By Marvel games can be hit or miss. Insomniac’s “Spider-Man” games are masterpieces of cinematic single player action-adventure, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” game ended up way better than many expected, and the recently launched “Marvel Rivals” has been a smash hit for the company.
On the other hand “Marvel’s Avengers” was a disaster, the decently reviewed “Midnight Suns” was dead on arrival, and the company struggled to make any decent games in the 2010s – a time when the MCU was at its height.
Nonetheless the future is promising with Insomniac’s “Wolverine” game, Arkane Lyon’s “Blade,” Motive’s “Iron Man” and Cliffhanger Games’ “Black Panther” on the way.
Before those will come “Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra,” a period game from Skydance New Media – a developer led by game industry legend Amy Hennig who created the iconic “Uncharted” franchise and directed the first three games.
Hennig serves as writer and producer on the title and recently spoke with EW regarding what to expect with the game which will be set in WW2 which allows for interesting spins on the character and world. She says:
“It led us to do a bunch of interesting things, one of which was to not only tell a story with a young Steve Rogers who’s still trying to find his feet, as opposed to the more seasoned guy that we’ve seen in a lot of the films. It also let us introduce a new Black Panther of 1943.”
That Black Panther will be Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather who is ‘more mature’ than Steve Rogers who crosses paths with the Wakandan hero in Occupied Paris in 1943. The pair must strike an uneasy alliance to overcome a common threat.
Just as “Uncharted” channeled the likes of “Indiana Jones” and “Tomb Raider,” here Hennig is able to channel classic WW2 mission films (eg. “Where Eagles Dare,” “Guns of Navarone,” “The Dirty Dozen”) to capture a cinematic feel:
“It led us to tap into all the things that I love, all of the wonderful tropes of World War II-era adventure films, classic men-on-a-mission movies and all of that. There’s a lot of intrigue in our story, a lot of twists and turns, fascinating characters, and interesting locations.”
Part of the globe-trotting game takes place in Wakanda it seems with concept art of the country at this point in history – the jungle even more dense and overgrown. Hennig explains:
“Wakanda at this point in time is hidden away from the outside world and protected by this impenetrable jungle. They are non-interventionist, but events transpire that pull them into the conflict. They have to protect their interests. The world is getting smaller. No satellites yet, but there will be soon. You can shoot down planes that maybe want to fly over Wakanda, but how long can you stay in the shadows?”
Hennig confirms there are yet-to-be-revealed locations in between. As for the villains? She days: “It’s pretty black and white. Who doesn’t want to punch a Nazi?”
The game unfolds through four different perspectives – the two heroes along with a U.S. Howling Commando sharpshooter named Gabriel Jones (Marque Richardson) and Wakandan spy Nanali (Megalyn Echikunwoke) who is embedded in Occupied Paris.
Gamers will play as all four during various portions of the narrative, each character sporting different skill sets. The game is also aiming for really high visual fidelity so that “you could kind of forget that you’re looking at a game”.
“Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra” hits in 2025.
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