Rocksteady Studios’ long anticipated Arkhamverse sequel Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be available to play for those who have preordered it on Jan 30, and to the public at large on its official release date of Feb. 2.
You’d expect any new game from the Arkham City developers to be generating an enormous amount of hype, as this is the first full game they’ve released since 2015’s Arkham Knight. Beyond that, the game features the final performance of Kevin Conroy as Batman, leaving it as a swan song for the most beloved actor to voice the Dark Knight.
But it’s safe to say that the mood amongst gaming fans is subdued. The game is an online-only multiplayer-focused title with season passes, cosmetics, and much DLC on the horizon. Though design like this may have been in style early in development, a litany of failed games-as-a-service titles have soured gamers on them, and we need only miserably gesture to the decomposing corpses of Marvel’s Avengers, Anthem, and Redfall as proof.
On top of that, what’s been showcased of the gameplay hasn’t set the world alight. As opposed to the incredible close-quarters combat of the Arkham games, this is a third-person shooter, with many noting that the game appears to boil down to shooting glowing purple orbs.
As such, many are probably waiting for the reviews to decide whether to buy. There’s just one problem.
What’s the review codes situation?
As of this writing, five days before public early access begins, indications are that Warner Bros. Games has yet to make the game available to any members of the gaming press. We Got This Covered hasn’t received a code. I’ve checked with my contacts elsewhere in the gaming press and they haven’t received a code. In yesterday’s Giant Bomb’s ‘Game Mess Mornings’ podcast host Jeff Grubb said: “It’s out in a week and I don’t know anyone that has a review code for it.”
Co-host Lucy James said she hadn’t heard of anyone who has a review copy, either. It’s possible that other outlets already have copies and are keeping quiet about it, but everything I’ve seen indicates not.
So what does this mean? Well, if reviewers don’t have a copy, the period in which to evaluate the game in rapidly diminishes. Suicide Squad is sounding like a 20 hour+ game, and getting to grips with the multiple characters and systems within it will take time that reviewers now might not have.
As a vague rule of thumb, reviewers can usually expect to receive a code roughly two weeks before the official launch, giving us enough time to appreciate and complete a title without having to rush through it to meet the deadline of the embargo dropping. One could argue that Rocksteady Studios needs time to make last-minute tweaks before sending the review codes out, though the game has already been delayed a year, so we’d expect it to be polished by now. Similarly, perhaps the online framework needs to be in place before launch, though this didn’t stop similarly online-focused games like Exoprimal from sending their review codes out in good time.
What this means is that reviewers won’t have time to properly play Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League before its release next week. Reviews that land on the embargo will be rushed, and we suspect many outlets will be forced to delay publishing their opinions until after the launch weekend.
Read between the lines on why that might be beneficial to sales if you choose, but right now it seems Warner Bros. Games is playing its cards incredibly close to the vest with this specific title.