Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy features the titular team, the Guardians of the Galaxy, featuring: Peter Quill / Star-Lord (Jon McLaren), a Terran-Spartoi hybrid and leader of the group; Gamora (Kimberly-Sue Murray), the "deadliest woman in the galaxy" and adopted daughter of Thanos; Rocket (Alex Weiner), a former bounty hunter, weapons specialist, and inventor; Groot (Robert Montcalm), Rocket's loyal partner and fellow former bounty hunter, who is the last of his species; and Drax the Destroyer (Jason Cavalier), famed throughout the galaxy as the killer of Thanos.

Opposing the group is the Universal Church of Truth, led by Grand Unifier Raker (Andreas Apergis), and the Lethal Legion, a group of bounty hunters including the Blood Brothers (Kwasi Songui and Christian Jadah) and Captain Glory (Danny Blanco Hall) hired by Lady Hellbender (Sarah Levesque). The Guardians also face the beasts Dweller-in-Darkness, Lady Hellbender's pet, and Fin-Fang-Foom, a legendary dragon. Other characters include Peter Quill's former lover and Nova Corp Centurion Ko-Rel (Judith Baribeau), Ko-Rel's daughter Nikki Gold (Romane Denis), the "Celestial Madonna" Mantis (Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez), security chief Cosmo the Spacedog (Alex Ivanovici) of Knowhere, the Xandarian Worldmind (Robert Montcalm and Leni Parker), and Adam Warlock (Brent Skagford), the first deity figure of the Universal Church of Truth.

The plot of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy takes place several years after a massive interstellar war that raged across the universe.[14] Among those looking to survive in a tumultuous Andromeda galaxy are the newly incorporated "heroes for hire", the Guardians of the Galaxy, who all hope to make quick money during their adventurous wanderings around the galaxy.[15] However, while attempting to capture a beast for a wealthy collector, a seemingly harmless bet between two team members inadvertently sets in motion a series of catastrophic events that threaten the peace of the fragile universe unless the team takes responsibility for their actions and eradicates the threat.[16]

On Peter Quill's 13th birthday, Chitauri warriors attack the Quill household, kidnapping Peter and killing his mother Meredith. Many years later, Peter becomes a mercenary named Star-Lord and leads the Guardians of the Galaxy. In order to make money, the Guardians head into the forbidden Quarantine Zone, established by the Nova Corps to store debris from the war to capture a rare monster for their patron, Lady Hellbender. However, they are forced to flee the Quarantine Zone when Peter picks up a yellow gem and accidentally releases an unidentified alien entity. The Guardians flee but are intercepted by the Nova Corps patrol ship Hala's Hope, captained by Centurion Ko-Rel, Peter's former lover. Ko-Rel detains the Guardians alongside Grand Unifier Raker of the Universal Church of Truth, who was also caught trespassing in the Quarantine Zone to search for his church's "golden god". While being processed, Peter also meets a young Nova Corps cadet named Nikki Gold, who happens to be Ko-Rel's daughter, leading Peter to suspect that he might be Nikki's father. Ko-Rel agrees to give the Guardians three cycles to pay their hefty fine.

Being completely broke, the Guardians decide to scam Lady Hellbender by selling one of their own. The plan goes awry however and the Guardians are forced to flee, though not before obtaining the money necessary to cover their fine. The Guardians then travel to "The Rock", a Nova Corps outpost where Hala's Hope is docked, but find that several officers stationed there, claiming that they must spread the "Promise", have mutinied. The Hala's Hope leaves the station and the Guardians decide to flee to Knowhere and find its head of security, Cosmo the Spacedog, for help. Cosmo agrees to aid the Guardians in investigating the Hala's Hope, which is now transmitting a mysterious signal, and sent them to the ship through the Continuum Cortex, a teleportation system on Knowhere.

