It's a strange feeling to be excited and disappointed about a game at the same time. My ambivalence towards the announcement of Arkane Lyon’s Blade is nauseating. Or maybe it's intoxicating. I can't decide.
On the one hand, it's tough to see Arkane relinquish its strong identity this way. As a leader and innovator in the immersive sim genre (if you consider it a genre, but we're not here to have that debate), Arkane has long bore the burden of keeping imsims alive in the triple-A industry. To see the studio move away from what it does best, to give up on creating games like Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop that have wholly original worlds and stories in favor of a broad, IP-driven game that practically any studio could do, disappoints me. This makes me feel like I'm losing not just my favorite studio, but the entire imsim genre. I want Arkane to make Arkane games, and if it isn't, then I'm not sure I know what Arkane is anymore.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Arkane Lyon Ann♎ounces Blad🧔e Game
Arkane is dipping its🎀 toes into the wo▨rld of Marvel with a new Blade game.
But then, on the other hand, it's Blade! Blade is so damn cool, and the teaser trailer effortlessly shows in just a few seconds exactly how cool Blade is. Reading Sins of the Father as a kid cemented Blade as one of my favorite Marvel heroes, and I've always wanted a Blade video game. Now my favorite studio is making one, that has to be good news right?
It’s a bittersweet feeling, and it's hard not to associate the news with the MCU, which has demonstrated a pattern of sweeping up cool, up-and-coming directors and saddling them with formulaic films that don't seem to have even the faintest impressions of their influence on them. I can't help but wonder what kind of cool project Nia DaCosta would have done after Candyman if she hadn't been tapped for The Marvels, same with Ryan Coogler, Chloe Zhao, and even Jon Watts. I feel the same way about Arkane. Making a third-person action superhero game means it isn't making the next Dishonored or Deathloop.
It doesn't help that Arkane Austin delivered the abysmal Redfall this year, ironically another vampire game. Like Blade, Redfall exists in a genre far outside of what Arkane is known for, and despite promises that it would still have Arkane's signature qualities, it is both a lousy Arkane game and a lousy example of the open-world genre.
During The Game Awards, Marvel Games creative director Bill Rosemann and Arkane studio lead Dinga Bakaba said a lot of the same things we heard about Redfall too. Rosemann said the Arkane touch fits Blade like his trademark trench coat, but the fact is that third-person action in an established universe is a huge departure for Arkane, and recent history doesn't suggest that it's particularly good at making big pivots.
I think Blade is a safe investment for Arkane, and as much as I hate factoring in the business side, we have to acknowledge the harsh reality of how volatile the industry is. Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop were not commercial hits, and after Redfall, I can appreciate Arkane's need to be risk-averse. Blade isn't a sure thing obviously, just look at Avengers - another Marvel game from a studio reaching well outside of its wheelhouse - but it's still less risky than making something brand new. Maybe even less risky than Dishonored 3 would be.
I love Arkane and I'm still rooting for it. I love Blade and I want to play a Blade game. This should be exciting news all around, and it kind of is. But also, it kind of stinks.
