A Marvel themed tactical deck builder with persona like social elements is supposed to be a perfect match for me but unfortunately the experience is severely bugged down by weird pacing and bloat.

The game was clearly designed as a live service and while there is no mtx in the final product the design philosophy poisons every aspect of the game.

There are like seven currencies and four different types of loot boxes. Cosmetics are double locked - you randomly get them from loot boxes or activities and then they need to be purchased with another currency.
Some activities require all sort of currencies despite them being limited and unfarmable. - these things don't feel like a balance decision, they feel like things that originally meant to suck actual cash out of players. It's hard to ignore.

The pacing is off, there are a million things going on between battles. It's actually mostly fun stuff like hangouts and club meetings the characters form that all carry small social plots that make the game come alive, it's nice but they stack up and every single conversation in this game goes on for too long.
There's also a whole exploration part that I don't care for but seem to be significant for the other aspects of the game.

I always end a session feeling like I achieved very little compared to the time I've put on.

The gameplay itself is very fun! The tactical elements mesh well with the deck building and ends up being a fairly unique experience. The different characters are very well defined by their cards and most of them are fun to use. The combat has a lot of kick to it.

Letting characters change their clothes and costumes daily is a spark of brilliant design.

The story is kinda basic but the characters are fun (though overly chatty) and even the player's avatar is not a complete cardboard. They actually have enough history and personality traits to help them relate to the cast, it's well thought out.

I like that they chose a rather obscure team and featured minor characters like Magik and Nico, I wish they would go all in and avoid slapping the Avengers on top of them. On the other hand I wouldn't mind seeing an Xmen game in this style.

Just tone it down a little and drop the predatory design.

Reviewed on Feb 06, 2023


3 Comments


Thank god this isn't actually a live service game because I can't imagine paying real money to unlock the "epic" steel wind skin which "epically" turns your character grey.

1 year ago

But they coloured the word purple so it must be worth it!

9 months ago

So I spent days grinding friendships to unlock the special endgame suits only to discover they unlock automatically at the final mission, whyyyyy would you offer them early if it's part of a story beat?!

I hate how long I played this game