needs to be conquered multiple times.

Gotham Knights isn’t awful, but it’s not very advanced.