Cory Barlog, the director of God of War, recently made an appearance at PAX West. Barlog was a panellist on a panel called “The Quest for the Perfect Superman Game,” and discussed his ideas for a possible title. The pitch presented Superman as a young Clark Kent learning about his powers, rather than the fully-fledged superhero.
Cory Barlog’s Pitch for a New Superman Game
Barlog featured on the panel alongside Jared Petty, Greg Miller, Kat Bailey, Gary Whitta, and Sydnee Goodman. The panel discussed the history of Superman in video games, and how such a game could be made. The pitches made by panellists were, of course, purely ideas. None of the panellists are actually involved with any plans to make a Superman game. The comments made by Barlog were reported on by Game Informer.
Barlog pointed to the television series Smallville as inspiration, as well as the game series Persona; “Young Clark Kent,” started Barlog; “you have to go to school but you also are also uncovering that you’re the greatest American hero with your powers and it’s a sort of awkward coming of age idea that you have to balance. Literally you’re taking tests and dealing with the social construct of high school while also figuring out what does it mean to have these powers? It’s totally Persona and I thought that’s a little derivative so, I won’t do that.”
Barlog also said how Superman is a difficult character to work with; “Superman was created at a time when we needed some idealistic, perfect person to aspire to, which is why he is so flawless. Like, literally, he almost has no flaws. And he’s extremely hard to work with when you’re talking at an interactive level”. He suggests using pressure to affect the character’s psychology; by increasing the amount that people rely on Superman, he eventually comes to realise that he cannot save everyone. The weight of all the people who couldn’t save would start to have an effect on him. As a result, he would have to find a way to change the world rather than simply reacting to problems.