Gotham Knights Dev Talks Batgirl Controversy, Red Hood’s Powers

Image: WB Games Montreal

Over the past few weeks, WB Games Montreal has shed some new light on its upcoming Batman-less Batman game, Gotham Knights, and some details have left fans skeptical about where the game is headed with Bruce Wayne’s survival. bat family. First, a 13 minute gameplay video revealed that GK’s incarnation of Nightwing uses a jet glider, while Red Hood was given wild “soul energy” abilities. By far the most disturbing revelation came from a biography of Batgirl, posted on the game’s website, which suggested that she recovered from her disability through “raw willpower and determination”.

During a question and answer session in the official Gotham Knights Discord Channelcreative director Patrick Redding addressed the backlash to Batgirl’s callous character biography and gave some insight into Nightwing’s glider and Red Hood’s new powers.

The Batgirl character biography on the Gotham Knights website discusses Barbara Gordon’s history as Batgirl and Oracle. The Oracle was Gordon’s technological genius alter ego who offered invaluable support to Batman after a confrontation with the Joker, depicted in The killer joke, left her paralyzed. The reason WB Games Montreal was criticized for the biography is that it said Gordon was prompted by her father’s death to “recover from her injuries so she could return to active duty as Batgirl. “. This led to fans calling out the game for using the tired comic book heroes trope. overcoming their handicap out of sheer will.

Redding revealed in the Q&A that, following the criticism they received, the team worked in conjunction with AbleGamersa non-profit organization dedicated to improving accessibility in the video game space, “to learn more about the different types of spinal injuries and whether someone can regain their mobility “.

“As with many of our characters and plot elements, the circumstances surrounding Barbara’s injuries differ significantly from how they have been portrayed in the comics,” Redding said. “Barbara underwent multiple surgeries followed by a lot of physiotherapy and pain management [in Gotham Knights].”

Redding went on to say that the team acknowledged the criticism and replaced the contentious description with, “With extensive training and rehabilitation, she recovered from her injuries and returned to active duty as Batgirl.”

Redding then discussed the creative decisions behind Nightwing and Red Hood’s traversal abilities, primarily Nightwing’s Green Goblin-esque glider and Red Hood’s new jump ability.

During the 13-minute gameplay demo, Nightwing is shown traversing rooftops using a techno-glider called the Flying Trapeze. According EurogamerNightwing’s techno-glider is a reference to Batman’s retro Bat-glider. Redding said the creative team liked the idea of ​​Grayson using one of Batman’s stealth drones in order to gain more altitude to perform his death-defying stunts.

“[The Flying Trapeze is] designed to feel a bit improvised and reliant on its extreme athleticism, which is Nightwing’s approach to everything,” he said. “Making it fly has such a different feel to Batgirl’s cape-gliding, and it pairs really well with her bigger parkour and jumping moves, as well as grappling.”

The most bizarre reveal in the Gotham Knights gameplay trailer, at least for me, was Red Hood, aka Jason Todd, leaping through the skies of Gotham in a clearly supernatural way using his new ability, Mystic Leap. . Redding said the development team relied on Red Hood’s origin story – which involves death at the hands of the Joker and subsequent resurrection in the Lazarus Pit– approaching his new powers, intending them to serve as a manifestation of Todd becoming his.

“We really liked the idea that when Jason starts dealing with the trauma of dying and being brought back, he starts being able to tap into some lost abilities,” Redding said. “In the same way that he tried to reinvent himself from anti-hero to hero while maintaining his strengths, he discovers that he can channel these mystical talents in a way that is familiar to him: through his physique. [and] in the way he moves, but also in the way he fights and even in the way he uses his weapons.

Redding explained Todd’s new ability as “just a manifestation of those powers” he received after being resurrected in the Lazarus Pit. I just hope those powers include fixing my son’s skull so he doesn’t have the bone structure of a Lego.

Gotham Knights is set to release on October 25, now only on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.