Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s new Joker is here, and players aren’t laughing
Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League got a bull’s-eye on Thursday with the release of the first season, which notably brings the Joker back to the franchise’s Arkhamverse. Joker is a new playable character, plucked from an alternate reality Elseworld, who joins the Suicide Squad on their mission to kill a bunch of alternate reality Braniacs.
Players who have stuck around Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League over the past two months and now getting our first taste of Rocksteady’s DLC plans, don’t seem too happy with the way the Joker has been rolled out. Unlocking it requires more of the same grind Kill the Justice League has been criticized, and there is little new to renew interest in the game, players say.
Kill the Justice League‘s Joker is free to obtain, although players can spend a premium currency known as Luthor Coins to unlock him faster. Players who don’t want to pay will have to play the game’s repetitive missions for a few hours to unlock Joker. By doing this, they get a new playable character with a new talent tree to fill out and Joker’s unique way of traveling. In action, Joker looks pretty fun.
But story-wise, players only get an animated intro explaining Joker’s world and Brainiac’s invasion, and a cutscene introducing him to Amanda Waller’s Task Force which is interesting, but based on players’ heated reactions to the new additions, this isn’t enough to satisfy Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League fans.
Player feedback on Steam And the game’s subreddit has been quick and largely angry. Players complain about having to grind new levels, the so-called Fear episode rank, and repeat a boss fight. As in the original game, players will have to defeat a version of Brainiac based on a pre-existing boss; Instead of fighting a version of Brainiac who mimics the Flash, this time they will face a Brainiac who uses Green Lantern’s boss mechanics. It’s more repetition in a game already notorious for its monotonous tasks.
Season 1 also offers a cosmetically modified version of Metropolis, a version that has been damaged with nice Joker graphics. But those new additions, new Incursions missions, cosmetics, and gear are simply not enough for players to get by. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League‘s offers.
“It is absolutely fair to say that this season was a make or break choice for this competition,” one player on the game’s subreddit complained. “I was hoping for some new missions or some additions to the story (but) instead it just added a new character that you choose or buy and nothing more, no story, no new missions, no new content, there is nothing else but new Riddler nonsense and some buildings with a new skin color. I really wanted this game to do well and I believed it was possible, but this was just disappointing and probably got me killed.”
“So Rocksteady wants us to keep repeating the same old missions, to get tired of them all over again, just for the privilege of experiencing the main reason people came back (the Joker), and to continue doing those same missions you just got back into. got tired of it,” said another. “Yes, no thanks.”
Part of this angry knee-jerk reaction seems to be that these are the players who have loved each other Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League most of them – or at least those who have been at it longer than the rest – and they want to see Rocksteady succeed with it. Those players want to see the other three promised playable characters come out and the game’s story grow. But the game’s lukewarm response and low player count spell doom Kill the Justice League as a long supported live service game. The release of Joker and Season 1’s content offering do not inspire confidence. (On Steam, at least, the game has seen an increase in player count, with thousands of simultaneous users playing the PC version compared to hundreds earlier this week.)
However, there’s more to come in Season 1. Rocksteady describes this week’s launch as part one of a two-episode season. There will be new weapons inspired by villains like Two-Face, Reverse Flash and Black Manta, as well as new enemy types, and another Brainiac battle, this one modeled after the Superman boss fight from the main game. Whether it will all be received more warmly Suicide squad fans remains to be seen. But there is little reason to be hopeful.