There’s a strong case of déjà vu with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League that could prove to be the downfall of the title before it has even been released.
Rocksteady Studios’ game about DC’s band of misfits is rapidly approaching its Feb. 2, 2024 release date and, given the success of the Batman Arkham series, it stands as one of the most anticipated games of the year—but it looks like some familiar mistakes are being made.
A delay of almost a year from the initial May 2023 release date should, in theory, have provided plenty of time for the developer to polish the game to be the best entry it can be. But from what I’ve seen so far, I have some huge concerns.
The superhero problem
While Hollywood has enjoyed vast success with the superhero genre, titles centered around comic book characters in games, more often than not, are a swing-and-miss. For every Marvel’s Spiderman, there’s a Marvel’s Avengers; for every Arkham Knight, there’s a Gotham Knights—and the cycle keeps repeating.
There are some big similarities between those that failed and those that succeeded, but Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seems to have not picked up on that trend and looks set to encounter the problems of its predecessors.
Only having four playable characters is extremely reminiscent of the messy disappointment from 2022’s Gotham Knights and, like that title, some strange traversal gimmicks will feature in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League that, while making sense given the need to get around quickly, already seem to be out of place.
Balancing the story of four different characters is the biggest concern, however, and it’s unlikely the quartet of Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and Deadshot will all be represented properly. That was something Gotham Knights also struggled with and is an unfortunate consequence of having a packed cast.
In comparison, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was able to provide much more focus on Peter Parker and Miles Morales separately, while the Arkham trilogy was all about Batman and little else. With a much tighter net around the cast and the plot, things can be managed a lot more easily. But if Rocksteady does manage to pull it all together, it will deserve credit.
Live service woes
The second major problem that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seems to have is its committal to being a live-service game—which anyone who suffered through the post-story in Marvel’s Avengers will know all too well is a recipe for disaster.
Locking cosmetic gear behind the live-service model is a strange decision, particularly given that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 managed to have a shedload of costumes and customization without resorting to in-game purchases or a season pass.
Rocksteady has promised additional content will be provided for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but Square Enix said the same about Marvel’s Avengers but fell short of the mark—and the bigger question is, will enough people still be playing the game six months after launch to make these additions worthy?
It’s not disrespectful to suggest that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will likely be a one-run-and-done game for the majority of players. Replayability is always nice but isn’t always necessary, and those who do return to the game would probably be happy enough to start their journey again—much like I’ve done in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on a harder difficulty.
New content won’t solve that, nor should it need to, and a better approach would probably be to have all the cosmetics and additional content available at launch—potentially breaking it down into story DLC in the future if needed.
Big name draw
The final big concern for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is whether the band of misfits is strong enough to lure new players in. Batman and Spider-Man are the creme de la creme of their respective comic universes and will immediately garner attention in a way that other characters simply won’t.
Most people will probably recognize the Suicide Squad from the two, largely disappointing, Hollywood movies and, of the characters in the game, Harley Quinn, understandably, stands out the most—so would it have been better to make a Harley Quinn game and tie in the additional characters as NPCs?
Even Marvel’s Avengers couldn’t succeed with a bolstering cast of Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and the rest of the gang, so can the Suicide Squad be any different? Going up against the Justice League may be the biggest draw, but the Injustice games did that sort of conflict brilliantly, so I’m not sure it needed to be repeated.
I’d love nothing more to be eating a large slice of humble pie when Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League releases on Feb. 2, 2024, but I’m not holding my breath.
