Marvel’s Midnight Suns pulls from the deep comic history of Marvel, going back to the 90s for several “deep cuts” in the lore. While WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness brought the Darkhold to the fore, this was a deep part of the lore that Firaxis Games set out to incorporate in Marvel’s Midnight Suns when development began some years ago.
For every story beat, for every character, for every stylized cinematic, it seems Firaxis dug deep into the world of Marvel Comics in order to bring it to life. One of the inspiring comic runs for Marvel’s Midnight Suns was Spirits of Vengeance, a Ghost Rider story featuring Danny Ketch. However, Marvel’s Midnight Suns uses Robbie Reyes instead.
Game Rant recently spoke with creative director Jake Solomon about Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and Ghost Rider played a huge role in our conversation. Players will see Johnny Blaze early in the game and there are a few mysteries related to Ghost Rider around the Abbey Grounds. These Ghost Rider connections show how deeply involved in the story he is, and that’s intentional on Firaxis Games’ part. Speaking about all the comic characters to be Ghost Rider, Solomon said,
“You start with Johnny Blaze, who's the original Ghost Rider. And then in the 90s, it was a guy named Danny Ketch. He had like these really cool abilities and he was actually the Ghost Rider during this story run. And now we have the new Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider. And so yeah, we want to tell the story that's kind of this legacy from Johnny Blaze, the original Ghost Rider, to our new Robbie Reyes. That's actually part of the story that unfolds throughout the game, Johnny Blaze and Robbie Reyes and their relationship.”
In terms of gameplay, Firaxis set out to ensure that each character’s raw power, as well as their personality, were captured. This makes Ghost Rider one of the strongest characters in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, but playing him is a bit trickier than some. “Ghost Rider exacts a cost,” Solomon said. His abilities often have high damage output but with some form of blowback, such as a percentage of damage dealt coming back to him. “You have to play him just the right way, support him the right way, but Ghost Rider is insane.”
What’s more, and this is true for all the heroes, is that they don’t begin weak and strengthen over time. From Firaxis’ point of view, it doesn’t make sense to have a hero “level up” to have really heroic abilities, which is also why there’s no cover in Marvel’s Midnight Suns' gameplay. Fallible soldiers take cover, not superheroes. Either way, this remains true of Ghost Rider who has several abilities like Penance Stare and Hell Ride (among many others) that capture his raw power in damage and flashy cinematics.
“Every hero has to start at 10. They get cranked up so high by the end. It’s pretty cool.”
Overall, it’s clear from Marvel’s Midnight Suns gameplay that Ghost Rider’s legacy is being honored. It’s clear from the get-go of the story that it’s the case there too. Ultimately, it’ll be interesting to see how Johnny Blaze, Robbie Reyes, and the entire legacy of Spirits of Vengeance impacts the game.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns releases October 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.