After the misfire that was Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League which led to rounds of layoffs at the studio, developer Rocksteady has reportedly returned back to the drawing board for a new Batman game. According to a new rumour, Rocksteady is currently hiring for the unannounced project which requires the team to have knowledge in Unreal Engine 5.
As reported by Tech4Gamers, Rocksteady is building the new Batman game in Unreal Engine 5. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering that every Rocksteady title so far has been built on that engine, including the Arkham trilogy. Job listings at the studio not only confirm this but also reveal that the game is being planned for a cross-gen release on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and future consoles, putting its potential release somewhere within the next 3-4 years.
Back in June 2024, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Rocksteady was preparing to a pitch a new single-player game that would return the studio “to its roots”, seemingly hinting at a return to the Batman Arkham games (or Urban Chaos, to be fair). Technically, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League was also canonically set within the Arkham universe but due to its poor reception, it’s unlikely that the events of the live-service game will be addressed in future installments.
Support for Suicide Squad officially ended in January this year as the final update wrapped up – and bizarrely retconned – the story with the reveal that the Justice League killed in the game were clones and that the real heroes were still alive and well somewhere. This also meant that the real Batman didn’t actually die by Harley Quinn’s hands in the game, naturally leaving the door open for Arkham’s caped crusader to continue their adventures.
With the passing of legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy last year, Rocksteady will have to look at recasting Bruce Wayne in the next title.
Source: Tech4Gamers