The Guardians board the Hala's Hope, and find a massive cannon siphoning "Faith Energy" from the planet below. They are then captured by Raker, who takes them to meet the "Matriarch" of his Church; to Peter's horror, the Matriarch is Nikki. Nikki is in possession of the yellow gem, which allows her to brainwash thousands of alien followers with the "Promise", trapping them in illusions crafted from their deepest desires, and harnessing their devotion as Faith Energy to power the Church's fleet. Nikki tries to tempt the Guardians with the Promise, but they each manage to resist and break free before escaping the Church, although Drax is still shaken by what he witnessed in his Promise. Peter also learns that Ko-Rel was killed by the mysterious entity he previously released.

The Guardians attempt to enlist the help of the Xandarian Worldmind, but it concludes that the Church's victory is inevitable and flees the galaxy with the remaining Nova Corps. Drax then succumbs to the Promise, and imprisons the team. With help from Mantis, the Guardians enter Drax's mind and force him to accept that the Promise is not real. They also encounter Adam Warlock, the Church's original "golden god" who faked his death and went into hiding on Mantis' planet. Warlock reveals that the alien entity controlling Nikki is in fact his dark side, Magus, whom he sealed in the yellow gem–the Soul Stone–to keep contained. Magus is manipulating Raker and the Church to gather Faith Energy on which he can feed.

With no other options, the Guardians turn to Lady Hellbender for help. They subdue and gift the legendary monster Fin Fang Foom for her, and she agrees to aid in an assault on the Church's flagship, the Sacrosanct. During their assault, Raker traps the Guardians in an energy field, but Peter is able to enter Nikki's Promise. With the help of Ko-Rel's spirit–who reveals Nikki is an adopted war orphan and not Peter's daughter–Peter convinces Nikki to accept Ko-Rel's death, freeing her from Magus' control and unlocking her hidden powers. The Guardians kill Raker while Warlock absorbs Magus back into his body, ending the threat of the Church. As the galaxy celebrates being freed from the Church's brainwashing, the Guardians take their leave, with Nikki becoming their newest member.

Magus proves to be too much for Warlock to contain, however, and takes over his body. Guided by Mantis, Peter risks his own life by physically wielding the Soul Stone to imprison Magus once again. Warlock thanks the Guardians for their help and takes custody of the Soul Stone, promising to come to them for help should he need it. Peter contemplates how to take care of Nikki as the Guardians set off to handle their next assignment: printing new business cards. If, however, the Guardians never paid their Nova Corp fine, the ship is suddenly disabled by a Nova Corps tracker and the team is left stranded in space.

While Crystal Dynamics chose to work on a video game based on the Avengers, Eidos chose the Guardians of the Galaxy. Explaining this decision, Dugas and DeMarle felt that the Guardians were often seen as "underdogs", similar to how they think the game studio was viewed in public's eye.[20] The team described Guardians as a "Hollywood blockbuster" and a "celebration". As a result, the team had to go through a period of "brain shift" to ensure that they can transition from working on the Deus Ex games, which deal with serious themes, to Guardians.[21] Nonetheless, Deus Ex served as a major inspiration for the game's campaign, as player's decision will be impactful and lead to different outcomes.[22]

Unlike Marvel's Avengers, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a strictly single-player video game. While the team experimented with cooperative gameplay and multiplayer, they were scrapped in favour of telling a character-driven story.[23] Instead of assuming direct control of these characters, the goal for the team was to have players "hang out" with them.[24] By positioning Star-Lord at the heart of most social interactions, the player can experience the dynamics of the team by having these characters react to Quill's choices and decisions.[22][23] While Quill is the team's self-proclaimed leader,[25] other members of the Guardians may disagree with his decision and make their own choices, and Quill has to convince them and rally the team towards a common goal.[26] The approach was inspired by real-world team work where people must work, negotiate and bargain with each other.[27] By not allowing the player to directly take control of the other guardians, players would not project themselves into the other guardians, thus allowing them to grow as a character and develop complex relationships.[21]

