To kick off the new year, we’re shining a spotlight on some of the biggest and most anticipated games of 2022 across all platforms and genres, today looking at Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. We’ll be looking at its journey so far, why we’re so excited for it, and what we expect out of it in the new year. Here’s everything you need to know about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, including its history, known gameplay mechanics, and release date info.
A lot has happened to Batman on film since 2015. We were introduced to Ben Affleck’s take on the character in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and went through everything that was the Snyderverse. He’ll be joining Michael Keaton, as both are set to don the cowl once again later this year in The Flash. We’re only a few months away from a brand new take on the character with Robert Pattinson in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. We’ve seen a young Bruce Wayne in Joker, a stop-motion Bruce in The Lego Batman Movie, and more animated versions of the character than you can count.
I bring this up because 2015 also saw the release of Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Knight, capping off its trilogy of genre-defining superhero games. In the seven years since then, we’ve been waiting patiently to see what Rocksteady is cooking up next, with the team going radio silent for most of the past generation. Though rumors at first pointed to a Superman game, what finally surfaced in August 2020 at the inaugural DC FanDome event was Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – which has now become one of the biggest and most anticipated games of 2022.
Though set in the same “Arkhamverse” that it created back in 2009, Rocksteady’s take on the other side of the superhero coin feels vastly different from its previous games. For starters, the entire game is built around four-player co-op, with Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark filling out the roster of Amanda Waller’s antihero squad. But those who aren’t into the whole cooperative multiplayer thing can play it solo instead, swapping freely among team members as the AI takes control of the other party members at any given time.
As the name implies, your adversaries are going to be the very heroes who usually protect the planet, although this time around, they’re under the mind control of Brainiac. This role reversal feeds into the game’s aesthetic and tone, which is far more unhinged, bombastic, colorful, and chaotic than those of the Arkham games. The playground of Metropolis, the banter between the four Task Force X members, and the general absurdity of the whole situation feel more akin to something like Insomniac’s underrated Sunset Overdrive than our dour treks through Gotham City’s nights.
And the Sunset Overdrive comparison doesn’t just end at the game’s tone. We got our first look at gameplay in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League back in December at The Game Awards, and it was clear that mobility and traversal are a key part of the game. Harley has her grappling hook, Deadshot has his jetpack, King Shark can climb up walls, and Boomerang has the ability to teleport short distances a la Dishonored’s Blink. Right from the get-go, the simple act of movement in the game looks fun, which is crucial for creating a playground that folks will want to actually spend time in.
Though traversal was a highlight of the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League gameplay reveal, there was also a heavy emphasis on gun combat that left some folks a bit more skeptical. How this moment-to-moment gunplay feels compared to what Rocksteady has achieved in the past is going to be pivotal to the game’s success. After all, Rocksteady helped create and perfect the feel of “one versus a dozen” melee combat in the Arkham games. Fights were crunchy little puzzle boxes that required you to assess the threats, prioritize them, balance offense with defense, and dig into your arsenal of gadgets and tricks to take them out. Melee abilities still seem to be a part of Kill the Justice League, but the extent of it remains to be seen.
Of course, the big question mark revolving around the project is going to be how heavily – if at all – it leans into the live-service model. Warner Bros. and Rocksteady haven’t come out and clarified what shape this game is going to take, but the cooperative elements are understandably reminding many of Marvel’s Avengers, which isn’t great. My guess as to why they haven’t come out and clarified this is that things are still in flux. Here’s to hoping for the best.
Despite the lingering questions, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is among the biggest and most anticipated games of 2022, and the rest of the slate of upcoming DC games is also exciting. Aside from Rocksteady’s return, we have WB Montreal’s Gotham Knights also slated for 2022 (originally 2021), as well as the recent reveal of a Wonder Woman game from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor / War developer Monolith Productions. It’s an exciting counterpoint to what Marvel has in the works with Spider-Man 2, Wolverine, and Midnight Sons.
Per the most recent gameplay trailer, the release date of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is set generally for 2022. That said, given how the pandemic has impacted nearly every developer across the planet, as well as the fact that it’s skipping the last generation and focusing on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S, there’s a non-zero chance that it will be delayed to 2023. But if Rocksteady can capture the same superhero magic it did with the Arkham trilogy, it’ll be well worth the wait.
