Sorry folks I'm really not feeling this one. The Firaxis strategy elements are interesting, though far from the strongest they've done, but they made the puzzling decision to make this a Marvel dating sim with a strategy game attached rather than the real deal. I'm obviously not opposed to this style of game on principle, but the writing does not sustain it at all, while the visuals hover in this zone between stylization and realism.
A little cringe but mostly really fun
Zt the end of the day it's not XCOM 3 but (if you max out the difficulty every chance you get) there's a lot of fun to be had here!
Firaxis have done a really bang-up job of making a tactics card game interesting. It feels like a really clean marriage of XCOM and Slay the Spire - if you like those two games you'll probably like the gameplay here.
While I think most people are going to like the tactics layer, many will probably find the social side of the game tiresome - even as someone who super digs friendship simmy stuff in games I found it servicable at best. The writing isn't anything special. Whether it works or not heavily depends on you being a comics person (MCU person isn't even enough here, honestly) and having a pre-existing relationship with these characters, which I didn't.
Ultimately I had a great time with it and I'll probably revisit it for a New Game + run when all the DLC is out.
Firaxis have done a really bang-up job of making a tactics card game interesting. It feels like a really clean marriage of XCOM and Slay the Spire - if you like those two games you'll probably like the gameplay here.
While I think most people are going to like the tactics layer, many will probably find the social side of the game tiresome - even as someone who super digs friendship simmy stuff in games I found it servicable at best. The writing isn't anything special. Whether it works or not heavily depends on you being a comics person (MCU person isn't even enough here, honestly) and having a pre-existing relationship with these characters, which I didn't.
Ultimately I had a great time with it and I'll probably revisit it for a New Game + run when all the DLC is out.
This proves that some games are not greater than the sum of their parts. The combat is probably the strongest part, feeling almost like a game of Chess. The controversial card system plays a part in this by making you think about having the most efficient turn with the tools at your disposal. While half of the game is combat, the other half is a Persona-like social sim, with your custom character making friends with the other Marvel heroes making up the team. The main issue is that the game is far too long, each story mission is unnecessarily bloated due to the fact you have to do a random mission between each one. This doesn't factor in all the exploration and light puzzles scattered around the area surrounding your base of operations. Personally, a much more focused game would have made it perfect.
It's a lot of fun, if not a little hard to keep playing when fights take SO long to do.
the only video game with skins worth caring about
too long, gets very grindy and same-y towards back half. tactics and card system are a lot of fun though. more heroes would have been nice, but the roster they have here is built and designed very well. more enemy variety and locations could have been cool too, though this entry is a really good framework if the developers decide to go for a sequel.
The corporate incubator heading the design of Marvel's © Midnight Suns , checking steam reviews on release: "oh boy can't wait for all the
---{ Graphics }---
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10s we're gonna get!!!"
---{ Graphics }---
☑ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10s we're gonna get!!!"
You play from the viewpoint of "The Hunter" (who I assume is some Firaxis writer's D&D character they've decided to bruteforce into Super Hero™ World [if you've ever crossed the threshold of a City of Heroes RP shard you know it, you've seen it, I'm sorry]) and go to Hogwarts where all your favourite Marvel characters hang out with you in the after-school clubs and tell you how cool and important you are in between bickering with each other like 8-year olds (except Captain America, who is in Dream Daddy mode here). This is exactly as contemptible as it sounds.
There's a vaguely acceptable combat system buried in there somewhere, though it's nowhere near up to the level of Firaxis' X-COM efforts. I'm generally not a fan of card-based stuff, but volleying mooks into breakable objects is never bad and it is fun to figure out the best possible turn you can have with the hand you're dealt, how many free plays you can steal and how much damage you can squeeze out. The problem is that once you've nailed that - and you'll do that pretty early on - that's it. Before you've reached the halfway point, you've pretty much seen and done it all. The arenas are always the same flat boxes, there's no varied level layouts that make positioning any more interesting or challenging. This, combined with the several hundred different kinds of currency and rarity and crafting bollocks makes the combat side end up feeling like it was initially supposed to be one of the endless number of Marvel mobile games out right now. Unfortunate.
Also, it's a comic book game where there are no classic costumes available outside of paid DLC (the Blade one doesn't count, signing up for a 2K account is payment in blood). You'll get the greebléd Made For This Game guff and that's your lot. Just harrowing. It's full of bloat and it's yet another attempt to try and trick you into thinking the Scarlet Witch is interesting. Why did I finish it? Because I'm a pea-brained idiot who claps when he sees Spider-Man, mainly. Excelsior!
There's a vaguely acceptable combat system buried in there somewhere, though it's nowhere near up to the level of Firaxis' X-COM efforts. I'm generally not a fan of card-based stuff, but volleying mooks into breakable objects is never bad and it is fun to figure out the best possible turn you can have with the hand you're dealt, how many free plays you can steal and how much damage you can squeeze out. The problem is that once you've nailed that - and you'll do that pretty early on - that's it. Before you've reached the halfway point, you've pretty much seen and done it all. The arenas are always the same flat boxes, there's no varied level layouts that make positioning any more interesting or challenging. This, combined with the several hundred different kinds of currency and rarity and crafting bollocks makes the combat side end up feeling like it was initially supposed to be one of the endless number of Marvel mobile games out right now. Unfortunate.
Also, it's a comic book game where there are no classic costumes available outside of paid DLC (the Blade one doesn't count, signing up for a 2K account is payment in blood). You'll get the greebléd Made For This Game guff and that's your lot. Just harrowing. It's full of bloat and it's yet another attempt to try and trick you into thinking the Scarlet Witch is interesting. Why did I finish it? Because I'm a pea-brained idiot who claps when he sees Spider-Man, mainly. Excelsior!
pretty good. the dialogue and story suck balls of course but in a funny way most of the time. i like how you can make the writer's oc look like the biggest douchebag on planet earth. the core gameplay loop is easily enough to fill the almost 100 hours of playtime, but it kind of feels unfinished. not in the way of being buggy or broken, but like missing content. hulk in particular has a single conversation, and no friendship path. it feels like they ran out of time to finish him, especially when he was revealed so close to release. the game is also has some minor but reoccurring glitches, wolverine will often fall through the ground, the game will stall at turns, subtitles will be wrong, the game will forget choices you made hours ago, etc. nothing big, but noticeable. still, the core combat is fun, and the dialogue is (unintentionally) hilarious a lot of the time. i enjoyed every one of the many hours it took to beat this game, which is impressive for a game that's this repetitive!
