Marvel’s Midnight Suns – Review
Our Score: 9/10
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is the pinnacle crossover event, fusing the depth of an RPG’s story, characters, relationships, customisation, and advancement with the cutting-edge strategy and combat mechanics of a card-based tactics game. Playing in an universe where the demonic powers of Lilith and the ancient god Chthon pose the biggest threat to humanity thus far, you’ll form unbreakable friendships with renowned Marvel Super Heroes and terrifying supernatural warriors.
House of the Rising Sun
Awakened after centuries of sleep, Lilith is the Mother of Demons in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. The Hunter, essentially a player-created character, is the only one who can stop her. They are also the offspring of Lilith. From there, you’ll encounter a wide variety of heroes, from the established Avengers like Captain America, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man to the up-and-coming Midnight Suns like Blade, Nico Minoru, Magik, and Ghost Rider. Some twists and turns lie ahead, too.
The story isn’t without its corniness, especially as it uses the tired trope of a group of superheroes working together to defeat an end-of-the-world evil. But it makes up for that by being jam-packed with character flair and references/callbacks. There’s Iron Man’s signature sarcasm and egotism, Captain America’s upstanding beliefs, Magik’s icy demeanour, Blade’s slick demeanour, and Wolverine’s savage temperament.
Snap to Card
The fighting is the main attraction of any turn-based strategy game. If you’re familiar with XCOM or any of its inspirations, you’ll notice a big change when you play Marvel’s Midnight Suns because of its card-based structure. In addition, you no longer have to move around the globe in search of fresh foes, switch to overwatch while waiting for hostiles to waddle into your sights, employ hexes or grids, have a global timer that ticks down, or have units move or attack only once each turn.
Instead, it’s more exciting than before. The battlefield of a mission encounter is simply scaled down, making it easier to spot and destroy all foes. Your three-person squad goes first, then the other squad, and at the end of the game, the enemy will call in reinforcements, which may include bosses you’ve already battled. Also, by default, you only get one movement point, but your character can move anywhere and everywhere as often as you like as long as nothing else happens.
Personify Your Team
In between tasks, you and the other heroes on your team can hang around and bond. Increases in friendship status and associated benefits are conversation choice dependent. The ultimate objective is, of course, to raise your Friendship Level to the maximum of 5 and therefore gain access to that hero’s special Legendary Card and Combat Suit challenge.
You can advance in your rank by inviting them to Hangouts. Alternatively, they can visit “haven places,” which grant larger friendship XP modifiers but confine each hero to a single haven for the duration of the game. In addition to this, there are Hero Requests, which are simple jobs that can be completed for rewards, and Abbey Clubs, which are social activities with a group. These exchanges aren’t just filler; they give us insight into the characters’ histories. The fact that nearly all of the spoken lines are completely spoken also contributes.
Abbey Walk
That’s not all, though; Marvel’s Midnight Suns also features an impressively explorable Abbey Grounds. It’s not merely a central location with a few movable walls and a couple of optional displays. Instead, it’s a sizable setting with many of hidden features.
Part of its own storyline, which involves the interactions and developments of Lilith, the Hunter, the Caretaker, and Agatha Harkness. As you explore, you’ll find items that boost your stats, chests full of cosmetic items, puzzles that need you to gather specific magical items, Tarot Cards that provide their own unique challenge, and Words of Power that open up new places to explore. That there were so many puzzles in a game of this kind surprised me greatly. It’s almost like a standalone miniature role-playing game.
Final Verdict
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a fantastic game that takes card battling to the next level. With it’s social sim aspect, it really fleshes out the world and your teammates. There’s a lot to love here and I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing this game.
