Highlights
- Marvel is expanding deeper into the world of video games, with Marvel's Spider-Man 2 leading the charge and major publishers like EA getting involved. EA's Black Panther project is particularly exciting.
- The studio behind Marvel's Black Panther, Cliffhanger Games, has the potential to create an impressive open-world environment similar to the one seen in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, allowing players to explore and uncover the mysteries of Wakanda.
- Instead of one big world, a number of smaller zones like those from the Jedi: Survivor planet Koboh would be ideal.
With it already having dominated the silver screen for most of the 2010s, Marvel is now turning its attention to video games with a killer lineup of titles on the horizon. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is leading the charge, but most major publishers want a piece of the pie, with EA jumping in with Marvel's Iron Man and the recent confirmation of Marvel's Black Panther. A comic book fan favorite, and now a household name thanks to the MCU film starring the late Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther is the perfect candidate for a standalone game.
Insomniac's efforts with the webhead have raised the bar extremely high for future Marvel based video games, but the talent behind Marvel's Black Panther is already extremely promising, with Cliffhanger Games being led by Kevin Stephens (who previously worked on MIddle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor). There's a lot of work to be done, but the studio could look to a fellow EA release as inspiration for how to handle the open world environment T'Challa will be exploring.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's Open-Ended Environments
Jedi Survivor expanded upon the successful foundation in 2019's Fallen Order in almost every conceivable way. One aspect of the game to receive a great deal of tender love and care were the environments. Fallen Order had fairly expansive levels in its own right, encouraging exploration to see every nook and cranny within grand interconnected environments. Survivor dwarfs this by comparison however, with the sheer scale of planets like Koboh and Jedha alone being larger than most of the locations in Fallen Order combined.
Players revisit these locations multiple times throughout the adventure, with previously locked or unreachable areas now accessible thanks to a new Force power or piece of gear. This keeps a good flow to the game, challenging players to put what they learn to the test to see all that these wondrous worlds in the Star Wars galaxy have to offer. It also helps the locations themselves come alive, as they feel like real places with tons of mysteries, people, and secrets to discover.
Black Panther's Powers and Wakanda's Scale
Cliffhanger Games have already confirmed that Marvel's Black Panther will take place in an open world environment. Seeing how well this served characters like Spider-Man and Batman, its understandable that the studio would want to capture that same magic. However, Black Panther doesn't have the same abilities or technology as the aforementioned characters, with him quickly traveling across an environment having never been a defining trait.
For this reason, instead of one vast open world environment, leaning more toward a large, interconnected world with open areas similar to Jedi Survivor may be a safer bet for Black Panther. His acrobatic abilities and prowess for stealth would be a thrill to play with in a jungle environment. Leaping between tree branches, using vines as swings and carefully hiding in the bushes to attack unsuspecting foes would perfectly capture the essence of the character. His skill set is unique, and the game should be crafted around this to make exploring the locations that much more rewarding.
Furthermore, Wakanda isn't like Gotham or New York City, and can be used in a much more creative way. New York and Gotham are both urban environments, with skyscrapers and other buildings placed throughout. These are great for open world sandbox environments, but Wakanda shouldn't be copied in the same fashion when so many other opportunities are available. Wakanda can and should include the city section, yes, but just like Koboh from Jedi Survivor, it can include varied ecosystems as well. A thick jungle, a swamp area, underground tunnels, and more areas that require different navigation tactics can help keep things interesting and different for the player.
Marvel's Black Panther is currently in development.