They say that “all good things must come to an end,” but would you say that phrase for “bad things” as well? After all, if a piece of content was so divisive, so agonizing in certain respects that people, such as gamers, wanted it to “go away” with quickness, wouldn’t that be a mercy that it’s gone? That might be the mindset of those who have been following the saga of Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League. This was a title that seemed to be set up for greatness and to follow in the legendary path of certain titles with Batman. Instead, it became a warning to the gaming industry about what happens when you force things into the live-service arena without realizing what you’re actually doing.
Harsh? Not really. That’s honestly what happened. Rocksteady Games made an incredible duo of Batman-focused titles but then waned a bit with the third entry. Fans were forgiving, though, and so when the title with the Suicide Squad was announced, many had hope for a big bounce back. Then, it was announced it would not be a single-player narrative-driven title but a live-service game. After that, the title went through several delays, and when gameplay was shown, people weren’t thrilled. So when it FINALLY released in early 2024, the results were mixed at best. Reviewers noted the game wasn’t anything meaningful, and the game had to be patched up immediately due to game-breaking bugs.
It was so bad that the game was actually free to play on Amazon Prime in record time. Adding to the woes was that Rocksteady didn’t finish the story in the main campaign, which forced those who had stayed with the game to buy the season pass to get the “Elseworlds” content so that they could finish things.
That brings us to today, where Rocksteady unveiled the final episode, Balance, and all that was within it. There are no new characters, but there is an expanded map, new weapons, bug fixes, and so on.
For some, this will be a “nice little capper” on what the game was. However, for many more, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League will be a symbol of how to take a beloved property and muck it up. Warner Bros Discovery learned that lesson the hard way when it revealed that the game cost them $200 million in profits, which would lead to layoffs at Rocksteady.
The squad deserves a better game than this one, and hopefully, this isn’t the last time we see them in the gaming space.
