Rocksteady has revealed some of its post-launch plans for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. The biggest piece of news is that the Joker will be the first new playable character added to Suicide Squad post-launch. And no, this isn’t the Joker from the Arkham games. He’s still dead. Instead, this is a new Joker from a different universe.
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Announced back in 2020, Suicide Squad is Rocksteady’s upcoming co-op looter shooter supervillain adventure set in the same universe as its earlier Batman: Arkham games. Since its announcement, fans haven’t been terribly excited about the game. Every time we see more of it—via trailers or leaks—it looks more and more like a live-service shooter with plenty of optional purchases, even if Rocksteady seems unwilling to admit that. And recent previews earlier this month weren’t great either and didn’t help win over folks. But marketing campaigns soldier on, and so Rocskteady’s latest “Suicide Squad Insider” episode is out and all about post-launch content coming in the game’s first season.
Released on January 22, Suicide Squad’s recent dev diary explained that the game’s first season will go live in March, about a month after the game’s February 2 launch. The season will be Joker-themed and include two episodes with new missions, side activities, gear, boss fights, and enemy variants.
According to Rocksteady, every season will include a new playable character, environments to explore, weapons to loot, and more. The studio also promises that these seasonal content drops will stick around so players can enjoy them months later, which is nice. (And something I wish other live-service games supported.) All of this content is free and not locked behind a premium battle pass or expansion.
In March, the first season’s new playable character will be the Joker. But this version of the Joker is different and not the famous, Mark Hamill-voiced one you might know from the Arkham games. Instead, he’s been plucked from an alternate dimension out of the multiverse. It’s part of a larger plan by Rocksteady to use the larger DC multiverse to tell new stories and craft new missions for upcoming seasons based on different timelines and universes, letting them bring back dead characters like Joker—who was killed in Arkham City—or introduce alternate takes on famous villains.
Like all the other characters in Suicide Squad, the Joker will have a set of traversal options that let him climb, glide, hop, and run around Metropolis. The Joker uses a rocket-powered umbrella which, honestly, looks pretty fun. And like all the other characters in this game, he runs around using assault rifles and handguns.
I’m still holding out hope that when Suicide Squad finally releases next week the game will be better than what’s been shown in previews and trailers. Maybe the combat will be amazing. Perhaps the traversal stuff is awesome? I hope so. Otherwise, it won’t matter how many new villains and costumes get added to the game post-launch.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launches on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on February 2, 2024. For folks who pay the publisher-created ransom fee and pre-order the deluxe edition, you can play three days earlier.
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