Some rumors have emerged on what is going on with Cliffhanger Games’ Black Panther video game.
EA announced they started the game in 2023. They also founded Cliffhanger just to make Black Panther, led by Kevin Stephens. Stephens was originally director of engineering at Monolith Productions, who were themselves famous for coming up with the Nemesis system in the Shadow Of Mordor video games.
Outside of that, we know very little about Black Panther, which is the kind of environment that creates demand for rumors and leaks. Thus far, EA has only confirmed that they were still making the game this year. They then claimed last September that Black Panther was using some sort of ‘all-new technology,’ without elaborating. We don’t expect to hear more from EA about Black Panther until their next financial meeting, but with all that, we can consider these rumors.
TheGhostOfHope shared these snippets on Twitter:
“- You choose the next Black Panther
– Includes characters like T’Challa, M’Baku, Azari, Shuri, Killmonger + more
– Intends to replicate authentic African Martial Arts mixed with Superhuman strength/agility + tech
– Over the Shoulder POV
– Weapons, armor & gadgets are unique to each Black Panther
– Explore cities, savannahs & more that let you encounter unique cultures + characters
– Story reacts to your choices & actions with unique stories, missions & dynamics.”
These details certainly create an image of Black Panther that we can understand and relate to. It all also sounds in line with what fans saw in the 2018 MCU Black Panther film, directed by Ryan Coogler and starring the late Chadwick Boseman. It does make one wonder, did EA and Marvel Games conceive of this as an official or unofficial adaptation of that movie?
While it’s certainly possible, it could all also happen to be a coincidence. After all, most of these characters were in the movie, but also in the comics, and one of them is new. Azari is actually the son of comic book Black Panther and Storm, introduced last August 2024 in the Aliens Vs. Avengers comic book miniseries. And yes, in these comics, Earth’s mightiest heroes faced a Xenomorph invasion.
Outside of that, an action game with a dynamically changing story certainly sounds a lot like Fable. One wonders if Cliffhanger Games’ Kevin Stephens, who would of course not be allowed to use Monolith’s Nemesis system, came up with some new gameplay system to enable what is rumored here.
It all certainly sounds exciting, but since these are all still rumors, we should definitely take all of it with a pinch of salt.
