Marvel's Blade
Developer(s)Arkane Lyon
Publisher(s)Bethesda Softworks
Director(s)
Designer(s)Dana Nightingale
Artist(s)Sebastien Mitton
EngineVoid Engine
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single player

Marvel's Blade is an upcoming action-adventure game developed by Arkane Lyon and published by Bethesda Softworks. Based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, it will feature an original narrative that draws from the character's comic book mythology, while additionally deriving from various appearances in other media. The story follows vampire hunter Eric Brooks as he attempts to stave off a vampiric invasion on Paris, France while struggling with his origins among both the undead and the living.

Arkane Lyon entered development on their next game following the release of Deathloop (2021) in January 2022, subsequently pitching and being selected by Marvel Games to produce a video game around the character. The game was announced in December 2023, having commenced early production by then. It is being led by game director Dinga Bakaba and co-creative director Sebastien Mitton, the latter of whom additionally serves as the title's art director. Deathloop's lead systems designer Dana Nightingale serves as the game's campaign director and lead designer.

Synopsis

Characters and setting

Marvel's Blade features an ensemble cast drawing from the character's fifty-year history in comic books and various adaptations in other media. The game follows Eric Brooks, a dhampir who has spent his life as "the Daywalker", a hunter of vampires and other creatures of the night, while struggling with his dual-heritage to the warmth of human society and the bloodlust of the undead. The game's narrative takes him to a quarantine zone in the middle of Paris, France where a congregate of vampires have emerged to terrorize the city at night, forcing civilians to take shelter inside their homes until sunrise.[1]

Gameplay

Marvel's Blade is a narrative-driven, third-person action-adventure title, representing a departure from previous games developed by Arkane Lyon which were usually played from a first-person perspective.[2]

Development

Arkane Lyon, the French-based development division of Arkane Studios known for their work on the Dishonored series and Deathloop (2021), had begun preliminary work on their next project by January 2022 following the latter game's completion and launch, by which point Deathloop's campaign and lead systems designer Dana Nightingale, had been tapped to serve as their new game's campaign director and lead designer.[3] During this period, Arkane Lyon creative director Dinga Bakaba and art director Sebastien Mitton were offered the opportunity to collaborate with Marvel Games, as the firm had been in the midst of licensing out their characters to external developers in a commitment to renew their focus on AAA titles, such as the Marvel's Spider-Man series with Insomniac Games, Marvel's Avengers (2020) with Crystal Dynamics, and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy with Eidos-Montréal.[4] The pair pitched their vision of a standalone game focusing on Blade, which was responded to enthusiastically by Marvel Games' vice president Bill Rosemann, claiming that "The Arkane touch fits Blade like his trademark trenchcoat." The prospects of the title similarly excited Bethesda Softworks' former vice president of marketing Pete Hines, commenting that "Dinga and Arkane had something special up their sleeves."[5][6]

An untitled licensed game from Bethesda Softworks was mentioned in the publisher's internal roadmap documents as slated for the 2024 fiscal year ending September 30, 2024. Having leaked from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hearing concerning the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft in August 2023, the release timeframe preceded the acquisition of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media by Microsoft in March 2021, which consolidated Bethesda's development studios as part of Xbox Game Studios prior to being restructured as a subsidiary of Microsoft Gaming. At this time, Bethesda had already been selected by Disney to publish an Indiana Jones game developed by MachineGames under license from Lucasfilm Games.[7][8]

Marvel's Blade was announced with a cinematic trailer during The Game Awards 2023 on December 7, 2023, as a collaborative title between Arkane Lyon, Bethesda, and Marvel.[9] The announcement was accompanied by an interview between The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley, game director Dinga Babka and Bill Rosemann. Babka, who is reprising directorial duties on the title from Deathloop, spoke on Blade's character and the resonance he instilled on him as someone who also shared his mixed background and that he was excited to place the character in his hometown of Paris as the game's setting, stating that he considered the studio's chance to interpret the material their own way a dream of his, as well as "a challenge that our team embraces with a passion."[10] Co-creative and art director Sebastien Mitton remarked on approaching a character like Blade as an opportunity to push Arkane's art direction into more modern sensibilities, while Rosemann cited "their personal passion and bold vision for our half-human, half-vampire iconoclast" as the reason they were selected to develop the game.[1][11] Xbox confirmed their involvement in development shortly following the announcement.[12] Early concept art establishing the game's stylized visuals, Blade's character design and elements of the Paris setting were showcased by Sebastien Mitton the following week.[13] The game will be powered by Arkane's proprietary technology, the Void Engine similarly to Deathloop, as opposed to Arkane Austin's Redfall (2023) which opted to utilize Unreal Engine 4.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Carpenter, Nicole (2023-12-07). "Arkane announces Marvel's Blade game". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  2. ↑ Dustin Bailey (2023-12-08). "Dishonored devs announce "immersive, third-person" Blade game, but it sounds like we won't be playing it for a while: "Sit back, let us cook"". gamesradar. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  3. ↑ Hirun Cryer (2023-12-13). "Deathloop developer suggests Arkane has been working on Marvel's Blade for nearly 2 years". gamesradar. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  4. ↑ Parrish, Ash (2021-12-22). "How Marvel Games got its groove back". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  5. ↑ Keighley, Geoff (December 7, 2023). "Marvel's Blade Interview with Bill Rosemann, Dinga Bakaba, and Geoff Keighley at The Game Awards 2023". YouTube. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  6. ↑ Hines, Pete (December 8, 2023). "Dinga and Arkane have something special up their sleeves w this game. Their pitch was 🔥". X. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Leaked Bethesda roadmap reveals unannounced releases including Dishonored 3". Eurogamer.net. 2023-09-19. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  8. ↑ Peters, Jay (2023-09-19). "Microsoft documents leak new Bethesda games, including an Oblivion remaster". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  9. ↑ Stewart, Marcus (2023-12-07). "Marvel's Blade Is Coming From The Makers Of Deathloop And Dishonored". Gameinformer. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  10. ↑ Zwiezen, Zack (2023-12-07). "Dishonored Devs Working On Marvel's Blade". Kotaku. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  11. ↑ "Marvel's Blade Announced". bethesda.net. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  12. ↑ X, Xbox (December 13, 2023). "We're thrilled to see @bethesda and Arkane Lyon, the studio behind Dishonored and DEATHLOOP, work with @MarvelGames to bring you Marvel's Blade. A new single-player, third-person action-adventure game set in the heart of Paris". X. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  13. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (2023-12-14). "Marvel's Blade Concept Art Show Off Arkane's Stylish Adaptation". IGN. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  14. ↑ Jaisrani, Avinash (2023-12-17). "Marvel's Blade: Arkane Lyon Confirmed To Be Using Void Engine Again". Tech4Gamers. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
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