Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra Looks Better Than MCU Movies

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At long last, Skydance New Media’s untitled Captain America/Black Panther game was revealed along with a title and release year, and it looked glorious. During Epic Games’ State of Unreal showcase this week, Skydance released a stunning in-engine story-focused trailer for Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, and I think it looks better than Marvel Studios’ recent live-action features.

The trailer focuses on Captain America and Black Panther crossing paths in a World War 2-era Paris, along with a first look at the other playable characters - Gabriel Jones of the Howling Commandos and Nanali, a Wakandan spy. Powered by the latest iteration of Unreal Engine 5, Marvel 1943 looks like a graphical showcase of the industry’s latest and greatest in performance capture and fidelity. While the character models look great, it’s the attention to detail in their environments, a commitment to a serious tone in storytelling, and cinematic lighting that has me confident in the project.

The game’s development is being led by Amy Hennig, who worked as a creative director and lead writer on Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series. It tells an original story inspired by the limited series Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers. Like Uncharted, storytelling is at the heart of the experience, and the trailer makes that clear.

Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather, looks absolutely menacing, and I can’t wait to see how he plays in the game. But what’s more interesting is the mystery behind his appearance in Paris. The Wakandans are famous for their secrecy, and even during a World War, it’s hard to imagine why a Black Panther would decide to go out in the field so far away from his home country.

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Of late, Marvel movies have started to feel more artificial, and that's partly because the filmmaking on display has seemingly become lazier. Gone are the days of well-composed shots with precise lighting, with most of the shots in them being digitally filled by an artist after the fact. It's a shocker that Deadpool & Wolverine was shot in exteriors, with characters moving in real environments. While Marvel 1943 is a video game, its Unreal Engine-powered assets and lighting make every shot look as gritty as a real movie. It's also considerably grittier than anything I'd expect from the modern MCU.

My only issue with the game is its insistence on using character designs inspired directly by the MCU. Yes, Captain America and Black Panther have existed for decades before Marvel Studios made movies about them, but it seems like every major incarnation of them since has been directly influenced by them. It happened with Crystal Dynamics’ failed Avengers game, and it’s happening again here. Can we please dress our superheroes in costumes that don’t look like they were designed by the same people at the Disney lot? Also, Captain America here looks more similar to Wyatt Russel’s John Walker/U.S. Agent than the loveable leader we know.

Despite the trailer not revealing any actual gameplay, I'm already confident in Skydance's storytelling ambitions. With the company also working on a Star Wars video game, I can't wait to see what gritty lens Skydance will use to give us a new look into the galaxy far, far away.

Related: Every Upcoming Marvel Game In Development

Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is currently in development for unspecified platforms, and will be released in 2025.