6 Things The Next Matrix Game Needs To Have

6 Things The New Matrix Game Needs To Be Better Than The Last Movie Published Aug 16, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT Jared is a writer, editor, and Communications Studies graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or The Lord of the Rings) and the interactive storytelling medium. Jared's first console was the PS1, wherein he fell for Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot. Sign in to your ScreenRant account The Matrix has left an indelible mark on sci-fi as a whole for almost three decades, and yet, ever since the cinematic trilogy ended with The Matrix Revolutions in 2003, the franchise has never risen to the same heights; for instance, it’s safe to say that The Matrix Resurrections wasn’t the revival of the franchise that it hoped to be, regardless of how insurmountably and dauntingly high expectations were for it. Now that a new Matrix movie is confirmed once more to be in development, expectations will surely skyrocket even higher. For The Matrix to be resuscitated at all is a godsend, as a rising tide lifts all boats and may encourage the development of new Matrix video games to explore the IP further. In fact, the only significant or substantial Matrix games we’ve received are Enter the Matrix, The Matrix: Path of Neo, and The Matrix Online, which is a shame. Especially following the gnawing tease of the interactive Unreal Engine 5 tech demo The Matrix Awakens, there are quite a few things a brand-new AAA Matrix game needs in order to succeed. 6 Rich Character Customization © Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection A fascinating yet under-explored aspect of The Matrix is how characters basically choose how they’d like to look via the concept of a “residual self-image,” which would be the perfect explanation as to why players can create a custom character who’s represented in the Matrix. This would be all the more terrific and significant if players could also create a base—a blank canvas of sorts, with real-world versions of the player’s character avatar, holes and all, before players enter the Matrix and look or dress differently. A Matrix game where the protagonist is first unplugged and awakens on a ship in the real world could then have players select from a handful of bald character model presets, with their “residual self-image” and further customization options selected for when players are jacked into the Matrix later on. If the Matrix character Switch had been depicted the way they were originally intended by the Wachowskis, it would’ve been wonderful to see them transition from one gender to another, or at least assume the other gender while they’re within the Matrix and their body rests on a chair, jacked in. In a new game, this should absolutely be possible, as the available customization options should be endless. 5 Open-World Sandbox It would demand that every nook and cranny is detailed, and there’d also need to be a lot to see or do, but a single-player, open-world Matrix game could be phenomenal if done well. The premise would probably revolve around players locating individuals and helping free their enslaved minds, however the game would choose to go about that, and its story would need to be airtight in order to avoid bloat or padding, assuming that the open world would be expansive. An open world would be enticing if it featured random events like déjà vu, Operator-designated payphones or landlines that players needed to reach to jack out, or NPC programs like The Matrix’s Oracle or Architect that can assign missions and supply information or lore. 4 Exceptional Melee & Shooter Gameplay A non-negotiable that is maybe even more important than its hypothetical story or characters is that The Matrix’s stunning action and choreography is translated into a fluid combat system. There’s a reason why action games like Sifu or 007 First Light have had their combat compared to The Matrix, and it would be vital that a new Matrix game emulates that itself. It would be neat to be able to learn new fighting styles or moves via tutorial training simulations like in The Matrix: Path of Neo. Loading into the Matrix, players could then be met with an empty, white landscape before a gun rack appears for players to select their firearm and melee weapon loadouts from. 3 Zion And/Or Ship Hubs Similar to character customization, a hub in the real world, either on players’ ships or in The Matrix’s Zion, the last civilization of humankind, would be fantastic for immersion and worldbuilding. The difference between a ship hub and a Zion hub would likely have to come down to the scale envisioned for the game: on a ship, the scale can be claustrophobic and linear with a small crew that players may get to know intimately and interact with between trips to the Matrix; in Zion, the city would realistically need to be expansive and maybe even indulge in the council asking players and their crewmates to travel someplace or take on tasks from within the Matrix. Not revealing Zion until The Matrix Reloaded was an outstanding choice the movies made because the first movie already had enough worldbuilding to parse, and this let audiences grow close to the few characters that Neo got to know in his first adventure, with their batch not all making it to the end of the movie: Morpheus, Trinity, Cypher, Tank, Dozer, Switch, Apoc, and Mouse. Only knowing the cloying confines of a hovercraft and the dark tunnels it flies through, as well as the “Tastee Wheat” slop they eat, would arguably be much more interesting narratively in a game that could be story-driven and focus wholly on a band of richly developed Matrix characters that players are around at every waking moment. 2 Intimidating Agents The first Matrix movie does a terrific job of persuading audiences that Agents are intimidating. Making your mouth disappear and implanting a slimy battery bug into your stomach via your belly button is terrifying enough, but Agents are also much faster and stronger than any ordinary rule-bound individual who’s risking their lives by running into one every time they jack into the Matrix. The first scene convincingly demonstrates how big a threat The Matrix’s Agents are, as Trinity was only able to narrowly escape their clutches and feared for her life during the whole pursuit. Meanwhile, every random NPC enemy Trinity fights is light work, and she’s technically killed by an Agent in The Matrix Reloaded before Neo revives her. As soon as Neo is gunned down, resurrected, and defeats Agent Smith, however, Agents are never as frightening as they once were, at least not while the franchise is viewed from Neo’s superpowered perspective. Neo also soon has to fight infinite Smiths, whom metal poles are evidently profoundly effective against. This was precisely the case with Enter the Matrix’s Ghost and Niobe. These characters are superhuman in the sense that they’re able to perform acrobatic feats in slow-motion and defeat almost any foe with swift kicks, but Agents are unkillable pursuers whom players had to flee from. A new Matrix game would be thrilling if it let going up against or fleeing from an Agent be as daunting as it was for characters in the movies and games again. 1 No Chosen One, No Neo A mistake that a new game could easily make is instantly giving in to the power fantasy of “the One” or the Prime Program. There’d be incredible gratification in being able to soar around an unremarkable, green-hued metropolis or dodge bullets by leaning backward until players’ backs are parallel to the floor, sure, but an original character who bears no superpowers and inhabits an original story could be far more novel and interesting. As an arbitrary character, one of however many who’ve chosen the red pill, been freed from the Matrix, and struggled to survive in both the real and digital world thereafter, there’d be a greater emphasis on helplessness. Even Neo needed to be skilled in The Matrix’s martial arts combat in order to successfully defend himself from NPCs like the security guards in the government building lobby shootout and the Merovingian’s thugs in the medieval-weapon-filled chateau brawl, and taking on multiple foes at once should be slightly overwhelming in the new Matrix game, Movie(s) The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, The Matrix Resurrections, The Matrix 5 Video Game(s) Enter the Matrix (2003), The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005), The Matrix Online (2005) First Film The Matrix Cast Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, Jada Pinkett Smith, Monica Bellucci, Lambert Wilson, Harold Perrineau, Gina Torres, Collin Chou, Neil Patrick Harris, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra Jonas Character(s) Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Agent Smith, Niobe, The Merovingian, The Oracle, The Architect, Seraph, Persephone, Ramachandra, Sati, The Analyst, Bugs, The Keymaker Comic Release Date 213024,213027 The Matrix is a sci-fi action franchise that launched with the Wachowskis' 1999 film. It depicts a dystopian future where humanity is unknowingly trapped in a simulated reality by sentient machines. The protagonist, Neo, discovers this truth and that he is "The One," a being that will lead a rebellion against the machines and restore freedom to humanity.