A leak revealed Marvel’s Avengers will have “continuous single-player” alongside co-op, but what does that actually mean?
Yesterday we finally got an official name for Square Enix’s hotly anticipated Avengers video game, Marvel’s Avengers. And today, thanks to an E3 panel leak, we have our first details on what it will actually be like to play – although that has actually raised as many questions as it’s answered.
The panel description says Marvel’s Avengers is “an epic action-adventure that combines cinematic storytelling with continuous single-player and co-operative gameplay.” It also states that you’ll “assemble in teams up to four players, master extraordinary abilities, customize your heroes to fit your playstyle, and combine powers to defend an ever-expanding world under constant threat.”
Most of that is clear enough… but what the heck does “continuous single-player” mean?
As far as I can tell, it’s not a phrase that has a commonly accepted, standard meaning in the industry – at least it’s certainly not one most players would see and instantly understand. So what could “continuous single-player” imply for how you’ll play Marvel’s Avengers? Time for some informed guessing alongside a good ol’ fashioned dash of wild speculation:
Marvel’s Avengers Could Be a “Games As a Service” Game
The snap assumption many people have made to explain the phrase is that Marvel’s Avengers might be similar to Destiny in structure. Pretty much everyone is following the Destiny blueprint nowadays, so using “continuous” to mean “continually updated” with no hard end isn’t a stretch by any means.
If that’s the case, we could be looking at an Avengers video game where you customize and upgrade your characters before venturing out in either single-player or co-op to take on missions that advance the story. With that structure, it would leave the door open for Square Enix to “continuously” add missions and content to keep things fresh as people play.
Outside of that word, a couple of other clues may point toward the Destiny direction. For starters, ‘single-player action-adventure with cinematic storytelling, co-op, and character customization’ could literally be written on the back of Destiny’s box and fit right in. Even beyond Destiny, games like Anthem, Monster Hunter: World, The Division, and more all fit that bill, and they’ve all structured themselves around online updates and a live, post-launch service to keep you playing past the credits.
It Probably Won’t Be a Straightforward Single-Player Game
Regardless of post-launch plans, I don’t think Marvel’s Avengers will be a standard, linear story game in the vein of something like Marvel’s Spider-Man, co-op or otherwise. The panel description states that it will “combine cinematic storytelling with continuous single-player” and co-op. That implies that the “cinematic storytelling” part is an entirely different thing from the “continuous single-player” part.
If “continuous” were just being used to mean “linear” then that would be fairly redundant. To me, it points more toward “cinematic storytelling” put into a format where it might not otherwise always exist – like, say, an online co-op game. Destiny and Anthem both had linear stories full of cinematics, but it’s fair to say that they had to be merged with the more persistent online parts of those games rather than being natural extensions of them.
That said, the emphasis on storytelling and customization here does seem to mean that Marvel’s Avengers won’t be a totally freeform co-op game like Left 4 Dead or anything. But, going full speculation mode, I’d be willing to bet it’s still closer to something like Destiny or Monster Hunter: World, with an Avengers hub base where you prep and outfit your characters before going out on story-driven missions.
Another Way to Read “Continuous”
Taking a step back, there’s the Occam’s Razor interpretation: We’re reading it wrong. The panel description says “continuous single-player and co-operative gameplay.” While I think the correct way to read that is ‘Marvel’s Avengers will have continuous single-player, and also co-op,’ it could potentially actually just mean ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ single-player and co-op are connected seamlessly.’
As in, the two modes aren’t separated and you’ll keep your customization and story progress between them. It’s not that the world is continuous like in the online games I’ve already talked about, just that your characters are. That’s not really a big deal, but remember that this block of text wasn’t meant to be some special announcement anyway.
If that’s the case, this would essentially just make it a weird way of saying Marvel’s Avengers could be something like Borderlands. You’ll upgrade characters and go through its “cinematic” story either alone or with others, and you can jump in out of co-op as you see fit. In that reality, it could be a totally linear game, an open world one, something like Destiny still, or lacking live service features entirely. Who knows!
More Marvel’s Avengers Info at E3 2019
All this speculation and uncertainty is just what happens when an unassuming panel description unintentionally becomes a press release revealing the first gameplay details about a game. It was written under the assumption that the fans reading it would already have answers to all of these questions, and it likely won’t make complete sense until the full reveal.
That reveal is coming during Square Enix’s E3 conference on June 10, which kicks off at 6pm PT (9pm ET / 2am UK / 11am AEST). We’ll be sure to let you know what Marvel’s Avengers ends up looking like here on IGN, and let us know what you hope it looks like in the comments below!
Tom Marks is IGN’s Deputy Reviews Editor and resident pie maker. You can follow him on Twitter.
