Marvel's Avengers Creators Holding Secret Playtest for New Game

Crystal Dynamics, the developer of Marvel's Avengers and other games like several from the Tomb Raider series, has been sending out invites to players to ask them to come and playtest a new game. There's one catch, however: players don't yet know what that new game is. Some are speculating that it could be related to a potential revival of the Legacy of Kain series which hasn't gotten a new game in years, though there's nothing at this time to point strongly towards any one IP in regards to what this new game might be.

News of this mostly secret playtest first started appearing in people's inboxes after those subscribed to Crystal Dynamics communications got emails inviting them to a playtest. Those playtests are set to be held between May 3rd and May 12th, according to PCGamesN, with players eligible to participate so long as they've got a webcam, a mic, a PC or Mac, and Microsoft Teams.

Crystal Dynamics confirmed to the outlet that there is indeed a playtest taking lace at that time but declined to specify what the playtest would actually be for.

The bit about this possibly being related to the Legacy of Kain comes from the fact that Crystal Dynamics sent out a survey last year gauging interest in the series. The last installment in the vampire games was Legacy of Kain: Defiance which released back in 2003. Square Enix held the rights to the IP for a long time but didn't use it to release any games, and as of 2022, it's owned by Embracer Group.

There were those who said they filled out the survey last year and then got an invite to this unspecified playtest this year, though filling out the survey alone doesn't seem to have been a surefire way to get into the test. Whatever this playtest is for, it's likely under some sort of confidentiality agreement given the secrecy around it, so it's difficult to imagine much about the game being said publicly if that's the case unless someone decides to leak something.

Crystal Dynamics is known to be working on a new Tomb Raider game now that's going to be published by Amazon. Since 2021, Crystal Dynamics has also been assisting The Initiative with Perfect Dark.