DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos preview

DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos comes out next month through Outright Games, offering a family-friendly adventure through the DC universe. We took a closer look with the developers of the game.

What we know

Last year, Outright Games teased that they were doing a DC Justice League game, and that turned out to be DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos. The game’s been under development at PHL Collective in Philadelphia and is now nearing completion – it’s due out for release on March 10th.

Scheduled for all major platforms, the game is an open world action adventure in which you play as Batman, Wonderwoman and Superman, alternating between these three popular characters in a story-driven quest to stop Mr. Mxyzptlk, the main antagonist in this game. He’s not the only foe you’ll face though, as we already saw Starro the Conqueror and the full game will feature many more villains from the DC universe.

You can switch between the three main heroes during the game, making use of their unique powers to fight and complete objectives, with major differences in how they handle in combat and traversal – with unlockables adding more to your arsenal as you progress. At certain times, you can also get help from other (non-playable) Justice League members. The game takes place in Happy Harbor, which isn’t just the home of the Justice League but also where you can free roam with another player in co-op mode – though the campaign itself is a solo affair.

What we saw

We saw a live narrated playthrough by the developer, going through the early stages of the game. Afterwards, we were able to go hands on with the game ourselves, during a Q&A session with the developer – after which we played a pre-release build a little more for the purpose of this preview.

What we thought

What immediately stands out when playing DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos is how rich the storytelling element is in this game – especially compared to other family-friendly titles. Not only was there a lengthy animated cutscene to set things up, there’s also tons of in-game banter between the characters to make the story feel like an integral part of the gameplay.

What also helps is that Outright and PHL have hired a top cast of voice actors for this game, including Nolan North and Troy Baker, whom many will remember for their roles as Nathan and Sam Drake in the Uncharted series, as well as countless other high profile games. Khary Payton also reprises his role as Cyborg, and you’ll hear the voice of James Arnold Taylor in the game – whom you’ll recognize as the voice of Ratchet.

There’s also tons of fan service in the game for longtime DC fans, which will no doubt make this a fun game to watch when a younger player is playing. At the same time, the game’s designed as an entry point for the DC Universe, with cute kid-friendly depictions of all the heroes and villains and plenty of handholding to guide you towards your next objective as they meet the extensive cast of characters.

One thing that’s a shame is that the story campaign doesn’t include co-op support. DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos feels like it could be a great set up towards games like the LEGO adaptations of the DC universe – though those were built from the ground up for co-op and it’s too bad that co-op is limited to free roaming the map outside of the campaign. That campaign itself looks like it’ll be a blast though, so we can’t wait for the full game to arrive.