As a huge fan of The Matrix, I thought it would be fun to rank the franchise’s games, so I did some digging. I remember playing the pinball game and Path of Neo, but couldn’t recall other titles, and was shocked to find that there are only four. That’s right, a game-changing franchise that’s absolutely perfect for adapting into video games has only seen four official titles released in almost 30 years, and that’s just shocking. Instead of ranking the games, I thought it best to do a deep dive into The Matrix’s video game offerings and make the case for producing more.
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To be fair to game developers, there haven’t been many movies in the Matrix franchise that rose to the level of success as the first one. The second and third entries weren’t especially beloved, and the most recent live-action movie, The Matrix Resurrections, wasn’t financially or critically successful. When movies don’t perform well, it’s unsurprising that publishers aren’t waiting around to create games. Still, at this point, the franchise has moved well beyond its initial live-action feature film catalog and is now a multimedia juggernaut with room to grow. That’s why we need more than four Matrix games, as there’s plenty left to explore.
The Matrix Franchise Needs More Games
While not nearly as many people as should have seen The Animatrix, it did an excellent job in detailing what happened before the war between mankind and the machines. This and other media, including several video games, helped flesh out The Matrix‘s world, opening the door to further expansions and adaptations. What needs to happen isn’t another adaptation of a film or a popular character — the games need to expand well beyond the movies to cover other important elements, including the so-called “Anomalies” that came before Neo.
Let’s look at the four games that are out there, as they’re well worth your attention. The first was Enter the Matrix, a 2003 action-adventure game that features a story that runs alongside the events of The Matrix Reloaded. It includes more than an hour of original footage, and the Wachowskis directed it. It sold over 5 million copies, and while it’s not the best-reviewed game, it offered a lot in terms of the story, features, and additions to the franchise’s lore. The second game was an MMORPG called The Matrix Online, released in 2005. It also added to the franchise’s lore, but went offline in 2009.
Next came The Matrix: Path of Neo, which sees players controlling Neo through several events of the first three films. It was not well-received, nor did it add much to the lore, but it’s not a terrible game either and is actually a pretty good tie-in title. Finally, in 2021, The Matrix Awakens, an action-adventure tech demo, debuted as a tie-in to promote The Matrix Resurrections, though it’s not a fully-released game. That’s it. Those are all of the games in the Matrix franchise, leaving much to be desired. It seems to me that the biggest problem here is an adherence to the movies, Neo, Trinity, and other popular characters — the games need to move away from them already!
Matrix Games Should Be Wholly Original
There’s no denying that the Wachowskis created a rich and diverse universe that features some excellent characters and action sequences. There’s a reason the franchise is popular, but it’s well past time for its games to move away from the movies. New games could explore original characters set in different eras throughout the franchise’s complex history. As a gamer and a fan of the franchise, I would absolutely love to see this happen. I enjoy the movies and games that were released, but let’s move past what came before and embrace something new.
What do you think about the potential for future Matrix games? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Image Courtesy of Studio Bones -
Image Courtesy of Science SARU
