Honestly, I’ve no interest in Wonder Woman. Warner Bros announcing an open-world Wonder Woman game at The Game Awards tonight meant nothing to me at first. My interest was piqued when I saw it’s being made by Monolith, the studio behind F.E.A.R. and the Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor series. Then I saw OH WAIT it’s using that wonderful patented Nemesis System which breathes personality and history into enemies? I’m in. Fully. Let’s go.
Yep, nothing of value in that trailer.
As for what it is, Warner Bros say “the singleplayer open-world action game will introduce an original story set in the DC Universe and allow players to become Diana of Themyscira in the fight to unite her Amazon family and the humans from the modern world. Powered by the Nemesis System, gamers will forge deep connections with both enemies and allies as they progress from a heroic fighter into a proven leader.”
That Nemesis System, that interests me. In Monolith’s Middle-Earth games, Nemesis turned minibosses into dynamic characters who could develop fears and hatreds as they battled you across the hours. And while you were busy murdering, they were also doing their own thing, jostling and climbing the ranks of orc leadership.
“It’s a game that genuinely makes me feel like a character in a world that hasn’t been constructed as a set for my performance,” Adam wrote about Shadow Of War in 2017. “The orcs have enough personality, and the writing is witty enough, that I believe in them as independent entities.”
It really does elevate the series with personality and charm it otherwise lacks. And that’s why I am surprised to find myself quite interested in a Wonder Woman game. Curious to see how they’ll apply it to allies, too.
No word yet on a release date nor platforms, which would suggest Wonder Woman is a fair way away. It doesn’t even have a website yet.
We’re staying up late to cover the PC gaming news coming out of tonight’s marketing extravaganza: hit our The Game Awards tag for everything.