Guardians of The Galaxy: Loss Brings us Together

 Guardians of The Galaxy: Loss Brings us Together

    Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe many people have become publicly aware of some very niche and unknown characters, a perfect example of this effect is The Guardians of The Galaxy. The title of The Guardians in their original comic books have been passed down from group to group with members changing out very commonly. However, due to the MCU the team that has become the most famous is Human Peter Quill A.K.A Star-Lord, the Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, and of course Rocket Raccoon and his best friend Groot the Flora Colossus, yes a giant tree man. 

    On paper, this should not work, none of this should work and connect with audiences, but it did! Since then this rag-tag team has become a fan favorite, and possibly one of my favorite things to come out of their new found popularity is their video game released in 2021 developed by Eidos Montreal, simply titled "Marvel's Guardians of The Galaxy"

    The gameplay for this game is absolutely fantastic as a third person shooter where you play as the leader of this team and command them during combat with special abilities, emphasizing the leadership aspect during gameplay with the "huddle up" mechanic, where you have to give a speech to your team based on the situation, saying the right words will boost everyones damage and health, also plays some of the amazing soundtrack through peter's tape player. However, the aspect I really wish to talk on about this game is the dialogue, story, and messages.

Loss Effects Us All

    Everyone has a past. We've all lost someone whether figuratively or literally, and Guardian's vocalizes this within its story. Everyone on the team is dealing with a terrible grief and loss of some kind, Peter Quill lost his mother at a young age, Gamora lost her sister, Drax lost his wife and daugther, Rocket lost the others of his kind during experimentation, and Groot lost his entire planet. Everyone on the team is suffering in some form and this affects their team chemistry, the game begins with them butting heads and arguing. However, you as the player controlling Peter Quill has the option to have conversations with all on your team, and as the game continues these conversations begin to sort through their mental and emotional issues, an entire chapter of the game is about descending into Drax's mind and helping him solve out the depression that the enemy is preying on. Through this the team continually gets more close with each other, starting the game at each other's throats and then ending the game with them openly admitting their family-like love for each other. Family is not always blood, it is who you choose to be around and Guardians echos this theme at it's very core.

The Untrustworthy Promise

    Every good super hero story needs a good villain. While one can argue the enemy of this game is Grand Unifier Raker and the Church of Truth, however they are really just puppets for the true villain. A cosmic entity simply known as Magus. Magus wants something simple, complete control of the galaxy, however the way in which Magus goes about this is what separates it from other villains. Magus gets into your own psychologic thoughts and preys on your past loss, giving you a "promise" that Magus can reunite you with them and bring them back, however they cannot, they can only give you an illusion that they are there, comparable to a dream.

    Magus gets ahold of a young girl named Nikki, the daughter of a previous lover of Peter Quill and may or may not be Peter's own daughter. Magus plans to use Nikki's loss of her mother Ko'Rel to sell her the promise and use her as a personal vessel to begin a galaxy wide infection. It is now up to the Guardians to not only stop Magus, but to help Nikki heal from her emotional grief that is allowing Magus to prey on her.

Come Together

    While Marvel's Guardians of The Galaxy does tackle some dark topics conceptually, it always does so with a hint of humor but never at moments that bring down the emotional impact, and it is always quick to remind you that in these dark moments in life you have those around you to confide in and rely on. At any moment when the dark past of one of the team members is brought up, not long after the player is confronted with dialogue options and gives you the option to comfort your team mate, as well as some more scripted moments without choice. Family is just as strong of a theme in this game as loss is, although all of these misfits have essentially lost their family's, they find a new one with each other, and you see this relationship develop as the game continues.