Gotham Knights review – a promising spin-off that wilts in Batman’s shadow

PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X
The latest DC adaptation struggles to craft something spectacular from its ensemble cast and role-playing action

To enjoy Gotham Knights you must make peace not just with the death of Batman - slain by an old enemy during the prologue - but with the passing of the Arkham series, perhaps the finest video game comic book adaptations ever made. WB Games Montreal developed the third Arkham game, 2013's Batman: Arkham Origins, but it has taken things in a different direction with Gotham Knights, which promotes four sidekicks to playable centre-stage, shifting the emphasis to levelling-up and co-op as you trace Bruce Wayne's murder to a sprawling underworld conspiracy.

Arkham was about Batman in his prime, a godlike predator who doesn't just knock opponents out but terrorises them, whittling their numbers down one dangling execution or crushing countermove at a time; the point was to feel overwhelming. Gotham Knights is a spirited work but gawkier, less assured, at once more expansive and somehow less immense.