Gotham Knights received several new details earlier this month, from gameplay of Nightwing and Red Hood to the cancellation of previous-gen versions. Opinions on the combat are mixed. However, in comparison, Nightwing’s glider and Red Hood’s bouncing in the skies received many more questions.
In a recent Q&A on the Gotham Knights Discord (via Eurogamer), creative director Patrick Redding talked more about them. Nightwing’s glider, the Flying Trapeze, was inspired by older issues of the hero’s comic book series that featured “aerialist moves with jet-powered gliders.”
Before you scream “Fortnite rip-off”, it also has some connections to the deceased Batman’s high-tech tools in-game. “We liked the death-defying angle of him looking at all the various stealth drones in Batman’s arsenal and calculating that he could just get away with hanging off one of the smaller models and still be able to maintain or gain altitude with it.
“[The Flying Trapeze is] designed to feel a bit improvised, and dependent on his extreme athleticism, which fits Nightwing’s approach to everything. Flying it has such a different feel from Batgirl’s cape-gliding, and it blends really well with his bigger parkour and leap moves, as well as with grappling.”
As for Red Hood, the Lazarus Pit served as a great inspiration for his new powers. “We really liked the idea that as Jason starts to confront the trauma of dying and being brought back, he begins to be able to tap into some lost abilities. In the same way that he’s tried to reinvent himself from anti-hero to hero while retaining his strengths, he discovers he can channel these mystic talents in ways he finds familiar: Through his physicality [and] in how he moves, but also in how he fights and even how he uses his weapons.”
Interestingly, this may not be the only power that Todd showcases. “We’ll see that the Mystic Leap is just one manifestation of those powers,” teased Redding. Mystical bullets with different effects? That would certainly be intriguing.
Gotham Knights releases on October 25th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Standard and Deluxe Editions are currently available to pre-order. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months, including more gameplay footage of Batgirl and Robin.