No longer one of the worst kept secrets in the gaming industry, WB Games Montreal’s Gotham Knights title is finally out in the open and expected to arrive at some point next year. Confirming what we’d come to expect from the myriad number of leaks, The Court of Owls will serve as the game’s primary villains, with the Gotham Knights developer recently explaining why the mysterious organization was chosen to headline as the game’s main antagonist.

In a recent interview with ComicBook, Gotham Knights creative director Patrick Redding opened up about why the team went with The Court of Owls as the game’s main villains. “It just was such a good fit because one, we’re kicking things off with a very shocking event and then asking the question, “What happens to Gotham City as a consequence of that?” Right? And you can start to imagine all the obvious things, but for us, at least in our interpretation of story, that becomes the inciting incident,” Redding explained.”

You don’t have this firewall, this buffer between the worst excesses of the city and its populous anymore. So an organization like The Court of Owls that’s been sitting in the shadows for a few hundred years suddenly has their opening, right? There’s that aspect of it.”

Redding goes on to explain that the “inciting incident” at the start of Gotham Knights paves the way for the newer, younger heroes to get their chance in the spotlight in a Gotham overshadowed by The Court of Owls. “The other part of it is the game is really driven by the new guard, right? It’s driven by these young heroes who are not Batman and don’t necessarily philosophically do things the same way he would,” Redding said. “And they represent the youth and collaboration and solving certain kinds of problems with a certain kind of fervor and a certain kind of youthful energy.”

Well, there’s no better antithesis to that, honestly, than The Court of Owls, which represents corrupt, old, entrenched power and wealth, it’s just twisted and has distorted and turned Gotham City into this grotesque version of an East Coast American city, right? So I think it was a really logical, very organic choice as an adversary for that group of heroes.”

Gotham Knights is slated to release at some point in 20201 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and next-gen consoles.

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