It is no secret that one of Sony’s newest IPs, Bend Studio’s Days Gone, had conflicted post-launch praise. Recent controversy and discourse from fans and developers stated that Sony was apparently disappointed with Days Gone’s sales figures, despite it having sold over eight million copies, rather than the fact that it received lower review scores. Days Gone may not be everyone’s favorite Sony IP, but it was a competent third-person action-adventure game nonetheless, and its sales did reflect that, even if Sony felt that it underperformed.
Many fans have shared their desire for a sequel to Days Gone, and while that may never happen, it will be intriguing to see what IP Bend Studio tackles next. It would be painfully unfortunate if gamers displeased with Days Gone were unwilling to play anything thereafter from Bend, especially since there is one property that Bend could potentially knock out of the park. Marvel games are continuously on the rise, with standalone characters taking the limelight such as Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man. Bend, however, would be the perfect studio to develop a standalone Ghost Rider game.
Bend’s Ghost Rider Could Make Use of Days Gone’s Motorcycle Traversal
Riding a motorcycle through a fictional, open-world Oregon was integral to the experience of Days Gone, even if its primary gameplay revolved around generic action-adventure combat. Managing how players would get from one area to another was its own sort of resource management strategy that players grappled with when it came to fast-travel or regular maneuvering through Oregon’s mountainous switchbacks.
The bike handled well and allowed players to evade large hordes, but it functioned realistically. The bike could not be summoned out of thin air, like Elden Ring’s spectral steed Torrent, and had to be refueled intermittently with sparse fuel canisters. Instead, a Ghost Rider game could distill the euphoric fun of Days Gone’s motorcycle traversal and omit its moment-to-moment meandering and resource management. Ghost Rider’s motorcycle would obviously not need the rigorous and manual maintenance that Deacon St. John’s bike needs.
Ghost Rider has now had multiple diverse aliases and identities, and has been represented dynamically throughout Marvel’s different iterations of the character. Because the character is so open to unique interpretations and only truly has its fiery skeleton iconography to fall back on reliably, Bend could ultimately take the character in any direction it wished. Bend’s competence with motorcycle mechanics would at least concretely determine that a Ghost Rider game would have fun traversal.
Ghost Rider’s fiery motorcycle should be able to tear through environments, leaving a blazing trail in its path. Depending on where it is set, players could ride the motorcycle along any building’s surface in an urban metropolis, or through more mountainous terrains in locales that Bend is more familiar with. Motorcycle traversal is to Ghost Rider as web-swinging is to Spider-Man, so it would be paramount that a developer like Bend got it right to sell the experience fully.
Like Days Gone, Bend’s Ghost Rider Could Take Influence from Other Games
Motorcycle traversal would and should be of the utmost importance, as it was in Days Gone. But a Ghost Rider game would also need fleshed out combat that felt authentically identifiable to the character. Motorcycle traversal was a unique staple that Days Gone implemented, but the remainder of open-world features and mechanics were too derivative of every other modern action-adventure game.
Deacon’s Survival Vision, for example, was an unexcused and poor attempt at recreating the Witcher Senses from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which is also a tired mechanic employed in almost all modern open-world, action-adventure games. Unfortunately, the combat in Days Gone felt watered down at times, particularly in desperate measures when melee knife swipes were depended upon. Ghost Rider’s combat would need to break this mold and be an emergent part of the developer’s repertoire, but it could take a page out of God of War’s late-game combat for some truly fascinating attacks.
God of War reintroduced Kratos’ Blades of Chaos, a pair of giant daggers on the ends of long chains, so they could be thrown and swung about. Ghost Rider is iconically known to wield a simple chain that is imbued with hellfire, similar to the motorcycle that they ride, and so the Blades of Chaos could make for a firm blueprint that Bend could look to. Such attacks could include chain whips that snag enemies and reel them in, AoE chain sweeps, and spewed fire breath from Ghost Rider’s skull.
Ghost Rider is not unfamiliar to games in general; Bend could also take a look at the character’s move-sets from Marvel vs. Capcom entries or Marvel Ultimate Alliance entries for more iconic animations, as well as for cosmetics and appearances that could be added. In order to one-up the combat and tie it to its unique traversal, these attacks could also be employed while on the motorcycle to create high-octane pursuits or chases that cinematically blend racing, platforming, and combat.
Marvel Games in the Hands of Other Developers is a Good Thing
As far as open-world Marvel superhero games go, Insomniac Games currently has a stalwart monopoly as it extends out to its standalone Wolverine game. However, because of the popularity that Insomniac’s Spider-Man games have had as PlayStation-exclusive titles, it was only a matter of time before Marvel branched out to other developers with specific characters in mind. This has already occurred with the announcement that Amy Hennig’s Skydance New Media is developing a Marvel game, though the character or characters it centers on are currently undetermined.
Further, Remedy Entertainment is rumored to be developing a Doctor Strange game. However, Remedy’s recent announcement of Max Payne remakes in collaboration with Rockstar Games may throw a wrench in this rumor.
It is possible that this game could still be developed by Remedy. If that's the case, it would likely be a few years before it is unearthed and heard about due to the announced Max Payne remakes and Remedy’s newly announced Alan Wake 2, which is set to transition the Alan Wake IP fully to the survival-horror genre. Of course, rumors of a Doctor Strange are not confirmed yet, and it could simply be the result of fan-casting a developer for the character’s own standalone title. Certain developers would be better equipped from a design standpoint to tackle certain characters.
Bend is currently at work on an unannounced IP, and while some fans wish it was a Days Gone sequel, it will be exciting to see what is next for the developer. Some gamers may be skeptical about Bend developing a AAA Marvel title, but Bend would be aptly equipped to handle Ghost Rider. Bend could draw from its fantastic motorcycle traversal and expand upon its combat design in order to achieve an experience worthy of the Spirits of Vengeance.