Highlights

  • Marvel's Blade sets an example by sharing concept art that gives fans a glimpse into the game's atmosphere and narrative.
  • Other Marvel games like Iron Man and Black Panther would benefit from following suit and sharing concept art to provide more details and excitement.
  • While it may be too late for other Marvel games to release concept art in such a timely manner, it remains to be seen if Skydance and EA will reveal any before their Marvel games' official reveals.

As of right now, there are a ton of fascinating Marvel games to look forward to with DC needing to pick up the slack a bit. DC may have a bunch of games in development that haven’t been announced yet, and that could turn out to be a boon since the Marvel games that have been announced still might not be close to releasing anytime soon. It’s important to get these games’ announcements out in public so they can begin accumulating more development talent, but their announcements aren’t reveals and it could be a long while before any of them are officially revealed with gameplay.

Marvel’s Blade is in the same boat. Arkane announced the mature, third-person action game at The Game Awards 2023 with an actual teaser, though, which is already much more than what most previously announced Marvel games have shared. Skydance had a brief teaser for its four-protagonist WW2 game—even if it still hasn’t announced an actual title for the game—while EA Motive and EA Cliffhanger have only shared obscure key art images. Marvel’s Blade recently gave its best look at the game yet with a few pieces of concept art and it would be great to see these other Marvel games do the same.

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All Announced Yet Unrevealed Marvel Games Should Share Concept Art Like Marvel’s Blade

Marvel’s Blade’s Concept Art Helps Inform What the Game Will Be Like

Marvel’s Blade’s announcement teaser actually gave an insightful look at what the atmosphere and narrative will be like and in a succinct manner—Paris is overrun by vampires in a futuristic dystopia where civilians still go about their lives during the day but hole up during a nightly curfew. Blade was also given a quick montage to showcase his iconic sunglasses as well as the weapons he’ll be armed with.

If this was all Arkane put out for the game that would’ve been more than enough to satiate an idea of what the game will be like, but Arkane did everybody one better by putting out concept art for Marvel’s Blade shortly after. These concepts show Blade stalking Paris and give fans a glimpse at what the city looks like beneath a seemingly authoritarian security regime while vampires are rampant, though nightclubs still appear to be frequented, perhaps by vampires themselves.

Skydance, EA, and Others Should All Follow Suit

There is a lot to ascertain from these concepts between how massive the city’s scale seems to what the garlic-headed character could allude to as seen in the city’s graffiti, and it would be excellent if EA Motive’s Iron Man game, EA Cliffhanger’s Black Panther game, and Skydance’s WW2 Marvel game got the same treatment. The latter would seem like the furthest along in development of the three due to it having shared a teaser, but it’s anyone’s guess when any of them will launch, let alone share more details.

Concept art for Skydance’s WW2 game could give closer looks at any of its four protagonists or even its Paris and Wakanda settings, but the standalone Iron Man and Black Panther could benefit even further from concept art since virtually nothing is known about either of them at the moment. It’s unlikely that concept art would precede cinematic teasers, yet it would be terrific to have something else about the game to mull over other than shadowy key art in the near future.

Marvel’s Blade has set an interesting precedent and while it’s too late for other Marvel games to turn in concept art in as timely of a manner, only time will tell if any concept art gets shown at all before actual reveals for Skydance and EA’s Marvel endeavors.

blade xbox
Marvel's Blade

Marvel's Blade is in development at Arkane Lyon, which developed Deathloop and Dishonored. It is a mature single-player third-person adventure game set in Paris, where players take on the role of the titular and beloved comic book hero.

Franchise
Marvel
Developer(s)
Arkane Studios
Publisher(s)
Bethesda Softworks