After 22 Years, X-Men Legends Needs to Be Revived and Marvel Has the Perfect Opportunity to Pull It Off

The X-Men are an ideal source of inspiration for video game developers. While the inherent power fantasy that comes with the superhero genre works as a natural space for action and adventure games, the distinct power sets and personalities of Marvel’s mutants make them a perfect fit for a game. While games like Marvel’s Wolverine underscore that reality, titles with a broader focus also do a great job of showcasing the larger potential of the brand.

Take X-Men Legends, which debuted 22 years ago across multiple platforms. The dungeon-crawling action game from Raven Software was a great deep-dive into the history of Marvel’s mutants that balanced tight gameplay with an expansive showcase of the universe. It was a great game that is long overdue for a modern revival, especially with the X-Men increasingly stepping back into the spotlight.

X-Men Legends Was So Good, It Spawned Its Own Marvel Universe

X-Men Legends was one of those game series that actually took full advantage of the scope of superhero universes and is in desperate need of a new entry. The game, which is a one- to four-player dungeon crawler, introduced players to a version of the Marvel Universe through the eyes of average teenager Alison Crestmere. A reimagined version of Magma, the newly awakened mutant becomes the target of multiple factions in the universe but is rescued and subsequently trained in her volcanic powers by the X-Men. While the overarching plot focuses on the X-Men’s battles with Magneto’s Brotherhood, the game also sends players into battles against the Shadow King for the soul of Illyana Rasputina, battles against the Sentinels, confrontations with the Morlocks, and missions into the depths of Weapon X.

The console games had a roster of fourteen playable characters (15 if you include Professor X, who is playable during a mission into the Astral Plane), with each one having their own unique abilities and powers that could be combined into massive combo moves. The Xavier Mansion of X-Men Legends felt like a real space to explore,  with a larger cast and veritable database of comics lore baked into the NPC interactions. This scope also ensured the agencies felt larger than life, given the sheer gravitas and scale they brought to battles. Fighting Sentinels have always been a common trope in X-Men games, but X-Men Legends made you feel the struggle to bring them down, the horror of their presence, and the triumph of coming out on top.

While the gameplay was a simplified dungeon crawler refined through a vibrant IP filter, the presentation and execution make that adaptation come alive. The success of X-Men Legends spawned a direct sequel and eventually a broader approach to the surrounding universe in the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance. It was a formula that worked and proved that it could adapt deep-cut comic stories while keeping an eye on the characters and aesthetics that are landing in other media.  

X-Men Legends Could Be A Killer Crossover Game For Disney And Marvel

The X-Men have been going through something of a cultural resurgence in recent years. Although Marvel’s mutants went through a rough patch of being downplayed in the comics and in adaptations, Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox laid the groundwork for mutants to come into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and for revivals of popular adaptations like the animated series. X-Men ’97‘s massive success underscores just how big the property is and how important it can be to Disney, especially in light of the huge response to Disney confirming the cast for the next version of the X-Men. A new X-Men Legends game would be an ideal way to build off of that momentum and bring back a successful series, especially as Marvel and Disney are trying to make more inroads within the world of gaming.

A new X-Men Legends could be used to explore the greater depth of the mutant history, bring in plenty of new villains to test out before bringing them into other media, and showcase the staggering number of supporting characters and minor mutants that flesh out the world. There are plenty of eras the game could pull from for inspiration, especially the recent Krakoa Age. The modern scope of game development would make it easy for the teams working behind the scenes to introduce new missions or characters through DLC or even live-service updates. This could be a good way for Marvel to lean into a multiplayer experience that’s easy to translate into cross-play, letting players pick their favorite mutants for missions together. They could even introduce a character creation mode to let players bring their own perspective into the universe, speaking to one of the underlying potential ways the X-Men brand could become a fresh avenue for Disney to make lifelong fans who see themselves in these worlds. X-Men Legends could be an ideal game for Marvel’s future, especially as a means of getting gamers excited for the coming return of the mutants to the big screen.