Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has gotten mixed reactions from the press and closed alpha players (who could finally talk about their experiences) recently. Nevertheless, the road to launch continues with even more new details provided by Rocksteady Studios. Check out 13 new things to know before the game is out on February 2nd for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
“Biggest Game” Story-Wise
As much as the live service trappings and co-op have loomed over Suicide Squad, Rocksteady insists it’s narrative-focused. Speaking to PLAY magazine, product director Darius Sadeghian said it’s “easily our biggest game” in terms of story. “It’s still full of the DNA that infuses the Batman: Arkham series – those foundations of story and character are absolutely central to our process.”
“Biggest Cinematic Experience”
Suicide Squad is also described as the developer’s “biggest cinematic experience”, meaning more hours of cinematic cutscenes. Given what we’ve seen visually and heard with the dialogue, that can be a good or bad thing. Regardless, fans can expect the base game to offer a full story that’s “much bigger than the world of the Suicide Squad” while post-launch updates will venture further.
Weapon Types and Manufacturers
There are six types of weapons to choose from: Assault Rifles, Pistols, SMGs, Sniper Rifles, Shotguns and Heavy Weapons (specifically miniguns and Light Machine Guns). Each character is proficient in at least three weapon types, but that’s not all. In addition to different perks, they have unique properties depending on the manufacturers. GCPD weapons offer balanced stability, ammo capacity and accuracy, while LexCorp is about fixed spread patterns and recoil. AmerTek offers a high fire rate and ammo capacity with heavy recoil.
LexCorp’s weapons feature fixed recoil and spread patterns. AmerTek has high ammo capacity and fire rate but heavy recoil. If there’s a particular weapon manufacturer you want and it’s not dropping, visit Penguin, who can help craft a weapon type of your choosing (provided you have the materials).
Weapon Customization
Weapons are further customized, thanks to Toyman. Whether it’s King Shark’s blade or Deadshot’s wrist cannons, you can reroll their augments for potentially improved stats. This extends to firearms, Shield Mods, Traversal Mods and Grenades. Whether you’re looking for more critical damage on your shotgun or an increased chance for Shield Harvesting, Toyman is the ticket.
Talents
Each member of the Squad fulfils a specific role. Deadshot is the ranged attacker; King Shark is the tank; Harley Quinn loves explosions; and Captain Boomerang is a strong all-arounder focused on speed. They also have unique Talent trees for additional power, like King Shark’s Domineering Presence, a Tier 3 Skill that activates at 10x combo or higher and causes enemies within 20 meters to take 20 percent more damage. It also enables Suicide Strike attacks to generate 10 percent resource for his traversal skill.
At Tier 4, you can unlock Royal Dominion, causing enemies to deal 25 percent less damage with Domineering Presence, offering more survivability up close. King Shark alone has over 50 Talents, with more available as you level up, so there’s plenty to choose from and define how you want to play.
Afflictions
Afflictions are applied to weapons and grenades and can trigger different status effects. Available after Poison Ivy joins the Support Squad, there’s Deep Freeze, Livewire Bolt, Venom Frenzy and Diablo Blaze. They can initially only work with melee weapons, but later apply to grenades.
Thus far, we only know that Blaze causes burning over time, which prevents you from using Shield Harvesting Strikes on enemies. Meanwhile, Deep Freeze will freeze enemies for 10 seconds, preventing critical damage and ammo from dropping, but causing them to take 200 percent more damage from guns and 1000 percent more damage from falling.
Vehicles
Those still cross about the Batmobile in Arkham Knight can take solace – Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has vehicles, but they’re more like summons than actual means of transport. With Gizmo’s help, you can call in an armored hover-car with a turret to wreak havoc on enemies. It’ll even launch into enemies at the end for a final big explosion.
“Hundreds” of Possible Build Combinations
In terms of build crafting, Rocksteady is leaning heavily into player choice and freedom. As game director Alex Rydby said in a recent Discord Q&A, there are “hundreds of possible combinations and permutations for builds across our four characters,” which the team will add “A LOT to” with its post-launch content. Some examples of early end-game builds include suspending enemies in slow motion and then using a gun for guaranteed crits. If you play Boomerang, one Talent enables melee hits to induce slow-mo, which can then be paired with Hit and Run to regen traversal attack resource on critical hits.
Infamy Sets and Notorious Weapons
Infamy Sets work like Gear Sets, providing more bonuses as you equip more pieces in the same set. There are three Tiers, with higher tiers seemingly dropping from the end-game, and you can obtain some strong bonuses. Spare Parts and Elbow Grease, themed after Gizmo, grants 50 percent more damage to burning enemies as its one-piece bonus. Two pieces offer a 100 percent burning chance on enemies at the cost of 50 percent less grenade damage, plus when your shields break, all enemies in 15 meters are burned (which can trigger once per 30 seconds).
The Bane Rage Set is seemingly focused on critical hits increasing the damage of grenades, though more details are yet to be confirmed. There isn’t much information about Notorious Weapons, but they could be in a separate category from Legendaries while tying into specific villains, like the Black Mask weapons obtained from pre-ordering.
End-Game Details
In the same Discord Q&A, director Axel Rydby also talked about the end-game. It offers a “core backbone of mission types that provide a more predictable experience and challenge”, while still dealing with Brainiac’s adaptations to the Squad’s tactics. There are Incursion Missions involving a Promethium Shield to traverse the Skull Ship, with the Support Squad helping out. Killing Time missions are about fighting hordes of increasingly challenging enemies to fuel the Shield. At higher difficulties, you earn stronger Infamy Sets and Notorious Items. There are even leaderboards for solo, duo, trios and four-player teams that allow for examining other players’ builds for tips.
Possible Joker-Themed Content
The development has touted new characters and missions for added post-launch, and there may also be new areas. Some new concept art was recently released, showcasing The Daily Planet revamped into The Daily Chuckle, with all kinds of other Joker-themed design choices. Does this mean The Joker will be playable post-launch or appear in the base game? Time will tell, but the results should be interesting, given what occurred in the Batman: Arkham games.
Offline Mode Coming Post-Launch
Whatever the post-launch plans may be, Rocksteady has confirmed that an offline mode is coming to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. There are no details on when it’s releasing (except for some time this year), but it will let you play without constantly being online.
PC Requirements
For those playing on PC, there are two sets of Minimum requirements. The first enables 1080p/30 FPS at Low quality and needs an Intel Core i5-8400K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.20 GHz, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and 16 GB of RAM. The second keeps the same resolution and quality but bumps the frame rate to 60 FPS and requires a Core i7-9700K or Ryzen 7 5800X, a GeForce RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 5700 XT with the same RAM.
Recommended requirements include a Core i7-10700K or Ryzen 7 5800 X3D, a GeForce RTX 2080 or Radeon RX 6800-XT (16 GB) and 16 GB RAM, and offer 1440p/60 FPS at Medium settings. Finally, for 4K/60 FPS at High settings, a Core i7-12700K or Ryzen 7 7800X3D, a GeForce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 7900 XT and 16 GB of RAM. A solid-state drive and 65 GB of installation space are mandatory in all cases.