Marvel’s Midnight Suns reviewed on PC by Dan Stapleton. Also available on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
“With Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Firaxis has put itself in the league of RPG developers like BioWare, Obsidian, Bethesda, and Larian. Its innovative combat takes a bit to get going, but once it does it makes excellent use of card game mechanics to keep its turn-based battles fresh, evolving, and unpredictable over the course of an epic-length campaign. The supernatural apocalypse story is given emotional weight by the family relationship between the hero and villain at the heart of it. Building intense friendships with famed Marvel superheroes does tend to feel forced and weird, but learning all their backstories and conflicts can be intriguing, and the fact that nearly everything you do outside of combat makes you more powerful in the next fight means it all tends to be worthwhile.”
One of my favorite things about watching Superheroes duke it out is when somebody Gets smacked so hard they fly backwards And crash through solid walls it's an Awesome demonstration of just how strong These god-like characters are supposed To be and it's always a disappointment When a superhero game doesn't quite Capture that If Marvel's midnight Suns however Baraxis has built a deep and Innovative Turn-based tactical combat system around The joy of having Iron Man Doctor Strange blade and more knock enemies Around like toys they're trying to break That hasn't gotten old across the Roughly 75 hours of its surprisingly Expansive RPG campaign a lot of that Time is spent outside of battles though And while it's certainly appealing to Get up close and personal with this cast Of more than a dozen Marvel characters It does tend to get a little overboard When it comes to convincing Earth's Mightiest Heroes to all be your BFF There's a real rah-rah spirit I can get Behind [Music] The full-on supernatural theme of Midnight Suns immediately sets it apart From the other Marvel games we've gotten In recent years the story centers on an Apocalyptic threat from the corrupt Witch Lilith which isn't terribly novel
In itself but the family relationships Around it make it more interesting Lilith is the mother of our character a Commander Shepard style Blank Slate Known as the Hunter and her sister is Caretaker a powerful witch who serves as The midnight Sons Professor x-like Mentor I know Lila's back We are sisters after all also Lilith's Ability to twist the minds of heroes and Villains alike is used to great effect Creating conflict within the team with Such a long campaign at least 60 hours But I'm more like 75. just about Everybody in the cast gets Time To Shine From the world famous Spider-Man to the More obscure magical Heroes like The Runaways Nico and colossus's little Sister magic both of whom take Central Roles this could be a broom closet in The basement of Dr Doom's castle for all We know right off the bat Midnight's on Style of combat is radically and Refreshingly different from varaxis's Genre defining x-com games for one thing Each member of the three-person team you Choose to take on a typical Mission has Their own customizable deck of eight Cards representing everything from Spider-Man's whip to its Doctor Strange's Winds of watum And you have to think on your feet in Order to make the best possible use of The hand you're dealt
As a big fan of card games like slay the Spire I love this idea the Unpredictability of it helps keep me From falling into the rut of repeating The same routine every battle Having just a few cards in your hand Isn't as limiting as you might think Either since you can redraw at least a Couple if they aren't useful in your Situation another excellent aspect of This system is that all of your Characters draw from the same pool of Three card plays and one movement action Per turn that means one person getting Knocked out doesn't instantly reduce Your capabilities by a third sure you Lose access to that Hero's cards but Those who are left standing can still Use all of that turns moves that keeps You out of the typical spiral of failure That can easily happen in XCOM and other Squad based games but it certainly Doesn't mean midnight sense is easy Superheroes don't take cover in a fight And they don't miss their shots so Instead of entrenched shootouts these Missions are exciting slugfests Staying Alive is about quickly taking enemies Out Or at least weakening them before they Get a chance to move and directing their Attacks away from your weakest hero with Taunts The cycle of combat begins with picking
Off weak fodder enemies to build up Points which can then be spent on Powerful heroic cards or satisfying Environmental attacks It's fantastic when it all comes Together to clear out one of these small Arena Maps before the inevitable wave of Enemy reinforcements charges in from off Screen to keep the action going raxxas's Animators have done an excellent job of Making these turn-based fights feel Energetic too I love how every Hero has A distinct flavor to the way they move In attack and the powerful team-up Attacks put on a good show Missions tend to put good spins on Objectives Beyond simply defeating all The enemies such as hazards that make You keep your squad moving And shield bearing enemies that you have To be broken through to reach a Target Also keep things interesting in Straightforward battles by opting into Side objectives between those factors And occasional random boss encounters With Venom Sabertooth crossbones and More Cute but you're playing with the big Boys nah each with their own Unique Mechanics missions rarely felt like I Was stuck in a loop Well I've come to love it I admit that Midnight Suns did take a little while to Grow on me the opening hours are a lot
