Marvel’s Midnight Suns received a new trailer as part of Summer Game Fest, showing off more of its story, gameplay, as well as two new characters – Spider-Man and Scarlet Witch. With those two revealed, Firaxis Games only has one more character on the game's roster it has yet to confirm. Both characters are likely to build a ton of more hype for the game, given the initial reception was mixed due to Marvel Midnight Suns' card elements.

Game Rant was recently able to go hands-on with a Marvel’s Midnight Suns build, spending about five hours in the game. During this time, we got to check out numerous combat encounters, a couple of boss encounters, the Abbey Grounds (the Avengers Tower-equivalent of the Midnight Suns), a couple of social elements and club meetings, and more.

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Marvel’s Midnight Suns First Impressions

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From the get-go, there were some things that stood out visually. The game’s aesthetics very much feel like an occult take on an 80s/90s comic, and that’s likely to resonate with several fans. The drawback is that some character models feel off or inconsistent with the visual style. Iron Man’s face and the entirety of Peter Parker are good examples of this. For the most part, many characters fit consistently in this aesthetic, so it’s a small thing but one that was continuously present.

A lot of the dialogue feels overtly like a Marvel movie too. There are a ton of one-liners that alleviate the hardships players are facing, and just like the charm of a Marvel movie, they can sometimes be too much. There are a ton of chuckle-worthy jokes, though, and it’s all spread evenly throughout the more serious conversations and development. It walks, talks, and acts like a bonafide Marvel product, as if it were straight from the brand itself.

The core gameplay loop is formulaic but incredibly pleasing. It truly feels like two separate games that go hand in hand perfectly. There are essentially three sections to the loop: Abbey Grounds in the morning, a combat mission, and Abbey Grounds at night. At the start of the day, players are given free rein to mingle with other heroes, explore the Abbey Grounds, check for messages, and work on their combat capabilities. This can include upgrading cards, training with Blade, completing research with Iron Man and Doctor Strange, and much more.

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Once players have done everything they want to do, they’re able to go on a combat mission, which is where the core story beats are delivered. It flows naturally and doesn’t rush the player to this point, allowing players to spend their time in a way they want. Truly, it feels like Marvel’s Midnight Suns respects its players' time and allow them to go as quickly as or as slowly as they wish.

Once their mission is done, players return to the Abbey and can “hang out” with any hero of their choosing. This levels up their friendship, which then feeds directly into combat abilities and more. That’s the beautiful thing about this game. It goes deep on its mechanics, offering layers upon layers by which players can fine-tune their experience, and all of these mechanics tie back into each other. It’s not that these hangouts just tack a social RPG element onto the game, but that Marvel's Midnight Suns is both a tactical RPG and a social one, with the two identities of the game coalescing perfectly. Events can unfold during the morning and night too, meaning there is constantly something going on.

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Marvel’s Midnight Suns is clearly a busy game, in the best of ways.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns Combat Breaks Away from XCOM to Support the Hero Fantasy

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What Firaxis also makes clear is that Marvel's Midnight Suns is not XCOM with superheroes, something that the company set out to do at first but quickly realized it couldn’t. That’s because the soldier fantasy and the hero fantasy are not the same. A fallible soldier is going to take cover to avoid enemy fire, but Iron Man behind his suit is not going to do that. A lot of XCOM is about damage mitigation, but that doesn’t fit with the hero fantasy either. Soldiers are going to die, but a hero’s death doesn’t come so easy. So, the entire premise of Firaxis’ tried-and-true tactical combat had to be changed, and that’s why it introduces cards. The concern about cards, whether it boils it down to a card battler or fills the game with microtransactions, was understandable, but that’s not how they work.

