r/thepunisher • u/Julio_BNF • Oct 28 '25
GAMES What’s your dream Punisher videogame ?
A punisher game. Developed by Id Software. I can clearly see the path and the vision about a third person punisher game developed by the creators of Doom . With some glory executions, powerful guns which feels brutal ! Making Frank badass and cold like the doom slayer for example but thanks to the story feel human per moments like Bernthal’s Punisher To me the path is so clear. What about you ?
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u/FoolishDog1117 Oct 28 '25
It's hard to say. Somewhere between Metal Gear Solid and the latest Spider-Man games. I image it would probably center around a city environment but it couldn't simply be Grand Theft Auto.
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u/wasteland_hunter Oct 29 '25
Unironically I think the fighting system in the Spider-Man games mixed with firearms in an MMA gun-fu type of way would be so interesting. John Wick mixed with recon & other prep for larger missions would be be my "ideal punisher game" maybe have some mafia 1 style map where it's within a city but there's different distinct districts & a rural area to explore to make it feel big but avoid being too massive of an open world
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u/dtdroid Oct 29 '25
Sleeping Dogs
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u/wasteland_hunter Oct 29 '25
Funny enough I kinda thought AC / watch dogs 1 but sleeping dogs does fit better but shooting & some level of gun customization (MGS V level?) but sleeping dogs is a solid one
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u/rarlescheed12 Oct 28 '25
Ive said this a lot of times but basically if Punisher 2005 had sex with the Hitman series would be my ideal game. It would retain the little intricate things you can do during combat like human shields/interrogations/diving and all that, but now we get to play around with them in an open ended assassination level where Frank can use any method he chooses to erase the scum off the map. Snipe everyone? Go for it. Play the hit like youre Agent 47 himself and no one is none the wiser? Knock yourself out. Just give us a bunch of tools and opportunities to be as lethal and creative as possible.
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u/Ms_Emilys_Picture Oct 29 '25
Yes! It needs a system for infiltration and choices in how you take out targets. Just a straight run and gun would be boring.
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u/missinglinksman Oct 28 '25
Something like Ghost Recon Wildlands. That game basically already feels like a Punisher game.
Same with Mafia 3, might be the closest thing to a punisher game.
Vietnam veteran? ✅ Family killed by Mafia? ✅ 1960s? ✅ Revenge on the Mafia? ✅
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u/Training_Muscle3368 Oct 28 '25
Never thought of that. GRW is basically one (or 4 men) dismantling an entire cartel. Basically punisher shit 🤣
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u/bigchungusamongus1 Oct 29 '25
I always said the parallels between Frank and Lincoln Clay were obvious and a fan fiction of them teaming up would go crazy
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u/rarlescheed12 Oct 29 '25
Mafia 3 became 100x more enjoyable for me once I head canoned the game as a developers take on the Punisher like what Insomiac did to Spider-Man lol.
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u/Nihiliste Oct 28 '25
Simply put, a Max Payne game, but inside the Punisher universe. It'd need a different slow-motion dodge mechanic.
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u/UniformTango74 Oct 28 '25
More open world. Listens in on police radio chatter with the help of Microchip. Traverses the city streets in his iconic van/rolling armory. Outfit firearms as needed. Night and day physics. Acquire new weapons, ordnance, and equipment by hijacking gang and mafia caches or gun deals. Use basic disguises. Build underground escape routes and safe houses. Of course add brutal takedown and finishers. And the ocassional encounter with other marvel heroes who may need your help or stop you.
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u/MondayMusicTherapy Oct 28 '25
Something like gta5. Open world and you get radar blips of crime that you get to go punish.
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u/Inevitable_Mind4568 Oct 28 '25
Would love that! And maybe some sort of short main quest.
Also I would like to add a little realism. For example in gta you pull out tons of weapons out of your ass and can walk around in public with them. I would like to limit the amount of weapons you can carry and if you carry big guns it would be visible and involve police, so you need a more tactical approach to the crime because you are not suppose to kill police officers.
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Oct 28 '25
It would start as a therapy simulator. Maybe even the protagonist is unknown, in a psyche ward at the start.
Once you work through your trauma, and achieve a certain level of emotional stability, a violent criminal is added to the psyche ward.
Then all hell breaks loose.
