Daredevil (2023 PS5 Video Game)

Daredevil is a 2023 action-adventure, detective, thriller, noir video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 5, serving as a continuity to the Marvel's Spider-Man franchise, which ended the trilogy on the PlayStation 4, but is having another trilogy developed on the PlayStation 5. This game went into development in 2019 and is one of the biggest superhero video games ever made; the game was originally supposed to release in 2022, but with the PlayStation 5 debuting that year, Insomniac Games decided to wait a little bit and polish this game even further. The game's initial release date to PlayStation 5 consoles on October 20, 2023.

Rating
M (Mature) for Blood & Gore, Strong Sexual Content, Nudity, Intense Violence, & Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Gameplay Dynamics/Features

 * 1) This game continues on the advanced and unique combat dynamics of Daredevil's from the Spider-Man games and improves upon them even further; giving Daredevil access to ten times more gadgets and upgrades, as well as further exploring his blind ability
 * 2) The map includes of the entirety of Manhattan, which looks even more alive and realistic due to the massive development time of this game and because of the PlayStation 5 engine. The map and game feels bigger because unlike Spider-Man, Daredevil cannot swing; he can jump around buildings and do parkour, but not swing; that way, the map feels bigger
 * 3) The maximum level cap is a whopping 100; players must complete daily objectives, side quests, and keep Matt Murdock updated on his life to level up, as well as play the game on different skills and combat to enhance a certain skill tree and therefore, level up Daredevil
 * 4) There are a total of 15 (vanilla base) game suits in the game, however; they all take skill to unlock; as the player must explore the city and do certain objectives to unlock the suits; complete difficult investigations or court cases. The developer has tested out the difficulty and to unlock the Secret Wars Daredevil suit, it took him five hours to grind for the suit by completing a long court case involving domestic abuse
 * 5) The game explores the lives of both Matt Murdock and Daredevil
 * 6) The game is very dark and explores dark themes such as rape, domestic abuse, the criminal empire, and murder; very contrary to the tones of the Spider-Man PS4 games
 * 7) There are five different difficulties to the game- Easy (the easiest), Lawyer (the second easiest), Fighter (normal), Devil (hard), and Survivor (very hard). Survivor mode makes it so that the player is so limited and that enemies are much, much smarter and can kill you easily; also, the survivor mode makes it so that if the player dies, the game restarts from the beginning
 * 8) The game provides a vast amount of endgame content; more court cases, more side missions, secrets, and investigations to act upon

HLTB
Main Story (alone): 31 hours

Main Story (plus a few extra activities): 62 hours

100% Completion: 89 hours

Playable Characters

 * Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Robin Atkin Downes)
 * Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin (Travis Willingham; playable in four giant missions)
 * Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal; playable in separate story DLC)
 * Luke Cage (CeeLo Green; playable in separate story DLC)
 * Danny Rand/Iron Fist (Josh Keaton: playable in separate story DLC)
 * Jessica Jones (Tara Platt; playable in separate story DLC)

Protagonists

 * Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Robin Atkin Downes)
 * Elektra Natchios/Elektra (Maaya Sakamoto)
 * Frank Castle/The Punisher (Jon Bernthal)

Main Story Antagonists

 * Lester Poindexter/Bullseye
 * Alexander Bont
 * Melvin Potter/Gladiator
 * The Fixer
 * Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin
 * Lady Bullseye
 * Bakuto
 * Nobu
 * Leland Owsley/The Owl
 * Frank Farnum/Masked Marauder
 * Daniel Brito/Fancy Dan
 * Mary Walker/Typhoid Mary

Side Story Antagonists

 * Lawrence Cranston/Mister Fear
 * Tony Masters/Taskmaster
 * Frank Simpson/Nuke
 * Wilbur Day/Stilt-Man
 * Arcade
 * Montana
 * Jonathan Powers/Jester
 * Coyote
 * Phineas Mason/Tinkerer
 * Alexander Bont
 * Carl Burbank/Bushwacker
 * Joseph Manfredi/Blackwing
 * Carl Creel/Absorbing Man
 * Hammerhead
 * Davis Lawfers/Copperhead
 * Ape-Man
 * Bird-Man
 * Cat-Man
 * Dragonfly
 * Frog-Man
 * Pig-Man
 * Kirigi

