During the upcoming Disney and Marvel Games showcase, Skydance New Media will be showing off its upcoming Marvel game. Not much is known about what this title will be about, but it has been revealed that it will follow an ensemble of heroes. This could mean many things ranging from a game following a team like The Fantastic Four to a simple tale following some street-level heroes. It could take many forms and adapt many heroes, and hopefully, it is a lot of fun. However, this would not be the first Marvel ensemble game to release in the last couple of years.
The most notable of these ensemble games was the very controversial Marvel's Avengers. The game was supposed to bring forth Marvel's titular team and allow players to control all sorts of different Marvel heroes. While it did deliver on that concept, the game is heavily marred by live-service elements and repetitive gameplay that hurt the entire experience. It has also gone on to create a bit of worry amongst the Marvel fanbase when they hear about a new Marvel game that is not under the banner of Insomniac Games'. While there has not been much revealed about the upcoming Skydance title, it needs to tread lightly and not follow the example of Marvel's Avengers if it wants to become the next big thing.
Marvel's Avengers Was Not What Marvel Fans Wanted
Marvel's Avengers released in 2020 and was supposed to bring together the biggest Marvel heroes in a fun-filled action-adventure title. Even before release, the game received some criticism for the look of the characters and the pre-release gameplay footage. Some diehard fans feared that this game would not be on par with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even if that's not a valid criticism. Many also felt that the gameplay looked rough, and others believed that Kamala Khan was a weird choice for the main protagonist. Upon release, some of that proved to be true.
The story of Marvel's Avengers proved to be its strong suit. The game followed Kamala Khan as she came to terms with her newfound powers, and she had to reunite the Avengers after they fell apart due to the devastation in San Francisco. The story was filled with heart and the characters were great new takes on these Marvel heroes. The move sets of the characters and the powers at play also felt good, at least for the first couple of missions.
While the story of Marvel's Avengers was pretty good, the rest of the game was far from it. Players soon discovered that the mission structure was very repetitive and that there was a significant lack of content in the base game. Once players got through the story, they would have to spend hours grinding out the same exact missions to level up their characters and progress down hero-specific battle passes. The game put a heavy emphasis on live-service mechanics in a game that was very single-player focused with co-op elements, and that rubbed players the wrong way.
Since its release, Crystal Dynamics has released a couple of post-launch updates that have expanded the roster of heroes and added more grindable missions. Most of the hero additions also included new story elements that further expanded elements of the main story, but it has not been enough to really pull Marvel fans back. The gameplay still remains relatively the same, the missions still feel repetitive, and the game is still lacking for many players.
On top of all of that, the developer made some very controversial decisions that further harmed the reputation. After launch, Crystal Dynamics overhauled the leveling system and made the XP-grind a lot longer. Soon after, the studio introduced purchasable XP boosts as a new form of microtransaction after previously saying that it would only include purchasable cosmetics. This gave the title a more pay-to-win feeling, but it has since been removed due to the backlash from the remaining player base.
Marvel's Avengers saw a significant drop in players after release, and each post-launch update has not been enough to revive the dwindling numbers. While the game had immense potential with its roster of characters that was going to be expanded upon well into the future, many decisions made by the developer have prevented it from being great. Instead, many players have moved on and some have lost a bit of faith in Marvel games that do not come from Insomniac Games. So much so that the generally well-received Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was declared a financial disappointment by Square Enix (though it is well worth playing for any fans of the cosmic team).
Skydance's Ensemble Game Has a Lot to Prove
Not much is known about Skydance New Media's upcoming Marvel ensemble game, but it cannot follow the lead of Marvel's Avengers. Superhero fans want to play an intriguing superhero tale with some pretty fun gameplay, and Marvel's Avengers failed to deliver on some of that. Marvel's Avengers is proof that, generally speaking, fans do not want it to be filled with live-service elements and a dull grind, and they do not want microtransactions that make the game feel pay-to-win.
Some of the most popular superhero titles have a single-player focus, and Skydance New Media hopefully put an emphasis on that. The reactions to games like Marvel's Avengers and the conversation around the upcoming Gotham Knights show that superhero fans are far wearier of titles that seem to be pushing for co-op features with similar mission structures. While it can be a part of the title, the games need to give superhero fans an intriguing single-player story first with co-op coming second.
The gameplay also has to be pretty stellar and cannot feel like it did in Marvel's Avengers. Skydance needs to go for gameplay that is more reminiscent of Arkham Asylum or Marvel's Spider-Man than Crystal Dynamics' gameplay. The characters need to feel alive, and the missions should not be repetitive. Many fans do not want to constantly protect points while beating back hordes of enemies or fighting the same exact boss over and over again. While it may be too late to change the gameplay, Marvel fans can only hope that Skydance took the better route.
Right now, there is a bit of a worry from some Marvel fans when it comes to future ensemble games. This is partly due to the mechanics of Marvel's Avengers, and that has made it a bit of an uphill battle for Skydance's upcoming title. The studio needs to come out of the gates swinging, and the game needs to hit all the right beats. Whatever characters it follows or story it tells, it cannot repeat the pitfalls of Marvel's Avengers.
Marvel's Avengers is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.