Gamers eager for early impressions of Rocksteady’s upcoming superhero action-adventure, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, will need to wait a bit longer. Journalist Cade Onder confirmed via X (formerly Twitter) that review codes for the title will be distributed next week, coinciding with the game’s official launch and server activation.
This means no reviews will surface before the game’s release date, effectively eliminating the possibility of pre-launch critiques. Onder expressed his personal desire to delve into the game over the weekend but acknowledged the limitations imposed by the late code distribution. He anticipates offering a “review in progress” next week, acknowledging uncertainty about the game’s length and his own pace of play.
For those who don’t know this – which is a lot of people – review copies aren’t just for reviews. That is one of the major reasons journalistic sites get these copies, but it’s also very important to the player. While many players play games and like to figure the game out themselves, I’d argue that a huge number of players would rather use guides. While it sounds silly, that’s one of the biggest parts of our industry, and not having a review copy early means we can’t get guides out quickly for players.
We look for the difficult parts of games to cover, which makes it easy for the average player. The person who just came home from a long shift and just wants to relax is the one who looks up reviews. Not everyone has the time to spend thirty minutes on a puzzle or difficult boss section, so we need the review copies early to help them. Based on my time in this industry, it feels like the majority of players.
The decision to withhold review codes until launch is not uncommon within the gaming industry, but it is rarely a good thing. I was there when Ubisoft delayed review copies for Assassin’s Creed Unity so players wouldn’t find out about how broken it was at launch until it was too late. This kind of stuff does not work out for the player. Also, let’s not forget The Day Before only gave out review copies at launch. That went well.
Still, I know some sites will try to get reviews out quickly because they want to be discussed. Just be wary of any reviews released too soon after the game releases; I wouldn’t think they have the players’ best interests in mind.
