The fact there’s a new Guardians of the Galaxy game from Eidos Montreal may not come as too much of a surprise. Its existence, as the second game in Square Enix’s big Marvel deal following Avengers, has been an open secret for some time.
But what you may not have expected, and what I will be a welcome surprise to those who bounced off of Avengers’ controversial live game concept, is how this Guardians game will actually play.
Guardians of the Galaxy will launch on 26th October for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S as a single-player, story-driven third person action-adventure. After launch, developer Eidos Montreal has promised, it will not have DLC or any microtransactions. Huh!
Throughout a half hour presentation on the game made available by Square Enix last week, I kept waiting for the ‘but’. As of yet, I’m still to hear one. Marvel’s Avengers wasn’t mentioned once, but every decision here feels like a learning from the response to that game’s online live service loot grind and its delayed post-launch updates. It also feels an acknowledgement that, actually, Avengers’ Kamala Khan-led story campaign was well-liked, and that Square Enix’s teams are best doing what they’re good at.