Superhero games are on the rise. Marvel games including Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and Marvel's Wolverine are all in development, and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy just won Best Narrative at the Game Awards 2021. While it would seem that Marvel is dominating this style of game, DC also has some projects underway, including a new Wonder Woman game. Although there's not much known about Wonder Woman, which is being developed by Monolith Productions, Wonder Woman herself seems like the perfect protagonist for a new DC superhero game. She's a central figure in the DC mythos who'll provide more than enough source material for her own game.

Since Wonder Woman only just got announced, fans probably won't see any new trailers for the game in the near future. For now, the best way to imagine Wonder Woman is probably to consider Monolith Productions itself. Not to be confused with Xenosaga and Xenoblade developer Monolith Soft, Monolith Productions has made a name for itself through its recent adaptations of lore from The Lord of the Rings. It's been a while since Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel released, but those games still attest to the kind of work that Monolith Productions might be capable of with Wonder Woman.

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The History of Monolith Productions

Shadow of Mordor

Monolith isn't a particularly fast developer, often going multiple years between game releases, but it is a long-lived one. It got its start in the late 1990s, premiering with the well-received FPS Blood for PC and MS-DOS. It continued developing a variety of PC titles into the 2000s, earning some acclaim for The Operative: No One Lives Forever, a stealth FPS with a 1960s aesthetic. Later in the 2000s, Monolith was also partially responsible for the creation of The Matrix Online, an MMORPG that canonically continued the story of the influential Matrix films. While these various projects earned the studio some attention, nothing would put Monolith in the spotlight in the same way as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.

In Shadow of Mordor and its sequel Middle-earth: Shadow of War, players control the ranger Talion and his ghostly possessor Celebrimbor, deceived creator of the Rings of Power, on their mutual quest for vengeance. Shadow of Mordor won a long list of awards, including Best Action/Adventure at the Game Awards 2014, with praise largely directed at its use of Lord of the Rings lore, diverse and gripping combat, and the Nemesis system. The Nemesis system promoted NPC enemies who performed well against the player into stronger units that the player could track and hunt down for increased rewards. These engaging mechanics and worldbuilding were hailed as a major innovation and inspired many other developers.

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The Next Chapter of Monolith

wonder woman

Monolith Productions hasn't released anything new since Middle-earth: Shadow of War in 2017, so the Wonder Woman announcement is a big deal. Finally, fans have an idea of what the studio is working on. Although the details of Wonder Woman are still a mystery, it is reportedly an open world action-adventure game, and it'll integrate the Nemesis system, which Monolith Productions' parent company Warner Bros. Interactive patented in early 2021. Comments from Monolith Productions suggest that Wonder Woman is meant to be focused on player-created experiences, similar to how Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War created stories based on player actions using the Nemesis system.

Considering Monolith Productions' recent claim to fame, odds are good that Wonder Woman will serve as a spiritual successor to its Middle-earth games, adjusting many of its features for the DC universe and Diana of Themyscira's unique abilities while still reflecting on Monolith's past successes. The Nemesis system and the Middle-earth titles are more than just Monolith's achievements now, as they're a crucial part of the studio's identity. Those games could shape Monolith's work for years to come.

Wonder Woman is in development.

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