Superheroes are big business these days, as evidenced by the massive successes of major motion pictures like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Avengers: Endgame, and many more. Naturally, video games have also been a major place for companies like Marvel and DC over the years, and that level of growth only seems to be getting bigger and bigger.
Recently, fans have enjoyed plenty of different superhero-style games, from the wildly popular Spider-Man titles from Insomniac on the PlayStation platforms to Square Enix’s well-received Guardians of the Galaxy. Fortnite also continues to add various character skins from major comic book publishers like DC and Marvel, with rumors that even more upcoming content could include Spider-Man characters like Green Goblin.
If launch dates hold, 2022 looks to be an incredibly strong year for DC-based video games. Headliners like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Gotham Knights are just a few of the games slated for this year. Here is everything fans can expect from DC video games in 2022.
Rocksteady Games – Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Arguably the biggest name on this list is Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: KIll the Justice League. After releasing Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015, the studio effectively went dark for years, leaving fans to speculate as to what it could be working on. Rumors included all sorts of franchises and characters including DC heroes like Green Lantern, Superman, another Batman game, and even a game centered on the Justice League. Fans finally got their answer during the 2020 all digital event, DC FanDome.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League brings together members of Amanda Waller’s Task Force X, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang, as they work to take down the villain Brainiac. Unfortunately for the squad, Brainiac has seemingly taken control of the Justice League, bending them to his will inside of Metropolis. With a large open city to explore, fans can take on the Justice League solo or cooperatively up to four players. For solo players, they’ll be able to switch between the four characters as much as they want, with the AI controlling the ones not being used.
Set in Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse, the handful of trailers has indicated that this game is set to launch sometime in 2022. With the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic and developers largely working remote, anything could change as there have been plenty of delays due to slower than expected production. Regardless, it’s a largely safe bet that Warner Bros will have more to say about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League including showing off new gameplay.
WB Games Montreal – Gotham Knights
For those who want to experience things from a more heroic side, Gotham Knights gives players access to the Bat Family to explore Gotham City. Another game announced in 2020 at DC FanDome, this game is coming from Batman: Arkham Origins developer, WB Games Montreal and director Patrick Redding. While the game may look similar to past Arkham games, it was previously confirmed that Gotham Knights is an original story and doesn’t occupy that same world.
Inside of Gotham Knights, crime has risen exponentially after the deaths of Batman and Commissioner Gordon. Players can take on the role of Batman’s former proteges in Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, and Red Hood, who band together to continue his legacy. The game also plans to tackle the Court of Owls, a mysterious and ancient organization that uses its own enforcers called Talons to do their dirty work. The group was introduced inside recent Batman comics from writer Scott Snyder and artist Greg Capullo.
In addition to the Court of Owls plot, the open world of Gotham will afford players plenty of opportunities to engage with Batman’s full lineup of rogues like Mr. Freeze, who was previously shown off last year. Each hero has their own unique play style and abilities as well as a progression and leveling system, which also impacts the level of the enemies inside the world as well. While fully playable solo, Gotham Knights also features 2 player drop-in, drop-out coop multiplayer.
Originally planned for launch last year, Gotham Knights ran into some issues due to the ongoing pandemic, which ultimately pushed its release into 2022. While the last update was given during the 2021 DC FanDome, fans should definitely expect to see and hear plenty more on this one in the coming months.
Player First Games – MultiVersus
While technically not a DC-only video game, it is one fans should pay attention to regardless. Announced late last year, MultiVersus is essentially a Warner Bros style platform brawler in a similar vein to Super Smash Bros. Primarily played in a 2v2 format, players can pick from an assortment of characters from WarnerMedia owned properties like Looney Tunes, Adventure Time, Scooby-Doo, Game of Thrones, and more. This includes a handful of characters from DC comics like Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Harley Quinn.
Currently sitting at 12 playable characters, MultiVersus director Tony Huynh has hinted that there are plenty more announcements to make in the coming months before the game’s 2022 launch. While Huynh hasn’t said which properties would be included, it hasn’t stopped fans from speculating which characters could be included from WarnerMedia’s massive back catalog. This includes franchises like Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, Rick and Morty, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and plenty more. However, with an expected large roster, it’s more than likely that even more DC characters could make the cut either at launch or as DLC. Considering the massive list of potential characters the game could add, it’s very easy to see other popular DC characters like the Joker or Flash making the cut as well.
Outright Games – DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace
While DC has plenty of big-budget films for 2022 like The Batman, it also has a few family-oriented ones coming as well. Set for release on May 20, the computer-animated film DC League of Super-Pets features voice actors Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Superman’s dog Krypto and Kevin Hart as Batman’s dog, Ace.
At last year’s DC FanDome event, WB announced that a tie-in game called DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace would be launching around the same time as the film. The game is being published by Outright Games, which has a history of taking on license-based titles for properties like Ben 10, PAW Patrol, and more. Coming to Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam, the kid-friendly title will let players suit up as Krypto and Ace in an on-rails, action-adventure through the streets of Metropolis.
Monolith Productions – Wonder Woman
Just announced at The Game Awards this past December, it’s very unlikely that Wonder Woman is making launch in 2022. That rings especially true considering other major DC titles like Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights are due to launch later this year and Warner Bros is unlikely to want to cannibalize sales.
With that said, Wonder Woman is shaping up to be a massive AAA game coming from the Mordor and F.E.A.R. developer, Monolith Productions. As such, Warner Bros will no doubt want to get fans excited for the release through new media, trailers, as well as information on the upcoming game. While fans shouldn’t expect a 2022 launch, it’s more than reasonable to assume that Wonder Woman is going to get plenty of coverage before the year is out.
Telltale Games – The Wolf Among Us 2
It’s been a wild couple of years not just for The Wolf Among Us, but for Telltale Games as well. Originally planning to launch a second season for the first Wolf Among Us, it would go on to be canceled amid Telltale’s internal issues leading to its closure in 2018. However, the studio would ultimately be revived a year later by LCG Entertainment, which had acquired the majority of Telltale’s assets, licenses, and games. Included were the rights to The Wolf Among Us, and later that year at The Game Awards, a true sequel was revealed.
The property itself is from Vertigo Comics, whose parent company is actually DC. Unfortunately, following the announcement, nothing more has been said outside of the returning voice cast and Unreal being the engine of choice. Telltale intends The Wolf Among Us 2 to be episodic, though unlike the first game, all episodes are being worked on simultaneously. While it’s unknown when the game will be ready for launch, many fans are at least speculating that Telltale will talk about the upcoming title sometime in 2022. With an episodic structure, it’s also reasonable to assume that at least one episode could see the light of day later in 2022 as well.
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