New John Wick Game Looks Cool, But One Missing Feature Is A Huge Letdown

The newly announced, still-untitled John Wick game revealed during PlayStation’s State of Play in February left little to the imagination about what its gameplay will be like. It’s a bit alarming that it has taken longer than 12 years for a John Wick game to be made that is a straightforward, cinematic adaptation of the franchise’s signature melee combat and gunplay, but it’s fantastic that it’s arriving in the future nonetheless. The studio that is developing it, however, is fairly surprising.

The gameplay at the tail-end of this John Wick game’s reveal trailer is everything gamers could ever want from a John Wick game. That said, while Saber is certainly a competent developer/publisher and is known for adapting licensed, cinematic IPs—Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is looking fantastic, for example, and Saber has taken the reins of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake—it's unfortunate that a John Wick game isn’t being offered as a layup to Sifu’s Sloclap.

John Wick Is Finally Getting The Game Fans Want

John Wick has had a phenomenal theatrical run thus far via John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, John Wick: Chapter 4, and From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. Still, the franchise is criminally untapped in the realm of video games, where it should realistically thrive.

John Wick has a VR game, John Wick Chronicles, and a tactical RPG, John Wick Hex, as well as copious skins and inspired content in other, unrelated games, such as Fortnite and Payday 2. However, it has somehow never received a single-player, AAA action game until now, with Saber and Lionsgate finally rectifying that.

Narratives aside, every John Wick movie boils down to several set-piece action sequences, and this same formula can make AAA action gameplay thrilling in Saber’s John Wick game. It might as well be an adaptation of the movies in this way, though it’s doubly exciting that it will explore an untold story within the John Wick universe and help to flesh out the timeline further beyond the four movies Keanu Reeves has starred in.

No story details were shared in the trailer, which likely matches fans' basic expectations and priorities for the game. Few fans are likely to go to see a John Wick movie in the theater because they are adamant about seeing an airtight, elaborate story. If there is ever going to be a John Wick: Chapter 5 in the works, fans probably wouldn’t mind any conceivable excuse the movie has for how it chooses to revive the character.

It Looks Like Sifu, But Isn’t Made By Sloclap

The only thing that is remotely disappointing about Saber’s John Wick game is that it is not being developed by Sloclap, the studio that made Sifu. One of the most fascinating action games of 2022, Sifu is highly impressive due to an intricate and thoughtful melee combat system, paired with a neat approach to ‘death,’ where the player character ages rapidly.

Sifu wears quite a few cinematic action influences on its sleeve, such as Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy and Netflix’s Daredevil. In particular, though, Sifu’s Club level seems to be heavily inspired by John Wick, minus the use of guns and bulletproof suit jackets.

Funnily enough, modders have made many efforts to reskin Sifu as a John Wick game, with its protagonist gaining Keanu Reeves’ likeness while battling waves of enemies. If any studio seemed like an obvious layup to be handed a licensed John Wick adaptation on a silver platter, it was Sloclap.

Consequently, the revelation of Saber developing this untitled John Wick game may come as a complete shock. Saber isn't inherently incapable of producing a decent John Wick game, but Sloclap essentially had the best possible template for a John Wick game, so it’s surprising not to see its name revealed at the end of the trailer.

Sloclap launched Rematch last year, bu going back to stylish action games at some point in the future certainly wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Another brand-new IP like Sifu could be terrific, to be fair, but it will always be a shame that we did not get Sloclap’s take on John Wick.

Saber’s John Wick Will Have High Expectations

Gameplay in Saber’s John Wick game will endlessly be compared to Sifu, for better or worse. Simply put, the hand-to-hand or improvisational and environmental combat in John Wick is absurdly comparable to the combat in Sifu, down to creative parry counter animations and sparse items hurled at foes.

A Sloclap John Wick game might have been instantaneously accepted by fans as the most logical evolution of the developer’s action niche, and it could have been fantastic to see how Sifu’s gameplay would have implemented gunplay. Of course, while gunplay should certainly be emphasized in a third-person, single-player John Wick action game, the brief snippets of gameplay we’ve seen so far demonstrate that there will be a focus on satisfying finisher animations.

If gunplay does not have that big of a role in Saber’s John Wick after all, it will be even more excruciating that it is not Sloclap developing it, as gratifying close-quarters combat with directional-input dodges and counters are basically Sifu’s bread and butter. As such, Saber has a long way to go now to prove that it is up to the task of making a John Wick game as electric and fun as Sloclap could.

If nothing else, it's great that we are finally getting a cinematic AAA John Wick game. It's arguably not the most ideal time for a game like that, since John Wick movies have dried up lately, and it is unknown if there will be a fifth movie starring Keanu Reeves in the franchise anytime soon.

Rather, perhaps this game is launching at the perfect time with that well being so dry theatrically. Only time will tell whether fans are truly in the mood for a proper John Wick game whenever it is released, as well as if Saber can make this John Wick game as incredible as Sloclap presumably would have.