The Matrix was quite a successful franchise, with three movies, three video games, animation in the form of The Animatrix, and a series of comics and short stories by the name of The Matrix Comics. The series is now set to come back with a fourth movie, whose title remains unknown as of yet. Internet star and actor Keanu Reeves will reprise his role as Neo, opposite Carrie-Ann Moss, who is going to play Trinity once more.
Considering the fourth movie of the saga is very real and likely to release sooner than expected, it is time for a new Matrix video game. The previous installments all fell short of the popularity of the movies, with Enter The Matrix being the first and most successful, selling for over $162 million.
What The New Matrix Game Should Do
The Matrix video games, as mentioned above, were not quite as successful as the movies were. Part of the reason may be that none of them actually followed the events of the movies, with Enter The Matrix being a way to fill potential plot holes of Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix: Path of Neo being Neo's journey that includes scenes from the movies and changes to the plot, and finally The Matrix Online doing its own thing.
The latter was an MMORPG set in the Matrix universe, soon after the events of the third and last movie - albeit, at the time. This game had many issues, but at the same time, it did a lot of things right. Namely, The Matrix Online continued the story of the surviving characters after Neo's demise, saving Zion, the Machines, and the Matrix from annihilation. The game did so by letting players take control of redpills, people who took Morpheus' red pill, and letting them choose their faction between the Merovingian, Zionites, and the Machines, each with their own motivations, objectives, and tenets.
This choice let players explore the world from different perspectives, while also developing each faction's story further and beyond the movies. The story is complex, and it follows the assassination of Morpheus, Niobe seeking revenge for it, the rebellion of werewolves and vampires against the Merovingian, and the red-eyed Agents under the control of the General, the Sentinel that fought the war against Zion. The game sees new sub-factions emerging (such as E Pluribus Neo, with the goal of freeing all the bluepills from the Matrix, or the Cypherites, trying to be plugged once more into the virtual world), as well as the truce between Zionites and Machines.
The new Matrix game could draw inspiration from these events, or maybe mix elements from The Matrix Online and from the plot of the fourth Matrix movie. What the game would need to remain relevant, though, is being a bold game that dares to explore the universe of Matrix more than it does try to replicate the movies. People have moved on, and so did consoles and the gaming industry as a whole, so it may be time to try and deliver an innovative, yet familiar product.
What A New Matrix Game Should Avoid
A new Matrix game should avoid at all costs doing filling the same role that Enter The Matrix did, however loved or hated the game was. This means that a new game should not be tied with the new Matrix movie or set of movies in a way that makes it play the role of strengthening the plot of the corresponding movie in ways that don't make a lot of sense, too.
There is plenty of room to improve from the three previous games, and a new Matrix game should try to salvage what was good about them while also adapting to the current market and online community. Mainly, the new game should make an effort to have fully fleshed out gameplay, story, and characters, as these elements were often alternatively lacking in the other installments. A good starting point would be to fully take advantage of the next-gen consoles and their features, in order to have a seamless game that doesn't suffer from outdated graphics or in-game mechanics.
No new Matrix game is known to be in development.