This likely would have been my game of the year had I played it in time. Though it suffers from the same main issue I had with GOWR and Elden Ring (running out of steam near the finish line) I never got tired unleashing super-powered hell on my enemies in battle. Every move lands with impact and flash, and the different ways you can slam, strike, and vaporize HYDRA appear endless.
The game made me love characters I had never heard of, and appreciate the Old Dogs even more. I could have played an entire game with Nico and Magik alone. When all of the DLC finally drops, I will absolutely be jumping back in for a New Game+ playthru (and Platinumb Trophy).
The game made me love characters I had never heard of, and appreciate the Old Dogs even more. I could have played an entire game with Nico and Magik alone. When all of the DLC finally drops, I will absolutely be jumping back in for a New Game+ playthru (and Platinumb Trophy).
Un juego con un combate super entretenido pero un sistema de gestión pésimo. Diálogos eternos que casi no aportan nada. Sigue siendo disfrutable a pesar de eso.
The idea of the XCOM people making a Marvel-themed strategy deckbuilder is pretty much me-from-5-years-ago's dream game. I'm more burned out on Marvel stuff these days (I say as I simultaneously play two Marvel card games while reading through the Claremont X-Men run) but this is still a really interesting take on Firaxis' usual shtick. Thankfully they went with a slightly more esoteric set of characters here, adapting an event that's so obscure you can't even read the whole thing on Marvel Unlimited, so its relatively fresh even among our Marvel-saturated times.
There's just too much of everything though. Too long, too much wandering around the hub world, and especially way too much writing - every little side-mission or discoverable item has dry-as-a-bone flavour text, every conversation is extended beyond its natural endpoint, and while the tone often sticks closer to the comics over the MCU it is obnoxiously quippy. Which is a real shame because they're clearly going for a comic book tone here and they do what you need to do to make a big crossover team event work - namely create tension between the goals and methods of the various groups - but the quips undermine every moment rendering any potentially poignant ones moot. I have to say I really dislike how they've written Tony Stark specifically in this, he is an irredeemable nightmare and it's only sometimes intentional.
It's also a structural mess. It's funny how closely Midnight Suns hews to the loop of XCOM, and while that creates an easy "one more turn" flow, the lack of the latter's time pressure makes the day-night cycle feel perfunctory. I don't have a good solution to how to get players from one bit of combat to the next (and fwiw Midnight Suns' closest contemporary, Steamworld Quest also didn't know how to do this) but what's here only sort of works.
But at the end of the day, the card combat is Good and I liked doing it. There's some really interesting edges that make every turn a game of optimization, and they've done a great job of translating each character's skillset into a fun-to-use kit. Shout-outs to kicking dudes through Magik's portals which is unbeatably sick. I got suckered into buying the most expensive version of this but I'll be glad to revisit it whenever the DLC comes out.
DLC1 Update: Honestly I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed Deadpool in this - unlike the rest of the cast he's intentionally annoying which lets the writers get away with a lot of goofy shit that would otherwise be cringe. The contrast would've worked even better if the rest of the game was played straighter but it's still pretty solid! His kit's also pretty fun as are the new enemy types.
DLC2 update: Venom's kit is sorta basic and I'm pretty sure it's OP but it's nice to be able to use him anyways. Plot for this one is pretty stupid, they don't give Eddie much of a personality, and it's a shame to not get any new enemy types this time around. Still, having an excuse to pop back into this game for a couple hours isn't the worst thing in the world.
DLC3: Took a long time for me to get through this because I simply cannot muster any enthusiasm for Morbius. It makes sense that he's here, he fits the theme of the game at large and this first batch of DLC and he was in the original comics too, but....who cares. The game even comments on the fact that him and Blade are the same kinda guy but obviously Blade is way cooler. Even his kit is basically a redo of Blade's. Also, only introducing new enemy types with the first DLC character was a mistake - I'm already tired of fighting the same vampire dudes, and it's a real oversight that they're completely segregated from mainline enemy types, which would spice things up nicely in both these DLC missions and the general ones that you still have to do in between story missions.
There's just too much of everything though. Too long, too much wandering around the hub world, and especially way too much writing - every little side-mission or discoverable item has dry-as-a-bone flavour text, every conversation is extended beyond its natural endpoint, and while the tone often sticks closer to the comics over the MCU it is obnoxiously quippy. Which is a real shame because they're clearly going for a comic book tone here and they do what you need to do to make a big crossover team event work - namely create tension between the goals and methods of the various groups - but the quips undermine every moment rendering any potentially poignant ones moot. I have to say I really dislike how they've written Tony Stark specifically in this, he is an irredeemable nightmare and it's only sometimes intentional.
It's also a structural mess. It's funny how closely Midnight Suns hews to the loop of XCOM, and while that creates an easy "one more turn" flow, the lack of the latter's time pressure makes the day-night cycle feel perfunctory. I don't have a good solution to how to get players from one bit of combat to the next (and fwiw Midnight Suns' closest contemporary, Steamworld Quest also didn't know how to do this) but what's here only sort of works.
But at the end of the day, the card combat is Good and I liked doing it. There's some really interesting edges that make every turn a game of optimization, and they've done a great job of translating each character's skillset into a fun-to-use kit. Shout-outs to kicking dudes through Magik's portals which is unbeatably sick. I got suckered into buying the most expensive version of this but I'll be glad to revisit it whenever the DLC comes out.
DLC1 Update: Honestly I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed Deadpool in this - unlike the rest of the cast he's intentionally annoying which lets the writers get away with a lot of goofy shit that would otherwise be cringe. The contrast would've worked even better if the rest of the game was played straighter but it's still pretty solid! His kit's also pretty fun as are the new enemy types.
DLC2 update: Venom's kit is sorta basic and I'm pretty sure it's OP but it's nice to be able to use him anyways. Plot for this one is pretty stupid, they don't give Eddie much of a personality, and it's a shame to not get any new enemy types this time around. Still, having an excuse to pop back into this game for a couple hours isn't the worst thing in the world.
DLC3: Took a long time for me to get through this because I simply cannot muster any enthusiasm for Morbius. It makes sense that he's here, he fits the theme of the game at large and this first batch of DLC and he was in the original comics too, but....who cares. The game even comments on the fact that him and Blade are the same kinda guy but obviously Blade is way cooler. Even his kit is basically a redo of Blade's. Also, only introducing new enemy types with the first DLC character was a mistake - I'm already tired of fighting the same vampire dudes, and it's a real oversight that they're completely segregated from mainline enemy types, which would spice things up nicely in both these DLC missions and the general ones that you still have to do in between story missions.
WELL that was a long time! 62.4 hours according to Steam, which is the longest time I've played a more-or-less story based game in a loooooong time! Cyberpunk was like just over 30 hours I think for me!