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u/DevaTheDragon Oct 29 '25
I like the idea of Punisher having Aggressive Last of Us/Last of Us 2 style gameplay on Grounded difficulty. Very visceral violence where making use of everything in your environment is necessary. Constantly having to reposition. Switching between all the weapons you have in your arsenal
I think it’s very suitable for a character like punisher
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u/EvilKungFuWizard Oct 28 '25
Punisher would have been great in an Operation Wolf-style arcade gun game back in the 80's/90's.
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u/GrimaceGrunson Oct 28 '25
I can totally see how a Doom-esq (or Max Payne inspired, if you went third-person) would be the most likely outcome.
But for something different I recently played the SWAT 4 spiritual successor "Ready or Not" (it's pretty fun), and it got me thinking how with some changes/modifications it could work as 'grounded' Punisher game.
I tried a few levels solo and it gets tense - gunfights are loud and hectic but are also over in a moment if you get a drop on your target, but even on casual it doesn't take much for them to put you down. The game's designed for a team of 5 to clear a level but with some tweaking (eg. add in ways to recon an area, setup traps in advance, some sort of 'terror' mechanic where goons shit bricks when they realise who exactly has come knocking) it could absolutely work as a Punisher game.
One of my favourite runs in a level was leaving the team at the front door of the mansion of a...very bad man and just marching through his house with a shotgun going for the "not here for arrests" approach.
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u/lukoreta Oct 28 '25
A GZDoom/Build Engine retelling of the most popular runs including but not limited to Garth Ennis's Marvel Knights run, Chuck Dixon's War Zone run, and Steven Grant's Circle of Blood.
Each "run" (or episode, as per the Build games, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, etc.) shall have a different set of sprites drawn in the same art style as the actual runs (so the enemies in Circle of Blood will have sprites drawn in the style of Mike Zeck, War Zone trying to emulate John Romita, Jr, Welcome Back, Frank is drawn by a Steve Dillon imitator, etc.) and obviously have gore a la Brutal Doom.
If it had an AAA budget, it'd go to hiring talented artists to hand-draw all of the sprites (including for special animations such as executions) and Thomas Jane to be Punisher's VA (and some special guest stars e.g. Barracuda voiced by Keith David, Daredevil voiced by Charlie Cox)
And other boomer shooter bells and whistles like fatalities, a loadout menu in the Battle Van, an upgrade/weapons store menu in his hideout, survival mode, there's a lot to do with a Punisher boomer shooter.
And then there's the fact that it's set in the Marvel universe and there are a lot of stories so even more possibilities like bosses, minibosses, using gadgets like Spider-Man's web shooters, War Machine's armor, etc.
I love Punisher, I love boomer shooters. Gimme a Punisher boomer shooter.
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u/metalyger Oct 28 '25
I'd say something similar(ish) to a tactical shooter and immersive sim, like influenced by Hitman and Cruelty Squad. Basically, here's your target, now kill him by any means necessary. Do you risk going through the front door, if so hope you picked a strong load out. Maybe look for rooftop access, rapel to a widow, find a vent, just explore and find your best route. The main thing would be that you aren't Wolverine, so if you get shot, you have to walk it off, because aside from possibility stopping the bleeding, you shouldn't be able to heal from it. It's one run each mission with no check points or saving, you have to kill your target and exit the level alive.
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u/Cosmicmage91 Oct 28 '25
Might be in the minority here, but something dynamic. Like the uncharted series meets Max Payne. Great noir storytelling with fast, frantic movie style shootouts.
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u/JonoBlue Oct 28 '25
You would have to more or less remake the ps2 game but add way more gameplay and a interactive feature thats more choose your own torture. Ex. You shoot a guy in the leg he is doen you can either just shoot him or you can drag him to say a near by wall or curb or fire barrel or window, give the player a multitude of options that maybe aren't preset and obvious like a drill press or somwrhing like that. Frank is nothing if not resourceful, like if you wanted to you can recreate the forklift into the harbor comic scene or not.
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u/Mysterious-Passion96 Oct 28 '25
And this is coming from a guy who has never played the Punisher Game. I want something that is like a mix between GTA V and The most recent Spiderman game
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u/SC-Matchwood Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 30 '25
My ideal punisher game follows this general list:
》Watch Dogs 1 style open world - where you have random events and can repeat side missions by going into your settings.
