In recent years, the game development process has become much more transparent as “auteur” directors are pften no longer the only well-known members of a game’s production team. Writers, programmers, localizers, narrative directors, QA testers, voice actors, and many other roles have became a lot more visible. As such, it’s not surprising that fans are excited about the recent lead writer announcement forMarvel’s Wolverine.
Not only is the game appealing to a huge fandom around the character, it’s also leaning on the acclaim of films likeLoganwhich portrayed a darker, more violent Weapon X.Wolverine’s lead writer is Walt D. Williams, who has a very particular pedigree within the games industry. While his work as a narrative designer on certain games is important, his time as a script designer and a full-fledged author could also prove to be positive for the upcoming title.
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Apparently,Wolverineis going for a distinctly dark tone, similar toLogan.Recent AAA games likeThe Last of Us 2bring cycles of violence to the forefront, and considering the legacy of Wolverine as a character, it is likely his new game will do the same. Williams' time on games likeSpec Ops: The Linecould point to a fascinating angle for one of Marvel’s grittiest and most dynamic characters. However, his experience with a variety of different properties, includingFamily Guy, hopefully means some of Logan’s humor will still shine through.
How Marvel’s Wolverine and Spec Ops: The Line Link
Spec Ops: The Linelaunched in 2012 and turned a lot of heads. While on the face of it, the game looked to be a standard third-person military shooter, it brought a narrative turn in the last few acts that really caused a stir. This generic gameplay disguising the game’s unique narrative might have worked too well however, as it received a lot of criticism at launch for lackluster third-person combat. This also reflected in the game’s sales.
Despite its retroactive influence and cult following, the game was a commercial failure, effectively ending possible futureSpec Opsgames. Although not remembered as one of thebest tactical military shooters ever made,Spec Ops: The Lineinspired a wider conversation around violence in both gaming and war itself. Players are given a lot of naturalistic agency in the game, so they could make a lot of moral choices without being tied to an overarching morality system.
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Rather than condemn player choices with prescriptive morality mechanics,Spec Ops: The Linelets these decisions sink in during reflective moments between the protagonist and their squadron. All told,Spec Ops: The Lineplays like Joseph Conrad’sHeart of Darknesstransposed onto Dubai. In many ways,Logandid for the entireWolverinefranchise whatSpec Opsdid for the military shooter genre, so seeing a writing team led by Williams could takethe newWolverinegamein a similar direction, which would be exciting and not entirely surprising.
How Williams' Other Work Could Impact Wolverine
Williams is not only an important writer fromSpec Ops: The Line, he has also worked on successfulgames likeBioShock, and was as a script designer on theFamily Guyvideo game in 2006. This was a strange action-adventure title chock full of the franchise’s trademark crass humor.
Obviously, working as a script designer onFamily GuyandwritingSpec Opsare two very different beasts. However, what the dichotomy shows is a flexibility that will hopefully show up in theWolverinegame. DespiteLogan’s dour depiction of its titular protagonist, he has a great sense of dry humor in the comics that will hopefully carry over intoWolverine.
In 2017, Williams releasedSignificant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games.In spite of its long title, the book is snappy, providing an incisive perspective of the games industry alongside thoughtful critique of games as art. In the book, Williams touches heavily on the topic ofviolence in video games. This theme haunts an awful lot of wider public discourse around gaming, so seeing a writer picking that apart from the inside is fascinating.
The way Williams describes the narrative choices made inSpec Ops: The Lineshows an understanding of how and why violence can make or break an experience. He heavily criticizes theCall of Dutymission No Russian, which features a terrorist massacre in Russia, when talking about whySpec Opstook such care with the way violence impacted its story. Movies likeX-Men Origins: Wolverinefailed due to a fundamental misunderstanding of Wolverine’s violence as a character choice. As such, having a lead writer who understands the implications of violence on narrative means the upcoming game is hopefully in safe hands.
Marvel’s Wolverineis in development for PS5.
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