Upcoming DC Games Have a Long But Rewarding Mountain to Hike

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 24, 2024 3 Views 5 Min Read
Upcoming DC Games Have a Long But Rewarding Mountain to Hike

Thanks to Batman: Arkham Shadow and the wonderful lore and character development it contributes to the Arkhamverse, Arkham games have been exhumed and their future prosperity is now a huge possibility. With Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League now winding down, it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest if Rocksteady was to pivot back to Batman-led single-player games—which it arguably should’ve been allowed to do instead of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League—and hopefully push it forward past the multiversal alien invasion it incited in the Arkhamverse’s present day. That said, the Arkhamverse’s success and popularity shouldn’t necessarily mean that non-Arkhamverse game pitches are rejected.

Gotham Knights wasn’t the valiant attempt at an original DC game that it ought to have been chiefly because it failed to push the Bat Family out from under Batman’s shadow and told a lackluster Court of Owls story. Now, with James Gunn’s DCU already thriving, it’s unknown if DCU-inspired games are entering development, though that could be a neat market to tap. Either way, the DC mythology deserves to have engaging and enduring video game franchises other than the Arkhamverse.

a-9

Related


After Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Deathstroke Deserves to Return in a Big Way

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has finally released Deathstroke and will hopefully mark a new chapter for the Arkhamverse antagonist.

DC Games Basically Depend on the Familiarity of Batman’s Arkhamverse

Warner Bros.’ explicit admission that Batman is its priority in the video game landscape essentially ensures that more Arkham games are in the works or planned, and no small part of why the Arkham games are so beloved is their familiarity. A new, original continuity won’t have familiarity to rely on, and in fact it will always be a tall order to pen anything nearly as novel and rich as the Arkhamverse, but it could have that novelty on its side so long as it strikes a resonant chord and truly strays from iconography or beats that the Arkhamverse has already trodden.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League taints a lot of the goodwill the Arkham games had and actively works to retcon or move away from lore and events established in its past. Still, because of how monumentally impactful Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Batman: Arkham Knight have been, players would likely be willing to fully forgive and forget Suicide Squad’s blunders if Rocksteady announced a new Arkham game.

Plus, Warner Bros. must know by now that Batman and the Arkhamverse are its winning tickets and, while a brand-new Batman universe could be incredibly enticing it would always be marred by layup comparisons to the Arkhamverse’s decade-and-a-half-old franchise.

New Video Game Universes are the Heroes That DC Needs as Well as What It Deserves

A brand-new universe that doesn’t rely on Batman could be precisely what DC video games need. Monolith’s Wonder Woman is still apparently on the horizon despite reportedly goalposting itself further into the future, but when it does land it has an opportunity to deliver on rejuvenating lore in a universe free of the Arkhamverse’s baggage. Likewise, a possible Injustice 3 could revitalize DC, and a contemporary AAA Superman game—Arkhamverse or not—has the potential to rally DC fans like never before.

Indeed, a studio actually figuring out how to perfect the Superman formula could be what possibly dethrones Batman, and there are a handful of other popular DC characters who are equally deserving of a standalone game. It’s bewildering that DC hasn’t tried to hop on the mobile deck-builder or 6v6 hero shooter bandwagons of Marvel Snap and Marvel Rivals, too, which DC might perform exceptionally well in. One inherent downside of a new DC franchise is that it’d take severe commitment to guarantee that it prevails, but having studios devote themselves to crafting fantastic original stories for different characters could be far more enriching and give the Arkhamverse much-needed competition.

Source link