Gamestorming: A Rocksteady Avengers Game

With fan-favorite developer Rocksteady concluding their Bat franchise with last year’s Arkham Knight, fans are intrigued by what will be the developers next big undertaking.

At the moment they are hard at work on Batman VR, but that seems more like a one and done sort of thing as opposed to their next true franchise.

With Marvel’s focus switching to more original games in their universe, starting with their Insomniac Spider-Man project, a fan can dream of a point in time where the famed developer gets to cut loose on Marvel’s side of the yard. With all the potential possibilities, it would be hard to narrow it down to just one. Thing is, if you’re going to assign a developer to work their magic on a franchise, why not start with Marvel’s premiere team of heroes in The Avengers.

This is all a bit pie in the sky, but what better time to daydream a bit than on a holiday. Let’s take a look at just what Rocksteady could do with Marvel’s Avengers.

The Roster

There are so many ways to go with a team that has included almost 80% of the Marvel Universe at some point or another, but a well-balanced team always wins out.

Therefore a mix of old and new is in order. Since Marvel is all about creating new experiences in their game adaptations, you aren’t hamstrung in including only well-known heroes. The All New Avengers would serve as a great way foundation for a video game. The roster includes stalwarts of the iconic team, sure, but with some fresh twists .

The current team includes Captain America (Sam Wilson), Iron Man, Thor (Jane Foster), Vision, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), and Nova (Sam Alexander). It would give Rocksteady a whole new canvas of heroes to work with, ones that haven’t been explored in previous games.

If you want to throw in some unlockable characters, heroes like Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, She-Hulk, and Doctor Strange might be good alternate picks.

Combat

Being that it’s a Rocksteady game, the combat is going to be crisp and hard hitting, but it will also give the developer a chance to flex their design muscles and possibly integrate some roleplaying-lite mechanics.

The biggest difference between Avengers and the Arkham games will be how different each character needs to feel from one another. In Arkham Knight, for example, Nightwing, Catwoman, and Robin feel different when it comes to their weapons, but if you took their unique weapons away and boiled it down to punches and kicks, they feel extremely similar.

For the Avengers, however, each needs to control differently. Spider-Man needs to feel agiler than Iron Man, and Captain America needs to attack in a more calculated fashion than Nova, who is a ball of chaotic energy when he is on the battlefield. As soon as you switch teammates, you need to feel a discernable difference, and while that isn’t by any means an easy task, it’s necessary when working with a team.

The Story

These types of games tend to be a walk through the Marvel Universe, plugging in multiple nameworthy villains that are uniting under the guide of one main villain. It’s mostly so they can include as many villains as possible, but for the most part, they pretty much-become copy and paste affairs.

This would be a genuine opportunity to take one major villain and really explore his or her motivations. That doesn’t mean you can’t include a few other known villainous threats, but less is more in that regard. Starring someone like Thanos or Kang would allow for creative plots, and Rocksteady has proven they can build around a central antagonist with just enough interference from outside sources to keep things interesting. 

Small side stories throughout the city would keep things fresh, but the focus should always remain on the primary villain. If you’re going to be saving the world, you should at least care about what or who you’re saving it from.

Creating A Team Dynamic

When taking on a team project, it’s important to give each member of the roster unique abilities to make them stand out from one another.

It’s also important though to have tangible benefits for players who work as a team. The good news is Rocksteady already has a spiffy team-up mechanic in place, and while it is extremely cinematic with two characters it will need to be tweaked to include at least three at once.

The combat would also benefit from some RPG-lite affinity systems. If you consistently work alongside one particular Avenger, your affinity rating would grow, allowing access to unique combos that only the two (or three) of you can pull off. It rewards getting familiar with one particular lineup.

The developer can also pull from Marvel: Avengers Alliance 2 and include a variety of team buffs and crowd control options. All characters should have a way to contribute to the team, even if their attack options aren’t the best in a given situation.

So there you have it. There’s my pitch for a Rocksteady Avengers game, but I would love to hear your ideas for it in the comments!