Netflix announced today that a mobile prequel game to the Russo Brothers' upcoming sci-fi adventure comedy film The Electric State is releasing soon. Titled The Electric State: Kid Cosmo, the "bite-sized adventure puzzle prequel" will be released on March 18th, four days after the film's Netflix debut. It will be available to play on mobile devices for anyone with a Netflix membership with no ads or in-app purchases.
Based on the graphic novel of the same name, The Electric State is set in the aftermath of a robot uprising in an alternate version of the '90s. The story follows orphaned teenager Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) as she ventures across the American West with cartoon-inspired robot Cosmos, smuggler Keats (Chris Pratt), and his sidekick robot Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie) in search of her younger brother, Chris.
The Electric State: Kid Cosmo will serve as a prequel to the film. The narrative-driven adventure will focus on Michelle and Chris in the five years prior to the events of the movie. The game description reads:
Kid Cosmo needs your help! Blast through an '80s-inspired puzzle adventure game-within-a-game alongside boy wonder Chris and his big sister Michelle.
Wichita, Kansas — 1985: Go on a journey through the eyes of Chris and Michelle as they navigate coming of age in the retro-futuristic world of The Electric State. This narrative-driven game takes place before the events of the movie and spans five years, blending gameplay with emotional storytelling to create an immersive experience.
The Russos, who direct and produce The Electric State, helped Netflix develop the mobile spin-off through their media company AGBO. Speaking to Variety, Anthony Russo explained that the game helps expand upon the relationship of Michelle and Chris.
It does expand upon the relationship that the lead characters have in the movie, Michelle and her brother Chris. So it does get into a part of their relationship that we don’t follow in the film, that kind of predates the film, but also post-dates the film as well. And the game is able to explore the relationship in more depth. We certainly explore the relationship very thoroughly in the movie, but there’s just a limit in a two-hour medium to how much ground you can cover, in terms of story. So the game does hold something very special in terms of like, who these people are, what their relationship is to one another, and how it evolves and grows over time. And I think people will find it very relatable. It’s a wonderful, complicated brother-sister relationship in everything that that entails.
Founded in 2017 by award-winning directors Joe and Anthony Russo, AGBO focuses on "developing and producing intellectual property universes spanning film, TV, gaming, and publishing." The company's mission "is to innovate and advance the next generation of storytelling to entertain and inspire worldwide audiences," according to the website.
The Electric State: Kid Cosmo is just one of the numerous projects currently in the works at AGBO. The company is also working on at least three large-scale transmedia projects based on original ideas. However, the Russos aren't opposed to making games tied to some of their other major movies, including Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars for Marvel.
“We would definitely be open to it,” Joe Russo told Variety. “Right now, what we’re doing is creating new IP. At AGBO, we want to tell new stories. We want to tell new stories with new characters and new worlds that people haven’t seen before. So Anthony and I and Donald are working together to build out new worlds. And we have three that we’re currently working on that the intention is, for every world we build to have the scale and depth of a “Star Wars” universe, but in a different genre. And then we’ll build materials around those new worlds. We’ll tell stories in different ways using different media in those worlds.”
The Electric State will debut on Netflix on March 14, while The Electric State: Kid Cosmo will be released on March 18. According to the Russos, there's no set order in which you should experience the two. When asked if Netflix subscribers should watch the movie or play the game first, the Russos stated:
It’s a good question, because one of our beliefs, in terms of how we craft a relationship between these two different mediums, is that you can enter it from either direction. So we try to make it, if you’ve entered through the movie, you have something additive as you start to explore the game. And if you enter through the game, you have something additive in the other direction, as well. So I don’t want to get into any specifics, but there’s definitely new experiences to be had, depending on which direction you flow into it.
The Electric State: Kid Cosmo launches on March 18 for iOS and Android devices. It will be free to play for anyone who already subscribes to Netflix.