In July of last year, French publisher Nacon hosted its Nacon Connect conference. The annual event lets spectators and gamers look at upcoming games through trailers, as well as learn about gameplay and environment artwork. At the 2021 event, RoboCop: Rogue City, the latest video game based on the original RoboCop film trilogy, was one of the most talked-about reveals.
In fact, people are still talking about the upcoming game, even though Polish video game developer Teyon has no plans to release the first-person shooter game on PC and console until 2023. So what’s behind the hype? Why do people seem more excited about this game than, say, German studio Hekate’s new survival horror game Ad Infinitum, also teased at the conference last year? In this article, we aim to find out.
A Brief History On RoboCop
In the decades since the first film came out in 1987, RoboCop has been regarded as one of the best action franchises of all time. The first movie is up there with Escape From New York and Blade Runner, a film that, interestingly, screenwriter Edward Neumeier was working on when he first created the idea of RoboCop. The truth is that the RoboCop franchise has everything action aficionados want: dark humor, violence, a high-octane protagonist, and bad guys who are evil just for the sake of it.
These characteristics are why RoboCop has been so easily translated to video games like RoboCop Versus The Terminator (1993), as action gamers want all of these things too. Yet, when it comes to the upcoming RoboCop: Rogue City, the hype isn’t just because gamers are getting another gritty game based on Alex Murphy, a cyborg law enforcer. Instead, it’s because Teyon is taking this iconic character and giving him a brand new story, which, if successful, is something that could help RoboCop’s reputation live on within the modern gaming generation.
A New Take On RoboCop
According to Teyon, RoboCop: Rogue City will feature a brand-new story depicting the future of law enforcement. While we’re still expected to get the intense action the franchise is known for, we will see Alex Murphy in a new light in the upcoming game. For the gaming world, that’s exciting — even the legends need a new spin every once in a while to entice modern generations and keep franchises relevant for years to come. That tends to be why we see so many spin-off games released.
It’s also not the first time something like this has happened with the RoboCop franchise. As briefly mentioned, one of the best RoboCop-based games was the 1993 RoboCop Versus The Terminator. This video game took two iconic characters from different worlds and pinned them against each other. It was new and exciting and made RoboCop a mainstream story again even after the franchise had released its third and final entry.
Other Entertainment Mediums Have Spun RoboCop
Other forms of mainstream media have also helped reignite the entertainment world’s interest in RoboCop while introducing it to generations that previously had never heard of the cybernetically-enhanced police officer. For example, RoboCop appears as an avatar in Steven Spielberg’s 2019 film Ready Player One while also acting as one of the three new playable characters in the 2020 video game Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath.
Likewise, Kingdom Casino, which, according to this review site, is one of the best free spins casinos in Canada, also has a RoboCop slot game. Of course, that’s not surprising since the online casino sector is famous for its branded slot games. Branded games provide modern and new audiences with the chance to play games with themes from popular movies and shows from the past while rewarding existing players who are familiar with these games and stories with promotions like free spins to entice them to play.
It’s hardly a surprise that RoboCop is making a return to our screens. It’s one of the world’s most beloved action franchises, though that doesn’t mean modern generations know it. That’s likely why game supplier Teyon has decided to release the game with a new story to entice old fans and the modern gaming audience. Doing so will hopefully allow RoboCop to live on for another 30 years.
