Square Enix's newly revealed Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy game has already shown more promise than Marvel's Avengers ever had, even all the way back to the 2020 title's initial reveal. Marvel's Avengers was a failure, costing Square Enix millions of dollars, and it may have served as an important lesson for the publisher in the buildup to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
The Guardians of the Galaxy game was one of the more pleasant surprises in the relatively disappointing E3 2021. Rumors started to swirl about its existence heading into the weekend, and Square Enix wasted no time in confirming them, leading its showcase with an extensive look at the game. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy will undoubtedly be measured against the MCU Guardians of the Galaxy, and it'll be interesting to see how Eidos-Montreal differentiates the two. But even more so, the game will have to face comparisons to Marvel's Avengers, a disaster of a release from the same publisher just one year prior.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy appears to have a similar aesthetic and action combat style to Marvel's Avengers, but the games are still fundamentally different. Guardians of the Galaxy is single player, story driven, and contains elements of player choice. Unlike Marvel's Avengers, players can only take on the role of Star-Lord, but they will be able to actively assume the role of the Guardians of the Galaxy's leader. It's a totally different kind of game than Marvel's Avengers - an encouraging sign for fans disappointed by Square Enix's previous attempt at a Marvel game.
Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy Game Isn't Avengers 2.0
Many of Marvel's Avengers' problems stemmed from it being a live-service game. Its forced multiplayer components, in tandem with an overwhelming amount of microtransactions, was likely the driving force behind its eventual failure. Instead of maximizing the potential of the Marvel IP, like Insomniac Games has done with its Spider-Man titles, Square Enix seemingly attempted to turn Marvel's Avengers into an ongoing cash cow by exploiting the popularity of the franchise, and it failed.
Because Guardians of the Galaxy has no microtransactions and no multiplayer, it's already starting off ahead of Marvel's Avengers. While some fans will be disappointed they can't play as other members of the titular team, the single-player, narrative focus of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy gives it the potential to be a much stronger Marvel experience.