SO y'all should know that I love love LOVE tactical games, and this game, which is basically Fire Emblem Three Houses: Marvel Edition with a really lovely card system, is so wildly up my alley I almost couldn't believe it. I am a lifelong capes comics lover (I will admit that the monstrosity that is the MCU and how much I dislike those movies makes me kinda be very lowkey about how much I love capes) and I love that we get more-or-less comic book versions of folks here.
SINCE it's so up my alley, and I trust my skill in the genre, I don't cheat on games like this. In fact, I bumped up the difficulty to the second highest one as soon as I unlocked it. I feel ok boasting that I only had to restart a single mission [smug sunglasses face]
What else can I say? I loved this game a ton. I loved Hunter's friendships (especially with Nico and Magik and Wanda) and I loved the Abbey and I just loved what this game had going on.
Tips and tricks? Gotta say that, having not read anything else so I could be way off base here, Spider-Man is probably the “best” character. He has lots of abilities that can be upgraded to be “free” and if I’ve learned anything from a lifetime of really loving games with action economy it’s that being able to use moves that don’t count against your action economy is as good as it gets!
Anywho, I cannot recommend this game highly enough!
SO y'all should know that I love love LOVE tactical games, and this game, which is basically Fire Emblem Three Houses: Marvel Edition with a really lovely card system, is so wildly up my alley I almost couldn't believe it. I am a lifelong capes comics lover (I will admit that the monstrosity that is the MCU and how much I dislike those movies makes me kinda be very lowkey about how much I love capes) and I love that we get more-or-less comic book versions of folks here.
SINCE it's so up my alley, and I trust my skill in the genre, I don't cheat on games like this. In fact, I bumped up the difficulty to the second highest one as soon as I unlocked it. I feel ok boasting that I only had to restart a single mission [smug sunglasses face]
What else can I say? I loved this game a ton. I loved Hunter's friendships (especially with Nico and Magik and Wanda) and I loved the Abbey and I just loved what this game had going on.
Tips and tricks? Gotta say that, having not read anything else so I could be way off base here, Spider-Man is probably the “best” character. He has lots of abilities that can be upgraded to be “free” and if I’ve learned anything from a lifetime of really loving games with action economy it’s that being able to use moves that don’t count against your action economy is as good as it gets!
Anywho, I cannot recommend this game highly enough!
I found Marvel's Midnight Suns to be a frustrating game in a lot of ways. But it's also one of the most fun strategy RPGs I've ever played that I couldn't stop playing.
It feels like a game that is at war with itself. The pieces don't mesh together in support of the central gameplay concepts. Not well, in any case.
1. You have the strategy RPG game, where you play discrete missions with objectives and a tightly designed card system that is so much fun to interact with and take advantage of. It's really a pleasure to play, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. If anything I hope they support Midnight Suns with story DLC or a big sequel because this system needs to keep going.
2. When off mission, you strangely enough have this massive open Abbey area to explore the grounds of and solve puzzles. There's so much to explore here, and it feels disconnected from the rest of the experience despite having some hamfisted things in it (crafting materials, social havens) to force you to engage with it.
3. You have the social management sim element, where you must talk to and hang out with the superheroes on your team to upgrade their friendship level. Upgrading the friendship level for each hero provides hero-specific buffs that are actually extremely powerful. The writing here is also all over the place. It feels YA in tone but simultaneously weirdly cringey. It's full of whedonistic dialogue that doesn't mean anything, and conversations that go on a full two or three or four sentences too long. The voice acting doesn't feel as strongly directed in these social scenes either.
I also found the currencies for upgrading cards, creating cards, modifying cards to be annoying to keep track of/manage and earn. There could have been a better way around this. The inventory UI is also quite hard to use. Cards aren't alphabetised and as far as I could see there isn't a sorting tool so it can be really card to see what you actually have.
These pieces not quite fitting together ends up making the game feel disjointed and confusing at times. This sucks a lot! The writing and storytelling in the main cutscenes is pretty good! It's a fun story, silly comic book gothic horror. But everything around that feels... weaker? Which I think is sad.
I can't help but think that the Abbey and the Social Sim have potential, but either aren't utilised correctly or just haven't had as much effort put into them (or at least, not as much as the combat system). You're locked into a gameplay structure of "Wake up, do a mission, possibly (because they're random) have a hangout with a hero to up your friendship, then go to sleep". This feels almost too rigid.
Part of me almost wishes that the system was a little more open. Maybe make hangouts available before a mission! What if there are discrete times of day? Missions can happen in the morning, afternoon, or evening? Then whenever you don't do a mission, you can spend hanging out? I don't know.
It just feels like the gameplay loop could have been a lot stronger, and worked in support of itself more. As it stands, it makes the game feel like it has lots of separate parts.
Despite this, I hope the game does well! I want to play more of it! Story DLC, a sequel, something! I think it's a really interesting concept and I would like to see where this team might take these concepts if they had another go at it.
It feels like a game that is at war with itself. The pieces don't mesh together in support of the central gameplay concepts. Not well, in any case.
1. You have the strategy RPG game, where you play discrete missions with objectives and a tightly designed card system that is so much fun to interact with and take advantage of. It's really a pleasure to play, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. If anything I hope they support Midnight Suns with story DLC or a big sequel because this system needs to keep going.
2. When off mission, you strangely enough have this massive open Abbey area to explore the grounds of and solve puzzles. There's so much to explore here, and it feels disconnected from the rest of the experience despite having some hamfisted things in it (crafting materials, social havens) to force you to engage with it.
3. You have the social management sim element, where you must talk to and hang out with the superheroes on your team to upgrade their friendship level. Upgrading the friendship level for each hero provides hero-specific buffs that are actually extremely powerful. The writing here is also all over the place. It feels YA in tone but simultaneously weirdly cringey. It's full of whedonistic dialogue that doesn't mean anything, and conversations that go on a full two or three or four sentences too long. The voice acting doesn't feel as strongly directed in these social scenes either.
I also found the currencies for upgrading cards, creating cards, modifying cards to be annoying to keep track of/manage and earn. There could have been a better way around this. The inventory UI is also quite hard to use. Cards aren't alphabetised and as far as I could see there isn't a sorting tool so it can be really card to see what you actually have.
These pieces not quite fitting together ends up making the game feel disjointed and confusing at times. This sucks a lot! The writing and storytelling in the main cutscenes is pretty good! It's a fun story, silly comic book gothic horror. But everything around that feels... weaker? Which I think is sad.
I can't help but think that the Abbey and the Social Sim have potential, but either aren't utilised correctly or just haven't had as much effort put into them (or at least, not as much as the combat system). You're locked into a gameplay structure of "Wake up, do a mission, possibly (because they're random) have a hangout with a hero to up your friendship, then go to sleep". This feels almost too rigid.
