Injustice 2

Gameplay

Injustice 2 retains numerous gameplay mechanics from Injustice: Gods Among Us, including environment interaction, stage transitions, clashes, and character traits. The trait system, like before, provides a temporary buff or ability that compliments each character's playstyle. The super meter, which allows players to execute enhanced special moves and unlock powerful "super moves" when fully charged, also returns. Players can expend meter to perform new techniques, such as an evasive forward roll, which provides a way to overcome enemy keep-away tactics, or an air recovery, which lets characters escape an opponent's combo early. Most environmental attacks, which were completely unavoidable in the first Injustice game, can now be blocked; however, certain environmental attacks with large amounts of startup, such as throwing a car, will remain unblockable.

Injustice 2 introduces a loot-dropping system, known as the "Gear System", which offers character-specific costume pieces and equipment with status-altering effects. The Gear System uses RPG-like mechanics to reward players with experience and loot after every match. Every playable fighter is given four base stats: strength, defense, health, and ability, the latter of which impacts special attacks. As players collect experience points and subsequently level up, their characters' base stats will increase. Players can enhance their characters' base stats even further by equipping gear obtained through loot drops, which also lets players customize the look of their characters. Rarer gear can include one or more bonus augments, which range from new visual effects for special moves to higher yields of in-game currency or experience points. Gear comes in three varieties: equipment, shaders, and abilities. In addition to the random loot earned at the end of a fight, all three types of gear are available to purchase in loot crates, known as "Mother Boxes", using in-game currency. Each character has five equipment slots for donning new costume pieces, which include their head, torso, arms, legs, and an accessory; two ability slots for equipping new or modified special attacks; and one shader slot for altering their color scheme. The game will also include five separate gear loadouts for each character, allowing players to switch between their setups at the beginning of each match.

In addition to the campaign, online, and arcade modes, Injustice 2 also introduces a new "Multiverse" mode. Similar to the "Living Towers" mode from NetherRealm's previous title, Mortal Kombat X, the Multiverse allows players to travel through series of parallel worlds within the DC Universe and battle against opponents with various handicaps, stipulations, and goals. Online multiplayer will feature the option to disable Gear System upgrades and modifications, reducing all base stats to their default levels, turning any equipped gear into purely cosmetic items, and providing more balanced gameplay for competitive matches. The online infrastructure will utilize the same rollback-based netcode used in Mortal Kombat X.

Synopsis

Injustice 2 continues the storyline established in Injustice: Gods Among Us. Unlike the previous game, which centered on a multi-universe conflict, the plot for Injustice 2 takes place entirely within the alternate, dystopian universe. According to Cinematic Director Dominic Cianciolo, the story from the first installment provided a solid foundation for adapting the canonical histories of the game's newer cast, allowing the writers to fit their stories within the Injustice universe. The biggest challenge presented to the writers was extending the series' narrative without repeating the core Batman versus Superman conflict. This led to the inclusion of Brainiac as the game's central antagonist, as there were few characters in the DC Universe that could top "Dictator Superman" as a foe for Batman.

Plot

Five years after the defeat of the High Councilor, Batman and his insurgency attempt to piece society back together while struggling against the remnants of Superman's regime who seek to restore his rule. Meanwhile, a shady new group, known as "The Society", emerges and makes plans for world domination, eliminating any heroes that stand in their way. With several of his allies either victims of, or collaborators with, Superman's failed regime, Batman is forced to form a new team of superheroes to combat The Society. The situation is complicated further with the arrival of Brainiac, who puts Earth's entire existence at risk.

Characters

The playable roster for Injustice 2 will include both new and returning heroes and villains. The game will also feature nine additional characters available as downloadable content. According to Senior Marketing Game Manager Brian Goodman, the playable characters were decided upon by NetherRealm Studios in collaboration with DC Comics, similar to the previous title. Factors which influenced the selection process included the characters' lore, personalities, fighting styles, popularity, and how well they would service the story. Injustice 2 will have the largest cast of any NetherRealm title thus far, both in terms of on-disc and DLC characters. Creative Director Ed Boon stated that Injustice 2's roster will contain more relatively obscure characters, since Injustice: Gods Among Us had covered most of DC Comics' most notable figures. He teased the possibility of third-party DLC characters, which were well-received in Mortal Kombat X. Due to the success of Scorpion in the previous installment, who was its most downloaded DLC fighter, Boon also entertained the likelihood of NetherRealm including another Mortal Kombat character as downloadable content.

New playable characters are listed in bold.

Additionally, several characters are playable via "premier skins", which transform existing characters into other DC Comics characters with unique voices and dialogue.

^a : Available as downloadable content.
^b : Exclusive to the iOS and Android mobile app.

Development

Injustice 2 was announced by NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on June 8, 2016. Following the release of Injustice: Gods Among Us, NetherRealm Studios sought to do "something unexpected and long-term" for its sequel, as well as give players "a level of control that makes playing [their] games a truly personal experience." Ed Boon also wanted to infuse various gameplay mechanics used by recent multiplayer shooter games, such as personalization, character creation, loot, and leveling up, into the fighting game genre. According to Producer Adam Urbano, the idea of creating a fighting game utilizing a role playing game-like progression system had been floating around the studio since before the fall of Midway Games, the original publisher for the Mortal Kombat series. Due to the success of the original Injustice, which earned NetherRealm Studios the trust of Warner Bros. and DC Comics, the development team decided to pitch their progression concept for the sequel, which was approved, leading to the implementation of the Gear System.

As with Injustice: Gods Among Us, NetherRealm Studios was afforded a lot of freedom with DC Comics' properties when designing characters for Injustice 2. Lead Designer John Edwards stated that all of their design ideas had to pass through DC Comics' approval process; though, the company had rarely rejected them. This allowed the developers to create a large variety of costume variations and visually distinct items inspired by decades of source material. “It's a mutual respect,” explained Art Director Steve Beran. “They respect what we do, and we respect all their characters. We are fans of their characters and, I think, art-wise and design-wise, we put a lot of detail that hardcore fans will like. We tried to really honor every character.”

An online multiplayer beta test for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions was announced on January 19, 2017, which began soon afterwards on January 24 and lasted until February 21.

Release

Injustice 2 is scheduled for release on May 16, 2017, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Like its predecessor, a free-to-play mobile app based on Injustice 2 will be released for iOS and Android devices alongside its home console counterparts. Aside from the standard edition of the game, a Digital Deluxe Edition and an Ultimate Edition will be available for purchase. The Digital Deluxe Edition will include three DLC characters, the Power Girl premier skin, and one exclusive gear shader pack; the Ultimate Edition will include nine DLC characters, the Reverse-Flash, John Stewart, and Power Girl premier skins, and two exclusive gear shader packs. Pre-orders of the game will feature Darkseid as a playable DLC fighter.

Related media

During NetherRealm Studios' Injustice 2 panel at San Diego Comic-Con International on July 22, 2016, Boon announced a digital comic book series which will detail the backstory to the events of the game. The series will be written by Tom Taylor, who had previously worked on the tie-in comic books for Injustice: Gods Among Us. Bruno Redondo will be its lead artist, with contributing artwork from Juan Albarran, Daniel Sempere, and Mike Miller. Beginning on April 11, 2017, the series will be released in weekly chapters through various digital retailers, including ComiXology, Google Play Books, the Kindle Store, and DC Comics' own mobile app. Print versions will become available for purchase on May 3, 2017, each containing multiple digital chapters.