DC Comics has been a fascinating property in gaming, responsible for genre-defining classics likeBatman: Arkham Asylumwhile also having the dishonor of failed projects likeSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. With thecancelation of Monolith’sWonder Womangameand radio silence regarding other IP likeSupermanandGreen 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 likeAvengers,Justice League, andHarry Potterto maintain a well-defined footprint in the medium, lest they fade into irrelevance. All of this is to say that even franchises likeSuicide Squadthat 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.
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 wellfor the irreverent, wacky, and experimentalSuicide SquadIP.
As seen inSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leagueand DC’s two most recentSuicide Squadfilms, the titular team’s composition can change radically depending on a number of different factors, both in-universe and external. While the David AyerSuicide Squadfilm 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 considerationSuicide Squadcomics, 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 aSuicide SquadLEGO game, and the relative simplicity characteristic of LEGO game mechanics would make this breadth muchmore feasible than in something likeKill the Justice League.
The most significant hurdle facing aSuicide SquadLEGO game might be LEGO’s family-friendly image, which runs counter toSuicide Squad’s often inflammatory, gruesome, and mature themes.
Kill the Justice Leaguehad 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 ofDestinyandThe Division, of which there have been many. Couple this with the fact thatKTJLwas positioned as the nextcanon entry in the belovedBatman: Arkhamuniverse, 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 isKill the Justice League, maybe this dramatic style shift is exactly whatSuicide Squadneeds.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
WHERE TO PLAY
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.