"Solo teamplay" mechanics were instrumental to the game's combat design. While the player is always controlling Peter Quill, other characters are always present.[25] The team was inspired by team sports video games which have gameplay modes that lock players into a defined role.[28] While the guardians can fight on their own, they are able to fight cohesively as a team when players issue commands to them and make use of their perks and abilities.[29] Nonetheless, the player cannot control everything that takes place at the battlefield.[30] The artificial intelligence for each character is unique, as their behaviours is based on the character's personality. For instance, Drax, who is the most courageous member in the group, tends to charge first into battle and attacks multiple enemies at the same time.[25] At certain points of the game, the characters may independently make their own decisions, and it is up to the player to decide if they trust them or not.[24] As the companions are crucial to the gameplay, the team chose not to make Quill too powerful as this may cause the other Guardians to feel like "dead weight".[31] Players were, however, encouraged to be engaged. If the player did not engage with combat and let the guardians fight on their own, they will tend to fall in combat.[30]

To ensure that the characters felt alive, the team implemented several "social mechanics" such as Team Huddle and branching dialogue options in certain sections of the game. To accommodate these social features, the level design also has to change to ensure that the conservations between characters would not be interrupted by gameplay.[28] DeMarle added that one of the biggest challenges for the writing team was to introduce humour. The writing team did not rely on incessant wisecracks or one-liners to deliver funny moments. According to DeMarle, the comedy from the game came from these group of "unpredictable" and "zany" characters staying true to themselves. DeMarle and her team of seven writers would regularly read scripts together, and commented on each other's jokes to ensure that they are funny.[24] DeMarle added that it was not a "conscious decision" that characters are always talking to each other in the game. While they were playtesting the game, they were initially concerned that players may be irritated by the constant banter between characters, though Duga nonetheless kept them in the game.[29]

Mary DeMarle served as the game's narrative director. She had previously worked on Eidos' previous projects including the rebooted Deus Ex video games.

The team worked closely with Marvel Comics while creating the game. Marvel did not want the team to base the game on the movies or the comics, and instead wanted Eidos to create their own versions of these characters. The team also wanted to introduce lesser-known characters. For instance, the game marked the debut of Lady Hellbender in any medium other than comics.[21] The team also felt encouraged by the launch of Marvel's Avengers, which features Kamala Khan, a lesser-known character, as a member of the popular Avengers team.[32] The origins of the Guardians in the game were reinvented. While they kept the essence of the character, such as Drax being the "Destroyer" and Quill being a "space pirate", they reframe these origin stories under the backdrop of an intergalactic war.[33] Their appearances also reflected their origins. Star-Lord was described as a "time capsule of 1980s culture" who sports an exaggerated haircut; Gamora wears full tactical body armor to reflect her status as the "deadliest woman in the galaxy". Drax has tattoo markings on his body which chronicle the important events of his life such as the death of his family. Groot and Rocket were described to be an inseprable duo: Rocket has a bead-shaped goatee that resembles Groot, while Groot wears a harness created by Rocket. Groot's armour design was also inspired by those from Japanese mechs.[34] These characters were designed to be recognizable by the general public.[26] Earlier drafts of these characters' design were more outlandish. For instance, Quill was compared to a "cosmonaut", Drax was fat, and Rocket was as big as a human. These designs elicited a lukewarm reaction from Marvel, prompting the team to rework their design.[35]

DeMarle added that it was difficult for both the gameplay team and the writing team to handle five characters with a strong personality at the same time. As these characters are always by Quill's side, they were considered by the team as the game's protagonists, and each Guardian has their own character arc.[24] Grief and loss are the major themes explored in the game's story. Set in the backdrop of an intergalatic war, each character experienced tragedy in the past and are dealing with the trauma in the present. The team included several flashback sequences featuring Quill's mother Meredith, who was killed during Peter's childhood. While her scenes are brief, these sequences are essential to Quill's character development as his loss shapes his future personality and behaviours. According to DeMarle, the interplay between comedic and tragic scenes are important for the game's narrative and storytelling.[36][37] Despite these unfortunate events, the characters eventually learn to embrace their found family. While the Guardians began as a ragtag group of mercenaries with different agendas in mind, they became closer to each other as the story unfolds.[21] Despite initially calling themselves the "Guardians of the Galaxy" for marketing purposes, they will eventually embrace the title and work to save the galaxy from its demise.[38] At the end of the story, the Guardians take up a parental role for the teenage girl Nikki Gold as she joins the team, reflecting how the guardians solidify as a group and becomes a family.[36]

