As the release date for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League draws near, it appears Rocksteady Studio has developed cold feet yet again. The game which is a follow-up to Batman: Arkham series won’t be released on May 26 as previously announced.
The news of the new delay in the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was first shared on Twitter by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier. The first time that the game was scheduled for release was in 2022. It was later pushed back to 2023. This is the second major delay that the game has suffered.
Warner Bros. is delaying the game to a yet-to-be-decided date later this year, according to reports. The cause of the delay is attributed to a poor reception during Sony’s State of Play showcase earlier in February. Prior to the reveal, Darius Sadeghian, Rocksteady Studio production director, reiterated the game was going to be released in May.
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“Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is the next installment in the Arkham verse,” Sadeghian said. “It is a third-person action shooter set five years after the events of Batman: Arkham Nights. Metropolis is being invaded and you are going in as the Suicide Squad members…to face off against the ultimate threat.”
During the reveal, Suicide Squad’s four-player co-op gameplay which was central to Kill the Justice League was highlighted. The footage of Rocksteady’s eagerly anticipated title featured the elite killers—Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and Harley Quinn—fighting members of the Justice League whose minds were corrupted by Brainiac.
“It is a mixture of lots of things I hope the fans like by Rocksteady,” said Nick Arundel, Rocksteady’s Audio Director. “Like a whole massive chunk of new stuff to do, never seen before.”
Since the game was set five years after the events of Arkham, a lot has changed. Most of the members of the team behind the project emphasized that the aim of the game was to allow fans to explore Arkham through the eyes of the villains.
Fans criticized Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League after the State of Play reveal
Some gamers described the Suicide Squad gameplay as what happens when you mash Anthem with Destiny 2 and throw them into the Arkham universe. However, the straw that broke the camel’s back for most fans was the purple orbs shot by Captain Boomerang and Harley Quinn as well as how the characters indiscriminately float around.
Fans also criticized the always-online requirement to play the game as well as the purchasable cosmetics. Interestingly, the delay was to fix bugs and enhance the lagging aspects of the game. However, the core gameplay which got most of the backlash will likely not be altered.
After the reveal, Warner Bros. and Rocksteady released Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) that confirmed that gamers will need an online connection to play Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. While that was understandable for multiplayer co-op mode, it felt absurd for single-player mode—yet another reason for fan outrage.
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Rocksteady and Warner Bros. have not officially announced the delay. Several media platforms have reached out to them but were yet to get a response at the time of this publication. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S as well as Windows PC when it is eventually released.
It is unlikely that Rocksteady will be able to fix the myriads of problems pointed out by gamers in a few months. If a major overhaul is going to be done, the game’s release date may be pushed back to 2024. It is hard to tell which one would be worst for fans who have eagerly anticipated the game since 2022.
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