Threads
- The comic book games genre hasn’t seen much innovation in recent years.
- Most studios are now taking a more safe approach rather than being innovative due to high budgets.
- Being creative and thinking out of the box can bring the genre back again.
Reading comic books and playing video games were two of my favorite things growing up. I’m sure many people can relate to me, so games based on comics are some of my absolute favorites to this day.
Games based on comic books are still receiving plenty of attention. However, they certainly have seen better days, leading to a sense of superhero fatigue.
Why it matters: The genre has stagnated and settled because video game budgets have risen to astronomical levels. Therefore, developers play it safe, with creativity and innovation suffering at the end of the day.
Recent Disappointments
You don’t need to look very far to spot the many failures of this genre in recent years.
Starting with Marvel’s Avengers, the push for live-service gaming has spread like wildfire across comic book games. Unfortunately, Rocksteady Studios is also plagued by the same problem, leading to the failure we know as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Elsewhere, projects like Gotham Knights have not been too impressive either, while good games like Guardians of The Galaxy and Marvel’s Midnight Suns have flown under the radar for most people.
Studios Play it Safe Due to Massive Budgets
While innovation and thinking outside the box are the keys to a great comic book game, innovation has been lacking for a while. The best example of this is Spider-Man 2.
Although there was nothing wrong with Spider-Man’s latest outing, it had the potential to do a lot more. The developers mostly stuck to the original game’s formula and gameplay while creating a new story.
Spider-Man 2 reportedly had a ridiculously high $300 million budget, so Insomniac wanted to create a familiar experience that worked the first time. But, for me, games get boring when the same formula shows up repeatedly.
I want to mention Spider-Man: Web of Shadows here. It was innovative with its combat and traversal, had memorable characters like Wolverine showing up, and was highly creative overall.
The game was basically Devil May Cry meets Spider-Man, showing Spidey’s destructive powers at their best. Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions also deserves an honorable mention since it offered a Spiderverse-like concept.
Then there were the Batman Arkham games, kicking off with Arkham Asylum. Batman Arkham Asylum was brilliant and did something nobody had seen before with Batman. The sequels were equally great since they expanded on Arkham Asylum’s foundations.
I’d also like to mention X-Men, TMNT, and more classics. Even the first Injustice game was an excellent example of a creative title with many things going on. Studios and developers need to try more experimental projects like these.
Breaking Free of The Mold
I, for one, think that creativity can be easily brought back if studios break free of the mold of playing it safe. Huge budgets and the latest technology aren’t necessary for a great game; great ideas are, and the industry has enough talent.
Just a great story can make a ton of difference. Telltale’s Walking Dead games perfectly show how this can be done. Their deep, branching, and emotional narrative keeps the audience engaged.
Then, you can explore different genres and mix and match them. Sucker Punch’s Infamous franchise and Activision’s Prototype series depict a great take on anti-hero games that allow players to unleash their full force of destruction.
Comic books are so diverse that it’s a shame they’ve been limited to very specific types of games. Fortunately, there seems to be more hope for the future.
Multiple comic book superhero games are in development as we speak. These include Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Black Panther, and Blade. Because of the various abilities of each character and the studios leading these projects, each game has just as much promise as the other.
Iron Man could fulfill our dream of an expansive open world to fly through at breakneck speeds, while Wonder Woman will basically end up being the Shadow of Mordor sequel we never got.
Meanwhile, Arkane’s classic approach to Blade could do wonders for the IP. I think the future of comic book games looks much better than its past, and I can’t wait to see where things go from here.
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News Reporter
Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.
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