Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy release date confirmed - you’ll be playing as Star-Lord in October

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy release date has been announced at the Square Enix E3 2021 showcase. 

The game was announced with a launch date of October 26, 2021 for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5, PC, PS4, and Xbox One. 

In development at Eidos Montreal, the game will see you play as Star-Lord, leading the Guardians who are the bickering loveable bunch you imagine them to be, with one stand-out moment seeing them be referred to as the 'Gardeners of the Galaxy" 

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a third-person, purely single-player narrative adventure, with a focus on dialogue options and choices, both in the story and within combat. As the leader of the Guardians, Star-Lord will have to make a lot of decisions as to how to deal with various situations, which may cause friction between the Guardians. 

As we saw from a gameplay video, in battle you'll be able to command the Guardians, choosing one of their specific movesets to unleash on enemies. It seems like some enemies will need to be dealt stagger damage before they can be taken down.  

But, along with Star-Lord's own combat abilities - including elemental blasters and jet boots - he can also use a music boost for the Guardians for the remainder of the fight. Simply put, fighting along to Joan Jett's Bad Reputation and Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero should be a compulsory part of any game.  

We also found out from a developer's video also released during the show that it is also not connected to the MCU or the comics, and will be an original story.  Pre-orders of the game will also come with a throwback DLC costume pack as well. If you're anything like us, you'll be getting to hold onto the feeling of saving the galaxy this October. Um, if they all get along that is.  

For more information on games announced at E3 2021, head to our hub, or our round-up of the most exciting new games for 2021 and beyond.

Ben Tyrer
Contributor

Ben Tyrer is a freelance games journalist with over ten years experience of writing about games. After graduating from Bournemouth University with a degree in multimedia journalism he's worked for Official PlayStation Magazine as a staff writer and games editor, as well as 12DOVE (hey, that's this website!) as a news editor. He's also contributed to Official Xbox Magazine, Edge, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, PC Games N, and more. His game of the year - no matter the year - is Rocket League.