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‘Drawn to Death’ studio was prototyping an Iron Man game for PlayStation VR

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Drawn to Death - Behind the Notebook | PS4

Following the release of the fairly dreadful multiplayer shooter Drawn to Death, David Jaffe’s game studio The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency closed its doors. That’s a real shame, considering the studio was prototyping a PlayStation VR Iron Man game.

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Jaffe revealed revealed details of the game on his Twitter account, including voice recognition between the player and Tony Stark’s JARVIS system. It would have taken place from a first-person perspective, allowing Stark to fire blasts from his hands in a simlar manner to the recent PlayStation VR game Megaton Rainfall.

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Additionally, the studio had plans for a second-screen experience it called “Marvel Teamup,” which would allow another player to take control of different characters such as War Machine, Captain America, or a SHIELD agent.

The game hadn’t been approved by Marvel yet — in fact, the company didn’t even know it was being worked on — but it looks like it would have been a great use of PlayStation VR technology to deliver something only possible in virtual reality.

We have seen superheroes on PlayStation VR in the past, but they’ve been pretty limited. Batman: Arkham VR launched alongside the headset back in 2016, but it was limited to just a few hours of play and focused primarily on detective work and puzzles.

Drawn to Death attempted to change up the multiplayer shooter genre with longer “time to death,” meaning players would be able to move about the paper-filled levels without immediately getting killed. It was an interesting idea, but the game also mixed in mean-spirited internet humor that reminded us of the dark and seedy forums we actively avoid. It didn’t help that the shooting felt weightless and the progression system failed to incentivize continued play — still, it was a free PlayStation Plus game last April, so there is a good chance you already have a copy on your PlayStation 4.

Prior to his work at Bartlet Jones, David Jaffe was the director of the Twisted Metal series, as well as the original God of War. That series’ soft reboot releases exclusively for PlayStation 4 on April 20, and ditches the zoomed-out camera perspective of the first four games.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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