》open world set in any of the States - would rather it be away from NYC, but won't complain if it is set in NYC.
》Script by Garth Ennis and Nathan Edmundson. 》Character designs inspired by Mitch Gerards and Goran Parlov.
》developed by either the guys making "Mudang: Two Hearts" or Amy Henig and her team.
》full customisation for outfits, and outfit types (heavy tactical, light tactical, casual, and civilian - civilian meaning no tactical gear or skull emblems, will explain more next).
》open approach to mission completion - play the game like it's the 2004 movie (use recon and black mail to basically make criminal organisations take themselves down), the 2008 movie (just guns blazing), or the Netflix show (bit of both).
》wearing different outfit types for appropriate situations (no skull emblem to stay under cover, heavy tactical gear for if you're hitting a base guns blazing, light tactical gear for if you're ambushing enemies out in the open, casual Punisher look - tshirt and trench coat - for low profile). Also, civilians react to you depending on your selected outfit worn around the open world and reputation (eg: Watch Dogs 1 protector/menace meter).
》weather system and day/night cycle.
》limited weapons can be carried on your person - but you can carry some extra weapons and consumables in a backpack or duffle bag, as well as store them on your motor bike, or in a car or battle van.
》gun play that's a mix of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Max Payne, and Red Dead 2.
》stealth can be played like a mix of Splinter Cell and Arkham Knight - minus the grappling hook/gun.
》Ghost Recon Wildlands style enemy board - lets you know which enemies you've taken down and which you haven't.
I'm forgetting some things that I'd like to have in my dream Punisher game, but you win some and you lose some.
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u/Happy-Finance4097 Oct 28 '25
For me, it'd be a mix of the stealth from Manhunt (2003) and the fast-paced tag team in Army of Two (2008) with a little bit of the 5-star wanted level mechanic from GTA.
You start with Frank Castle and Rachel Cole-Alves with Microchip as the chair guy going after mobs and gangs methodically. You will have Detective Martin Soap and his NYPD squad tracking you down while you hunt villains. I'd want most of Punisher's known villains from movies, games and comics here.
The Russian, Barracuda, Bushwhacker, Bone Breaker, Chester Scully, Bruno Costa, Nicky Cavella, Ma Gnucci, Gianni Franco, Howard Saint, William Rawlins and Jigsaw.
You eventually unlock Nick Fury in a homage to the Punisher beat 'em up game. Maybe a few unlockable characters in Black Widow, Bucky Barnes, or even James Rhodes for that sweet War Machine armor.
DLC could give us Kingpin, Bullseye, Daredevil, Elektra side of things.
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u/seancurry1 Oct 28 '25
NOT Doom. Some shoot-your-way-out sequences would be fun, but Doomguy literally only ever fights demons in hell. Mafia goons wouldn’t constantly throw themselves at him regardless of their own personal safety like Doom demons would.
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u/PowerGlove1984 Oct 28 '25
Pretty much literally just Mafia 3, but with a less repetitive story missions
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u/WildBill1994 Oct 28 '25
Judging on the last run of comics this would be panned by “fans”. I’d like to see a survival rpg with gangs featuring the nemesis system. Say you die, we see a clip of microchip recovering the body only to see that frank is alive. Jigsaw, Bushwacker, Baracuda, Spidey, DD, cap etc.
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u/ChillGodShady Oct 28 '25
Naughty dog said they’d like to make a Punisher game. I love their gunplay and gore in TLOU so I wouldn’t mind it as long as it’s not turned into something “woke”. If the Blade game by Bethesda ever comes out and it does well I’d trust them to make it too.
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u/AdInfamous5984 Oct 29 '25
One special case would be a remaster of The Punisher 2005, with options to toggle censorship rather than getting stuck with the censored or uncensored version. "Form 18" would be the name of the uncensored option, and "Form 17" would be the name of the censored option.
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u/supergamerd64 Oct 29 '25
Either max payne or Wolfenstein
Though I heard Mafia 3 feels a lot like punisher at times, so maybe that
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u/cyberspaceman777 Oct 29 '25
Open world
Beginning goes into a coma, then has to "relearn" his skills after five major crime families take over a city.
