Guardians of the Galaxy

Banter, ’80s bangers, and not a microtransaction in sight

ith the Avengers already doing their thing, Square Enix is giving us another superhero group to muck around with, this time from Deus Ex studio Eidos Montreal. These heroes are pretty different from Adam Jensen, however, who you’d never see hanging out with a murderous raccoon. Yes, it’s the Guardians of the Galaxy.

WA roguish band of space adventurers might sound like a good fit for yet another co-op live service affair, like Marvel’s Avengers, but Eidos Montreal is thankfully sticking to what it knows: a singleplayer game with a narrative bent. It’s a linear misadventure that will see you jetting off around the galaxy as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord.

Senior creative director Jean-François Dugas tells me that playing against expectations was a big “driving force” for the team. Games are increasingly trying to drag us back in with events and season passes and new things to grind, but GuardiansoftheGalaxy isn’t looking to swallow up your life. “We weren’t looking at trends, to be honest,” adds senior gameplay director Patrick Fortier. “When we started sitting down, we were just looking at what do we like to do? What are our strengths with the franchise? How do we give our own unique spin to this?”

Beyond the fact that it’s always nice to see a big game that’s a traditional singleplayer romp, it also makes a lot

more sense for the story that Eidos Montreal is trying to tell. It’s all about the Guardians and their relationships, which would be undermined if you had to spend hours every day queueing for missions with xXIAMGROOTXx.

Senior narrative director Mary Demarle says the “narrative experience” is the heart of the game. “We were able to create, I hope, a very compelling story that has a lot of humour, a lot of excitement, a lot of real emotional moments.”

LEADING MAN

Star-Lord being the sole playable character is a surprise, especially since there isn’t a Guardian who wouldn’t be fun to play with, but after seeing Guardiansof theGalaxy in action, I think it’s the right choice. The core Guardians are all still here, but like the comics and movies, we experience this galaxy full of aliens through the eyes of the everyman, who serves as the group’s kinda-leader.

And by making you play only as Star-Lord, says Fortier, Eidos Montreal is able to capture some of the chaos and unpredictability that’s key to the Guardians, “Because you don’t control everything.” Your buds have some agency, then, and the ability to surprise you. In combat, this means that Drax could get a bit carried away because his blood is up, so you might need to go and save him. But since you’re the boss, you still have some control, so you can order one of them to use one of their special abilities when you need it.

Eidos Montreal didn’t want to bog the action down with lots of commands and micromanagement, but there’s still tactical considerations to make during the heat of battle. As well as having all of Star-Lord’s handy gadgets, like his elemental guns and jet boots, you can take advantage of each Guardian’s powers to create synergies.

“What is also very key is that there’s not one way to solve the problem; there’s not only one way to battle those enemies,” says Dugas. “You can be really experimental, but the systems are built in such a way that you’re being rewarded to remain engaged. So the Guardians by themselves will be autonomous and can have some level of success, but if you’re straying too far, eventually they can get in

IT’S ALWAYS NICE TO SEE A BIG GAME THAT’S A TRADITIONAL SINGLEPLAYER ROMP