Marvel's Midnight Suns is shaping up to be a very interesting spin on superhero games. While most major adaptations of the comic book vigilantes tend to be third-person action adventures, developer Firaxis is taking a fresh view. As you can see in the above gameplay video from Game Informer, it's closer to a turn-based RPG, with your available moves represented by cards.
Now, cards and deck-building tend to turn people away, but it looks to work pretty effectively here. Instead of a fixed set of commands for each character, Midnight Suns gives you a randomly drawn hand of cards, meaning you'll need to be adaptable and think on your feet to overcome the baddies. Each hero brings different opportunities; Spider-Man can web up enemies to stop them from moving for a turn, while Magik can send bad guys flying through portals. It looks like you will be able to come up with some great combinations of abilities, depending on who joins you in battle.
The studio is known for the most recent XCOM games, but this is looking to be a departure from that formula too. There's no cover — although plenty of environmental objects to take advantage of — and you can't move every character in a turn, while all attacks will always land — no percentages here. It looks to have a lot of potential while also being more accessible for casual Marvel fans.
What's more interesting is Game Informer's discussion about the Abbey, the hub you visit between missions. You play as a new hero, The Hunter, and you will be able to build relationships with whichever characters you like by spending time with them. It sounds like there's lots to do in this hub area, with some parts locked off until you have the requisite powers unlocked. Watch the whole video above, as there's much more info in there.
We're pretty impressed by what we're hearing about this game, but what about you? How are you feeling about Marvel's Midnight Suns after seeing this gameplay? Tell us in the comments section below.
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[source youtube.com]
Comments 23
I hadn't been following this too closely and it's a little different to what I expected but in an awesome way?
I’ve been playing a lot of slay the spire recently, so I can definitely get on board with this gameplay.
Question is around microtransactions and live service mechanics if any are involved (no, I didn’t watch the whole video).
Looks cool, I wasn't a fan of the xcomm games are they were too hard for me but this looks different to xcomm so might be decent
"...while all attacks will always land — no percentages here."
I've never understood this stupid mechanic in X-COM. Chances of solid game rises.
I am interested in this and Gotham Knights(to a lesser extent lol) but I feel like(75% sure) that both games will be half off by Black Friday just like Guardian's was so I can wait till then to get them.
Also I feel like both of these games coming out the same month might effect each other sales wise or one just won't be as good as the other game wise(Gotham Knights just feels off to me for some reason).
Basically what @get2sammyb said. It's not what I was expecting/hoping for, but it looks awesome.
@thefourfoldroot: the guys in the video seemed to think no microtransactions, but I'm not sure how much they actually know/what they're basing that off - they didn't say whether they'd asked the devs or whether it's just that the current build (which was still buggy) didn't include them.
Shame. I really dislike card based mechanics, this instantly kills my interest in this title. The trailers looked amazing, not surprised they haven't shown this till now, feels like a classic bait-and-switch.
@thefourfoldroot1 My kid is also currently playing Slay the Spire - he's a thinker not a button masher - and lied what he saw but was somewhat put off by the 3 versions and all of the coming later stuff. We didn't discuss micro transactions so you may be ok there but there us a marketplace and they will be selling skins.
"In addition to the four new characters, we also know there will be an in-game marketplace area for “premium” cosmetics. DeAngelis confirms that Firaxis has no plans on selling card packs through the marketplace, but it will sell additional cosmetics, such as iconic costumes from the wider Marvel multiverse."
Also a "season pass" for 4 new characters.
https://www.pcgamesn.com/marvel-midnight-suns/dlc-cosmetics-season-pass#:~:text=The%20Marvel's%20Midnight%20Suns%20release,our%20Facebook%20and%20Instagram%20pages.
I like the idea. I'm not sold on the execution yet. Lots of slow downs and of course that wild physic launching that enemy. Maybe a premium free game.
@themightyant I commented yesterday about how they showed no signs of any cards in the new trailer but they did technically show the card gameplay last September that I found on YT w/ a Google search. And I didn't link to it.😝 Give me a sec, can't make the same mistake twice.
https://youtu.be/VRieHP1b7Gs
I'm slightly interested... but at full price....I don't think so.
@rjejr
Ah, thanks for that. I don’t care about selling cosmetics, but the whole season pass thing means it’s an immediate no for me. I don’t like evolving games.
I'm not very good at turn based games. I used to love Final Fantasy, but when I stopped gaming for a while, I lost interest in them for more action based RPGs.
This looks like more like my sort of thing. It took my ages to get in to GWENT and other card based console games, so this mechanic might suit me more than XCOM's combat.
This is either going to be amazing or really bad, i'm hoping for the former though as the idea sounds pretty neat.
@themightyant It was initially announced as card/turn-based RPG so it's not Firaxis' fault you chose to ignore that fact.
@Rob3008 Didn't ignore it, just never heard it. I know it was a turn based RPG and coming from Firaxis seemed like it would be X-com style.
@rjejr I don't pretend to have followed every bit of news (who does) but i've seen/read 3 or 4 trailers or articles on the game and this is the first that mentioned or showed card gameplay. Not my cup of tea, but while it's a shame, glad others are happy. There's plenty else to play.
@Matej In theory, it would encourage a greater emphasis on balancing risk/reward and tactics. After all, someone hiding behind a wall isn't as exposed as someone standing out in the open. You'd have to balance getting greater hit percentages against exposing yourself against many enemies.
Unfortunately, the implementation in XCOM is a joke. You can literally be aiming a gun at an enemy point-blank and miss the shot.
I prefer the way Mario + Rabbids streamlined it. Hiding behind cover grants you 100% protection from enemies who have no line of sight and 50% protection against enemies with an slightly obstructed line of sight. If there's no obstructions to line of sight, though, you have 100% chance of hitting the enemy.
This actually looks a lot better than I initially thought it would, def on the radar now!
@Ralizah That sound simple and fair, wish X-COM had a similar system.
I'm more excited for this one than any other Marvel or DC game.
It seems awful, tactical movement with no cover, why, nevermind
@Victor_Meldrew I'd guess because cover doesn't feel very heroic, and a lot of the enemy attacks would likely shred straight through it anyway?
Hard pass for me, dislike the gameplay. I'll just watch the story cutscenes online.
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