Other antagonists such as Oswald Cobblepot only play a minor, supplementary role in the narrative, while a couple of villains are referenced during the player’s trip to Arkham Asylum. All these references and allusions to characters are fine since they do not have any crucial position in the narrative, and are purely for die-hard Batman fans to enjoy. The Joker, however, is seemingly a vital part of the backstories for certain characters, but his name is never mentioned once. Moreover, Gotham Knights explicitly obscuring Joker’s presence hinders how its characters’ developments are portrayed.
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The Joker is Presumably an Important Catalyst in Gotham Knights
The goal here may have been for WB Games Montreal to remove itself from any Mark Hamill Joker comparisons, and in doing so make its narrative seem as unique as possible without the Clown Prince of Crime. This would have been admirable and pragmatic, but Joker is referenced indirectly multiple times with no further elaboration that would help discern narrative developments.
Having Harley Quinn featured as a primary villain in Gotham Knights inevitably makes fans wonder where her maniacal beaux is, and WB Games Montreal would have known that when it decided to include her in such a prominent role. It is through Harley’s presence that Tim Drake acknowledges the Joker coyly in terms of what happened to Jason Todd, shedding direct light on the fact that Joker killing Jason is canon in Gotham Knights.
But it is not explained what had happened to Barbara Gordon that resulted in her spinal injury, and every other hint toward the Joker is left in the same irritating obscurity. Because these characters are in the game and their backstories are that important to who they are in the present day, it is negligent to not give the Joker a significant role in order for important context to be understood.
Gotham Knights Tip-Toeing Around the Joker Hurts Its World-Building
Gotham Knights opens with a long cutscene cinematic where Batman fights Ra’s al Ghul in the Batcave. Here, there are several more references to Batman villains as incredibly oversized memorabilia that Bruce Wayne had collected, such as the giant coin, the oversized green question mark, the animatronic dinosaur, and an enormous joker playing card.
Players are able to return to the ruins of the Batcave while in-game in its conclusion, where there are apparently endless grapple-point devices with flaming explosives dangling from them. Some of these memorabilia pieces can be scanned with Gotham Knights’ AR system to learn more about them; until players reach the joker playing card, which conspicuously has nothing available for players to read when it is scanned.
It is in moments like this that any potential world-building Gotham Knights could have included with the Clown Prince of Crime is diminished. Once it was decided that Batgirl and Red Hood would be included in the game, for example, WB Games Montreal had important questions to answer. But instead of having creative answers and explanations for them, it seems it simply elected to ignore them.
Gotham Knights is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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