Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has officially entered its early access period for fans who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition of the game, and the new story set in Rocksteady's Arkhamverse is finally unraveling in full form. In Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, players take the role of a member (or members) of Taskforce X, the 'Suicide Squad' in charge of eliminating members of the Justice League who have been brainwashed by the supervillain Brainiac.
As it takes place in Rocksteady's Arkhamverse, there are plenty of references to the Batman: Arkham games, both hidden and in plain sight, in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Among those references, however, is one that stands out in one of the most intense sequences of Kill the Justice League's early game. Specifically, there is a significant callback to one of the Batman: Arkham series' best features.
A Shift in Perspective: Playing as Batman's Victims
Players Experience Batman's Stealth Tactics from a Different Angle
Aside from its innovative combat mechanics, one of the Batman: Arkham series' best features is its stealth gameplay. While in stealth in Batman: Arkham, players can utilize different tactics to terrify their enemies, primarily by taking them out one by one. As the enemies' numbers dwindle, remaining foes are filled with dread at the thought of being Batman's next victim. This triggers unique dialogue from the enemies while simultaneously altering their usual pattern of actions to become more frantic, paranoid, and chaotic.
It has been considered one of the most intelligent approaches to stealth gameplay, as it heavily encourages players to remain hidden in order to see how their enemies respond. Although Batman's foes are terrified of him in the Batman: Arkham games, players have no reason to fear the Dark Knight, as they are in the driver's seat controlling him the whole way. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, however, creatively shifts the perspective by making its players Batman's next target.
Adopting the Role of Batman's Victims
In the first few hours of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the squad enters an old museum in pursuit of Batman and hears the sound of a man crying out in pain. 'Don't sweat it. Batman doesn't kill people,' Harley says to a nerve-wracked King Shark. Just then, a corpse falls on the ground in front of them, and another victim is taken out just a moment later by a Batarang to the neck.
Batman then emerges from the shadows, clearly brainwashed, as he has broken his one rule: no killing. Shortly thereafter, he powers down the lights in the entire building, and players are required to navigate a treacherous dark filled with gas and explosive traps laid by Batman. However, just as in the Batman: Arkham series, each member of the squad is stealthily eliminated one by one, either by a trap or by the Dark Knight himself, giving players a firsthand look at what it's like to be one of the victims they worked so hard to silently knock out in the Batman: Arkham games. It is an ingenious way of shifting perspective, and it especially makes sense given Kill the Justice League's premise.
This particular sequence in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League even goes so far as to include the swarm of bats that appear around Batman after he performs a stealth kill in the Batman: Arkham series. It is abundantly clear what Rocksteady was going for here, as it clearly wanted players to feel that same terror they struck into their foes in the Batman: Arkham games. This is just one of the ways the developer has helped Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League maintain its originality while still being a part of the Batman: Arkham universe.