Part of me almost wishes that the system was a little more open. Maybe make hangouts available before a mission! What if there are discrete times of day? Missions can happen in the morning, afternoon, or evening? Then whenever you don't do a mission, you can spend hanging out? I don't know.
It just feels like the gameplay loop could have been a lot stronger, and worked in support of itself more. As it stands, it makes the game feel like it has lots of separate parts.
Despite this, I hope the game does well! I want to play more of it! Story DLC, a sequel, something! I think it's a really interesting concept and I would like to see where this team might take these concepts if they had another go at it.
A game that has left me feeling conflicted. There are aspects of the experience that I genuinely enjoyed, particularly with the card combat and general gameplay. I liked some character moments, however, overall I believe that the concept of the game is far better than its execution (The combat is an exception). Building relationships with the heroes feel unearned because they are written to be bland, and uninteresting, it feels more like a progression of a rank rather than a growing friendship. The story was bland and lacked the writing necessary to give me a reason to care about anything. The graphics are sub-par, character models are really mid, however, they make up for this with the costumes. Overall a disappointing experience that could possibly be rectified in a sequel, though I don't think it's very likely.
I'm not a huge marvel fan, but I'm a big RPG-Fan and I was positively surprised by Midnight Suns. But boy, the first look is not the best, I have to admit. I was a bit shocked when I saw the characters and the movement in the "open world"-part in the abbey. Visually this could be a game, that came out ten years ago.
But the round based battles are actually fun. The interaction with each superhero kind of reminded me of Dragon Age. And the dialogues have a big part in this game. Even though you can choose answers like in other RPGs, they don't really feel like, that there is a different outcome.
So if you have a neck for tactical games and you like Marvel or superheros in general, you can give Midnight Suns a shot.
But the round based battles are actually fun. The interaction with each superhero kind of reminded me of Dragon Age. And the dialogues have a big part in this game. Even though you can choose answers like in other RPGs, they don't really feel like, that there is a different outcome.
So if you have a neck for tactical games and you like Marvel or superheros in general, you can give Midnight Suns a shot.
Somos los Midnight Suns
Es cine
Es cine
I have been super excited for Midnight Suns ever since it was first announced. A Marvel game made by XCOM devs Firaxis where I replace my nameless troops for iconic superheroes? Sounds awesome to me! However Midnight Suns has very little in common with XCOM and while that might have been disappointing for a lot of people looking forward to the game, for me the game we got is somehow even better than Marvel themed XCOM because we got a Marvel themed Mass Effect/Persona/Slay the Spire hybrid instead and it is a game I never knew I wanted so bad until I actually played it, but more on that in a bit.
Let's talk about story first because as with all RPGs that is the primary focus and the bulk of your 50 to 100 hour runtime is going to center around it. Everything I'm about to talk about happens within the first hour so this is spoiler free btw. In Midnight Suns the big bad is Lilith, the Mother of Demons who was recently resurrected by Hydra mad scientist Doctor Faustus. Lilith's goal is to herald the second coming of the eldritch Elder God of chaos, Chthon (Basically the Marvel equivalent to Cthulhu) and bring about the end of all creation as we know it and to do this she creates her own army made up of mind controlled Hydra soldiers, corrupted super villains such as Venom and Sabertooth and of course her own demonic forces as well. The Avengers are no match for Lilith so who can stop her?
Well that is where the protagonist of our story comes in. Enter The Hunter, a Commander Shepard-like blank slate for the player to customize as they see fit in the form of an ancient demon hunter from 1,700s Salem and the prophesied chosen one to stop Lilith. Oh yeah did I mention The Hunter is also Lilith's child and is in a constant struggle between the light and dark powers inside of them? No? Well they are and that makes for a very compelling and emotional dynamic between the main hero and villain. I personally found the tale of The Hunter and Lilith to be more entertaining than 99% of the MCU. That is not to say the story is not without its tropes that plague nearly all superhero media, but the amount of unique charm and passion put into this story is simply undeniable and helps it stand out from its contemporaries.
The main plot is simply put, batshit insane and almost feels like it was torn right off the pages of a classic Silver Age comic to be portrayed as a campy B-movie in the best way possible (With all the one-liners and over-the-top action that comes with the territory). I know I'm in the minority when I say this, but THIS is the kind of stuff that I wish the MCU did more of (Precisely the reason Multiverse of Madness is my fave movie in the MCU), Midnight Suns is a game that was made by people who clearly have a deep love and understanding of exactly what makes the medium of comic books so fun and enjoyable and they transferred that Marvel(ously) into a video game with tons of over-the-top action and set-pieces that a silver screen just couldn't do justice.
With all that said the main plot is merely half of the game because as I mentioned earlier this game takes a lot of inspiration from Persona (or Fire Emblem: Three Houses or Trails of Cold Steel etc) and when you're not experiencing the crazy tale of Hunter and Lilith you'll be at your base of operations known as the Abbey which is essentially a magical boarding house for all the heroes to stay at and while in the Abbey The Hunter can do many things (Which I'll come back to later), but the most important one is bonding with your fellow heroes by doing social link style mundane day-to-day events including everything from playing video games with Ghost Rider to Meditating with Doctor Strange or just having a drink at the bar with Iron Man. I also want to mention aside from the day-to-day events there are also special side quest club-like activities you can follow at certain times through the whole game like joining a shop class with Iron Man and Ghost Rider or a book club with Blade and Captain Marvel.
During these hangouts you get a variety of dialogue choices and choosing the right one will help build your friendship meter with said hero. The dialogue trees themselves remind me of a classic BioWare RPG like Mass Effect or Dragon Age and there's even a light and dark system which changes how different characters view the Hunter and also give the Hunter new powers, cosmetics and various passive buffs in combat. As your Hunter hangs out with the heroes they will slowly get closer and open up to you more about their backstories, inner conflicts and likes and dislikes and everything between. Firaxis basically came as close to making a dating sim without actually making a dating sim (There is some light flirting though) and the Hunter can essentially become BFFs with any hero they max out their friendship with, some say the way the friendships progress comes across as very fanfic like, but personally I think it comes across as pretty organic and natural due to the Hunter's backstory and history being relatable to many of the heroes in various ways.
