Electronic Arts, in collaboration with Marvel Games, is making a single-player title featuring the Marvel superhero and protector of the African nation of Wakanda, Black Panther. It would be the first-ever single-player Black Panther game.
While we don’t have a trailer or screenshots yet (hell, we don’t even have a title), it will be a game playable only in the third person.
Developers
Cliffhanger Games and Marvel Games together are on development duty for the Black Panther game. Cliffhanger Games is a new EA studio for AAA games based out of Seattle.
Kevin Stephens, former head of Monolith Productions, will be leading the team at Cliffhanger. Just to jog your memory, Monolith is known for its acclaimed third-person RPGs based on the Lord of the Rings universe. Remember Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Shadow of War? Yeah, those games. With Shadow of Mordor, Monolith introduced the Nemesis system for the orc chieftains. The specialty of the Nemesis system was that it made the enemies tougher to kill in successive showdowns. Orcs that were humiliated would either come back much stronger, or on the verge of losing their minds. Quite a revolutionary system, eh?
An Original Story, Possibly Set in Wakanda
The single-player third-person Black Panther game will feature an original story. In a press statement, Kevin Stephens said that as a team, they want to give fans “a definitive and authentic Black Panther experience” where they have “more agency and control over the narrative” than any other story-driven title. Maybe multiple endings?
In the statement, Stephens mentioned Wakanda being a “rich superhero sandbox”, which is a hint that the Black Panther game could possibly be set in Wakanda itself.
High Level of Detailing Promised
Stephens said that both the development teams will ensure that they “craft every aspect of Wakanda, its technology, its heroes, and our own original story with the attention to detail and authenticity that the world of Black Panther deserves.”
EA’s Iron Man game is Also in the Works
EA is working on multiple Marvel titles. Last year, in September, EA announced an Iron Man game in partnership with Marvel Games. It will be a single-player third-person action-adventure outing. Motive Studio, EA’s Montreal-based team, is on development duty.
EA’s Iron Man game features an original, standalone story of the Armoured Avenger. It is possible that we may see other super-powered good guys from the Marvel Universe in the game, though the studio has not revealed any details on that. The title has not been finalized yet.
Marvel’s World War II Game Featuring Black Panther and Captain America
Besides the Iron Man game, Marvel Games is also working on an ensemble single-player story-driven game set in the Marvel Universe. The game features World War II-era Black Panther and T’Challa’s grandfather, Azzuri, a young Steve Rogers (Captain America), Gabriel Jones, and Nanali. All four are playable characters, and you will get to play as them at different points as the story progresses. For this game, Marvel Games has partnered with Skydance New Media.
While Azzuri and Steve Rogers are the more famous of the lot, a brief introduction about the other two is needed for the casual Marvel fan. Gabriel Jones is a member of both the US armed forces and Nick Fury’s The Howling Commandos. So, at his core, he is a soldier. Nanali, on the other hand, is the leader of the Wakandan Spy Network. So, her expertise lies in espionage.
As per Marvel Entertainment, the publishers of the game, it will be a “globe-trotting adventure” set during World War II. From the looks of the trailer, it seems as if the evil Hydra organization will make things difficult for our heroes.
Our Take
We have three upcoming single-player games featuring the iconic members of the Avengers. This is the kind of thing Marvel fans have waited a long time for. Moving away from team-based games like Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which got mixed reviews, the studio is now aiming at more single-player adventures that tell new stories set in the Marvel Universe. After Iron Man, Black Panther, and Captain America, we might even see a Thor or Captain Marvel game one day. After all, a lot of Marvel biggies were recently featured in the turn-based game Marvel’s Midnight Suns. But that depends largely on how these three titles fare after launch.
Don’t forget that Insomniac Games is making Marvel’s Wolverine and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, so there are plenty of superhero games coming our way.
Did you know that EA has also got its fingers deep in the Star Wars pie, with a new Jedi franchise game in development? Check out our Sparkian coverage for the new Star Wars Jedi game.
