Marvel Games has often found success in recent years by offering great single-player adventures.Insomniac’sSpider-Manseriesis a prime example of this, offering a dense and vibrant open-world, some captivating, faithful narratives, and some great character work, managing to sell over 50 million copies in the process. Marvel Games seems to be fully embracing the single-player approach moving forward, with most of its upcoming slate being narrative-driven adventures, includingMarvel’s Blade.
The official description ofMarvel’s Bladestates that it’s a “mature, single-player, third-person game,” and that’s probably the best approach for the Daywalker’s first major solo video game outing. But Blade’s source material naturally lends itself to some kind of co-op adventure, and if Arkane ever wanted to dabble in a co-op mode inBlade’s future, it could look toRedfallfor some light inspiration.
Marvel’s Blade Could Make Great Use of Redfall’s Co-Op Mode
Redfall’s Co-Op Wasn’t All Bad
One of 2023’s biggest disappointments,Arkane Austin’sRedfallhad no shortage of issues. A tedious mission structure, bland enemy design, lackluster story writing, and half-baked looter-shooter mechanics were all issues that plaguedRedfall’s launch. But in spite of it all, some players found some fun inRedfall’s co-op.
A 4-player system clearly inspired by classicco-op titles likeLeft 4 Dead,Borderlands, andDead Island,Redfall’s co-op featured four unique playable characters, each coming with a unique set of abilities, weapons, and a distinct skill tree. This co-op system wasn’t overly unique or special, but it offered enough variation to keep some players engaged inRedfall’s repetitive combat for a little while, letting players combine their special abilities for more efficient vampire slaughtering.
Co-op was one ofRedfall’s few saving graces (provided players had friends who were willing to joke around), and though its approach shouldn’t be copied directly, there are a few waysMarvel’s Bladecould twist the formula for its own benefit.
Redfall’s co-op progression system was infamously terrible, however, and that’s something no future co-op game should borrow.
How Marvel’s Blade Could Adapt and Improve Upon Redfall’s Co-Op
While Blade has adorned the cover of countless solo comic book outings over the last five decades, he’s also appeared quite a few times as part of Marvel’s various superhero teams. In particular, Blade has often taken a leadership role inthe Midnight Sons, a team of supernatural heroes and anti-heroes who set their sights on evil occult and demonic forces.
ThoughMarvel’s Bladeis undoubtedly making the right decision by being a single-player game first and foremost, it could be fun to see a co-op mode come to Arkane’s game in the future, especially if it let players take control of other Midnight Sons members. Taking a page out ofRedfall’s playbook,Blade’s hypothetical co-op mode could give each playable character a completely unique set of weapons and skills, each one themed after a different Midnight Sons hero.
This would letMarvel’s Bladeshed some light on somelesser-known supernatural Marvel heroes, such as Nico Minoru, Elsa Bloodstone, Doctor Voodoo, Hannibal King, Danny Ketch’s Ghost Rider, and Man-Thing. These characters would all pave the way for some fun and varied gameplay mechanics, with Nico Minoru using her all-powerful magical Staff of One, Man-Thing using his plant manipulation and superhuman strength, and Elsa Bloodstone using her proficiency with firearms.
Marvel’s Blade
Marvel’s Blade is in development at Arkane Lyon, which developed Deathloop and Dishonored. It is a mature single-player third-person adventure game set in Paris, where players take on the role of the titular and beloved comic book hero.