Midnight Suns is a game of many tones and it flawlessly executes them all, managing to capture that ridiculous over-the-top 70s campy comic book style in the main plot, yet knowing when to get suitably dark and emotional as well, but the best and most unique part of it all has to be portraying such a great down to earth vibe with the friendship and team building mechanics that show all the mundane day-to-day events between heroes during your down time from the main plot. From Avengers to X-Men, Runaways, the titular Midnight Sons and more this cast is absolutely stacked with some of Marvel's best and coolest characters and we get to see as friendships bloom between them, rivalries form and various team conflicts happens and that's just the tip of the iceberg, just walking around the Abbey after a mission you can listen to heroes have casual conversations with each other and there is even an in game text messaging app all the heroes use which provides some great interactions.
This one game did a better job of making all these characters feel like a family than 20 movies in the MCU did and I know that's in no small part thanks to the fantastic voice acting performances which really helped to capture all the characters personalities, the fact those personalities are closer to the comics than their MCU counterparts and also most of these characters are voiced by the main actors who have been voicing them for years like Yuri Lowenthal as Spider-Man or Steve Blum as Wolverine definitely helps too. Even the characters with fresh voices were done justice like Michael Jai White as Blade or Matthew Mercer (If you play as the male Hunter which I did) as the voice of the Hunter themselves and hearing Jennifer Hale as Lilith was always a treat as well and that's just a few examples out of this massive cast too because everyone gets ample opportunity to shine. Fun fact: Btw this game has over 60,000 lines of unique voiced dialogue and it shows because the characters never ran out of things to say for me even after 80 hours.
So remember how I mentioned you could do many things at the Abbey? Well aside from bonding with your fellow heroes you can also explore the fairly sizable overworld map of the Abbey grounds which other than a small tutorial is completely optional for those who don't want to however you'd be doing yourself a disservice since I found doing it to be very immersive and rewarding because it expands the world-building and connects to a side quest which reveals more mysteries about the Hunter and their past through various documents and lore that can be found on the grounds through some light puzzle solving. There's also a decently in-depth resource management and crafting system and you can find treasure chests which unlock tons of new cosmetic options for the Hunter and skins for the other heroes.
I focused on the story, characters world etc first because this is an RPG and there was a LOT to talk about and with this game I believe Firaxis has established themselves with BioWare, Obsidian, Atlus and Falcom as one of the best RPG makers so I wanted to really go in-depth about why I believe that, but If you're still reading and you made it this far into the review it is finally time to talk about the combat system and honestly it's just as amazing as everything else this game has to offer.
With Midnight Suns Firaxis has created one of the most fun and enjoyable tactical combat systems I've ever experienced. On the surface it doesn't look like it has a lot of depth, but the more you play the deeper you realize it is. Like I mentioned earlier this is a card based combat system like Slay the Spire and every individual character has their own unique play style and set of ability cards which perfectly represent them and their unique set of abilities from Captain America drawing agro, taunting enemies and building up his resistance to Blade applying bleed and using life-steal. You can build everyone in so many different ways as you unlock new cards and level up characters by completing missions, throw in team combo attacks, using the environment and positioning of your characters to your advantage and there's just countless creative options and I barely even scratched the surface. Also the RNG of the cards keeps battles fresh even after 80 hours and the fact all the characters are well balanced and no one isn't fun to use makes this combat system so addictive. This is the natural evolution of the Slay the Spire style and I hope more games start using now. Also want to mention the attack animations are over-the-top, flashy and have all the impact one would expect from such big name heroes and I never got sick of watching them.
I almost forgot to mention the OST, but that certainly doesn't make it bad, on the contrary it is quite great. The main theme is very triumphant, heroic and reminiscent of Alan Silvestri's Avengers Theme while some other tracks you hear around the Abbey have a more whimsical and magical Danny Elfman feeling to them and the battle themes really pump you up being a a mix of orchestral and metal/rock instruments, the final battle theme which is my fave track in the game and essentially instrumental symphonic black metal.
Midnight Suns is simply put, the best comic book game I've ever played and it isn't even close. Midnight Suns was everything I ever could've dreamed of and more. As a fan of classic Marvel comics, immersive RPGs with tons of dialogue, world-building and character bonding, tactics games and card games, Midnight Suns vastly exceeded my expectations across all fields becoming a truly one-of-a-kind experience and amalgamation of a bunch of my personal favorite things that it almost feels like this game was manifested from my own thoughts.
I'll admit it has performance issues, the graphics look outdated by 2 generations and I'm sure a lot of people would get bored by how slow the story progresses (especially early game) and how grindy the missions can be, but I love everything about this game so much that it feels like it was tailored to my own personal tastes and for that Midnight Suns won't be for everyone, but I can certainly say it is without a doubt one of my favorite games of 2022.
Let's talk about story first because as with all RPGs that is the primary focus and the bulk of your 50 to 100 hour runtime is going to center around it. Everything I'm about to talk about happens within the first hour so this is spoiler free btw. In Midnight Suns the big bad is Lilith, the Mother of Demons who was recently resurrected by Hydra mad scientist Doctor Faustus. Lilith's goal is to herald the second coming of the eldritch Elder God of chaos, Chthon (Basically the Marvel equivalent to Cthulhu) and bring about the end of all creation as we know it and to do this she creates her own army made up of mind controlled Hydra soldiers, corrupted super villains such as Venom and Sabertooth and of course her own demonic forces as well. The Avengers are no match for Lilith so who can stop her?
Well that is where the protagonist of our story comes in. Enter The Hunter, a Commander Shepard-like blank slate for the player to customize as they see fit in the form of an ancient demon hunter from 1,700s Salem and the prophesied chosen one to stop Lilith. Oh yeah did I mention The Hunter is also Lilith's child and is in a constant struggle between the light and dark powers inside of them? No? Well they are and that makes for a very compelling and emotional dynamic between the main hero and villain. I personally found the tale of The Hunter and Lilith to be more entertaining than 99% of the MCU. That is not to say the story is not without its tropes that plague nearly all superhero media, but the amount of unique charm and passion put into this story is simply undeniable and helps it stand out from its contemporaries.
The main plot is simply put, batshit insane and almost feels like it was torn right off the pages of a classic Silver Age comic to be portrayed as a campy B-movie in the best way possible (With all the one-liners and over-the-top action that comes with the territory). I know I'm in the minority when I say this, but THIS is the kind of stuff that I wish the MCU did more of (Precisely the reason Multiverse of Madness is my fave movie in the MCU), Midnight Suns is a game that was made by people who clearly have a deep love and understanding of exactly what makes the medium of comic books so fun and enjoyable and they transferred that Marvel(ously) into a video game with tons of over-the-top action and set-pieces that a silver screen just couldn't do justice.
