Gotham Knights, for example, lets us play as Batgirl but not Batman.
Gotham Knights is one of the few games in the Batman universe where we can’t actually play Batman. We have Batgirl, Robin, Red Hood, and Nightwing at our disposal, but the bat is conspicuous in its absence. That’s because of the game’s core premise: Batman is dead and we’re playing the rising heir heroes. Creative Director Patrick Redding explains the decision in detail.
Gotham Knights: That’s why Batman is dead from the start in the game
That’s what it’s about: In Gotham Knights we can’t play Batman at all and of course that’s exactly how it’s intended. The reasoning behind this is simple: Batman is a fully formed, powerful hero. But it’s more fun to first build up your heroes and make them stronger and stronger. That’s why Gotham Knights is going this route.
“We wanted to focus on player character growth. […] We noticed that Gotham City has these heroes around Batman that really have a lot of potential for that.”
Batman as an obstacle: In this case, Batman even stands in the way of an exciting story. If Batman always comes along to save everyone anyway, it’s not very exciting to play as one of his sidekicks.
“So we knew pretty quickly that he had to be taken out of the bilg. And we couldn’t just put him on the temporary bench. In our version of Gotham, he had to be gone.”
Full support from DC and Warner Bros: The development studio approached those responsible at Warner Bros and DC very early on with these ideas. But both the comic forefathers and the publisher were very quickly convinced and fully supported the project (via: ComicBook.com).
If you want to know more about Gotham Knights, you can download it here cool current trailer look at:
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Gotham Knights – Gameplay Launch Trailer shows fast-paced action with the superhero squad
More about batman game without batman can be found in these GamePro posts:
But be careful, if you are on the Internet: The first really thick story spoilers for Gotham Knights are currently circulating on the Internet. They were probably leaked by an artbook that was apparently published too early. The game itself will be out on October 21st for PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.
What do you think of the solution that Batman is just dead and completely out?
