Marvel's Avengers game: Everything we know

In January 2017, Square Enix announced it was making a game based on The Avengers, via its Crystal Dynamics studio—developer of Tomb Raider. It’ll also feature work from Eidos Montreal, responsible for both recent Deus Ex games and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This week, it was revealed that the game is (probably) called Marvel’s Avengers, and that it’s being revealed properly at Square Enix’s E3 2019 show. 

This is the first part of what’s described as a “multi-year, multi-game partnership” between Square Enix and Marvel. Avengers won’t be the only Marvel game you’ll see from Square Enix, then. 

An E3 2019 Coliseum listing reveals that the game will offer both singleplayer and multiplayer. Read on for more about that, The Avengers game teaser trailer from 2017, and everything else we know about the game. 

Marvel’s Avengers game will have singleplayer and four-player co-op, according to this E3 listing

A perhaps premature listing for a Marvel’s Avengers panel at E3 Coliseum reveals more about the game than expected, assuming the information is all correct (it’s posted on the official E3 website, which strongly suggests it is). From this, we learn that the game will be both singleplayer and co-op, with up to four players teaming up, and that it’s considered ‘the defining Avengers game experience’. The description says this:

“Embrace your powers and join key members of the development team at Crystal Dynamics and the creative team at Marvel Games as they talk exclusively about the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers. This is the defining Avengers gaming experience: an epic action-adventure that combines cinematic storytelling with continuous single-player and co-operative gameplay. Moderated by Andrea Rene, assemble in teams up to four players, master extraordinary abilities, customize your heroes to fit your playstyle, and combine powers to defend an ever-expanding world under constant threat.”

The Avengers game will be revealed at E3 2019, and it has a title: Marvel’s Avengers

Square Enix has its own E3 conference again this year, on Monday June 10th at 6PM PT, and we now know that’s when Marvel’s Avengers game will be fully revealed. The game will also feature at the E3 Coliseum on the following day, according to Geoff Keighley. On the game’s official Twitter account, the name ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ was used, suggesting that’s probably the name of the game. 

With the reveal of the original teaser trailer in 2017, the description said “More details on The Avengers project and other games will be announced in 2018”. It’s been a long time coming. Start your speculation on what we’ll see: gameplay? Release date? A neat CG trailer for a game that’s years away?

Here’s The Avengers game’s teaser trailer from 2017

“They say the time of heroes is over,” says this moody, 51-second trailer. We’re then shown some iconic Avengers imagery: Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer and Captain America’s shield, as well as other items associated with Iron Man, Hulk and Black Widow. This trailer was shown all the way back in 2017. Obviously, we’ll see more at E3 2019.

Who’s developing Marvel’s Avengers game?

Crystal Dynamics, creators of Tomb Raider, with Eidos Montreal. 

The Avengers game will have an all-new, original story and won’t be tied to the MCU

Here’s how the story for Marvel’s Avengers was described back in January 2017, as part of the trailer description. “The Avengers project is being designed for gamers worldwide and will be packed with all the characters, environments, and iconic moments that have thrilled longtime fans of the franchise. Featuring a completely original story, it will introduce a universe gamers can play in for years to come.”

Marvel made a big song and dance of the talent involved with the development of The Avengers game back in 2018, and again reiterated the point about “a completely new and original story”. That’s when it was revealed that Shaun Escayg, who worked on Uncharted and The Last of Us games at Naughty Dog, will be the game’s creative director. In the same post, there was some hint towards what the game will actually be about. 

“We’re committed to delivering an incredible, completely original Avengers experience to our gamers, and that means we are always looking to add amazing developers to our existing best in class studio talent,” said Scot Amos, Crystal Dynamics’ co-head of studio at Crystal Dynamics, as part of Marvel’s news blast. “As development progresses, our studio continues to grow. The tremendous progress we’ve made on The Avengers project further drives us toward our goal of crafting something all Marvel fans will be proud of, and will play for years to come. We can’t wait to show you what we mean in the future.”

‘Play for years to come’. Could this be another living game, with online elements? It would make sense to have a multiplayer aspect to The Avengers game. 

What kind of game will Marvel’s Avengers be?

The E3 Coliseum listing tells us a lot on this front: it’s a continuously singleplayer and co-op ‘action-adventure’ game, with what sound like a few RPG elements. You can “master extraordinary abilities, customize your heroes to fit your playstyle, and combine powers”, after all, which all sound kind of RPG-ish. Mention is also made of an ‘ever-expanding world under constant threat’. Could this be another entry on the growing list of ‘living games’? We’ll have to wait and see.

Some further details can be garnered through Crystal Dynamics’ careers page. The listing for a Camera Designer role (assuming this is for Avengers and not something else, which isn’t made clear by the page) mentions that the right candidate will ensure “a smooth and seamless player experience through a rich and epic narrative experience. A successful Camera Designer will be able to collaborate with Artists and Designers to create tools and camera solutions to create a dynamic and living world.” ‘Living world’ is usually a term we associate with open world games.

The same listing asks for someone with 3-5 years of working on “3rd person action adventure titles.” That’s a pretty vague steer as far as genres go, but it suggests this’ll be a third-person action game, which we would’ve predicted anyway.

A Guardians of the Galaxy game is rumoured to be in the works at Eidos Montreal

Telltale’s Guardians game.

While Eidos Montreal is helping with The Avengers game, the developer behind Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the recent Deus Ex games is also reported to be working on a Guardians of the Galaxy game. Kotaku reported this in January 2017, when the Square Enix partnership with Marvel was announced, but no official announcement has been made about any games beyond Marvel’s Avengers yet.

When should we expect a Marvel’s Avengers release date?

It’s probably a while away, and is possibly even timed in to the arrival of the next generation of consoles, which are widely predicted to drop in 2020. It seems very unlikely the game will get a release date this year—but hey, maybe Square Enix will surprise us at E3. Stay tuned.  

source: gamezpot.com