With all that said the main plot is merely half of the game because as I mentioned earlier this game takes a lot of inspiration from Persona (or Fire Emblem: Three Houses or Trails of Cold Steel etc) and when you're not experiencing the crazy tale of Hunter and Lilith you'll be at your base of operations known as the Abbey which is essentially a magical boarding house for all the heroes to stay at and while in the Abbey The Hunter can do many things (Which I'll come back to later), but the most important one is bonding with your fellow heroes by doing social link style mundane day-to-day events including everything from playing video games with Ghost Rider to Meditating with Doctor Strange or just having a drink at the bar with Iron Man. I also want to mention aside from the day-to-day events there are also special side quest club-like activities you can follow at certain times through the whole game like joining a shop class with Iron Man and Ghost Rider or a book club with Blade and Captain Marvel.
During these hangouts you get a variety of dialogue choices and choosing the right one will help build your friendship meter with said hero. The dialogue trees themselves remind me of a classic BioWare RPG like Mass Effect or Dragon Age and there's even a light and dark system which changes how different characters view the Hunter and also give the Hunter new powers, cosmetics and various passive buffs in combat. As your Hunter hangs out with the heroes they will slowly get closer and open up to you more about their backstories, inner conflicts and likes and dislikes and everything between. Firaxis basically came as close to making a dating sim without actually making a dating sim (There is some light flirting though) and the Hunter can essentially become BFFs with any hero they max out their friendship with, some say the way the friendships progress comes across as very fanfic like, but personally I think it comes across as pretty organic and natural due to the Hunter's backstory and history being relatable to many of the heroes in various ways.
Midnight Suns is a game of many tones and it flawlessly executes them all, managing to capture that ridiculous over-the-top 70s campy comic book style in the main plot, yet knowing when to get suitably dark and emotional as well, but the best and most unique part of it all has to be portraying such a great down to earth vibe with the friendship and team building mechanics that show all the mundane day-to-day events between heroes during your down time from the main plot. From Avengers to X-Men, Runaways, the titular Midnight Sons and more this cast is absolutely stacked with some of Marvel's best and coolest characters and we get to see as friendships bloom between them, rivalries form and various team conflicts happens and that's just the tip of the iceberg, just walking around the Abbey after a mission you can listen to heroes have casual conversations with each other and there is even an in game text messaging app all the heroes use which provides some great interactions.
This one game did a better job of making all these characters feel like a family than 20 movies in the MCU did and I know that's in no small part thanks to the fantastic voice acting performances which really helped to capture all the characters personalities, the fact those personalities are closer to the comics than their MCU counterparts and also most of these characters are voiced by the main actors who have been voicing them for years like Yuri Lowenthal as Spider-Man or Steve Blum as Wolverine definitely helps too. Even the characters with fresh voices were done justice like Michael Jai White as Blade or Matthew Mercer (If you play as the male Hunter which I did) as the voice of the Hunter themselves and hearing Jennifer Hale as Lilith was always a treat as well and that's just a few examples out of this massive cast too because everyone gets ample opportunity to shine. Fun fact: Btw this game has over 60,000 lines of unique voiced dialogue and it shows because the characters never ran out of things to say for me even after 80 hours.
So remember how I mentioned you could do many things at the Abbey? Well aside from bonding with your fellow heroes you can also explore the fairly sizable overworld map of the Abbey grounds which other than a small tutorial is completely optional for those who don't want to however you'd be doing yourself a disservice since I found doing it to be very immersive and rewarding because it expands the world-building and connects to a side quest which reveals more mysteries about the Hunter and their past through various documents and lore that can be found on the grounds through some light puzzle solving. There's also a decently in-depth resource management and crafting system and you can find treasure chests which unlock tons of new cosmetic options for the Hunter and skins for the other heroes.
I focused on the story, characters world etc first because this is an RPG and there was a LOT to talk about and with this game I believe Firaxis has established themselves with BioWare, Obsidian, Atlus and Falcom as one of the best RPG makers so I wanted to really go in-depth about why I believe that, but If you're still reading and you made it this far into the review it is finally time to talk about the combat system and honestly it's just as amazing as everything else this game has to offer.
With Midnight Suns Firaxis has created one of the most fun and enjoyable tactical combat systems I've ever experienced. On the surface it doesn't look like it has a lot of depth, but the more you play the deeper you realize it is. Like I mentioned earlier this is a card based combat system like Slay the Spire and every individual character has their own unique play style and set of ability cards which perfectly represent them and their unique set of abilities from Captain America drawing agro, taunting enemies and building up his resistance to Blade applying bleed and using life-steal. You can build everyone in so many different ways as you unlock new cards and level up characters by completing missions, throw in team combo attacks, using the environment and positioning of your characters to your advantage and there's just countless creative options and I barely even scratched the surface. Also the RNG of the cards keeps battles fresh even after 80 hours and the fact all the characters are well balanced and no one isn't fun to use makes this combat system so addictive. This is the natural evolution of the Slay the Spire style and I hope more games start using now. Also want to mention the attack animations are over-the-top, flashy and have all the impact one would expect from such big name heroes and I never got sick of watching them.
I almost forgot to mention the OST, but that certainly doesn't make it bad, on the contrary it is quite great. The main theme is very triumphant, heroic and reminiscent of Alan Silvestri's Avengers Theme while some other tracks you hear around the Abbey have a more whimsical and magical Danny Elfman feeling to them and the battle themes really pump you up being a a mix of orchestral and metal/rock instruments, the final battle theme which is my fave track in the game and essentially instrumental symphonic black metal.
Midnight Suns is simply put, the best comic book game I've ever played and it isn't even close. Midnight Suns was everything I ever could've dreamed of and more. As a fan of classic Marvel comics, immersive RPGs with tons of dialogue, world-building and character bonding, tactics games and card games, Midnight Suns vastly exceeded my expectations across all fields becoming a truly one-of-a-kind experience and amalgamation of a bunch of my personal favorite things that it almost feels like this game was manifested from my own thoughts.
I'll admit it has performance issues, the graphics look outdated by 2 generations and I'm sure a lot of people would get bored by how slow the story progresses (especially early game) and how grindy the missions can be, but I love everything about this game so much that it feels like it was tailored to my own personal tastes and for that Midnight Suns won't be for everyone, but I can certainly say it is without a doubt one of my favorite games of 2022.
This review contains spoilers
Can't believe this game has a mid- and post credit scene.
The Firaxis effect is strong with this one: its incredibly addictive gameloop worked perfectly with me, quenching my thirst for both turn-based strategy and Marvel quality content. It made me forget about the disappointment of Ultimate Alliance 3 and could easily be my favorite Marvel game ever.
The amazingly well polished design, the high levels of production and the faithful depiction of characters (all hail our new fan-favorite queen Magik) make Midnight Suns one of my favorite games of 2022. A delightful surprise!
