Hot on the heels of the announcement trailer for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, we've got a behind-the-scenes breakdown of the upcoming outer-space adventure title to share with you. Square Enix and Eidos-Montreal were kind enough to give us a sneak peek, including gameplay footage; an explanation of the story, characters, and mechanics from the Devs; and a Q&A from the team to hit the high points. (We'll have our own Q&A coming soon, so stay tuned for questions that dig a little deeper.) So if you want to go into Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy as cold as ice when it hits PC, and PlayStation and Xbox consoles this October 26th, you might want to peace out right now.

If you're still here, awesome. We're going to get into all things Guardians of the Galaxy, including this version's inspiration for the title team and their designs for the game. That's the first and most obvious thing here, but it bears repeating: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy takes inspiration from the comics, so don't expect your favorite characters from the live-action MCU to have their faces or voices appear here. Square Enix is taking a similar approach to their Marvel's Avengers treatment of the title team in that they are their own thing, but, the big deviation is the fact that Guardians of the Galaxy will be a single-player, standalone, story-driven campaign with limited branching narratives guided by the player's decisions. And that's where we'll start breaking this beast down a bit more.

RELATED: 'Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy' Game to Bring Star-Lord & Co. to Consoles and PC This Fall

Get an inside look at Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy with the development team at Eidos-Montréal, their creative collaborator Bill Rosemann (VP, Creative at Marvel Games) and a special guest: award-winning comic book artist Dan Abnett.

Fire up Star-Lord’s jet boots for a wild ride across the cosmos in this third-person action-adventure game, a fresh take on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. With the unpredictable Guardians at your side, blast your way from one explosive situation to another, with original and iconic Marvel characters caught in a struggle for the fate of the universe. You got this. Probably.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is coming October 26, 2021 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Story & Characters

While the story here will be an original one, it'll also be a fully formed, beginning-to-end narrative that's free of DLC and microtransactions. That means that what you'll pay for is exactly what you'll get; no more, no less. You won't have to "make your own story" and you won't have to wait for seasonal content or future DLCs to get to experience the story arc. It'll all be right there for you this October. And here's what it will entail:

The game's story takes place several years acter a major galactic war. The Guardians of the Galaxy, led by Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord, are a team of would-be heroes for hire attempting to make a quick buck while adventuring throughout space. A silly bet leads to "a very small accident" that snowballs into a chain of potentially cataclysmic events that will ultimately destroy the galaxy if the ones who caused it don't put a stop to it. Pretty standard day for the Guardians of the Galaxy, really. At some point, they'll be the last line of defense against a mysterious order who is out to exterminate anyone who doesn't comply with their convictions... Stay tuned for more on what that means.

And while we wait to hear more about the villains of the piece, it's worth mentioning here that, yes, you'll be playing as Star-Lord throughout the game. That's it, just Star-Lord, not the whole title team the game is named after. Why? Because the Devs wanted players to experience playing as the "heart of the team" and human part of the team, making him easier to identify with. He's also the leader, which more easily allows players to explore all the relationships and conflicts among the team. And with good reason.

Your time as Star-Lord will feature interactions with team members in exploration or combat, you'll be able to direct your team while fighting, and can even use morale boosts in order to manage social interactions and cheer them on in combat. As Peter Quill, you're part of every single conversation and decision. That also means that, when the choice comes down to you, dear leader, whatever you pick will actually have consequences. Some characters will get furious with you if you, say, have another team member throw them across a chasm or threaten to kill them... or sell them to the highest bidder.

Other than Star-Lord, whose design is based on all things 80s since that was Peter's childhood, you'll be directing team members Gamora (a "badass" by design, decked out in full tactical body armor), Drax with his signature body markings which tell his unique life story, and Rocket and Groot, the dynamic duo whose design shares parts of each other's aesthetic, like Groot's harness that lets Rocket ride around more easily, and Rocket's goatee braid which sports a little Groot face. But the game also features plenty of Marvel Easter eggs that range from the obvious to the obscure, including Mantis, Lady Hellbender on Seknarf Nine, namedrops for Maklu IV and Halfworld, and maybe even a nod to the Dweller-in-Darkness. Who knows, there might even be a gelatinous cube or two in the mix. (Oh and there's a blue llama in the game, too. Don't worry about it, it's by design. Probably.)

Gameplay

Story and characters are all well and good, but how does the game actually play? Well, you got a glimpse of it in the recently released trailer and the presentation from Marvel, Square Enix, and Eidos-Montreal, but we'll break it down a little further.

Honestly, the biggest selling point for yours truly was the team banter found throughout the gameplay we were able to watch. Each member of the Guardians had their own strong personality and quirks; if you've watched the MCU movies or the animated series, or just read the comics, you know exactly what I'm talking about. That banter and the relationships among the team members works really well here, but if it's not your kind of humor, it might wear out its welcome quite quickly. Thankfully, it worked for me; there were some laugh-out-loud moments both back at base and in the field, either exploring or fighting creatures and supervillains.

Before we get into the combat, it's worth mentioning that the conversations are just as much a part of the gameplay. Big decisions and choices await you as the leader of the Gardeners Guardians of the Galaxy. While the beginning and end of the game's story will stay the same, there seems to be a lot of variation within the meat of the story itself, depending on how you answer some rather loaded questions. So expect multiple playthroughs if you want to see what happens should you stick to your guns or double-back on a decision you made earlier in the game. How much of a branching narrative there is remains to be seen, but it should make for some fun, funny, and rather fraught moments throughout the game.

Okay, about that combat. The Guardians' banter continues throughout the fights, of course, and that's a big part of the fun. You'll blast away with your elementally powered guns and other gadgets as Star-Lord, but you're also the team leader here. You'll need to boost your teammates' morale and call on them for special attacks, like Drax jumping on the back of a monstrous beast or Rocket rolling out the most comically large gun we've ever seen. When things get really dire, you can do a team attack by calling out "Huddle up!", which plays out to the musical stylings of various 80s hits. The Devs team has a "killer licensed soundtrack from the 80s" featuring Kiss, Iron Maiden, Wham!, Blondie, Pat Benatar and more. (Whether those tracks are streamer-friendly or DMCA-free remains to be seen.)

Overall, the combat snippets we saw look fun, though the team dynamics, one-liners, and weird story twists proved to be the scene-stealers so far. Oh, and the pre-order bonuses for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy include group throwback costumes, as well as special Star-Lord costume variants dubbed Sun-Lord and City-Lord. Looks like a ton of fun so stay tuned to see what else we learn over the next few months.

KEEP READING: How the MCU Was Made: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' and Crafting a Father-Son Story