The Darker Side of Marvel

I was cautiously optimistic about Marvel’s Midnight Suns when it was announced initially. Aside from the fact that it changed quite a bit from it’s comic source material – including the members of the group, I had a mix of worry and excitement at the fact that it was being done by the team at Firaxis; the people who make the fantastic X-COM games. But while I love those games, I just couldn’t wrap my head around how they would take some of the most powerful characters in Marvel and reduce them to missing a punch that had a 99% chance of connecting. Imagine Captain America missing that 99% probability shot that would stop Thanos… see its wild right? But I’m here to tell you that not only did those folks smarter than me figure that out but with that they have created what is now my favorite superhero game of all time.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns tells the story of the darker side of the Marvel Universe. Lilith, the literal Mother of Demons has returned, and of course Doctor Strange the Sorcerer Supreme with the coldest goatee to match is drawn into the fight. This draws him back to Caretaker and the Hunter, the latter being the only person to defeat Lilith in the past. So, with some of that ole razzle dazzle hocus pocus they revive the centuries long dead Hunter and it is through this character that players will experience the game. Being able to create and customize the Hunter over the course of the game is a lot of fun, there are various outfits in and out of combat that players can choose for their Hunters.

MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99

Without giving out anything the story in Midnight Suns is utterly fantastic. Yes, it’s of a darker nature involving the demons of the Marvel Universe (yes HE even shows up and is PERFECT) but this is a story about good vs evil, belonging and relationships, specifically friendships and families. There is a lot of discourse about the game outside of combat and honestly if you are a fan of building and nurturing a relationship or just fans of these characters you will get more out of it than others. Players will have to have their Hunter interact with the various characters and engage in different activities with them such as watching a movie or playing cards. It’s in these moments where these ‘superheroes’ take off their armor and become real, relatable people. Hearing Blade talk about how he does really like how vampires are glorified in movies or his secret crush on Captain Marvel (y’all better not tell him I said anything either). Having conversations with Dr. Strange about how his self-doubts at a time when everyone is looking to him for answers, Magik retelling her terrible childhood in Limbo all of these and so much more is what makes this game for me.

Each story and interaction with the hero would peel another layer off and reveal some new facet of them that I found extremely interesting. But as I said everyone’s mileage on this is gonna vary, I love character building so this was heaven but for those that just want to have super heroes punch things, well Midnight Sun’s will let you do that too. Combat in Midnight Suns is controlled via cards, each of the heroes will have a deck of cards that are broken down into attack, skill and hero cards. The attack cards will start off as basic punches and power blasts depending on who is doing the hero-ing, but as players progress and unlock and upgrade cards, attacks will become more and more grandiose.

For instance, Wolverine has an ability card that probably goes harder than any of his appearances in the live-action movies. The ability just allows the player to draw two of his cards but adds life-steal to them, that’s dope on its own but the animation zooms in on Wolverine as he crosses his wrist into the now familiar ‘X’ and everything gets an orange hue and Wolverine yells out his most guttery, animalistic roar while spit and everything is coming out of his mouth.. its just a classically hard image of Wolverine and I loved playing that card. But that’s just the type of the iceberg, all of the heroes have their moment to shine, be it Ghost Rider riding on top of his Hell Charger through a line of baddies to Doctor Strange summoning a magical axe before getting positively medieval on a demons ass each of the abilities are fun to watch even after 70+ hours.

While players will utilize the cards to perform their heroes various actions, that doesn’t mean they have no control of them when on the battlefield. Players will have moves that they can spend to position heroes around the battlefield. Position will matter in Midnight Suns as each arena is littered with various interactable things such as boxes to vault off of, explosive canisters or even light poles that can be toppled over onto enemies’ heads for massive damage. But just as the heroes can take advantage of these items, so to can their adversaries so each turn players will have to think a move ahead and what the enemy could do on their turn. Also remember how I was questioning how the team at Firaxis was going to handle a hero missing a punch? Well in Midnight Suns an attack is just that, everything will hit so players will have to pay extra attention to manage shields and prioritize enemies as each baddie will telegraph who they will be attacking the next turn.

I can’t say enough good things about Marvel’s Midnight Suns, while I knew this was going to be a strategy game of sorts, I was pleasantly surprised with how deep its systems got for those that really want to dig in. The way that characters can be equipped and built out offers so much flexibility for players it is really astounding. And all of that directly corresponds with the relationship/friendship system. As players continually build those relationships they will be rewarded with various attacks, and buffs when using that hero. Not to mention the fantastic story that is built here, and while some will find some of the social elements a bore there is a payoff for a great deal of the interactions. Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a game that will demand your time and attention, its not a quick experience but it is just that, an experience one that is nicely balanced in its fantastic story and above average action for a perfect melding of what makes superheroes so cool to being with.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.