Marvel’s Midnight Suns is nearing release, and in preparation for launch it is doling out character showcases. Character gameplay deep-dives have already been shared for Captain America and Iron Man, and its latest showcase features Spider-Man. Spider-Man was a surprise addition to Marvel’s Midnight Suns, but he is a welcome one nonetheless.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns still has many characters to break down, and seeing Spider-Man so soon after his release is surely exciting for fans who were not expecting the character to be a part of Firaxis’ latest tactical-RPG. These showcases demonstrate how unique each character is, such as Iron Man utilizing redraws and Captain America utilizing Block. Spider-Man is no different, utilizing mechanics such as Free card plays, environmental interaction, and heroism cost to unique effect.
Spider-Man Masters the Environment in Marvel’s Midnight Suns
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Spider-Man’s DPS is arguably low compared to other characters, but what he lacks in base damage he makes up for with environmental damage. Environmental damage in Marvel’s Midnight Suns includes damage incurred from a direct environmental interaction, such as Spider-Man kicking a HYDRA crate into a shield-wielding enemy, or if enemies are struck or launched into environmental interactibles.
Because of this, a lot of Spider-Man cards are only effective if environmental damage is involved, but he is also capable of maneuvering around the arena with more fluidity to make optimal use of his environmental abilities. Spider-Man’s Web Throw heroic is excellent for causing area-of-effect (AoE) environmental damage to any enemies near the target, as Spider-Man swings the target around in a circumference before launching them in an intended direction.
Web Throw is fantastic for crowd control in Marvel's Midnight Suns' card-battler, and can be cast “in any direction regardless of where Spidey is standing.” Further upgrades to the Web Throw heroic apply double damage to its Forceful Knockback effect, as well as applying Marked to two targets in the AoE.
Moreover, Spider-Man would feel incomplete as a character without a standard use of webbing. Spider-Man’s “THWIP!” heroic is glossed over quickly in YouTuber Christopher Odd’s showcase, but is interesting as it immobilizes a target by applying Bind. Bind makes the target unable to act, and is not removed with damage, negating protection. This aids environmental control as Spider-Man can subdue enemies for other characters to be ideally positioned around them.
Spider-Man’s Cards Revolve Around Free Card Plays and Reduced Heroism Costs
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The Free effect on cards in Marvel’s Midnight Suns allows players to use them without the cost of their three card plays per-turn. Spider-Man’s Chain Strike heroic, for example, only chains to multiple enemies if the target is KO’d upon use.
However, Chain Strike is Free, perhaps through an upgrade, which makes its use nonchalant and less of a high-stakes gamble than other cards. Spider-Man’s cards having the Free effect make the decision to use his cards easier. Further, Spider-Man’s Infernal Spider heroic makes the next three Spider-Man cards Free, and once upgraded players also draw another card upon use, while gaining 26 Block on redraw.
Infernal Spider has Exhaust, and can therefore only be played once per-encounter. Then, depending on which three Spider-Man cards are used next, players can inflict a ton of damage. It is clear in the showcase that heroism cost reduction is incredibly important to Spider-Man’s effectiveness in combat, and Odd emphasizes how essential the Opportunist skill card is to Spider-Man’s build in Marvel’s Midnight Suns.
In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, heroism is a resource that players must have to play certain cards, and some cards are completely ineffective without it. Spider-Man ultimately gets by without having to spend card plays or much heroism in order to manipulate the arena to his advantage, which could be a boon if players have another character in their three-character Marvel’s Midnight Suns party that needs to use more.
Spider-Man is an Opportunist in Marvel’s Midnight Suns
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Spider-Man’s Opportunist skill card reduces the heroism cost of the next two Spider-Man environment attacks to zero, and these two environmental attacks also deal 21 more points of damage once the card is upgraded. Additionally, players are given two extra moves upon use of Opportunist, its card play is Free, and one “late-game” upgrade for Opportunist draws the last attack card played.
Similar to how other characters can be conversed with and befriended in Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ social sim, Spider-Man has a passive ability called "Bring the House Down" that can be leveled up by engaging in activities with Peter at the Abbey. Here, fans are given their first look at Peter out of costume, where he wears red sneakers and a blue Empire State University sweater. Yuri Lowenthal of Marvel’s Spider-Man fame is reprising his role in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, despite the two games being completely unrelated in canon.
Spider-Man’s aforementioned passive ability and its upgrades offer buffs such as a 15 percent chance to refund the heroism cost of an environment attack, as well as no heroism cost for the first environment attack Spider-Man uses each encounter. Spider-Man seems strongest at the moment when a variety of environmental attacks are available, or clumping enemies together for maximum damage in an area.
That said, Spider-Man is also capable of high damage through the use of the Webslinger skill card, which increases offense by 50 percent, does not cost a card play, and its Exhaust can be removed through a later upgrade. Peter is shown playing video games with the Hunter at the Abbey, where many optional activities will be provided for players to achieve higher Team Friendship levels with better passive ability rewards. It will be interesting to see how Spider-Man develops on players’ teams, as well as which Marvel’s Midnight Suns character is showcased next.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns releases October 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.