Rocksteady Studios has a new title releasing next month that is set to follow up on their massive franchise success of the Arkham series. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is the studio’s first major step away from a Batman-centric game, despite many people believing their next title would evolve around another DC hero and not the goofy Suicide Squad. From the initial reveal of the title all the way to today, its safe to say that anticipation has slowly but surely been squandered as more and more information is released about the title. First we learn that it takes place in the Arkham universe, then we learn that the gameplay will be heavily associated with the likes of Square Enix’s Avengers title, and now with their recent press event, Rocksteady has left a grander sour taste in fans who already had their expectations on the floor. 

It seems the preview event had a lot of big outlets to try and see Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League for the first time. One of the main talking points was how the storytelling of the game is incredible in true Rocksteady fashion, but the live service elements do a lot to tear down any good that the storytelling does. Another major complaint was the combat and its lack of entertainment and flow with IGN’s Destin Legarie saying the following:

Unfortunately for Suicide Squad, once the fun story bits end, you’re left with a much less inspired combat system, and an open world that’s filled with tedious tasks. Destin Legarie IGN

Despite the negativity surrounding the game, people who got their hands on could clearly tell that RockSteady was attempting to push the genre forward, but what genre exactly. Many claim that RockSteady was actually too ambitious as their game seems to have elements of multiple genres not really knowing which one to stick to. GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw said the following. 

I came away unsure if its mix of live-game content, loot-shooter RPG systems, and shooter combat could capture lightning in a bottle the way the Arkham games did. It’s clear what Rocksteady is attempting is ambitious and there are things about it that work well, but a snapshot look at the game wasn’t enough to get the hang of its systems or see whether it can eventually balance all of the elements – Phil Hornshaw GameSpot

Another notable part of gameplay that raised even more red flags for fans was the flooded UI shown in game. Many were comparing it to that meme that was going around last year after Western game developers complained about the lack of UI in Elden Ring. Multiple health and shield bars, objectives highlighted in the corners of the screen, guns and ammo count in the bottom left, special moves at the bottom of the screen, mini-map in the bottom right, a squad counter in the middle right, a combo counter on the middle left. It almost seems as if RockSteady went out of their way to flood the players screen and all that was mentioned is not even bringing up the neon parade filling your screen during combat. 

Suicide Squad’s UI… my eyes. pic.twitter.com/gI01Z5ey01

— Yong Yea (@YongYea) January 9, 2024

All of this has led many people online to declare that the game might actually be DOA (dead on arrival) which is something that seems impossible with the juggernaut of a studio that is RockSteady. Despite this there does seem to be faint signs of excitement from fans and they will be able to make up their own decisions when Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League releases on February 2nd.