Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Explained (in Short Order)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is the long-anticipated kinda-sorta sequel to the classic Batman Arkham tetralogy, except it's a live-service co-op multiplayer shoot 'em up. No, yeah, you read that right: that's what Suicide Squad is! But, of course, nothing good comes of being reductionist about things. To that end, we decided the time was right to go over Suicide Squad's narrative and gameplay features to explain what the experience is all about.

Consider this a bit of a preview, then, as we go over the facts of what Suicide Squad is, and what it is most definitely not!

READ MORE: Suicide Squad's Live-Service Features Explained

The Story of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Everyone and their mum knows by now what the central narrative thread always is, in a Suicide Squad piece of media. Kill the Justice League is no different, in that regard. Here, players are thrown into Amanda Waller's Task Force X as it usually goes, except this time we've got a slightly different lineup of villains to show for: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark.

Task Force X is, subsequently, forced to go after Justice League proper, and they do so the only way they know how: with guns and bullets and knives. And hey, whether that works out or not is all up to the players themselves. The good news, though, is that Task Force X gets help from Wonder Woman for a while, and the odds are good that the mind-wiped Batman left his own plans for dealing with the Justice League in the first place.

This is a Batman Arkham sequel, indeed

While it might've made more sense for Gotham Knights to have been the narrative sequel to Arkham Knight, that is not the case. Following the events of Rocksteady Studios' final Batman title, the universe continued progressing towards the Suicide Squad timeline, instead, and that's where the game kicks off.

The Justice League is, obviously, under Brainiac's control. Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern... basically everyone except for Wonder Woman has been mind-wiped and turned against the people of Metropolis. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Amanda Waller kicks off the Suicide Squad program and enlists a squad of villains to try and take the former heroes down.

This does mean that the Batman we'll need to kill throughout Suicide Squad is the same Batman we controlled in Rocksteady's older titles. Such is the way of comic-book video games, however!

The Gameplay of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

When we say that Suicide Squad leans towards being a true-to-form live-service experience, there are some things this implies by default. For one, the game is (for the time being) an always-online experience that heavily nudges the player to join up with a group of others. It is also, in more ways than not, a looter-shooter sort of thing. Even though the playable characters aren't necessarily known for their prowess with guns - looking at you, Captain Boomerang - they all wield firearms and melee armaments this time around.

For the most part, the loot in Suicide Squad consists of fictionalized, greeble'd up guns and gear that change how your characters look and behave in combat. However, your selected character's skills and abilities play a huge role, too. Even though all of them can jump high and move fast, each villain has their own take on, say, aerial movement. There's lots of variety present, then, and the game's itemization systems and progression features guarantee that there are plenty of ways for players to customize their favorite villain.

We've got a weird comparison in mind...

One thing that's come up as we look at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is that it reminded us of something we had played in the past. It took some thinking and lots of library searching, but we finally found it: Insomniac Games' phenomenal third-person shooter, Sunset Overdrive. We've spent more time playing Sunset Overdrive than we care to admit over the years, and there are some fascinating parallels we could draw here.

Setting aside the games' respective subject matter, both Suicide Squad and Sunset Overdrive are super-fast aerial third-person shooters with a zany visual style and a focus on mobility. Now, we cannot say for sure whether Rocksteady might've been inspired by Sunset Overdrive when their new flagship was being drawn up. We can, however, recommend Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League if you had fun with Sunset Overdrive!

Offline Mode is coming!

Finally, while there's plenty of critique to be directed at modern live-service titles, it's worth remembering that Suicide Squad won't be a run-of-the-mill niche offering in this regard. Notably, Rocksteady has already confirmed that a dedicated offline mode will release down the line, which means single-player fans should be looking into the game as well. Now, we do need to wait until the first reviews start pouring in to assess the actual quality of the game, but the editorial team here at 2Game is genuinely excited about Kill the Justice League, even if only for its gameplay!

Remember: Suicide Squad is officially coming out on February 2, but you can play it early by buying the Deluxe Edition! You can grab a copy at a lovely discount - right here at 2Game.

Get Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Deluxe Edition at a discount!

If you're okay with waiting and would prefer to save even more bucks by sticking with the base edition of the game, you'll have plenty of time to check out the reviews and player opinions.

Get Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League at a discount!

The early bird discount is, naturally, available on both versions of the game, so make your pick and stick around for more Suicide Squad content - right here at 2Game.

CHECK OUT: Everything a PC Gamer Needs to Know About Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League