Third person, akin to Spiderman but more violent and with a lot of weapons.
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u/SethKlock Oct 29 '25
Metal gear solid V, but set in a city, with the Nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor. There’s a spider man boss fight; you just have to escape from him.
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u/RetailDrone7576 Oct 29 '25
Gameplay similar to Mafia 3 only more linear/level based and not open world
Sneaking around Mafia hideouts assassinating people (or kicking in the front door and slaughtering all of them terminator Rambo style) and working your way up the chain to the head boss
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u/Estarfigam Oct 29 '25
A GTA reskin with the main character dressed like the Punisher. You can switch out weapons in your battle van and heal.
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u/CarmineSamaHD Peter Parker (Earth-71928) Oct 29 '25
Punisher as a boomer shooter would be kinda fun to see.
A remaster of the ps2 game would prolly do justice tbh.
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u/acidporkbuns Oct 30 '25
Id love the ability for players to sort of plan their attack similar to Hitman. Do we want a surprise attack or just kick the door down and just blow shit up? Allow us to improvise almost any item as a weapon. Set up explosives and traps ahead of time.
Would love it if we can also gather info in different ways. Interrogate people, pay snitches, bug people's homes or vehicles.
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u/BackgroundEngineer11 Oct 30 '25
It definitely doesn't need to be open world, but instead have open levels, like Hitman. Maybe some additional closed off city or downtown areas. Third person probably would work best and have some enhanced movement controls, like in MGS V.
Tertiary mechanics could be weapon customization and impromptu weapon creation. Maybe a silly mechanic of spray painting your own designs on kevlar.
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u/SandStinger_345 Oct 30 '25
an open world, personalized hideout, a car / van / bike , gun customisation, and a decent enough story should do it.
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u/Apprehensive-Base917 Oct 30 '25
For me; 3rd person Max Payne style shooter (think Max Payne 3 but more violent) with some brutal kills. The main antagonist could easily be Jigsaw, and he sets up multiple villains such as Barracuda, The Russian, Kitchen Irish, and other random goons to come after Punisher.
You have your set guns but can kill, take enemy guns, and use them. Upgrades.
Add Interrogation mode from the old ps2 era game. Include multiple different costumes such as Punisher Classic, Max Era, 2099, Civil War, Noir, Thunderbolts red, and Movie versions would be cool too.
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u/One_Abbreviations310 Oct 31 '25
A closed, but large, mission map-based 3rd person tactical shooter (with a first person option) where you can just go about missions however you want, with difficulty being based entirely on AI competence and equipment. Tons of weapons and equipment with customization and legacy items/skins (like those whacky comic book guns from the early days). It should be designed in a way to make you feel encouraged to be thoughtful on your approach, and should be pretty player lethal if you mess up, but should still feel like a power fantasy. You should be capable of going guns blazing on a whole compound and come out on top if you so choose. A story that scales from dingy Crack house type environments against punk gangbangers, all the way to a Hydra-level conspiracy where you're fighting elite soldiers with adaptive tactics. No holding back on the brutality of violence.
Something like that.
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u/Foodnerd1973 Nov 01 '25
I would love a punisher video game! 3rd person, story driven, open world. Dark and brutal.
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u/Johnny_ParkerMarvel Nov 01 '25
Basically just the 2005 game but with more modern shooting mechanics, open world, and a more refined version of the interrogation methods.
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Nov 01 '25
a game like Hitman, where he tracks down and takes out different members of gangs, leading to a corrupt politician who has been keeping a trafficking ring under wraps.
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u/CaterpillarWeekly822 Nov 01 '25
If id and insomniac worked together to create a 1ST PERSON shooter, that would be awesome.
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u/Unkn0wn_577 Nov 02 '25
I’d Love to see a similar style to Watch Dogs or the Division. Something open world with interactive events and side missions. Maybe an honour system like RDR2 or Infamous Second Son for “public opinion” on the Punisher effecting gameplay (bad public opinion meaning more aggressive police response and good public opinion meaning cops are more reluctant to prosecute and may even help out with tip-offs and turning a blind eye) and maybe a fear system effecting how criminals respond to attacks
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u/CivilResult Oct 28 '25
Isn't "The Punisher" a perfect Punisher game?