The amazingly well polished design, the high levels of production and the faithful depiction of characters (all hail our new fan-favorite queen Magik) make Midnight Suns one of my favorite games of 2022. A delightful surprise!
Me esperaba que fuera un excelente juego de estrategia, y lo es. Pero lo que acaba de redondearlo es que también es un gran life sim en el que te haces colega de personajes de Marvel.
Es sorprendente hasta qué punto una caracterización cuídadisima de todos los personajes del equipo y una gigantesca dosis de costumbrismo superheroico bastan para hacer que te impliques mucho en su historia, por trilladísima que sea. (Si ya eres fan de Marvel, claro. Esto es café para los muy cafeteros.)
Me acordaré tanto de esa misión en la que conseguí alcanzar otro plano de existencia entendiendo la manera en la que las cartas de Doctor Extraño y de Iron Man se compenetraban que de la fiesta sorpresa que organizacé para Magik con el resto de los héroes. Allí reside la victoria de Firaxis con este juego: en lo bien que funcionan las dos caras tan dispares de su moneda y en la manera impecable en la que se compaginan a nivel de diseño.
Lo han bordado, y espero que puedan hacer otro, porque esta fórmula es demasiado buena para quedarse en un solo juego.
Es sorprendente hasta qué punto una caracterización cuídadisima de todos los personajes del equipo y una gigantesca dosis de costumbrismo superheroico bastan para hacer que te impliques mucho en su historia, por trilladísima que sea. (Si ya eres fan de Marvel, claro. Esto es café para los muy cafeteros.)
Me acordaré tanto de esa misión en la que conseguí alcanzar otro plano de existencia entendiendo la manera en la que las cartas de Doctor Extraño y de Iron Man se compenetraban que de la fiesta sorpresa que organizacé para Magik con el resto de los héroes. Allí reside la victoria de Firaxis con este juego: en lo bien que funcionan las dos caras tan dispares de su moneda y en la manera impecable en la que se compaginan a nivel de diseño.
Lo han bordado, y espero que puedan hacer otro, porque esta fórmula es demasiado buena para quedarse en un solo juego.
Nice card combat. Addictive as hell! Missions can get repetitive though. The slice of life discussions between characters take a lot of time but it was really fun. I enjoyed my time with the game.
Unfortunate technical issues aside, this is easily one of the best Marvel games made in recent history. A fun story, interesting and well-written characters and some extremely fun gameplay make this a good time all around.
Who's a good girl? It is my Charlie girl.
What a game!
Scratched that Slay the Spire/Three Houses itch I've been having for awhile. Plus, you can pet the dog every day and be rewarded for it. So, if that's not enough to warrant a purchase, not sure what is.
Didn't see myself loving Midnight Suns as much as I did. Filled with fun battles, silly hangouts, an occasional groan-worthy line, and a whole lot of heart. Complaints regarding the writing are severely overblown, in my opinion. If you've seen, and enjoyed, anything Marvel in the last decade, you'll know what to expect.
I will note, however, that on rare occasions I got struck with visual glitches on the world map or a character falling through the map during a battle. Nothing too game breaking or an easy reset didn't fix.
I forgot how much I enjoyed Marvel when it got "weird" and dealt with the occult. My favorite Marvel "thing"! Has rekindled my interest in comics and looking to collect a few involving the characters as soon as I can find em!
What a game!
Scratched that Slay the Spire/Three Houses itch I've been having for awhile. Plus, you can pet the dog every day and be rewarded for it. So, if that's not enough to warrant a purchase, not sure what is.
Didn't see myself loving Midnight Suns as much as I did. Filled with fun battles, silly hangouts, an occasional groan-worthy line, and a whole lot of heart. Complaints regarding the writing are severely overblown, in my opinion. If you've seen, and enjoyed, anything Marvel in the last decade, you'll know what to expect.
I will note, however, that on rare occasions I got struck with visual glitches on the world map or a character falling through the map during a battle. Nothing too game breaking or an easy reset didn't fix.
I forgot how much I enjoyed Marvel when it got "weird" and dealt with the occult. My favorite Marvel "thing"! Has rekindled my interest in comics and looking to collect a few involving the characters as soon as I can find em!
Midnight Suns manages to make a serviceable strategy RPG with the Marvel License, but that's about where the compliments end.
Super bloated with free time events you know and love from things like Persona and Danganronpa.. except instead of growing to learn about characters you know nothing about you're watching a movie with Blade? Stargazing with IRON MAN?! The games insistence on fluff like this is going to be the difference between loving this game and thinking it was a drag. These Abby segments help fluff the playtime but in my playthrough I was mashing the skip button because I couldn't care any less.
At its core the strategy is very fun. Do not be discouraged by the card system because it only adds extra flavor to the strategy. Unlike in XCOM, all attacks have a 100% chance of connecting so a lot of strategy comes from building your deck and hoping the RNG falls in your favor. While I prefer the high stakes of XCOM where the characters you named after your friends and coworkers die permanently, here instead the stress is "injuring" your hero's making them gimped for a certain amount of time to heal.
Despite having Marvel's entire catalogue of hero's, you start off white 80% of the games roster. There's very few characters to unlock. The season pass looks to be adding some much needed additions to the roster like Deadpool who I'm sure will be a blast to play with.
I couldn't help in my playthrough to keep making XCOM comparisons for obvious reasons, and at the end of the day I much prefer that. It may have inspired another playthrough of that.
Super bloated with free time events you know and love from things like Persona and Danganronpa.. except instead of growing to learn about characters you know nothing about you're watching a movie with Blade? Stargazing with IRON MAN?! The games insistence on fluff like this is going to be the difference between loving this game and thinking it was a drag. These Abby segments help fluff the playtime but in my playthrough I was mashing the skip button because I couldn't care any less.
At its core the strategy is very fun. Do not be discouraged by the card system because it only adds extra flavor to the strategy. Unlike in XCOM, all attacks have a 100% chance of connecting so a lot of strategy comes from building your deck and hoping the RNG falls in your favor. While I prefer the high stakes of XCOM where the characters you named after your friends and coworkers die permanently, here instead the stress is "injuring" your hero's making them gimped for a certain amount of time to heal.
Despite having Marvel's entire catalogue of hero's, you start off white 80% of the games roster. There's very few characters to unlock. The season pass looks to be adding some much needed additions to the roster like Deadpool who I'm sure will be a blast to play with.
I couldn't help in my playthrough to keep making XCOM comparisons for obvious reasons, and at the end of the day I much prefer that. It may have inspired another playthrough of that.
I hate marvel and I've never played a strategy game in my life. 4 stars.
Not a bad game, but it doesn't work on Steam Deck and has a ton of PC issues over a month after launch.
