Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a Marvel lovers dream. Developed by Firaxis Games, Midnight Suns is a tactical RPG set in the Marvel Universe. I personally don’t play a lot of tactical RPGs. The last one that I really played was the original XCOM also developed by Firaxis Games. Here however I was blown away by how much I grew to love this game. Here is my review for Marvel’s Midnight Suns.
THE NIGHT OF THE SUNS
In Marvel’s Midnight Suns you play as an unnamed character called The Hunter. The Hunter is an ancient being who has slept for hundreds of years, only to be awoken when they were needed. Right away you discover that they are the child of Lilith. An evil force who has begun to corrupt heroes and villains alike to aid her in her goal to fulfill a prophecy.
As the story progresses The Hunter will begin to get to know many Marvel characters from the Avengers and the Midnight Suns. Two teams that must come together to stop Lilith before it is too late.
The main thing that drew me into this story was just having a fresh take on the Marvel Universe. The game plays with a lot of ideas from the MCU and mixes it with the comics. Seeing new takes on characters was fun and there were big surprises throughout the story.
Midnight Suns is split into two halves. One is the gameplay side of things and the other is the story and adventures you go on in the hub world of the game called The Abbey. The Abbey is where you can launch missions but also where you will get to know the various characters in the story. In the game every character has a friendship meter that you can fill up and as you do so you gain certain bonuses with those characters. You do this by saying the right things to them in conversations and just hanging out with them. I honestly did not expect a system like this in the game. For me it has its moments but it’s definitely not perfect.
There is a lot of talking and I mean a lot. You will spend hours upon hours talking to heroes at The Abbey and if you don’t like listening and engaging with dialogue in games you will probably hate this aspect of the game. Most of the dialogue is fantastic but at times I found myself wanting to progress to the next combat mission so I could have definitely done with a bit less of The Abbey stuff.
However, you truly do feel as if you are organically getting to know characters like Spider-Man and Ghost Rider. The gameplay buffs that you get are awesome as well but sometimes you can see the bones of the system that just makes everything seem artificial. For example you can initiate hangouts with characters but these hangouts always consist of saying the right thing in a dialogue decision. I just can’t help but think what else they could have done with this mechanic.
Overall though without getting into spoiler territory, Marvel’s Midnight Suns excels in its story. You will meet iconic Marvel characters and grow close to them as you battle against the forces of Lilith and Hydra, here the game exceeds all expectations.
HEROES V. VILLAINS
The gameplay side of things is where I think the game truly shines. In Midnight Suns you will go on missions with up to three characters. Each character can play their available ability cards up to 3 times each turn. It is up to you as a player to choose which character you will take into battle and how to synergize their abilities to be the most effective. You have to make sure to manage the different status effects that enemies inflict on you while also seeing how your own status effects can influence the tide of battle. As a mostly non strategy game player this system was intuitive and easy to pick up. Also the controls on the controller are surprisingly good.
During play you can also use the environment as your weapon which wasn’t nearly as emphasized in XCOM as it is here. Characters can leap over objects to inflict more damage. They can also perform a knockback on enemies slamming them into the game world. It really makes you feel as though you are in a battle between iconic heroes and villains.
During combat, you will earn materials that you can use to upgrade cards which makes them more powerful in combat. It’s a really fun system that gives you a sense of power as you progress through the game. You can also unlock custom outfits for the heroes that you use that really just make you feel super cool.
Overall the gameplay side of things is a really impressive feat of game design that compliments the story expertly.
SUNS UNITED
I truly enjoyed Marvel’s Midnight Suns. It constantly engaged me throughout with its fun gameplay mechanics and engaging story elements. The gameplay side of things is damn near perfect but the story elements have its flaws. Overall, this is a near perfect superhero game that should not be missed.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is available on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox. Don’t forget to check out Jaxson’s review for The Bear and Steffan’s review of Dead Poets Society. For everything else geeky stay right here on The Geekwave.
