Marvel’s Avengers, released in 2019 and published by Square Enix, fell far from the expectations many fans had for the blockbuster superhero team. Buggy and unresponsive at launch, it took the development team around three months to patch up the game. Once patched however, new content for the online looter shooter came few and far between. With fans losing hope in the game, news of Square Enix’s next attempt at a superhero title left many unamused. Little did people know, Square would publish what I believe is the best superhero game of this decade.
Marvel’s Guardian’s Of The Galaxy
Square Enix didn’t let the flop of one game deter its commitment to publishing another superhero team-up title. Avoiding the online shooter genre in fear of history repeating itself, Eidos-Montreal (a French-based development company) was tasked with making a simple single-player story with an IP that’s believed to have one of the best trilogies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Guardians rose in popularity after the team’s comic book reboot in the late 2000s as well as James Gunn’s 2014 film adaptation. With that in mind, Square settled to adapt the fan-favorite space outlaws into a AAA title that would hopefully capture the eyes of many.
After the game release on Oct. 26, 2021, sales landed below expectations due to the damage Marvel’s Avenger‘s had done to the developer’s reputation. Many believed Guardians Of The Galaxy would follow suit with it’s previous title, and slowly die off. Out of desperation, Square would have other publishers like Microsoft and Sony add the title to their respective membership exclusive libraries. It was on Xbox’s Game Pass that I discovered the game myself three years ago, and to this day I can’t find myself shutting up about it.
The Hidden Gem
The story follows the Guardians as they try to make a name (and a few units) for themselves by taking on dangerous jobs across the cosmos. When the team accidentally release an ominous alien that threatens the very fabric of reality, what begins as a plan to capture a rare creature swiftly devolves into an outbreak that affects the entire galaxy. As if things couldn’t get worse, a brainwashing cult-leader slowly gains power in the shadows of space, threatening the lives of billions.
The player takes the role of the team’s leader, Peter Quill (Star-Lord), as you travel across iconic Marvel locations as well as new and creative explorable planets brought up by Eidos-Montreal. In typical Guardians tradition, the game combines humor and high-stakes with brisk third-person action. In combat, your job as Star-Lord is managing the rest of the team by giving out certain commands at certain times, rewarding you with combos and special finishers.
In addition to that, the game also features dialogue and narrative decisions that impact your relationships with various characters. These developed relationships can then open up new dialogue options that give insight to a characters past and what influences them to act a certain way.
From start to finish, Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy has done nothing but kept me engaged with stunning art design as well as kept me attached to the events of the story as you slowly begin to genuinely care for the cast of characters. As an avid comic reader as well, it was nice to see this adaptation of the ragtag space team have a mix of traits from previous comic and film adaptations.
It breaks my heart knowing both Square Enix and Eidos-Montreal consider this game a financial failure, when the final product deserved to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man and Batman: Arkham Knight. If you haven’t played Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy already, I implore you to at least put it in your list of backlogs.
What about you? Have you played Guardians of the Galaxy? Have you even heard of it? Let us know in the comments below or head over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
Featured Image: Square Enix
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