To take in at the same time you're Trying to wrap your hat around this Wildly different combat system your Barrage what feels like way too many Currencies for upgrades relationships And other stats but by the time I made My way through the First Act I'd Unlocked enough new cards to make some Custom builds and things really clicked Turning up the difficulty increases your Rewards for beating missions quickly and Without anyone getting knocked out and It's a really smart system doing well Doesn't make you stronger you clearly Didn't need help there anyway It just makes you look cooler doing it By increasing the amount of currency you Get to spend on unlocking new costumes For hunter in the gang with so many Options out there it's a good incentive To push yourself to improve on the Battlefield you have to find those Cosmetics first though and most of them Come from exploring the grounds around The midnight Sun's home base a Castle-like building known as The Abbey I generally enjoyed the parallel story That unfolds here the ghost to back at The Harkness sends you looking for clues Of missing memories to Hunter and Lois Previous conflict and retracing the Events that led to her own death Everyone knows you can and commune with The spirits without plenty of candles
Dear it's certainly a major change of Pace from the battles though that's not Always a good thing because it can feel Like a big time sink there's a lot of Aimless wandering alone through the Moderately sized maze-like map as you Search for pieces of puzzles and there Are basically no NPCs out there you may Have to explore in order to find it also While there is a set of four different Powers you get here they're very Straightforward in how they're used and There's not a lot of creativity to the Puzzles Was it me did I mess up I messed up Didn't I It is all your fault the third major Part of midnight Sons is Hunter's Aggressive befriending of everyone on The team and it's here that things can Become a bit awkward all the Interpersonal drama is pulling Focus From the real danger I do enjoy getting To explore every Hero's backstory and What led them to link up with the Suns And the interpersonal conflicts between The visiting Avengers and the resident Magic users most of that is done well And brings depths to the characters There's a lot to like about each of them Even the vacuous young Ghost Writer Robbie Reyes it's not easy to find that Balance but you have to do it having Recently replayed the Mass Effect
Trilogy I couldn't help but notice a Fair amount of similarity in how you Chat up your teammates and earn points For being a goody two shoes or an Abrasive jerk at every opportunity with Each character having their own Preference for how they'd like you to Act woman's not hard to figure out if You pay attention like nearly everything Else that system feeds back into combat By unlocking items that give Hunter Passive bonuses so there's a good reason To be consistent with your choices even If you're not into role-playing as for Hunter they're not a bad character but They're kind of set up for failure by Being placed next to Legendary Comic Book Heroes like iron and Captain America and Spider-Man among others that We already know and love they never Really stood a chance of being as Memorable but what made me cringe here And there was the fact that so much of Midnight Sons is spent getting these Heroes to really like Hunter at times it Takes on the tone of self-insert fan Fiction that's where you write a story In which you get to meet all your Favorite characters and they're Constantly telling you how cool you are And how much they love being your Friends Spiderman what is a hunter the other Spider-Man to be fair we see a lot of
The same relationship building and Similar party-based RPGs but in this Case the fact that our character is the Only one who isn't drawn from the Existing Marvel Comics Universe gives it A bit of a different vibe when everyone Is falling over you really but again There is gameplay value and Participating in all these activities Leveling up friendships unlocks powerful Passive abilities for each character When in combat so it is worthwhile Speaking of payoffs though it's odd that In a game where we spend so much time Buttering up a bunch of Attractive People by showering them with Compliments and thoughtful gifts all of These friendships are ultimately Completely platonic I believe this Cannot makes Hunter the only person in The Marvel Universe Tony Stark hasn't Tried to bang wait Seriously don't know who I am a more Appropriate superhero name might have Been Captain friendzone but before you Use the f word there are some very Important ground rules With Marvel's midnight Sons for Access Has put itself into the league of RPG Developers like BioWare obsidian Bethesda and larion its innovative Combat takes a bit to get going but once It does it makes excellent use of card Game mechanics to keep its turn-based
Battles feeling fresh evolving and Unpredictable over the course of an epic Length campaign the supernatural Apocalypse story is given emotional Weight by the family relationship Between the hero and the villain at the Heart of it building intense friendships With feign Marvel Superheroes does tend To feel forced and a little weird but Learning all their backstories and Conflicts can be intriguing and the fact That nearly everything you do outside of Combat makes you more powerful in the Next fight makes it all time well spent For more midnight Suns check out the First minutes of gameplay and how about A review of that other great Marvel card Game Marvel snap for everything else Stick with IGN what up
