As promised earlier this week, developer Rocksteady has released the first episode of its Suicide Squad Insider video series, giving players a more in-depth look at its upcoming 2024 title, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The debut episode offers players a story introduction to the game and another look at gameplay.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League takes place after 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight, but rather than in the dark setting of Gotham, players will find themselves in the much brighter location of Metropolis. Instead of playing as one of most DC’s iconic superheroes, you’ll play from the perspective of one of four villains in a single player, including The Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang or King Shark. You’ll be tasked by the head of government agency Argus, Amanda Waller, to take out a mind-controlled Justice League.
The developer’s commentary in the almost 20-minute first episode offers insight into the developer’s approach to the game. Instead of just doing another Batman game and retaking the same steps, Rocksteady wanted to do something different that still feels a part of the universe of games that first kicked off during the PS3 and Xbox 360 generation in 2009.
One way the game differentiates itself is the tone and colour; gritty and dark fits Batman, but a Rocksteady developer says that the studio doesn’t make only “dark and gritty” games but, with the upcoming game, is looking to show it can do more than just Batman; whether they succeed or not remains to be seen. It’s different when dealing with the Suicide Squad, giving the game a more “panic and frantic” feeling while trying to wing it, a stark contrast to Batman’s ten steps ahead of his enemies. The Suicide Squad Insider episode previews an early part of the game.
It’s noticeable that this episode focuses on narrative and traversal, as the live service elements that the game criticized earlier this year are pretty lacking in this episode. Instead, Rocksteady says that the boss battles with the member of the Justice League will be “high stakes” and where the game “really opens up” to players.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was initially announced at DC Fandom in 2020, aiming to release in 2022, which never ended up happening, obviously and was later delayed to spring 2023, which we would get another look at last year’s The Game Awards featuring Kevin Conroy’s voice. The game was initially set to release back in late May. Still, the developer announced in April that they’ve decided to delay the game by almost nine months, pushing the DC game out of this year and into 2024, which will help polish the game to deliver “the best experience to the players.”
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is set to release for PC, PS5, & Xbox Series on February 2nd, 2024.
