Kill The Justice League Confirmed As A Live-Service Game
Amanda Waller is once again assembling Task Force X, but this time, it's for a whole video game of their own. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League should be giving us squad goals AF, but instead, its latest announcements have left some fans wanting to blow the team's heads off.
Following the success of David Ayer's Suicide Squad and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad bringing the rag-tag lineup of criminals to the mainstream, putting the talents of the Arkham trilogy's Rocksteady on the IP should be a licence to print money.
Kill The Justice League Is A Live-Service Game
Click to enlargeIf a series of delays and middling success of Warner Bros.' Montreal's (unrelated) Gotham Knights didn't have us worried, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League just confirmed some people's worst fears as a live-service game.
Gone are the simple days of swooping down on Gotham City as Kevin Conroy's legendary Batman, then splashing out on a Catwoman or Harley Quinn DLC. Kill the Justice League is going hard on post-launch content and a cosmetic Battle Pass. Sorry Warner Bros., this isn't Fortnite.
The title's FAQ section confirms the "cosmetics-only" Battle Pass, where you can earn new outfits and emotes for the core four of Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark. Alongside the free tiers, there's a throwaway mention of "premium tiers that will be available via an optional in-game purchase."
If you're already rolling your eyes at a largely pointless Battle Pass unless you want to dress King Shark as Bane, that isn't the only issue. While we got a glossy gameplay trailer and behind-the-scenes peek with Rocksteady founder Sefton Hill, it failed to mention a major caveat.
Kill The Justice League Will Always Require An Internet Connection
The FAQ also confirms you'll always require an internet connection for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - even when in single-player. As most of us have the internet in 2023, some don't see a problem, but for others, locking any game behind this requirement is a big no.
Critics point out that if something happens to Rocksteady or the servers are shut down, your game is gone forever. It's not as simple as dusting off an old copy of Arkham Asylum and treading those haunted halls.
When the news started doing the rounds, one unhappy gamer grumbled, "So Kill the Justice League is just another looter shooter with always an online requirement? We have strayed far from the glory of Batman Arkham Games. I'm honestly disappointed."
Someone else added, "I was cautiously optimistic about Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League but now? Jeez. Always online requirements, battlepasses (I don't care they're only cosmetic. Still a BP) and gameplay that looks pretty damn uninteresting and samey."
Not everyone was against it though: "It should be news when this isn’t the case, not when it is. Still crazy to me that people think owning physical gives you any more ownership than digital considering always online games are the standard & the disc doesn’t contain 90% of the game anyway. Congrats, you have a menu."
An "always online" requirement is becoming more commonplace in modern games, with WB previously doing it with Back 4 Blood and Microsoft recently being put under the spotlight for doing the same with Redfall. Considering Gotham Knights didn't shackle you to your internet connection, it's a shame Kill the Justice League does.
Still, a Crackdown-esque shooter where you get to beat the Flash to a pulp and take on an evil Superman while Tara Strong does her best Harley Quinn voice, all from the studio that brought us Arkham City? We're still sold.