The game's cast includes Jon McLaren as Peter Quill, Kimberly-Sue Murray as Gamora, Jason Cavalier as Drax, Alex Weiner as Rocket, and Robert Montcalm as Groot. While McLaren, Murray and Weiner stayed away from MCU content during the game's production, Cavalier watched the films to better understand Drax's mannerisms. Similar to the films, Drax had deadpan humour, and his movement and speech are very literal. Unlike the film, Gamora is not Quill's love interest, as the team felt that a love story will "[detract] from Gamora as a character", one who has her own secrets and past. Weiner added that he had brought "animalistic qualities" to his portrayal of Rocket, citing moments where Rocket may bar its teeth. Montcalm had 1630 lines in the game, all of which were "I am Groot!". Despite this, its meaning is different, depending on the context. Weiner and Montcalm had to work closely together, with Weiner receiving a translated text of Groot's lines from the writing team.[39][40][36]

Richard Jacques served as the game's composer.

Music was described to be an "additional character" in the game by Dugas.[26] Licensed music from the 1980s, such as those from Pat Benatar, Wham!, Iron Maiden and Joan Jett were featured prominently in the game. Quill's love for music in the game was inspired by the 2014 movie.[41] The selected licensed songs tied into the game's story, with their lyrics reflecting the actions on screen. Music was also instrumental to Quill's character development, as it was described as Quill's last link to his childhood on Earth. This also tied to gameplay with the huddle mechanic, as Quill will select a song from his casette to motivate his companions.[25] In the game, the title Star-Lord comes from a fictitious musical band on Earth from the 1980s. Audio director Steve Szczepkowski and sound designer Yohann Boudreault worked together to write an album named "Space Rider" for the band. The tracks from "Space Rider" can be played from Milano's junkbox.[26] The game includes a streaming mode for content creators, disabling all licensed music.[42]

Szczepkowski approached composer Richard Jacques to work on the project in 2017. One of the most difficult tasks for Jacques was to ensure that the game can transition naturally from licensed music to the game's original orchestral music, as they had to land on the right key immediately after the licensed song ends. Another challenge for Jacques and Szczepkowski was to ensure that the music must react to the game's branching dialogue options. According to Jacques, he "[tapped] together six A4 pages" documenting all the branches for each scene and how different they are emotionally, and scored them as if they are one singular scene.[43] He did not want to emulate the score from the MCU films, and wanted it to have "a sense of trepidation and adventure" that is fitting for the Guardians franchise. The game's six-hour orchestral soundtracks were recorded at Abbey Road Studios, while the choral sections were performed by Pinewood Singers choir.[44]

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was first reported on in January 2017, when Marvel Entertainment announced that it had partnered with publisher and Eidos' parent company Square Enix to produce various games based on Marvel properties.[45] The game was officially announced at E3 2021, and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S on October 26, 2021.[46] The Nintendo Switch version is a cloud-based title.[47] The Windows version was produced in collaboration with D3T.[48] The game would not feature any microtransactions and Eidos did not plan to release any downloadable content for the game.[49] Players who pre-ordered the game would receive additional outfits for the guardians. At a higher price, the player can also purchase the Cosmic Deluxe Edition, which includes a steel case for the game and an art book.[50] Following the sale of Eidos to CDE Entertainment, however, the digital deluxe edition was discontinued, with the appearances for the Guardians members being made available through gameplay.[51] Square Enix and Marvel also partnered with Adidas to launch a collection of six different sneakers inspired by the titular team.[52] Following the sale of Eidos-Montréal to Embracer Group, the game was re-listed on digital gaming platforms as being self-published, as were most Eidos games.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic; the cloud version for Nintendo Switch received "mixed or average" reviews.[53][54][55] Critics generally agreed that it is a fun single-player adventure game, elevated by a strong story.[62][63][64] It was often remarked as a surprise hit of the year, as initial expectations for the game were low following the release of Marvel's Avengers, which received a lukewarm reaction from critics.[65]