Supporting Characters

 * Foggy Nelson
 * Karen Page
 * Ben Urich
 * Maggie Murdock
 * Melvin Potter
 * Stick
 * Dakota North
 * Kirsten McDuffie
 * Milla Donovan
 * Luke Cage
 * Jessica Jones
 * Danny Rand

DLC Villains

 * Rawlins/Agent Orange
 * Comanche
 * Shades
 * Jessica's Mom
 * Master Khan
 * Shou-Lao
 * Davos

Synopsis
Two years after the Devil's Breath was unleashed onto New York, Matt Murdock returns to his normal life; to his job as the lawyer of Hell's Kitchen with his non-blood brother, Foggy Nelson, and mixed in his feelings about whether or not to approach Karen Page, after their nasty disagreement on whether or not Matt being the Devil of Hell's Kitchen would effect their relationship. Hell's Kitchen witnesses as the oldest Kingpin known as Alexander Bont rises from the ashes to restore his power, in which Matt must put an end to. After two years of being locked in Ryker's Island, the notorious Wilson Fisk has created his own crime operation and has been pulling the strings even behind bars, eventually breaking out, knowing the city has finally labeled him as corrupt and even evil. Matt does his best to go after Fisk. With Foggy and Karen increasingly worried about Matt's health, the Kingpin sends the most dangerous assassin, and Daredevil's arch-nemesis, Bullseye, to go and ruin Matt's life, piece-by-piece. With Bont and Fisk at war for power and Matt's life, sanity, and conscious slowly being pulled apart, this is a war Matt must fight to end; a war that has been brewing his entire life...

Ending
After Melvin's daughter is held hostage by Poindexter, Melvin goes crazy and blames this on Daredevil; Melvin becomes the Gladiator once more and reverts back to his old criminal ways, just like it was (as the players saw in flashbacks) when Matt became Daredevil over a decade ago. Daredevil is forced to go after Melvin and throughout the fight, Daredevil shares his experience and swears to Melvin that he will make Bullseye pay for his crimes and he will save Melvin's daughter. After a long fight in Melvin's blacksmith workshop, which is nearly destroyed, Daredevil sees the television announce that Cassie Potter has been killed by Bullseye. Daredevil is full of regret and shows remorse to Melvin; with a mixed bag of emotions including of anger, hatred, and guilt. Daredevil cannot find Melvin any longer, but continues on. After the boss fight, Daredevil is silent and does not know what to say, having to give Melvin over to Dakota. Melvin is at the brink of crying and tells Daredevil that he cannot believe that he ever trusted him. Full of regret and hatred, Daredevil tells Dakota he is going after Poindexter and putting an end to all of this; the war between the Kingpin and Bont, the return of the Hand, and the Enforcers killing 25% of Hell's Kitchen's population; all of that and the long and hard war has led up to this. Daredevil confronts Bullseye at Maggie's church; the one where Matt reunited with his blood mother, the one where he found happiness in not counting Foggy or Karen, and the one where Bullseye shot her through the head. Daredevil tells Bullseye he will pay for the deaths of Cassie Potter and Maggie Murdock. The two fight it to the death and Bullseye tries to convince Matt (revealing he knows the blind lawyer is the Devil) that they are not much different. Punisher calls Daredevil and strongly suggests to him that he can just kill Poindexter right now; Daredevil urges Punisher to stay back and after a small argument, Punisher lets Daredevil fight Bullseye on his own. Bullseye tells Daredevil that killing Maggie was the "last piece of the puzzle" and Daredevil gets so amped up. Daredevil and Bullseye battle it up to the top of the church where the bell is and Daredevil is near the point to killing Bullseye, who is all bloody and nearly dead (while Daredevil's mask is off and Matt has a large, bloody cut on his face). Bullseye laughs and tells Matt to do it; kill him and end all of this. Matt reflects on his life so far and gets so angry about Maggie's death, losing Melvin's trust and friendship, and drawing all those close to him away from him. Daredevil remembers Stick telling him before he was killed by the Masked Marauder, "There's no good or evil. Only people with different agendas". Daredevil holds back against Bullseye, who laughs and calls Daredevil a coward. Multiple police sirens are up and about and Daredevil disarms Poindexter of everything, making sure he has nothing tricky up his sleeve. Daredevil looks at Poindexter, who mutters, "I won", while being taken away by the cops. Daredevil says nothing. Cut two hours later, the police are cleaning up the church and Hell's Kitchen, making sure all the children at the orphanage who lost their parents during the purge of Hell's Kitchen get safety and necessities, while also ensuring that Melvin Potter gets released soon because of his daughter's death, but restricted and stripped of his old life. Karen and Foggy are watching out the rainy windows inside the firm and Matt comes in all bloody. The two do not exchange words with Matt at first, but after hearing about Maggie and Cassie, the three hug and Karen cries, telling Matt he is so sorry. Matt looks behind Karen and Foggy, seeing the rain and the view of Hell's Kitchen and even just Manhattan in general. After getting cleaned up, Foggy tells Matt that after his mother's death, Matt cannot continue on torturing himself. Matt tells Foggy his secret; "He became a lawyer to stop psychopaths and criminals; he becomes the Devil at night when those criminals do not abide to the law. Justice cannot just be found in the court of law..." Foggy is worried about Matt's health, but Matt ensures his best friend that he is fine. Matt takes a glance at the city once more and says, "Matt Murdock may die, but the Devil will live on". Matt has flashbacks of his fight with Bullseye and Karen tells Matt to not let Poindexter ever get to him; not of what has unfolded in the last five months was his fault. Matt tells Karen that she is right and while Foggy and Karen both protect Matt, Matt walks out of the firm and Foggy asks where he is going and Matt says, "On a walk". Matt suits up as Daredevil and monologues, "There is never peace in this city. I may have ended the war that has been brewing my entire life, but the city itself will always be at war in someway or another... and it's my job to ensure that no crime gets to walk away without justice..." The screen cuts to the credits...

