If Marvel ever attempted to make a Ghost Rider game again, it should be in the style of FromSoftware’s Dark Souls (but with motorcycles). In the Marvel Universe, Ghost Rider makes the perfect candidate for a dark, atmospheric title based around difficult boss battles and deep lore. There are plenty of other supernatural characters in Marvel’s library, but tonally, Ghost Rider has was it takes to be the star of a soulslike superhero title.
In fact, Marvel has attempted to make a Ghost Rider game on several occasions. Long before the Nicolas Cage Ghost Rider films, Crystal Dynamics was slated to make a game based on the character on the PlayStation in 1996. Unfortunately, this Ghost Rider game was canceled, as well as later attempts to make a title centered around the beloved character.
None of these abandoned projects would have been on the scale of a Ghost Rider-Dark Souls hybrid, though. The demons that comprise Ghost Rider’s long list of enemies would make for an excellent cast of villains for a game in the FromSoftware style: frightening entities with hints of Bloodborne‘s body horror and Dark Soul‘s demonic undertones could be populated around every corner. Add on top of this a hell-torn map in the scale of Elden Ring‘s Lands Between that would be made traversable not with the trusted steed Torrent but a motorcycle, and a potential Ghost Rider game would be incredible.
Enemies That Could Appear In A Soulslike Ghost Rider Game
In the past attempts to make a Ghost Rider game, characters such as the vampire goddess Lilith have been selected as potential villains for Johnny Blaze to face off against. A Ghost Rider title made in the vein of Dark Souls should see her return as the mother of demons, fulfilling a similar albeit more nefarious role to Elden Ring‘s Queen Marika. Some of her children even look like they belong in a FromSoftware title, such as Blackout, whose palid skin and white hair make him resemble Margott the Omen King. An even better pick would of course be Mephisto, though. As the Hell-Lord of the Marvel Universe, Mephisto could lead an entire army of grotesquely designed, difficult-to-fight henchmen that would fit perfectly in a Dark Souls game.
Ghost Rider himself has a great kit for combat in a title inspired by FromSoftware as well. Players have the opportunity to customize their character to fight the way they want them to in Dark Souls and Elden Ring. While substantial character customization would be out of the window for a Ghost Rider game, his chain, fist-fighting ability, Penance Stare, and even his mount in the form of his motorcycle would open the door to a variety of ways for players to fight. While it would still be lacking in options in comparisons to Dark Souls, a Ghost Rider game would nevertheless be fun to play and would give the beloved character another chance in the limelight in the gaming realm.
