Want to know what the Guardians of the Galaxy release date is? The latest tie-in with Square Enix and Marvel comics is a single-player take on the reasonably popular Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s the company’s second collaboration with the Disney-owned comic book franchise since last year’s Marvel’s Avengers, but this is a thoroughly different and more solitary experience.
In it, you take on the role of Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, in a third-person action-adventure game that is story driven. The rest of the Guardians are your companions throughout the adventure, who assist you in combat by performing moves on command, as well as help progress the plot with branching conversations. We also know that the game features a licensed soundtrack full of 80’s goodness.
Square Enix’s E3 2021 presentation not only revealed the game and its awesome space llama, but showed a first look at gameplay, so we’re going to go over everything we know about the new Guardians of the Galaxy game, including the E3 trailer and the all-important release date.
Guardians of the Galaxy release date
The Guardians of the Galaxy release date is October 26, 2021.
Guardians of the Galaxy trailer
Edios-Montréal’s take on the Guardians of the Galaxy comics was the surprise reveal during Square-Enix’s E3 presentation. It is a single-player story game that casts you as Quill, the leader of the Guardians as they deal with a threat to the universe.
Senior gameplay director Patrick Fortier told Gamesindustry.biz that when it came to deciding to go single-player, “We weren’t pressured to look into trends. We just looked at the source material, and it became pretty clear that we were going to hit the core of the Guardians through the narrative. And if you’re going to do narrative, then it’s not necessarily super-conducive to [live service or multiplayer games].”
In a recent Game Informer interview, Patrick also says that there will be “twice as much dialogue in this game than a Deus Ex game”.
Guardians of the Galaxy gameplay
The main character, Quill, has the ability to hover for a short time, fire his blasters, and perform combos to defeat his enemies in third-person gameplay. He can also issue commands to any one of the other four members of his team, which can stun enemies by depleting their stagger bar for a follow-up attack. After each fight, experience is distributed, hinting at RPG elements and upgradeable skills. Guns have a similar reloading system to other popular games like Gears of War, where you must time a button press to increase reload speed.
A key part of Guardians of the Galaxy is how cutscenes offer you choices that influence how the other members of Quill’s team feel about his leadership skills. The game even gives you the opportunity to make Quill change his mind. Quill can give the team pep talks that either give everyone a boost in combat, or just improve Quill’s combat, if the rest of the team are confused by your call-to-arms.
At one point, we’re shown Quill walking around a bunch of ruins, when Gamora appears on screen with a speech bubble floating above her head. This could be a sign that you can also converse with Guardians individually to improve Quill’s relationship with them. While ultimately the ending won’t change dramatically, there may be key decisions that get easier or harder, depending on Quill’s standing with the rest of the team. We were also given a look at Groot and Rocket in a recent tweet.
Groot and Rocket are the galaxy's best friends. See how it's echoed in their designs, linked to story and gameplay 👇 #GOTGGame pic.twitter.com/M4nKzSgFj5
— Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (@GOTGTheGame) August 12, 2021
What about that soundtrack?
Those familiar with Peter Quill’s adventures via the Guardians Marvel movies, will know that he was abducted in the 1980s, so naturally his portable tape player has music from the era. Official trailers (the ones that are not safe to stream) feature several licensed music tracks, and here are the ones we could pick out:
- I Need A Hero – Bonnie Tyler
- Bad Reputation – Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
- Every 1’s a Winner – Hot Chocolate
Other bands have been confirmed by Eidos-Montréal senior narrative director Mary DeMarle. Speaking to IGN, she says that the game has “30 amazing ‘80’s classic songs, everything from Iron Maiden to Rick Astley, to Kiss to Wham”. We also hear a bunch of original music in the gameplay trailers, from the orchestral tracks that the Marvel films use to 80’s inspired hair-metal riffs.
Guardians of the Galaxy DLC
Unlike Marvel’s Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy is billed as a story-driven, single-player adventure. As such, it has been confirmed that there will not be any DLC or microtransactions. As Demarle said during a Q&A session, the reasons for it are that “because, for us, it’s very important that on day one, when players get this game, they can have access to everything there is about this game and to experience it”.
Usually with microtransactions there’s the temptation to sell outfits and other cosmetic items for a premium, but Demarle assures us that “right off the bat, [players] can get all the costumes or outfits that are available. They can find all the abilities as they progress through the game. It’s all there”.
That’s all we know about Guardians of the Galaxy so far. You can pre-order Guardians of the Galaxy from the Microsoft Store today. The game is out in October, and we’re certain that more details will be revealed from future trailers, interviews from Eidos-Montréal, and much more, so do check back with us soon to find out more about the newest Marvel game.