Mary DeMarle spent over a decade at Eidos Montreal building what fans of the Deux Ex universe know today. DeMarle was responsible for the narration and writing of all recent Deus Ex titles, including Mankind Divided, Human Revolution, and the mobile spin-offs Deus Ex: Go and Deus Ex: The Fall. He also created the story and led the writing team for 2021’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which won the Game Award for Best Narrative.
Guardians of the Galaxy – trailer
The narrative designer shared the BioWare news on her LinkedIn page on Friday, but did not specify any specific projects. He is likely to be in either the upcoming Dragon Age Dreadwolf or Mass Effect 4. The departure follows Gearbox owner Embracer’s announcement in May that it is to acquire Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Square Enix Montreal and a catalog of IPs including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief and Legacy of Kain for $300 million . Speaking to GI.biz last summer, DeMarle discussed her take on the relationship between gameplay and narrative in game development. “For many, many years of working in this industry, I’ve known that story is often subservient to gameplay,” DeMarle said. “But if I understand the game and what’s the emotion I’m trying to evoke in the players, then I can understand that the gameplay is trying to do it that way and the story is there to support or advance that. How can the things I write help highlight things the game needs, etc.? “As long as you always know the game you’re trying to make and understand why, then it just comes down to the constant communication between the narrative and the gameplay, and constantly looking at it and understanding it from that perspective.”
