Out now and available for anyone to download is a Superman-esque flight demo created by developer Tyson Butler-Boschma. This prototype uses the framework of the city sample demo from Epic Games’ TheMatrix Awakens on Unreal Engine 5, but “replaces the character with a flying superhero variant.” The city’s fidelity is remarkable on Unreal Engine 5, and Superman’s interactive flight throughout the city comparably emulates what a real open-world Superman game could look like on modern hardware.
In A Superman Style Flight Experience (UE5), as it has been dubbed, the player has control of the character in free-roam. Of course, the demo is not officially licensed, has no actual connection to Superman or DC, and is completely free for players to download. It has, however, ignited conversation about what a AAA open-world Superman title could look like today, and why one has not been executed to the standards fans believe is possible. However, there are unforeseen challenges to a standalone Superman game that would make adapting the character to an open-world difficult.
Superman’s Invincibility Raises Impossible Combat Expectations
The Unreal Engine 5 Superman sample demonstrates that supersonic flight can be achieved and stunningly realized with contemporary graphics. That is not where contention is held when it comes to the potential of a Superman game. Instead, meaningful and satisfying combat would be its chiefest gameplay hurdle for a couple of reasons.
Superman’s combat mechanics are relatively straightforward and could be adapted well with other open-world games as blueprints. For example, combat in a Superman game could allow players to target and decommission weapons using heat vision, as well as fire heat lasers from Kal’s eyes. Superman’s x-ray vision could let players see enemies and things to interact with through structures, à la Batman: Arkham Asylum’s Detective Mode.
Enemies that players fight are where the true challenges come in, and at what rate they are being fought. Particular enemies could either wield or be imbued with green kryptonite, though this is perhaps the most lazy way to implement a vulnerability and rationalize combat. Superman’s weakness to green kryptonite commonly nauseates or incapacitates him for the duration of exposure, so he would not feasibly be able to continue fighting in this state. However, green kryptonite could still be used as a sort of poison status ailment.
Even without a yellow sun fueling his abilities, Superman should always be considered more biologically advanced than a regular human, despite the common stigma fans put upon the character when he is weakened by green kryptonite. Because Kal is a Kryptonian and lacks human DNA, there is no evidence supporting that he should be as vulnerable as an average human, whether he is weakened or unable to access his abilities. If players were to receive control of Superman, only to have him take damage or die from a random thug’s bullet, it could feel grossly underwhelming.
Rather, it is argued that Superman could simply be made vulnerable for the sake of regular combat. But it may be easily forgotten that Spider-Man and Batman are not invincible, and thus their combat systems make sense because either character could reasonably perish in any situation where firearms are involved, let alone a city-wide disaster against a super-powered villain that puts others in danger as well. The immersion of playing a character as powerful as Superman would need to be represented authentically, otherwise it would not be reflective of the character’s omnipotence.
Superman Alone May Not Hold Up a Lengthy Narrative
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In Insomniac Games' Spider-Man or Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Knight, two of the most popular open-world superhero games, there is a lot for players to do. Crime-fighting is undoubtedly a significant part of each, but another massive feature is the intermittent side activities scattered throughout the open-world.
If a Superman title’s main draw is traversal and flight, it would need to have the same animation flair that Marvel’s Spider-Man has when Spider-Man launches himself through the beams of water towers, and other such environmental obstacles. Even then, if there are no fun activities the player can indulge in at a moment’s notice during traversal, Superman’s flight could become stale quickly.
Superman’s pay-grade is arguably well above petty street crime. However, it would be difficult to justify having Superman-level stakes at all times, and the narrative could quickly sour if there are Metropolis-wide catastrophes for the entire duration of a 15–20 hour game. Rocksteady’s answer for this in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seems to make Superman an antagonist instead of a playable character. It will likely take all of Task Force X's members, as well as potentially reformed members of the Justice League, to take Superman down while he is manipulated by Brainiac.
However, a playable, heroic Superman may not be able to sustain the experience with an excess of superpowers exclusively. Like Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne, a Superman game may have to lean more into Clark Kent’s mild-mannered life and perhaps revolve around investigative journalism, where players could follow scoops and leads alongside Lois Lane.
Either way, Superman games run the risk of feeling either empty with a lack of significant content, or too saturated with Man of Steel-esque calamity, which would also need to be explained coherently in the narrative. While destruction would look as incredible as Superman's flight in Butler-Boschma's Unreal Engine 5 demo, it would not be feasible for a whole game. Superman’s narrative would need to be as strong as its combat potential, but there is only so much that any developer would be able to achieve with it set on Earth.
An Unreal Engine 5 Superman Game Could Be Set Away from Earth
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The problem boils down to the setting in which a Superman game is confined. If some parts were set in an open-world Metropolis as some sort of hub world, it could be funneled into tighter sequences with more gameplay restriction in a linear narrative. Moreover, a standalone Superman game could instead not be open-world at all, but that could ultimately strip players of the gratifying flight system that Butler-Boschma’s Unreal Engine 5 demo entices.
One way that these systems could be preserved would be to take Superman away from Earth in general, or at least for a majority of the game, and add a unique element in another setting. This would also avoid unspeakable and irreparable destruction to Metropolis, which seems unavoidable if the entire game would be spent there. To be fair, Batman: Arkham Knight features its fair share of destruction in the Batmobile as players can drift through concrete pillars and the corners of buildings, and none of that damage ever seems to affect the condition of Gotham’s infrastructure.
Batman: Arkham Knight also has the added caveat of Gotham’s civilian evacuation, and no direct harm could be done to its inhabitants as a result; meanwhile, Metropolis’ evacuation could be its loophole as well, but destruction nonetheless would ensue, creating an island of rubble. If Metropolis could only be explored in dedicated free-roam sections without destruction or open combat, the Unreal Engine 5 demo's satisfying flight mechanics could be preserved while maintaining a succinct narrative.
If away from Earth, Superman could be incarcerated in the Phantom Zone where his sun-fueled abilities are dampened against intergalactic criminals, or off exploring some extraterrestrial planetary system where there is a red sun as opposed to a yellow one. If locked in the Phantom Zone, players could interact with many characters from the DC mythology who are incarcerated for their own reasons, without requiring them to make appearances on Earth. Here, Kal could encounter characters such as his cousin Kara, also known as Supergirl.
It is surely not impossible to make a AAA open-world Superman game that fans adore, especially with the new hardware capabilities of Unreal Engine 5. However, it will take a deep understanding of the character’s abilities and limitations to fashion an engaging narrative that also lets players experience the unbridled immersion of Superman’s powers.
Source: Itch.io