Cult of the Lamb publisher bringing back the era of the tie-in game, but better

There was a time when movie tie-in games had no right being so good. Fighting a comic-accurate Sentinel in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine game, exploring the dank corners of Skull Island in Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and going toe-to-toe with humanoid ants in The Matrix: Path of Neo. We had a moment where tie-in games didn’t just match the source material, they often exceeded it. Those days are gone, but we might just get them back. A new label from inside Devolver Digital, the publisher of indie hits like Enter the Gungeon and Cult of the Lamb, has arrived with one goal: to help indie developers make more licensed tie-in games.

That’s the elevator pitch of Big Fan Games, a fresh publishing label with a “new approach” to licensed material. Indie game makers are encouraged to pitch their ideas to turn TV, film, comic, and other IP into videogames. These ideas can be based on almost anything, and with this coming from Devolver Digital, anything certainly feels possible. We’re talking about the publisher of Cult of the Lamb, Enter the Gungeon, Hotline Miami, and countless more.

These projects aren’t exactly going to be tie-in games though, but the next best thing. Instead of working to tight deadlines on games reflective of specific film debuts, TV premieres, or comic launches, these releases will instead just be based on the IP at hand. That’s why Big Fan Games wants indies to pitch it ideas, and to “take some risks and explore unique ideas that are born from passion and fandom.”

Big Fan Games also already has a big list of partners, including Dark Horse Comics, HBO, Rebellion, and Disney (who basically owns everything these days), so hopefully we’ll see plenty of excellent games over the next few years.

“We believe (and have seen firsthand) that great games that propel existing franchises can offer a connection with a fan that only an interactive experience can offer,” Big Fan Games writes. “Independent games created in these universes can explore them in new and unexpected ways, and it’s our goal to raise the bar of what fans can expect.

I really like this approach, to be clear. The best part of classic tie-in games has always been when they step away from the source material, using them as a springboard. Indiana Jones only went to Atlantis in a point-and-click adventure and Spider-Man 2’s open-world had Bruce Campbell narration, both of which we’ve never had in the movies.

Big Fan Games is made up of the Good Shepherd team, a label that’s already got some experience doing exactly what the Devolver subsidiary is setting out to do. Good Shepherd has worked on games like John Wick Hex and Hellboy Web of Wyrd, with these types of projects the focus going forward.

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