Every core tactical RPG needs randomness and variety, and through cards and an interactable environment, these elements bring just that to the table. It’s perhaps better to think of them as a constantly-changing command system with set limitations. Cards just add a unique aesthetic to that functionality. Fighting Fallen Venom, Hydra, and so on with a randomized command system (presented as the cards) makes each round in Marvel's Midnight Suns as tactical as any tactical game out there. Players have to gauge their positioning, their environment, their heroism (a resource earned by playing cards that can be used for a variety of things, such as Heroic Cards or environmental interactions), and what cards they have available to them.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns turn-based approach gives players three card plays, two redraws, a movement, and an item use each round. These systems all build on each other and can be changed depending on how players approach the battle. Some abilities won’t cost card plays, others will deal more damage and jump to other enemies if they score a KO, and some will restore card plays. A good example of variety in this random system is that redrawing Iron Man’s abilities actually strengthens them, showing how each character puts their own spin on things.

midnight suns captain marvel

Each character is strong, beginning the game at a full-blown 10 and not slowly escalating up. They begin strong and then get ridiculous, according to Firaxis. The Marvel's Midnight Suns gameplay of each hero supports this. Ghost Rider is a heavy damage dealer whose power blows back on him, Blade is a low-heroism damage-dealer with damage-over-time abilities, Spider-Man is able to be all over the battlefield and sometimes doesn’t cost a card play, Captain Marvel is very tanky, Doctor Strange is a great support, Nico’s abilities come randomized, and Magik is great for her AOE and portal abilities. On top of that, players are able to build their Hunter their preferred way. They can take on more of a support and leadership role for their team, take a straight damage-dealing good side path, or engage in dark, powerful magics as the child of Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Lilith.

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Everything we encountered, of course, was only the tip of the iceberg. Players are able to upgrade their abilities, earn powerful new abilities, and at one point, even unlock perks on top of abilities. Every ability is accompanied by a unique cinematic, and while the same card and seeing the same cinematic may grow repetitive, there’s a huge roster of heroes and card abilities to choose from to inject some variety. Sure, some players are going to want to stick to their main party, but some missions require certain heroes, and there’s always something cooking where another hero may make more sense.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Social Elements – A Day in the Life of a Hero

The combat is promising and engaging, eating up the majority of the game. Creative Director Jake Solomon said that, in the expected 60 hours it takes to beat the game, players will likely spend 60% of their time in combat and 40% with everything else. However, this does depend on how much players engage with the social systems, and there’s an abundance of them.

midnight suns abbey

Time outside combat can be filled with exploring the Abbey Grounds, which are quite expansive. There are secrets and mysteries hidden around these grounds that push players to see how much is out there and how much is new with every passing day. Players can even find havens to take other characters to, which boosts friendship a lot. There are individual challenges, research that unlocks what sounds like a horde mode, and far more. Players can engage in several conversations, learning more about all the characters in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and learning about each character is super important. Players will only joke with Blade one time before they regret it.

There’s also a social media-like channel for the heroes of the Abbey, and players will get pinged with new events, like celebrating Magik’s birthday. These unfold over the course of a day or over several days, and each character seems to have a genuine reaction to the world around them in and outside of these moments. It’s not a dating simulator, but if players could romance these Marvel heroes, then it would likely be one of the best dating simulators on the market—the social elements are just that deep. There are even club meetings, which are not as corny as they sound.

Club meetings are where the heroes with similar interests are able to get together, socialize, and relax from the days of battle. The first club meeting we encountered was the Emo Kids, an acronym for something about magical order, led by Nico with other magically-inclined heroes. The other was a Shop Club, where Peter Parker was safe to tinker with everything to his heart’s desire and Robbie Reyes worked on his car. There's more than just these two, but that's all we got far enough to see. Players are able to inject themselves where they see fit and develop their own Hunter’s personality in Marvel's Midnight Suns based on clubs they join, heroes they befriend, and social elements they pursue.

Ultimately, crossovers are one of the most popular elements of any Marvel product, be it comics or movies. Marvel’s Midnight Suns feels like a bonafide crossover with social elements and tactical combat, and that only bodes well for its future.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns releases October 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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