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DC Comics has been a fascinating property in gaming, responsible for genre-defining classics like Batman: Arkham Asylum while also having the dishonor of failed projects like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. With the cancelation of Monolith’s Wonder Woman game and radio silence regarding other IP like Superman and Green Lantern, the future of DC Comics in gaming feels more uncertain than ever.
But that’s not to say that DC and parent company Warner Bros. will be ducking out of the games industry any time soon. On the contrary, video games are more or less an essential entertainment sector for media conglomerates like Warner Bros. and Disney, as the industry’s profits have been outpacing film and TV. Plus, with gaming becoming more and more mainstream with each passing year, it’s pertinent for staple franchises like Avengers, Justice League, and Harry Potter to maintain a well-defined footprint in the medium, lest they fade into irrelevance. All of this is to say that even franchises like Suicide Squad that have struggled to gain purchase in the games industry will probably rear their heads on consoles before too long, and a LEGO approach might be the right call for at least one of them.
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Why Wonder Woman’s Permanent Fate in Suicide Squad: KTJL May Be a Boon For Monolith
Wonder Woman’s story in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League may have helped give Monolith a clean slate for its own Wonder Woman-led adventure.
Suicide Squad and LEGO Could Be a Surprisingly Good Match
LEGO games might not be for everyone, but they excel in a few key areas. They are accessible and offer no-frills fun, they’re surprisingly versatile thanks to featuring a wide roster of playable characters, and they often present recognizable stories or scenarios in a different, refreshing style. With these strengths in mind, perhaps the LEGO formula would work well for the irreverent, wacky, and experimental Suicide Squad IP.
As seen in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and DC’s two most recent Suicide Squad films, the titular team’s composition can change radically depending on a number of different factors, both in-universe and external. While the David Ayer Suicide Squad film featured eight distinct villains-turned-heroes, including Harley Quinn, Deadshot, and Killer Croc, the James Gunn soft-reboot introduced an almost entirely new cast, including the likes of Bloodsport and Peace Maker. This roster grows even larger when taking into consideration Suicide Squad comics, where iconic characters like Bane, Black Manta, Vixen, and Penguin work with the squad. Needless to say, there would be a lot of options for distinct playable characters in a Suicide Squad LEGO game, and the relative simplicity characteristic of LEGO game mechanics would make this breadth much more feasible than in something like Kill the Justice League.
The most significant hurdle facing a Suicide Squad LEGO game might be LEGO’s family-friendly image, which runs counter to Suicide Squad‘s often inflammatory, gruesome, and mature themes.
A LEGO Game Would Be a Good Palette Cleanser After Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Kill the Justice League had a lot of issues, but none were as devastating as its live-service format. By the time the game released, the gaming community at large had already been getting fed up with live-service titles, especially those that attempted to ape the formulas of Destiny and The Division, of which there have been many. Couple this with the fact that KTJL was positioned as the next canon entry in the beloved Batman: Arkham universe, developed by the same studio behind those iconic games, and the disappointment about the live-service direction was palpable.
The LEGO formula is arguably as far as one can get from typical, AAA live-services, though. LEGO games are often more about self-contained, quaint fun and blockbuster storytelling, and while they will often feature multiplayer, it’s very much of the cooperative kind; battle passes, microtransactions, and seasonal content updates are nowhere to be found. After the expensive, beautiful disaster that is Kill the Justice League, maybe this dramatic style shift is exactly what Suicide Squad needs.
Images
Images
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
Released
February 2, 2024
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Engine
Unreal Engine 4
Play as the Suicide Squad to take down the World’s Greatest DC Super Heroes, The Justice League. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, is a genre-defying, action-adventure third-person shooter from Rocksteady Studios, creators of the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham series.
Featuring an original narrative set within an expansive open-world city of Metropolis, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League puts the four DC Super-Villains on a collision course with an invading alien force and DC Super Heroes who are now laser-focused on destroying the city they once vowed to protect. All the while, the Suicide Squad must be mindful of the lethal explosives implanted in their heads that could go off at the first sign of defiance.
Each squad member has their own unique moveset with enhanced traversal abilities to freely explore the dynamic open-world of Metropolis, along with a variety of weapons to customize, and skills to master.
“}]] Last year saw the historic flop of one hard-done-by DC Comics property in gaming, but a LEGO spin-off could give it a second chance. Read More