The core gameplay of this game is so strong that I'm giving it 5 stars, even though there are obvious areas for improvement. Going into this, I had heard that the card combat was solid, but that 2/3 of the game was Persona style conversations with your teammates. Superficially, that's true. However, the loop of:
1. Mornings: prep for the upcoming battle - gather new cards, strengthen existing cards, train with one of your teammates.
2. Combat: turn based, deck-building, sublime.
3. Evenings: activities that strengthen the team to help you level up for the next day.
Really worked well for me. To the point where more than once I decided to play "just one more day" even though the time on the clock told me I would regret that decision in the morning.
Sure, the graphics aren't great, there were quite a few bugs (including one that made the Clean Sweep task impossible to finish), some of the DLC achievements won't unlock, the actual Abby grounds tasks felt underdeveloped, the fact that the missions level with you neutered that feeling of progression, there's a lot to improve. But that core gameplay was so fun, that it really overcame the parts that were lacking for me.
Normally I would say that this means it sets up really well for a sequel where the team at Firaxis could expand upon what they did well here and improve on the areas that need help. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that this game did very well so my hopes for that are muted.
There seemed to be a lot of praise for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope while this one got burried. For my money, Sparks of Hope was fine but wore out its welcome, while Midnight Suns kept growing stronger as it went on.
1. Mornings: prep for the upcoming battle - gather new cards, strengthen existing cards, train with one of your teammates.
2. Combat: turn based, deck-building, sublime.
3. Evenings: activities that strengthen the team to help you level up for the next day.
Really worked well for me. To the point where more than once I decided to play "just one more day" even though the time on the clock told me I would regret that decision in the morning.
Sure, the graphics aren't great, there were quite a few bugs (including one that made the Clean Sweep task impossible to finish), some of the DLC achievements won't unlock, the actual Abby grounds tasks felt underdeveloped, the fact that the missions level with you neutered that feeling of progression, there's a lot to improve. But that core gameplay was so fun, that it really overcame the parts that were lacking for me.
Normally I would say that this means it sets up really well for a sequel where the team at Firaxis could expand upon what they did well here and improve on the areas that need help. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that this game did very well so my hopes for that are muted.
There seemed to be a lot of praise for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope while this one got burried. For my money, Sparks of Hope was fine but wore out its welcome, while Midnight Suns kept growing stronger as it went on.