This game is fantastic. For those who are fans of xcom, you will love this game. For those who are fans of marvel, you'll be delighted.
- Amazing voice actors
- an interesting and cool story with which of the story missions with different objectives that increases the difference in gameplay between missions and things to focus on
- LOADS of sidecontent that is not a drag
- A very good and entertaining persona-like friendship and time spend system
The only reason I don't give 4 and 1/2 stars is because the visuals are trash. I love the game but all the graphics and overall visuals look super low effort. Some attack and in game animations are cool and satisfying but all the visuals are very trashy tbh. Also there are a lot of cool cosmetics but most of the heroes suits are lock behind a paywall
- Amazing voice actors
- an interesting and cool story with which of the story missions with different objectives that increases the difference in gameplay between missions and things to focus on
- LOADS of sidecontent that is not a drag
- A very good and entertaining persona-like friendship and time spend system
The only reason I don't give 4 and 1/2 stars is because the visuals are trash. I love the game but all the graphics and overall visuals look super low effort. Some attack and in game animations are cool and satisfying but all the visuals are very trashy tbh. Also there are a lot of cool cosmetics but most of the heroes suits are lock behind a paywall
This is a criminally under-talked about game imo most likely due to a combination of under-marketing, Marvel fatigue, and the fact that it came out right at the end of the year making it miss a lot of GotY discussion. I really liked this though. It's a turn based tactics game from the team behind the rebooted XCOM franchise, fused with card battle gameplay and with a hefty dose of BioWare inspiration as you talk to your team between missions.
If it wasn't for that BioWare bit this would've easily been a 5 star rating from me, but I really could not care less about the story in this game. The idea of being able to chat up and build relationships with my favorite Marvel heroes as the game progresses is appealing to me, but it just failed in the execution. The dialogue is the Joss Whedon quip stuff that most people have grown tired of by now. Your companions are split into two camps, The Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel etc.) and The Midnight Suns (Nico Minoru, Magik, Ghost Rider, etc.) and much of the game's drama comes from these two groups bickering like petulant children. The plot is also a very generic supernatural good vs. evil story with a twist you'll see coming a mile away.
If you can put that aside though, there's some five star gameplay going on here as you'd expect from a Firaxis game. You're given a limited amount of card plays, but there are some cards which will extend your card plays if you get a K.O. with them. Weaker cards build up hero points which you can then spend to use more powerful cards. Positioning is also important as a lot of abilities involve pushing enemies into hazards, teammates, or other enemies. A lot of the gameplay is spent trying to find the optimal way to maximize the amount of moves you can make in a single turn, and it makes for a fun little puzzle every encounter. I also really like how you unlock difficulties over time, and that those difficulties are very transparent as to what values they're adjusting to make the game harder (enemy H.P. and damage, number of revives, stronger enemy reinforcements.) You get a star rating of 1-3 depending on how good you do with each mission, and after you've earned enough of those stars the next level of difficulty unlocks. It was fun playing on the harder difficulties and really having to optimize my moves to a much greater level of efficiency, and seeing myself get better at the game as more was demanded from me.
They also just really nailed making each character feel unique with the gameplay. Captain Marvel for example starts a match weak, but after playing 3 of her cards she can go into binary mode, doubling her damage and giving her a ton of block, which you have to maintain because she loses binary mode when out of block. Captain America is a super tank, having abilities that let him gain block as he damages and taunts enemies to target him. Ghost Rider will gain souls with each enemy he K.O.'s and after a certain number of souls are collected his max H.P. will increase and he will get an ability which will let him steal H.P. from enemies. Those are just three examples but each character is just as well thought out as these ones. It also incentivizes using a variety of characters by offering research rewards unlocked by using different characters, which I greatly appreciated as usually in these BioWare style games I will pick my team of 3 or 4 people for the gameplay and then only interact with the others in the hub area. It also just makes the whole experience that much more fun because you are constantly playing in different ways because of how these character's gameplay styles differ.
It's also quite a lengthy game if that's something that matters to you. You can easily sink over 100 hrs into this if you're playing through the whole story and exploring the hub area between missions. I definitely recommend this one to fans of the tactics genre.
If it wasn't for that BioWare bit this would've easily been a 5 star rating from me, but I really could not care less about the story in this game. The idea of being able to chat up and build relationships with my favorite Marvel heroes as the game progresses is appealing to me, but it just failed in the execution. The dialogue is the Joss Whedon quip stuff that most people have grown tired of by now. Your companions are split into two camps, The Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel etc.) and The Midnight Suns (Nico Minoru, Magik, Ghost Rider, etc.) and much of the game's drama comes from these two groups bickering like petulant children. The plot is also a very generic supernatural good vs. evil story with a twist you'll see coming a mile away.
If you can put that aside though, there's some five star gameplay going on here as you'd expect from a Firaxis game. You're given a limited amount of card plays, but there are some cards which will extend your card plays if you get a K.O. with them. Weaker cards build up hero points which you can then spend to use more powerful cards. Positioning is also important as a lot of abilities involve pushing enemies into hazards, teammates, or other enemies. A lot of the gameplay is spent trying to find the optimal way to maximize the amount of moves you can make in a single turn, and it makes for a fun little puzzle every encounter. I also really like how you unlock difficulties over time, and that those difficulties are very transparent as to what values they're adjusting to make the game harder (enemy H.P. and damage, number of revives, stronger enemy reinforcements.) You get a star rating of 1-3 depending on how good you do with each mission, and after you've earned enough of those stars the next level of difficulty unlocks. It was fun playing on the harder difficulties and really having to optimize my moves to a much greater level of efficiency, and seeing myself get better at the game as more was demanded from me.
They also just really nailed making each character feel unique with the gameplay. Captain Marvel for example starts a match weak, but after playing 3 of her cards she can go into binary mode, doubling her damage and giving her a ton of block, which you have to maintain because she loses binary mode when out of block. Captain America is a super tank, having abilities that let him gain block as he damages and taunts enemies to target him. Ghost Rider will gain souls with each enemy he K.O.'s and after a certain number of souls are collected his max H.P. will increase and he will get an ability which will let him steal H.P. from enemies. Those are just three examples but each character is just as well thought out as these ones. It also incentivizes using a variety of characters by offering research rewards unlocked by using different characters, which I greatly appreciated as usually in these BioWare style games I will pick my team of 3 or 4 people for the gameplay and then only interact with the others in the hub area. It also just makes the whole experience that much more fun because you are constantly playing in different ways because of how these character's gameplay styles differ.
It's also quite a lengthy game if that's something that matters to you. You can easily sink over 100 hrs into this if you're playing through the whole story and exploring the hub area between missions. I definitely recommend this one to fans of the tactics genre.