Marvel’s a company that needs absolutely no introduction, with its comics still being some of the most popular out there, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuing to gross unfathomable amounts of money at the box office. But while its comic, movie, and now TV show areas are all doing fairly well, its video game department is more of a mixed bag. Admittedly better than its direct DC competition, Marvel does have big titles likeMarvel’s Spider-Man 2,Marvel’s Wolverine, and Skydance’s WW2 gameon the horizon, but it shouldn’t rest on its laurels too much. The next Marvel game should do something big and innovative for the franchise, and maybe taking inspiration fromGenshin Impactisn’t a bad idea.
First released in 2020,Genshin Impactis an open-world action-RPGheavily inspired byThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. InGenshin Impact, players venture out into an expansive open-world made up of a plethora of different regions, each granting players new abilities and unique party members. Though it may not seem like it at first, Marvel’s universe would actually fit perfectly with this formula.
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A Genshin Impact-Like Marvel Game Could Do Very Well
On top of responsive action combat and a compelling cast of characters,Genshin Impact’s biggest highlightis its world. Set in the fictional fantasy world of Teyvat, players have free rein over seven distinct nations. Each of these nations rules over one of the game’s magical elements, and participating in missions in that nation will reward the player with a new ability. Completing missions for each nation will also often introduce players to new allies who can be added to the player’s party.
The Marvel universe would fit this formula extremely well. A hypotheticalGenshin Impact-inspired Marvel game could just use Earth-616 as a basis, with the different nations being different comic locales on Earth. New York City would be an obvious hub, with Avengers Tower, the Sanctum Sanctorum, Nelson and Murdock’s office, and more being located there. Other nations could include Black Panther’s home of Wakanda,Namor’s kingdom of Atlantis, and the mutants-only island of Genosha. Players would be able to visit each one, recruit heroes that belong to each respective locale, and gain access to brand-new powers.
Alternatively, a MarvelGenshin Impact-like game could take direct inspiration from theSecret Warsrun of comics, more specifically the 2015 run written by Jonathan Hickman. This comic run sees the standard 616 universe and the Ultimate 1610 universe collide. Moments before the collision, Doctor Doom manages to take control of the event, and manages to forge a new world in his own design by reconstructing and meshing together parts of both universes. Doom calls this new Earth “Battleworld,” and gives each new “domain” a name and a baron to lead it. This naturally lends itself to theGenshin Impactformula, with a central plot focusing on players heading to each domain to recruit new heroes to take downGod Emperor Doom.
Marvel has always had a sizable presence in the mobile gaming market, but it’s never really had one game that’s stuck for longer than a year or so. At the minute,Marvel Snapseems to be the title that’s captured the most attention for the longest time, and now that it’s got players in the door Marvel is ramping up its monetization.Marvel Snapis a good testing ground for live-service implementation, and as long as it doesn’t affect the title’s core gameplay loop then there’s no problem with introducing new cosmetics. This type of monetization is how the industry seems to be progressing, and aGenshin Impact-like Marvel game could be very lucrative for the company.
Genshin Impactis available on Mobile, PC, PS4, and PS5. A Switch version is currently in development.
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