It’s been a rocky start for Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. After an initial leak, the game was officially announced by the studio in August 2020, though this arrived in the wake of sexual harassment accusations. Since then, the game was delayed, the studio’s co-founders left, and reports of a battle pass became a hot debate. Last year we finally got a look at the game in action during Sony’s PlayStation State of Play, but the reaction was somewhat negative and once again it was delayed. More recently, an alpha tech test took place in December but spoilery footage swiftly leaked.
“It’s always disappointing when you have leaks. I think it’s unavoidable in this day and age,” Suicide Squad game director Axel Rydby told me at a preview event for the game. “The short answer is that it’s a bummer, but at the same time, we know that the game is really good. And we know that it’s a very unique game. Even though you get leaks, we just hope that it’s not going to affect players’ decisions to try it out.”
Suicide Squad previewDeveloper: RocksteadyPublisher: Warner Bros.Platform: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PCAvailability: Out 30th January 2024
As for the delay, Rydby said this was to polish and tighten up the game, fix bugs, and ensure that each of the four characters feels distinct in gameplay: switching between them “should feel like a new, fresh experience, but it shouldn’t feel like a completely different game”.
Rocksteady was also aware of what the reaction to the State of Play would be. “We knew that it was going to be a controversial game because it’s not Batman,” said Rydby. “But at the same time, we know that we have a really good game on our hands. And it’s a very unique game that still feels like it carries the Rocksteady values in terms of tightness in mechanics and bringing the wider DC world into the game.
“Also we recognised and realised that it didn’t showcase as well as we wanted to. Did it affect morale at the studio? We thought it was unfortunate. We wanted it to be received better. But at the same time, we’re sort of going ‘Yeah, let’s show them! It’s gonna be great!'”
Suicide Squad certainly does carry that Rocksteady DNA. It’s a continuation of the Arkham-verse, with the same characters, artstyle, and overall moody tone. Except here players take the role of the Suicide Squad – which brings its own sense of humour – and are up against the very same Batman from the Arkham games, plus other members of the Justice League.
This isn’t the exploration and melee-combat gameplay of before. Rydby described Suicide Squad as “genre defying”, but really it’s an open world four-play co-op shooter. Players choose between Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Boomerang, or King Shark and explore the city of Metropolis either online with three others, or in single-player with accompanying bots. And yes, it’s possible to have multiple versions of characters in your squad, though they’ll be substituted in story cutscenes.