The anticipation of Rocksteady’s return has put DC superhero fans to the test. Fortunately, the FanDome has thinned out the aura of mystery that enveloped the videogame productions linked to the Caped Crusader and the members of the Justice League: after having told you about the new to Gotham Knights by Warner Bros Montreal, it’s time to summarize everything we know about Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, set in the universe of the Arkham series. In the final stages of the event, on the other hand, we were able to witness the first trailer dedicated to the ramshackle team of villains called to save the world in their own way. However, it will be appropriate to arm yourself with a lot of patience before being able to impersonate the band of bad guys: as announced by Rocksteady, in fact, we will have to wait for 2022, the year in which Harley Quinn and companions will sow chaos and destruction on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Villain to the rescue
The trailer opens with a Metropolis under attack. The city seems to be immersed in a war without quarter, while a mysterious army of enemies is setting fire to the streets. This is where, with contempt of danger and courage, Harley Quinn he pretends to be in full swing at the radio command. Around her, three companions with the same goliardic spirit: there is the mammoth demi-god King Shark, who kills time by blowing up balloons, the infallible sniper Deadshot, busy arranging his weapons, e Captain Boomerang, intent on enjoying a refreshing nap.
While the army tries to weakly defend Metropolis, the “Task Force X“is totally immobile. After all, its members were forced to participate in the fight by a bomb implanted in the head, but no one ever specified that the team should have fought on the front line. That was until the voice on the radio, which we assume to be Amanda Waller, that is the head of the Suicide Squad project, does not force the four to take action, under the threat of detonating the charges grafted into their skulls.
Confronting the numerous but weak invading enemies is a joke for the suicide squad, but there is something that escapes the quartet of criminals: in the city there is a specific target to be eliminated, yet the group just cannot remember the identity of the target. “Fortunately” makes an appearance Superman, holding a pilot, presumably saved from an accident. Between King Shark’s admiration and Harley’s protests, the Man of Steel kills the survivor without mercy, all in front of the astonished eyes of the ramshackle Task Force X. Here’s what the mission was: the most powerful superhero on Earth. he has become a killing machine, and the mere idea of stopping him is a real suicide.
Clues
Sebbene Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is scheduled for 2022 and the video has not clarified many details on the playful nature of the title, the teaser has however provided some small clues on the narrative framework of Rocksteady’s work: first of all the huge sprawling robot that can be seen in the background of the city below attack is, almost certainly, related to Brainiac.
The villain, as it is known, is one of Superman’s most dangerous enemies, and the main feature of his powers is the mental manipulation of his victims. It would certainly not be a surprise, therefore, to note that there is Brainiac behind the bloody evil of the Man of Steel: and who knows that the super enemy has not plagiarized the minds of the other members of the League of Justice, since the subtitle of the game explicitly alludes to the need to eliminate the entire superhero team.
Moving on to the look of experience, Rocksteady’s intention of totally change the mood compared to the videogame adventures of Batman. Suicide Squad seems to abandon the dark atmosphere of the Arkham series, however – during the FanDome – the director of the game, Sefton Hill, officially stated that the project will be part of “dell’Arkhamverse“, created by the studio with the saga dedicated to the Bat Man.
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An important mission statement, especially for Rocksteady fans, but one that irremediably raises some doubts that arose watching the announcement trailer: for example, Deadshot has a design largely inspired by that of recent films, where to interpret the impeccable sniper was Will Smith. The villain, however, had already appeared in the Arkham series: in the second chapter he had a completely different appearance, and even belonged to a different ethnicity. It would be, in this case, a slight incongruity, aimed at making the character closer to his incarnations on the big screen. In the same way, Harley Quinn also openly recalls, in the design, the interpretation proposed by Margot Robbie, and not the comic book one seen in the videogame Batman tetralogy.
Regarding the Bat Man, a final question arises spontaneously; in which timeline will Suicide Squad fit? To answer, we will inevitably have to anticipate the Arkham Knight ending, so if you don’t want any spoilers, we advise you to move on to the next paragraph of this article. If it were set after the Arkham series, the Gotham detective would hardly make an appearance, given his disappearance from the scene following the Knightfall project. The only solution to see the Suicide Squad struggling with Batman, therefore, would be that of a story parallel to the Rocksteady saga.
Four “heroes”
Unfortunately, information on the playful aspect of Suicide Squad are rather limited: the members of the British studio have stated that it will be an adventure totally centered on the story, in full continuity with the formula that brought them to fame, but with a defined gameplay “innovative“.
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We know from the developers that the four anti-heroes will have unique abilities, and that the campaign can be tackled in cooperative or solo, with a system that will allow you to switch from one character to another. Rocksteady hinted at a Metropolis open world freely explorable, and the fact that production arrives in 2022 only on next-generation systems gives us hope about the size and characterization of the map.
Another critically important element mentioned by Sefton Hill at the DC FanDome is “gunplay“: As a result, we can expect a central shooting system in the economy of the game formula. In this regard, wanting to examine the details of the trailer, in addition to Deadshot making ranged weapons his trademark, you can see how King Shark is equipped with a heavy machine gun, and it makes us think that each character will have some skill to handle long-range combat.
In conclusion, there still remains a doubt about the precise nature of the production of Rocksteady: the rumors spoke of a Game as a Service structure, perhaps in the wake of Marvel’s Avengers. For the time being, the development studio hasn’t bothered about it, limiting itself to emphasizing the importance of narrative within its Suicide Squad. Whatever the playful imprint of the game, in any case, the Justice League is running out of time…
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