Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Amy Hennig’s Captain America/Black Panther game, is reportedly close to being finished, but it could be extremely compromised.
According to a new report from Kotaku, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is “close to done.” The news comes hours after rumors began spread online that the game was canceled, with an official announcement coming soon. According to Kotaku and Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Skydancer leadership told staff via Slack that this is not the case and that they should continue business as usual.
Kotaku’s report went on to describe the game’s development as difficult, which should come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following its journey. The title was announced in 2024 and has been delayed several times, with little to no news or footage beyond that.
Kotaku claims that Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra initially began as a Netflix game, but was later expanded for consoles and PC. Unfortunately, the title is reportedly “light on gameplay,” with most of the action mapped to one button and the experience lacking “significant interactivity.”
The project has also allegedly gone well over budget, and as a result, has had to “significantly” scale back from its original vision in terms of content and length. As of right now, we have no idea when Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra will release, but if it really is nearing the finish line, we could see something next year. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the game will be a hyper-engaging action/adventure title with riveting action, from the sound of it.
This is purely speculative, but based on the details from Kotaku’s report, it wouldn’t be surprising if this is more along the lines of a Quantic Dream experience like Heavy Rain or Detroit: Become Human, with some combat sprinkled in. Either way, if fans were hoping for something like Marvel’s Spider-Man, but with Captain America and Black Panther, they may end up pretty disappointed.
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra is meant to be director Amy Hennig’s first proper game since Uncharted 3 in 2011. Although she has consulted and helped out on some other games like Forspoken over the years, Hennig hasn’t led a new game since Uncharted 3. She was reportedly ousted from Naughty Dog in the early 2010s after Uncharted 4 was struggling to meet internal expectations. She then went to EA, where she was meant to lead a new Star Wars game with Visceral Games, but the studio was shut down and the project was scrapped. Now, she’s heading up this Marvel game… and we’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
