RockSteady is known for the Batman Arkham trilogy, and the industry-leading quality is synonymous with the series. Defining the superhero genre, the Batman Arkham series pushed both combat and stealth to new heights. So much so that games like Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and even the recent Spider-Man games adopt it to this day, but ever since 2015, the company went radio silent for a long while until they announced Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. The game was initially set to release sometime in 2022 but then got delayed by Rocksteady to May 2023.
In Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, you take control of our favorite bunch of ragtag lawbreakers and get sent on a suicide mission (duh) to, you guessed it, kill the mighty Justice League. You will play as the demented Harley Quinn, stoic Deadshot, quip-slinging Boomerang, and soft-spoken King Shark.
During the recent State of Play, Suicide Squad got a pretty solid trailer, showing the game’s gameplay, graphics, mechanics, and, most importantly, the monetization model. The YouTube video was bombarded with negative comments regarding the Live Service model the game opted for, and that likely came as quite a shock to both WB and Rocksteady. For those who can access YouTube dislikes, the gameplay reveal video isn’t painting a great picture of Rocksteady. The video currently has 10k likes and 17k dislikes on IGN’s video, and even worse, it has 10k likes and a whopping 56k dislikes on PlayStation’s channel. Clearly, something has gone horribly awry to have resulted in such a tumultuous reception.
Soon after the trailer’s shaky reception, it was announced by Rocksteady that Suicide Squad would get delayed yet again to February 2024. But why? And what should we expect out of this delay?
Why Did Suicide Squad Get Delayed?
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League got delayed recently, but it didn’t seem like the game needed any more polish. Rocksteady is known for launching games in a pretty good state (all things considered), so the real reason for the delay was probably the underwhelming response of the fanbase after seeing the game in action.
Not only has the iconic Arkham combat and stealth gone by the wayside, but it has been replaced by quite generic third-person shooting, which doesn’t look bad but isn’t what a fan of Rocksteady might expect. To top it off, adding endless loot and Live Service mechanics in a game that most people expected to be primarily a single-player experience was bound to irk some players. To make things even worse, it was confirmed that Suicide Squad would commit the ultimate sin and have microtransactions in the game as well. Microtransactions in a game that fans thought was a single-player experience are just begging for backlash and controversy.
If the game did launch after a reception like that, it was quite likely that it would have been fine but would not have gone on in the history books as one of the finest works by Rocksteady. But according to industry analyst Jason Schrier, not much should be expected from Rocksteady during the delay. According to him, the 9-month delay certainly does not mean Rockstar will overhaul Suicide Squad making everyone happy, but what could the changes entail?
On Suicide Squad…
1) Nine months is not enough time to completely change the nature of a game
2) The team was told that the delay was for polish and not related to the February gameplay showcase
3) Lots of other factors can affect release timing (like the console makers)
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) April 13, 2023
Why The Suicide Squad Delay Is a Good Thing
The delay may not seem good at first glance, but 9 months is enough time to make some changes that might allay some of the fears fans have been so vocal about. Namely, the monetization model could be changed up a lot; this could result in the game showing that its main focus is not to be a Live Service title but to mainly be a single-player experience first and foremost, with Live Service elements sprinkled on top. A far easier pill to swallow, regardless of what you expected from the game.
The other significant change that Suicide Squad deserves is some tweaks to the gameplay. While it is unlikely that the game will see any kind of major gameplay overhaul, it is, however, possible that the gameplay style of each character can be tweaked in such a way as to highlight that each squad member controls and plays differently from the other. At the moment, it just seems like everyone is armed with a generic firearm and is fated to shoot hordes of nondescript purple baddies until the next cutscene and, ultimately, until the credits roll.
Conclusion
If the aforementioned changes are successfully made within the next 9 months, maybe Rocksteady can turn this ship around and perhaps get back into the good graces of its loyal fanbase using this delay. While asking for more Arkham games wouldn’t be fair at all to the developers, fans should still be able to give the new squad a chance and understand that this isn’t a simple attempt to ride the wave of the movies’ success. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League will finally come out in February 2024 (if there are no more delays, fingers crossed) and will hopefully show a much stronger offering the next time we get to see it.
