The success of loot box filled Star Wars: Battlefront 2, EA Games really needed a hit to win back the Star Wars gaming community. Luckily, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was just that, surprising many gamers, including some of the ones who had been feeling burnout from Star Wars media. There were many impressive elements of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order that helped to make it a success, including the surprisingly excellent story that revolved around a young Jedi apprentice, Cal Kestis, who narrowly survived Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith's brutal Order 66, and has been on the run ever since.
The story in Jedi: Fallen Order fills Revenge of the Sith story gaps prior to A New Hope, and while it is a major draw for fans of Star Wars, the game's true success lies in its successful adaptation of the Soulslike gameplay style. By using FromSoftware's beloved series as a jumping off point, developer Respawn Entertainment managed to give Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gameplay that was deep, complex, and compelling in a way that felt more authentic than just a typical franchise tie-in game. In many ways, the game hits the perfect balance between an accessible story game and a challenging Soulslike game, never leaning so far in one direction that it alienates players looking for the other style.
With a sequel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, out in 2023, it is clear that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has struck a positive chord with gamers and Star Wars fans alike. The success of Star Wars' Soulslike game, along with the general success of FromSoftware's games, should be an indicator to Marvel that a Soulslike game set in the Marvel universe could be a great way to tell a new Marvel story in video games. While Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's success doesn't necessarily mean that a Soulslike Marvel game would be an instant success, the game's perfect marriage between the challenging Soulslike combat and the faithful adaptation of a major franchise should at the very least make a Soulslike Marvel game worth considering.
Why Soulslike Combat & Gameplay Could Be Perfect For Marvel
FromSoftware's Soulslike games continue to get better with each release, with the recently released Elden Ring being the best FromSoftware game yet. This is because with each new game, the genre grows and improves, building on past games while innovating with new features and gameplay design. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order further proved this, showing that the gameplay design can work well in a franchise setting that moves away from the typical Souls style of storytelling, which tend to feature a more obtuse storytelling method built more on world and lore than character development. However, with the cutscene heavy storytelling of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which more closely resembles fellow Soulslike game, Nioh, than any of FromSoftware's titles, the game shows that the genre can also be used to tell great character focused stories as well.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's open-world planets also provide the game with the perfect opportunity to allow fans of the franchise to explore locations from the films and the expanded universe that they've never had the chance to experience before. With Marvel's many unique and fantastical locales, this design can translate perfectly, allowing fans of Marvel to further explore their favorite locations. While many open-world video games often feel empty and boring, the challenging combat and unique puzzles present in games that use the Soulslike format can help to make one (or more) of Marvel's locations feel equally interesting and worth exploring.
What A Marvel Souls Game Should Look Like
Marvel should use the Souls format to tell a unique story that Marvel games haven't attempted before. Fallen Order proved Soulslikes can tell great stories, and Marvel can use that to their advantage to introduce a new style of storytelling. Because of the inherent difficulty that tends to come with games that use the Souls format of gameplay, Marvel would be wise to utilize the difficulty to tell a darker story. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order uses its difficulty to illustrate the overwhelming odds that Cal Kestis faces and one of the last Jedi survivors on the run from the powerful Galactic Empire and its deadly Inquisitors. Marvel can similarly use this difficulty to show the plight of one of its underdog characters.
Additionally, the Souls format can be used to explore some of Marvel's most intriguing locales. If Marvel's Wolverine isn't set in Madripoor, it could be the perfect location to set a Marvel Soulslike game. Madripoor is an island nation that is a haven for criminal activity and has served as the homebase for several deadly factions throughout Marvel history, including the Hand and the Brotherhood of Mutants. Wakanda is another diverse location filled with dangerous jungles, sprawling cities and beautiful mountains. A Soulslike game with a free roam similar to Elden Ring could explore the location and give it the time and care that Marvel's Avengers' DLC couldn't. The are only some of the locations that can challenge players in a Marvel Soulslike game, with many others, such as the Dark Dimension, Shadowlands, the Savage Land, and Doctor Doom's Latveria providing plenty of lore and impressive visuals to make and interesting Soulslike location.
What Marvel Characters Can Star In A Marvel Soulslike Game
All of the best Soulslike games, such as Nioh, use the Soulslike format and difficulty to illustrate the challenging and almost insurmountable worlds presented in the games. In this regard, Marvel would need to use one of its characters that is often presented as an underdog. Exceptionally powerful character, such as Captain Marvel or Doctor Strange, might not work as playable characters in a Soulslike game. By comparison, characters who rely heavily on martial skills (with the help of some unique powers), such as Blade, Iron Fist, or Shang-Chi, could be perfect fits. These characters also have unique locations and villains tied to their stories. A Souls game starring Iron Fist set in K'un-Lun or a game starring Blade as he battles against dark vampiric forces can utilize the best aspects of the genre.
Much like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's darker story, Marvel can take advantage of the Soulslike genre's difficulty to tell a story that makes a hero feel powerful because of the player's skill rather than innate powers. If Marvel were to find the right story and right hero, it can prove that Star Wars' success with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order wasn't just a unique instance, and that the Soulslike gameplay format can be used to tell interesting franchise stories, even ones starring superheroes.