Does Gotham Knights have co-op multiplayer?

Gotham Knights, the highly anticipated superhero action-adventure game from WB Games Montreal, is right around the corner, with just a few weeks to go before the game's release.

Stepping into the shoes of iconic members of the Batman Family such as Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Red Hood (Jason Todd), and Robin (Tim Drake), players will be tasked with ridding Gotham of the criminal forces trying to take over the city after the unfortunate incident of Batman's demise.

Although the game features an identical setting to that of the Batman Arkham Games from Rocksteady and a narrative that feels like a continuation of Arkham Knight, the last game in the Arkhamverse, it has been confirmed by WB Games Montreal that their upcoming superhero title is not connected to any of the previous Batman games.

While the setting remains the same as the Arkham games, Gotham Knights brings tons of new and intriguing ideas to the table, such as the RPG progression systems and seamless co-op integration, which will allow up to four players to roam around Gotham city together and fight back against the many iconic villains from Batman's Rogues Gallery, including the illusive Court of Owls, a secretive oragnization that serve as the game's primary antagonist.

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Despite being a narrative-driven singleplayer experience, Gotham Knights will feature a robust co-op system

In Gotham Knights, up to four players can team up as their favorite Bat Family members as they tackle various objectives littered across the open world map of Gotham City. According to WB Games Montreal, the developers of Gotham Knights, one of the most interesting aspects of the co-op system in the game is the liberty it provides to all players in choosing their own adventure during the session.

While most games featuring a co-op element generally only allow the host to select the objectives for the session, Gotham Knights will give players full liberty to roam around Gotham and pick their own objectives and targets to investigate.

This will not only give players more agency during co-op, but also add to their immersion in living out the ultimate superhero fantasy, as players pursuing their own missions come across one another and team up to take down a common enemy.

Although the co-op progression only counts towards the host of the session, all participating players will retain the experience and gear obtained during the co-op session. The co-op is not only restricted to open-world activities, but will also allow players to tackle main story quests with their friends.

Gotham Knights will also allow players who have completed a main story quest during a co-op session with a friend to skip that particular quest if they choose, in their own game, which can be useful for players who might not want to redo a mission that they already completed with a friend in co-op.

While multiplayer and co-op elements are usually not seen in narrative-driven superhero action titles with very few that implement them, and never end up balancing the experience for players, such as Square Enix's Marvel's Avengers, WB Games Montreal seems to have taken great care while designing the co-op system for their upcoming superhero action-adventure game.

It remains to be seen how Gotham Knights ends up delivering on the promises of a fun and engaging co-op experience when it releases on October 21, 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC.