A game called Guardians of the Galaxy came out in 2021. It was based on the Marvel comics characters, and no, they were not based on the story of the MCU movies. That being said, when the game came out, people mocked it, but it turned out to be an unexpected hit for the players.
Why were people skeptical about this game?
The initial reason was that this game was made, or at least published by Square Enix under Eidos Montreal. The reason people were mocking it was that Square Enix previously published Marvel’s Avengers, another game with the Marvel IP. Avengers sucked, and it got taken offline and cannot be bought digitally today.
Most people just thought that this game would be a failure as well. It didn’t help that the trailers and materials made the game look cringeworthy. That’s just the Guardians of the Galaxy formula, though, but people were convinced that the game would fail.
Why did the game come out so well?
There are a lot of reasons for that, but to summarize it up, the game was just fun from the get-go. That’s what you really want: for your game to be fun from the start. The cringeworthy moments were still there, but it was so bad it’s good territory. The game doesn’t look bad as well, and the music, well, it’s never an issue with these. It really focuses on being a single-player first, and it doesn’t have the unnecessary online requirements and features that you don’t need for games like this.
Gameplay mechanics
Gameplay is built around controlling Star-Lord in third-person combat while giving commands to your teammates. You don’t switch characters; instead, you coordinate attacks and abilities with the rest of the Guardians during battles. This was kind of an issue, but playing Star-Lord by his lonesome didn’t turn out to be so bad.
There’s also exploration, light puzzles, and decision-making sections. Choices you make during conversations can influence how certain scenes play out, though the overall story still follows a main path.
Good story content
The game focuses heavily on storytelling and character relationships. Instead of just fighting enemies, a big part of the experience is interacting with your team, arguing, bonding, and making decisions that affect how they respond to you.
It mixes humor, drama, and emotional moments, much like the films, but with its own interpretation of the characters. The narrative is one of the game’s strongest points, often feeling like an interactive movie where your choices shape dialogue and relationships. If you watched the MCU movies, then this game gives its characters a nice relationship, and it makes it fun.
Why was there no sequel
Square Enix did sell off Eidos Montreal after that, and it could also be because Square didn’t have the license to make Marvel games anymore (also currently). It’s a shame that neither Square Enix nor Eidos Montreal can make a sequel to this game or make any other game like it.
