There has been a great deal of skepticism leading up to the launch of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. From its live-service ambitions, to its handling of media previews and review codes, to the inescapable comparisons to the now-deceased Marvel’s Avengers, it’s certainly had a rough ride up to launch. However, now that the Suicide Squad game is in players’ hands on PS5 and Xbox, fan reception is turning more in its favor, with one aspect being a particular high point – the writing and humor.
With Arkham fans now diving into Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League during its early access period, it’s already apparent how much care Rocksteady took in capturing the essence of the source material and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad film. It’s not been without its flaws though, with the particularly humorous note that the Suicide Squad servers were taken offline on PS5 and Xbox only a short time after release. Not the best start for a game vying to be one of the best co-op games of recent times.
While it’s been praised for its fun and fluid gameplay, the most relieving sign is just how entertaining the writing often is. King Shark, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and more are all well-realized characters oozing with the charm you’d expect to see, especially for fans of the film. After all, you’ve got to have a little fun when you’re going up against a twisted Superman.
From the time we’ve managed to play so far during early access, Kill the Justice League certainly nails arguably the most important aspect of the Suicide Squad as a team. From Captain Boomerang dropping his C4 to King Shark being the absolute brute that he is, it’s hard not to enjoy the antics of this dysfunctional group. More often than not, the jokes and banter between the party lands, which is generally more than can be said for many superhero movies. In many ways, its writing is more similar to the underrated Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game than Marvel’s Avengers, which is good news to us.
Though the story isn’t incredibly long, particularly when compared to many new PS5 games and new Xbox games, it is a solid 10-15-hour blast. And that’s before even getting into the endgame – which many would argue is the main draw.
As a live-service title, seasonal updates will add even more activities, gear, and characters, and hopefully continue the entertaining story with similarly strong writing. In fact, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League Season 1 will see the addition of the Joker, though they’re very different from what you would first imagine. Aiming for a more emotionally insecure Joker, hopefully, Rocksteady can balance the humor with sincerity when the Clown Prince of Gotham leaps onto the stage.
Before diving into the action, get up to speed on all the Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League characters that you can play as and meet along the way. After such a rocky pre-release period, Rocksteady seems to have met and even exceeded expectations in many regards, so it could end up proving the doubters wrong and become one of the best games of the year. It will have some stiff competition in the live-service looter-shooter genre though, with Destiny 2 developer Bungie committed to greater experimentation going forward.