After Credits Scene
After Credits Scene: Jessica Jones closes the Alias Investigations for the night and after she closes, Kilgrave emerges from the shadows, revealing he is still alive, despite what Jessica has told Matt (in which players could access through the giant Jessica Jones side mission story arc)

DLC
There is a season pass called, "Street Heroes of Manhattan", in which includes a challenge pack where the player can play as Daredevil in investigation, physical, and stealth scenarios in different maps and interiors around the city, as well as four story DLC. The season pass is $49.99 and the challenge pack is just $5, while all the separate story DLC are $14.99. The first challenge pack DLC comes out in January 2024, while the first story DLC, involving the Punisher, comes out in February 2024 and the second story DLC, involving Luke Cage, comes out in March 2024. The last two story DLC, involving both Jessica Jones and Iron Fist, release on June 2024 and September 2024. Synopsis: After the long war raging in New York, Frank Castle reemerges from the shadows as the judge, jury, and executioner known as the Punisher. Castle goes to new ends to hunt down the CIA operative who has been behind the actions against both the Punisher and Daredevil throughout the last six months. Castle shows no mercy to corrupt CIA agents trying to murder him and encounters Rawlins, his former Marines general, who is exacting his plot against Castle after having sent that order that nearly killed both Matt and Karen. Castle goes to the ends of New York to hunt down Rawlins and must end this giant conspiracy forever...
 * Punishment vs. Justice

New Features: Boss Battles: HLTB:
 * 1) Entirely new combat system/dynamics with the Punisher- utility of guns including of handguns, submachine guns, and ARs, all needing ammo by looting enemy hideouts or crime scenes. Punisher also deals with heavy-hitting combat, unlike Daredevil's
 * 2) Netflix Punisher suit (Ability: shotgun bullets penetrate through steel)
 * 3) Ability to drive a motorcycle throughout New York with Castle
 * 4) New enemy type (CIA agents)
 * 5) New challenges
 * 6) New enemy hideouts
 * 7) New conspiracies to solve involving the CIA scandal (giant story arc)
 * 1) Rawlins/Agent Orange

Main Story (alone)- 3 hours

Main Story (plus a few extra activities)- 6 hours

100% Completion- 17 hours

Ending:

After Rawlins is able to drug Frank and take him hostage and after Frank is left weak and vulnerable, having flashbacks of his family being murdered by the Marines after Operation Cerebrus files being released to the public, Frank injects himself with the adrenaline Rawlins uses and kills Rawlins. In Rawlins's dying breath, he tells Frank where Billy Russo is and Frank stabs him in the eye and escapes the compound... Synopsis: His old prison cell buddies, Comanche and Shades, has bypassed Harlem's security and robbed multiple locations in which are the heart of Harlem itself. Shades and Comanche sell the Adamantium in which Luke is made out of on the streets to make young street gangsters crave the power. Luke must put a stop to this and protect his neighborhood before it turns into a warzone full of individuals with similar powers to himself...
 * Protector Of Harlem

