Gotham Knights will have distinct ability trees for each character

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Games)

Gotham Knights characters will each have their own distinct ability trees, creative director Patrick Redding has revealed to GamesRadar. 

Nightwing, Bat Girl, Robin, and Red Hood will all have their own specific upgrade paths and gear sets due to the different styles of play that the characters boast. 

When we asked Redding about balancing the character's abilities in co-op, he told us: "It is the most important problem to solve when you have an ensemble cast in a multi-protagonist game. We're building distinct ability trees for each character. They have to stick to gear sets. They have different styles of play. So we're servicing that."

Redding delved into the reason characters will have similarities and differences in-game, telling us: "They're all trained under Batman, so have certain crimefighting approaches that are derivative of that. But at the same time, they have all kind of evolved in their own direction, and they have their different specialties. With things like traversal, we wanted to make sure that each character had a kind of different spin on that idea of being able to kind of party-crash on crime."

"So they might have access to some of the same tools, like the grapple and the Batcycle. But they also have ways of kind of approaching and entering into the fray that is really distinctive and specific to each of them."

On top of that, senior producer Fleur Marty told us that characters will be able to equip different suit styles throughout the game. She said: "It wasn't by accident we actually showcased different suit-styles. And, yes, you'll be able to have new costumes and craft new gear for your heroes. They will not only by cosmetic— there will be some very cosmetic ones, with some actual gameplay effects."

Gotham Knights is due to release on PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC sometime in 2021.

Here's what we discovered from the Gotham Knights trailer breakdown

Sam Loveridge
Global Editor-in-Chief, GamesRadar+

Sam Loveridge is the Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar, and joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.