Since Bruce Wayne dies inGotham Knights, it is only natural that the Bat Family would be grieving throughout the game. Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Red Hood’s lives are all incredibly tragic from a macrocosmic perspective, where they have devoted themselves to crime-fighting. But they also have one another as a family, andGotham Knights’ optional cutscenesdo a great job of emphasizing how much they need one another. Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, and Jason Todd all share a piece of that within side story cutscenes.
Emails are also a source of catharsis inGotham Knights, where players can see iconic DC names sharing their condolences or simply conversing with the Bat Family. If players simply mainline the game’s story or spend all their time inGotham Knights’ open-world Gotham City, they would surely miss out on some of its best narrative moments. Trauma and grief, for example, are two motifs thatGotham Knightsexcels at portraying. Each Knight has personal growth they attend to with the help of their companions.
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Gotham Knights Covers Trauma, Grief, and Mourning in Its Optional Content
Dick is troubled by the notion that he must live up to Batman’s legacy, something he confides to Barbara. Dick is the unspoken leader of the Bat Family’s four playable protagonists, and Alfred acknowledges that the weight of this is having a toll on Dick. Alfred tells Dick to not be an island, and reach out for help when needed. Dick and Jason seem to have a strained relationship, but both work on tearing those walls down together. Dick finally visits Bruce’s grave at the end of his own personal side story inGotham Knights, giving himself some much-needed closure to his mourning.
Tim’s narrative, in contrast, is about feeling incomplete without Batman’s presence. Tim struggles to define his role and the role of the Bat Family with Bruce gone, thoughAlfred is stalwart as always inGotham Knights. Tim and Jason also share a special bond in their own way, where Tim considers the thought of bringing back Bruce with a Lazarus Pit and Jason calmly reassures him that Bruce would not be the same. Likewise, Tim helps Jason be less volatile. Tim learns about understanding people on a human level and respecting that legacy over the course ofGotham Knights.
Red Hood and Batgirl Have the Most Traumatic Baggage in Gotham Knights
Jason and Barbara areGotham Knights’ obvious representations of trauma and grief. Fans may know that Jason Todd was originally a Robin before he was killed by the Joker. He was then resurrected in a Lazarus Pit, and came back a mentally tormented and hostile anti-hero. Further, Barbara was shot and crippled by the Joker while she was originally Batgirl, and became Oracle while she was confined to a wheelchair, though these details are only presumed based on comic book source material. She apparently had intense physical rehabilitation prior to the events ofGotham Knightsand is back out as Batgirl, but carries a different trauma with her.
Barbara’s photographic memory inGotham Knightstroubles her since she feels she cannot trust her memory, particularly the memory of her father, Jim Gordon. Unfortunately, Jason and Barbara never get to truly bond over their shared trauma linked to the Joker, because the Joker is highly obscured throughout the game.
Either way, it is great to see each character have a unique through-line that gives them personal development over the course ofGotham Knights. The only downside to this side story cutscene approach is that players will not get a chance to experience characters’ growth unless they play as them from time-to-time, but this makes doing so worthwhile.
Gotham Knightsis available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