New Features: Boss Battles: HLTB:
 * 1) Entirely new combat system/dynamics with Luke Cage, who uses brute force, bulletproof skin, and heavy attacks to his advantage
 * 2) Three new enemy types (Freewood prisoners, Shades's men, and young gangsters)
 * 3) One giant side mission arc involving Black Mariah and her manipulation of Harlem politics; Luke trying to stop her crime syndicate before it expands even further
 * 4) New challenges
 * 5) New hideouts to complete involving all three new enemy types
 * 6) Being able to drive a car
 * 7) A selection of music to listen to while fighting crime (which is entirely optional)
 * 1) Comanche
 * 2) Shades
 * 3) Shades

Main Story (alone)- 5 hours

Main Story (plus a few extra activities)- 7 hours

100% Completion- 12 hours

Ending:

After Comanche tries to beat up Luke Cage without the Adamantium supplement, thinking Luke and referring to him as nothing but "Carl Lucas", Luke hands Comanche his own ass and fights Shades, who proves to be a challenge. After defeating Shades, Shades tells Luke that there WILL be a rematch and Luke says, "Well frankly, Shades... I don't really give a damn" and walks away, putting on his headphones. Synopsis: Her past is behind her; she deals with psychopaths and killers all day long; she likes to drink her problems away, especially after the complications with Bullseye and Wilson Fisk. Once the former superhero vigilante known as the Jewel, Jessica Jones is haunted by a wide theory when her foster mother returns and runs the abuse Jessica had to deal with as a child...
 * Alias Investigator

New Features: Boss Battles: HLTB:
 * 1) Entirely different and new combat system involving Jessica Jones, who has superhuman strength, flight, and has a special ability to block mind control, as there are Purple People as new enemy types
 * 2) Three new enemy types (Alias Targets, Purple People, and former Orphanage allies)
 * 3) New conspiracies to resolve and secrets that lead to upgrades, skills, and suits
 * 4) Jewel's suit (Ability: Smash into battle after flight by holding Triangle and Circle for two seconds)
 * 5) Random encounters that lead to side missions
 * 6) Five giant side story arcs- one involving uncovering the origins of the Purple People and Jessica's fear that Kilgrave is back, one involving a case about Jessica's mentally ill brother coming back and causing trouble, one involving David Lawson trying to outlaw and buy Jessica's alias investigations out of business, one involving Arcade's return to haunt Jessica, and one involving the suspicion of the return of the shape-shifting Skrulls, who have become involved in a city-wide theory, especially in lower Manhattan
 * 1) Jessica's Mom
 * 2) Jessica's Mom
 * 3) Jessica's Mom

Main Story (alone)- 11 hours

Main Story (plus a few extra activities)- 18 hours

100% Completion- 22 hours

Ending:

Jessica's mom turns purple and Jessica never even dares to say her name; after Jessica's mom tries to revert Jessica back to her past with Kilgrave, her past in the orphanage, and her past at her home life before her father raped her; Jessica defeats her mother and leaves her to die. Synopsis: Years before he became the Immortal Iron Fist, Danny Rand was only a grieving learner who was struggling everyday of his life to avenge the deaths of his parents. He had one goal to complete; to fight Shou-Lao and earn his respected right as the Iron Fist; however, he is forced to fight out the arenas with his brother-like figure, Davos, who he grew up training in with the realms of Kun-Lun. Danny must prepare for the fight and claim his rightful position as the warrior he trained his whole life to become...
 * Defender of Kun-Lun

New Features: Boss Battles: HLTB:
 * 1) Entirely different map with the map being in snowy Kun-Lun, China (the size/proximity of the map is comparable to Queens)
 * 2) Multiple activities for Danny to train in; challenge tokens as well as challenge curves that provide in-game character benefits and new moves/fighting tactics to learn
 * 3) Entirely new combat system/dynamics involving Iron Fist, who uses martial arts, similar to Daredevil, but uses much more flexibility; his fist is a special that can be activated when the fight meter is full
 * 4) Four fighting opponents (Khan monks, Dragon Kings, the Meachums, and mystical dragons)
 * 1) Master Khan
 * 2) Davos
 * 3) Shou-Lao

Main Story (alone)- 4 hours

Main Story (plus a few extra activities)- 9 hours

100% Completion- 18 hours

Ending:

Danny is granted the position as the Iron Fist and goes off to New York when he finds out the Rand legacy is being fondled with...