Everything you need to know about Gotham Knights’ multiplayer

The Batman of recent films has mostly been a solitary figure, but DC comics fans have a different picture. In the source material, the Dark Knight is just as often portrayed as the head of his very own Bat-family. This holds true in Gotham Knights, out now for next-gen consoles and PC, in which you get to take control of four members of that family: Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin.

And, really, what kind of family would it be if they couldn’t spend time together?

Does Gotham Knights have multiplayer?

Naturally, that means Gotham Knights features multiplayer, a first for this current lineage of modern Batman games. You can tackle the whole game in co-op, whether you want to go out on patrols and stop random crimes, or play each story mission in succession.

Gotham Knights features drop-in/drop-out co-op, so you can switch from playing solo to multiplayer and back again at will, with no consequences.

How many people can play Gotham Knights multiplayer?

Keep in mind that, although there are four playable characters, co-op is limited to two players at a time. That said, you’re free to explore the entire open world together, with no limits on how far you can wander from one another, which is extremely cool.

Does Gotham Knights support crossplay?

Nope.

How do you start Gotham Knights multiplayer?

There are two ways to start playing co-op if you don’t care who you’re matched with. You can search for someone else’s game to join, or set your own session to online mode and invite others to join you, either passively or actively.

To enter a stranger’s world, simply select the “multiplayer” option from the menu and let the “quick match” function do its thing. (Ignore the “host heroic assault” option, since that mode isn’t in the game yet.)

Image: WB Games Montreal/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Polygon

If you’d rather let others join you, you’ll have to head to a different menu for some reason. Press left on your controller’s d-pad, then select the radial’s top option for “privacy.” Within that menu are four choices: public, friends of friends, friends only, and invited players. What you select determines who can join you; if you want to let friends drop in on you without needing to receive an invite, select “friends” or “friends of friends.” If you want to let anyone at all join, select “public.” If you want to play solo, select “invited players,” and nobody will be able to join you until you send them an invite.

You can also find equivalent options in the “social” section of the main menu, along with information about your current group, recent players, and more.

How does Gotham Knights multiplayer work?

When you arrive in someone else’s game or vice versa, the world adjusts to accommodate a greater number of players. Mainly, enemies become harder to take down. If there’s a level disparity, the higher player’s stats will also sync down to the lower player’s level.

The trade-off is worth it, since you don’t just get an extra fighter on your side — it’s not evident at first, but as you level your characters up, you can unlock special moves that help during multiplayer. Depending on what characters you’re playing as, that can include buffs, healing abilities, and combo moves that require both players to execute.

Thankfully, that scaling goes the other way, too; when someone leaves, the difficulty gets tuned back down.

Unlike when playing in single-player, your health bar being depleted doesn’t mean you automatically fail whatever activity you’re doing in co-op. Your teammate has a chance to revive you, if they get to you in time. Nightwing can even unlock an ability to revive a fallen teammate from a distance.

In addition, it’s notable that any progress you make while in someone else’s game persists when you return to playing in your own world.

That includes story progress; if you complete a mission in someone else’s game, you won’t have to do that mission again, even if you haven’t reached that point in the story yet. When you get there, the game will give you the option to skip that mission.