EA’s upcoming Black Panther game sounds like it will be an open world title, based on a recently posted job listing.
Right now, we know pretty much nothing about EA and Cliffhanger Games’ Black Panther game. We know that it exists, that Cliffhanger Games is a new team led by Kevin Stephens, the former studio head at Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions, and that it has nothing to do with the Captain America and Black Panther game set in the 40s’. But as spotted by VGC, a recent job listing for a principal sandbox designer at Cliffhanger Games appears to be suggesting that it will be an open world game.
“Reporting to the Design Manager, the Sr. Technical Designer Sandbox will be instrumental in designing and populating encounters, systems, and gameplay within a dynamic and evolving open world,” reads the listing’s description of the job role. It goes on to note that a successful candidates responsibilities would include needing to “design, prototype, and implement AI systems, encounters, and gameplay mechanics that contribute to a rich, sandbox environment,” and that they would “work closely with the AI engineering team to create sophisticated AI behaviours that enhance the open-world experience, from urban crowds to wildlife ecosystems.”
This isn’t exactly that surprising, the open world format is a pretty common one for big, AAA games after all. It also doesn’t tell us all that much about how the game will actually play, though you can presume it will be somewhat action-oriented given Black Panther’s abilities.
Last month, Skydance New Media finally gave a proper look at its Marvel game, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, which features both Captain America and an earlier incarnation of Black Panther. No gameplay has been shown off yet, though it did set up some of the game’s story, and you can see its impressive-if-uncanny facial capture work too.