We all had good reason to be skeptical about any Marvel game coming from a Square Enix studio after how Marvel’s Avengers turned out, but the Eidos Montreal-developed Guardians of the Galaxy seems to be making all the right moves. On top of eschewing things such as DLC and microtransactions, the game is also exclusively a single player game (though interestingly enough, an online component was initially planned), and its developers feel that has enabled them to focus more on the game’s story.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, senior gameplay director Patrick Fortier said that once Eidos Montreal realized that the best way to capture the spirit of the IP in a game would be through a well-told story, they decided that it wouldn’t make sense to do a multiplayer or live service game.
“We weren’t pressured to look into trends,” Fortier said. “We just looked at the source material, and it became pretty clear that we were going to hit the core of the Guardians through the narrative. And if you’re going to do narrative, then it’s not necessarily super-conducive to [live service or multiplayer games].”
Meanwhile, senior narrative director Mary DeMarle added that by focusing all they have into developing a solely single player game, the developers have been able to focus on telling a much more compelling story than they otherwise would have.
“By going single-player, we’re able to focus on building a strong story,” DeMarle said. “We can put ourselves in a single viewpoint that is facing the story. And knowing that you’re working with a team of characters who are unique individuals and very unpredictable, it allows us to start playing with that to build a stronger narrative.”
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy launches on October 26 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and as a cloud-exclusive release for the Nintendo Switch.
