The theme of grief, learning to ‘let go’ and a megalomaniac as the final villain – where have I heard this plot line before? But while Scarlet Nexus did it first in its charming anime style mixed with confusing story threads that were never fully explored, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy upped the ante with its careful writing and the banter shared by our erstwhile heroes. Execution is everything. Whereas I couldn’t have cared less about Karen Travers and his obsession with saving Alice, the concept of The Promise and what it could bring back for our ensemble cast had a much greater impact. No wonder then, that Guardians of the Galaxy picked up the award for best narrative of 2021.

Separate from the cinematic universe, the Eidos Montreal’s version still centres on familiar faces. There is Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord. Rocket. Groot. Drax the Destroyer. And Gamora. But while the game works great in fleshing out the other members (and I love that it does this), the main focus of the story still remains solidly on the human: Peter Jason Quill. After all, he’s the leader of the motley crew. The jam that brought the others together though they may have differing views and clashing personalities. 

As such, it should come as no surprise that the prologue of the game begins with Peter on Earth. It’s his 13th birthday. After listening to the great fictional band Star Lord in the depths of his basement room (and reading a very in-depth review about their album in the Rolling Stones), his mother, Meredith, comes down to find him. Why? Well, how else does someone celebrate the date of their birth? With cake and presents. Just as Peter opens the door to his room, he wakes on his ship. Drax looms over him and the scene transitions to the rest of the Guardians as they prepare for a mission into a Quarantine Zone to make some units and build up their reputations as mercenaries for hire.

It’s a great setup for the actual narrative and showcases the various dynamics inherent in the team. The dialogue is quippy even as it helped to guide me as I played through the area. Better, it called me out for exploring all the nooks and crannies of the carefully crafted levels. After all, one never knows what one might discover – what with outfits, items and archival correspondence to collect.

After competing with Rocket for the glory of knocking down parasite nests (and winning with a decent margin), Peter sees something shiny drop down. When he picks it up, however, it burns his hand and he immediately lets it fall. No mere mortal can wield an Infinity Stone. Unknowingly, though, he has unleashed Magus. And thus, the seed of the adventure ahead.

What became clear in my playthrough of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Scarlet Nexus was how the plot remained centred on the main characters. Yes, sometimes outrageous things happened but they fit into the universe created by the developers. There were no left-field revelations that did little to push the plot forward – even if the fight with Fin Fang Foom felt a little forced. Still, that narrative beat was hinted at with Drax’s insistence in the earlier chapters for trying to take on the legendary dragon to appease the Monster Queen of Seknarf Nine.

Everything fitted well into the story. Better yet, it was fun. As someone that has watched almost all of the MCU films, the vibe in the game was reminiscent of the irreverent ways of the movies. Tackling serious issues doesn’t mean that the game needs to be dark and sombre. As Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy shows, humour too can help push back the darkness. Slowly but surely, the pain that we’re left with by the loss of someone doesn’t hurt as much. With time, it scars. And that’s something all the characters must learn by game’s end. Letting go is never easy. Time cannot be reversed, no matter how much one wishes it.

In that way, Nikki’s situation was very sympathetic. It was hard to see her as a villain – caught up in a desperate hope for the impossible. The game also makes it very easy to bond with her in one of the earlier chapters as well. After an explosion on the Hala’s Hope, both she and Quill fall into the depths of the ship. Together, they manage to reach safety. 

Karen Travers, in contrast, never has that opportunity to connect with Yuito and Kasane. He’s already presented as a hero – one that is incredibly and needs no help. Nor do the characters get to journey with him for any significant period or fight with him. Karen is always just out of reach. For that reason alone, he isn’t as easy to connect to or like. 

I also liked how the confrontation with Nikki was a battle but a conversation with a girl grieving the loss of her mother. And just like that, I was transferring the skills I obtained as Alex Chen, empath extraordinaire to Peter Quill, therapist-in-training. Maybe this is a sign that I’m in the wrong profession and maybe I should become a counsellor. Or, at least, give out more unsolicited advice to those around me. I mean, I’m pretty great at it when it comes to pre-programmed AIs. How hard will it be to help actual real life people? (Probably really hard and it’s not as if there are preset dialogue options. Get a grip, Kyndaris!).

But while the narrative and the music (both licenced and original) rocked, the gameplay wasn’t as spectacular as I had hoped. The different elements meant that I could mix them up against the mindless mobs by game’s end, but by then most of my strategy had already cemented into place. And even unlocking new abilities for the crew sometimes felt underwhelming – particularly when Groot and Rocket already had such excellent crowd control abilities right from the start.

The combat then became fairly repetitive and there wasn’t much variety between enemies. Oh, a humanoid with a colour-coded shield to indicate what they’re weak to! How creative! More weird worms? Sure.

Considering how much a flop Marvel’s Avengers had been (which, thankfully, I never bought because after reading up on what the gameplay would be about and watching a few trailers, I never felt quite enamoured by what it offered), I’m glad that Guardians of the Galaxy felt like a return to quality gaming experience with the Marvel brand. Even if the combat could use some work and a few of the triggers for certain in-game actions could have been tweaked. My goodness, I was about to give up on one of the outfits in the Cotati Caves until I finally managed to luck out. The writing, too, was on-brand and carried true to the ones I saw on the silver screen.

Here’s hoping for future entries and maybe a Nikki Gold cameo in Volume 3 of the MCU films.