Building a brand-new DC Universe experience is no easy feat, but that’s exactly what writer Christos Gage set out to do with DC: Dark Legion. If you’re unaware, it’s a new strategy RPG that invites players to command a massive roster of DC superheroes and supervillains through a sprawling multiversal war. Based loosely on the chaotic mythology of Dark Nights: Metal, the game is already finding an audience with millions of players worldwide.
Even still, adapting the dense world of Metal into something accessible for gamers who might not even know Batman from Superman posed an early hurdle.
“The biggest challenge was presenting it in a way that was accessible to a general audience…people who might never have even read a DC comic book,” Gage said. “Ultimately, I hope we succeeded. The early word I’m hearing is that people who haven’t read the comics are still able to enjoy the game—and in some cases are becoming interested in checking out the comics that inspired it, which is terrific and exactly what we hoped would happen.”
That balance — welcoming newcomers without losing the deep-cut DC faithful — was crucial to Gage and frequent DC collaborator Amanda Deibert, who co-wrote the game.
“For me, the way I capture the voice and tone of these characters is by having read the comics since I was a little kid in the 1970s all the way to the present day,” Gage said. “You just hear their voices in your head and instinctively know how they’d respond in a given situation. I know that sounds vaguely unhinged, but that’s how I do it.”
Fans have already praised Dark Legion for its authentic DC spirit — and Gage credits both the deep bench of comics knowledge he and Deibert brought to the table as well as the dedication of the voice cast led by director Kal-El Bogdanove (who longtime comics fans may know is the son of veteran Superman artist Jon Bogdanove).
“It was important to everyone involved in the process that the characters feel authentic,” Gage said. “Working with amazing voice actors and a director like Kal-El, I hope we achieved that.”
Writing for a strategy game also brought some new creative muscles to flex. Known for his acclaimed work on projects like Marvel’s Spider-Man for PlayStation and Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point, Gage sees storytelling across comics, TV, and games as more alike than you might expect.
“At the end of the day, it’s about telling a compelling story in a way that engages the audience and is true to the characters,” Gage said. “Whether it’s getting people to watch your show, turn the comic book page, or search for rare game currency on a game map, you need to give them a compelling story behind it, or nobody will care.”
In DC: Dark Legion, the story pivots on players uniting unlikely allies — from Superman to Sinestro — against the invading Dark Knights. That meant Gage and Deibert had the chance to highlight a wide swath of the DC Universe, from household names to cult favorites.
“I was excited at the number of supernatural characters that were included early on, like Zatanna, John Constantine, and Dr. Fate,” Gage said. “They may not be as well-known as Superman or Batman, but I love those characters.”
Naturally, he also relished the opportunity to write some of DC’s most notorious villains.
“I love writing villains,” Gage said with a laugh. “Luthor, Sinestro — arrogant characters are a blast. And The Joker is great fun because he’s all about his commitment to the bit. He will literally give his life—or, more likely, yours—to get a laugh.”
As the gameplay mechanics evolved, Gage and the FunPlus development team worked closely to keep the storytelling and player choices tightly integrated.
“The dev team are the geniuses who come up with the gameplay mechanics,” Gage said. “Sometimes they’ll ask me for an item from DC lore that fits a gameplay function, and I’ll do my best to come up with something. Often we work together to structure a storyline so it balances gameplay and storytelling appropriately.”
That spirit of collaboration also extended to his partnership with Deibert, who helped expand the world of Dark Legion while bringing her own deep well of DC knowledge to the project.
“Amanda complements me well; she is familiar with characters and eras I’m less versed in,” Gage said. “Usually we’ll be working on different tasks at the same time, then take a quick look at each other’s work to stay on the same page.”
And sometimes, the collaboration got playful too.
“When we were naming character battle moves, we were both like, ‘We can’t give Luthor a skill called Forty Cakes, can we?’ We came this close,” Gage said. “But it didn’t fit any of the combat moves the devs sent us. In the end, we settled for Lex Bomb. You have to imagine Tom Jones singing it.”
Speaking of having a little fun, if he had the opportunity, how might Gage fit into the Dark Multiverse ?
“Probably like James Bond,” Gage said with a laugh. “Suave, well-dressed, smooth in social situations. Because I am none of those things. Oh, Dark Christos, you debonair devil, you!”
With a promising launch under its belt and new storylines already on the way, DC: Dark Legion is shaping up to be a major hit —and a thrilling way to bring DC’s sprawling universe to a new generation of fans.
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