Rocksteady reveals Suicide Squad game — and you'll see it this month

Rocksteady, the studio behind the lauded Batman: Arkham games, now has a Suicide Squad follow-up in official development. We know that thanks to a tweet from the company — but that’s about all we know. A Rocksteady Suicide Squad game has been the subject of rumor for a long time, and while Rocksteady has finally confirmed the news, we’ll have to wait a while before we learn anything else about it.

Information comes from Rocksteady’s official Twitter feed. A terse tweet reads: “Target locked - #DCFanDome – August 22. #suicidesquadgame.” Below that is a picture of Superman in a red-and-purple glow with a target on his head that reads “Suicide Squad.”

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For those who aren’t up on their DC Comics lore, there are a few things to unpack here. First off, the Suicide Squad is a team of DC Comics super villains with a rotating cast. While the group has been around since the ‘50s and has included a veritable who’s who of villains, popular members in recent teams include Harley Quinn, El Diablo, Deadshot and Captain Boomerang. Generally speaking, the Suicide Squad bands together not to commit crimes, but to run shady missions for government organizations that superheroes would never accept.

(There was also a profoundly disappointing Suicide Squad movie in 2016. The less said about it here, the better.)

The tweet itself doesn’t give us much to work with, although it’s not really meant to. Instead, it conveys that we’ll learn more information about the game on August 22 at the DCFanDome online event. (To access DC FanDome, simply log into the official DC FanDome website anytime on August 22; the event will run for a full 24 hours.) We can also infer that the game’s general premise will involve the Suicide Squad hunting down Superman in some capacity, although whether that’s the whole story, one particular mission or even just a red herring for the teaser post is anyone’s guess.

We also don’t know what kind of game Suicide Squad will be, although we can take a few guesses from Rocksteady’s previous DC titles. Chances are good that you’ll take control of a super villain and fight off enemies with stylish, counterattack-based melee combat. Exploring big (possibly open-world) environments to unearth secrets and upgrades would also be familiar territory.

On the other hand, it's possible that Rocksteady could go in a different direction, especially since Suicide Squad is a team rather than a lone hero, like Batman. Some kind of multiplayer component is possible, or perhaps mission-based gameplay to reflect the Suicide Squad's mercenary nature. The later Batman: Arkham Games experimented with switching among different characters, depending on the mission — we've actually already played as Harley Quinn — and it seems impossible that a Suicide Squad game would cast players as only a single character.

We'll know more on August 22. If you want to get your Suicide Squad fix in the meantime, I'd recommend picking up the comics and steering clear of the film.