The story of the game received critical acclaim. Writing for Game Informer, Andrew Reiner considered the game's dialogue as its best part, and added that its writing offered "witty humor, heartfelt intimacy, and sheer chaos" that are fitting for the Guardians franchise. While he noted that Quill was "grating" at first, his story was well-written and he slowly grew to adore him.[57] Writing for GameSpot, Jordan Ramée also wrote that the story was well-written, adding that the characters and the issues they must overcome were "deeply relatable". He also praised the voice cast, singling out Romane Denis' performance as Nikki Gold as one of the game's best.[3] Sam Loveridge from GamesRadar likewise praised the game's writing, describing it as "brilliantly funny", "touching", and "emotional". He added that players will be invested in the personal stories of each Guardian, singling out Drax as his favourite.[58] Tom Marks from IGN praised the team for successfully balancing spectacle and heartfelt moments, and noted that the constant banter between characters made the overall experience entertaining.[59] Ryan Gilliam from Polygon praised the story for being "emotionally resonant", and enjoyed the Guardians' character development in the story.[63] The branching paths received generally positive reviews. Ramée felt that it rewarded players for listening to dialogue, and Marks felt that it encourages players to replay the game through New Game Plus, though Reiner felt that the changes were not substantial enough.[57][3][59]

The gameplay received a mixed reception. Marks noted that while the combat and level design were enjoyable and entertaining, they were neither deep nor innovative.[59] Malindy Hetfeld from The Guardian remarked that the gameplay was "disappointingly simple", and despite the abundance of systems in the game, "combat takes little more than two buttons".[61] Reiner compared exploration to the Uncharted games. He enjoyed the combat system and felt that it was satisfying and entertaining, though he remarked that the start of the game was uneventful as it locked away most of the game's powerful abilities.[57] The environmental puzzles was frequently criticized for being monotonous as they did not evolve to become more complex as the player progresses, with Ramee describing them as "mildly annoying speedbumps".[58][3][57] While Loveridge liked how the game encourages players to be strategic,[58] Ramée described the combat as "unremarkable", and wrote that players were not incentivized to use the combat abilities of each Guardians or Star-Lord's elemental guns.[3] Vikki Blake from Eurogamer remarked that the on-screen action sometimes became too chaotic, and noted that the game's wealth of system did not really add complexity to the game.[66] Critics criticized how enemies in the game absorb damages due to their extended health bar.[61][66] Ramée added that because of this, combat encounters often devolved into "grind-fests".[3]

The music of the game received critical acclaim. Ramée added that the soundtracks were "wonderful", and the game's original soundtrack was complemented by a strong line-up of licensed tracks from the 1980s.[3] Oscar Gonzalez from CNET described it as the "best '80s soundtrack for any video game".[67] NME's Dom Peppiatt added that Eidos should be lauded for how licensed music are implemented in the game.[68] Several reviewers remarked the game suffered from technical issues at launch.[59][60][68]

It was the second best-selling boxed game in the UK in its launch release, only behind FIFA 22.[69] It was also the seventh best-selling video game in the US in October 2021.[70] In February 2022, despite acknowledging "strong reviews", Square Enix stated that the game's sales had failed to meet their expectations.[71] By November 2022, the game had attracted more than 8 million players. This was partly attributed to the game's release for subscription platforms PlayStation Plus Extra and Xbox Game Pass.[72] Guardians of the Galaxy was the last video game developed by Eidos-Montréal before Square Enix sold off its western studios in May 2022.[73]