Rocksteady doesn’t want players to feel like playing the game is a second job.
Rocksteady developers behind the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League—a DC villain-themed open-world co-op looter shooter—revealed some new details and thoughts behind the game’s battle pass, seasons, and endgame content. And while it’s still a live-service game that will likely have its own issues come launch, I’m feeling optimistic about it based on these recent answers that, at least on paper, sound good.
First revealed back in 2020, Suicide Squad is the next game from Rocksteady, the devs behind the earlier Batman: Arkham games. And while this new shooter is set in that same universe, since its reveal, fans haven’t been terribly excited about the game. Whenever we see more of it—via trailers or leaks—it looks a lot like a live-service shooter, even if Rocksteady is unwilling to admit that. Mixed previews earlier this month didn’t help win over folks, either. However, in a recent Discord Q&A, the devs laid out their plans for Suicide Squad’s endgame and seasons, suggesting that this game is fully playable solo and won’t make you grind for weeks to play limited-time content.
On January 26, over in the official Suicide Squad Discord server, the devs held a second Q&A after the previous one was so well received. This time around, many of the chosen community questions and developer answers seemed focused on convincing folks that this game won’t demand you treat it like a second job.
“We all love playing games, but we also have lives,” said Axel Rydby, Game Director on Suicide Squad.
“That’s been a big part of our design philosophy making this game. We don’t want the game to feel like a life commitment or be a game where you have to sacrifice a lot to see all the content on offer or feel like you’re not making good progress in the game if you can’t play hundreds of hours,” explained Rybdy.
A good example of this is that seasonal battle passes—which Rocksteady reminded folks multiple times in Discord only contain cosmetics—and all the content that is added to the game with each new season, can be done at any time. All that stuff, like battle-pass-exclusive outfits, new locations, missions, and the game’s first new playable character, The Joker, will not leave the game once the season is over. According to Rocksteady, you can always go back and make progress in a battle pass from a previous season or even buy the premium version well after its release.
“We believe that our team has created some of the best-looking cosmetic items ever,” added Darius Sadeghian, studio director at Rocksteady. “We want those to be available for our players to enjoy without fear that they’ll miss out on anything.”
As someone who plays a lot of Fortnite, a game that is built on battle pass FOMO and limited-time items in its ever-rotating store, this sounds very nice.
You can play all of Suicide Squad solo
Another example of Rocksteady claiming the game will respect your time and not demand you spend every day playing it is that every mission and activity in the game, even the toughest endgame content, can be completed solo. This, Rydby pointed out, is part of the studio’s philosophy when developing the co-op game.
“We want this game to be generous, both with your time and with all the features we have to offer,” said Rybdy.
Adding to this, Rocksteady confirmed in today’s Discord Q&A that you will be able to go back and replay any and all missions from the game’s story. And if you play with friends and move past your current point in your own game, the devs say you’ll be able to skip those sections when you hop back into your solo world. Another example of the team trying to respect players’ time, which I appreciate.
Of course, just because a game has great endgame and season pass plans, doesn’t mean it will be good. If Suicide Squad’s combat is bad, its traversal gameplay clunky, and/or its narrative boring, it won’t matter how nice the season’s cosmetics are or how generous the battle pass might be; people will stop playing.
We don’t have to wait long to see if the game will be fun enough to invest any time into future seasons, characters, or more, since Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launches on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on February 2, 2024. If you pay the publisher-created ransom fee and pre-order the deluxe edition, you can play three days earlier.
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