In the new tactical role-playing game from the XCOM makers, you fight as gloomy Marvel heroes. We reveal what Midnight Suns has to offer in our preview.
There are some things that go together really well, even though they shouldn’t at first glance: Camembert and jam, ice cream and liquorice flavour – and Marvel superheroes and lap tactics. And if there’s one studio you’d trust with this daring combo, it’s Firaxis Games, the developers behind the legendary XCOM.
We talked to them about the tactical role-playing game Marvel’s Midnight Suns, freshly announced at gamescom 2021. To start with, we haven’t seen any gameplay yet, but we already know a few things about the heroes, the difficulty level and why Midnight Suns, according to the developers, is supposed to be the counter-design to XCOM despite the similarities.
What is Marvel’s Midnight Suns about?
There are now more Marvel adaptations than Iron Man armour in Tony Stark’s wardrobe. Movies, series, games – in the interview, creative director Jake Solomon even tells us that his children love to eat Spider-Man soup. With the countless adaptations, the studio wanted to take on a story that had not yet been told in this form. The model is the 90s comic “Rise of the Midnight Sons”. However, with a new story and a specially created universe.
In this much darker Marvel universe, a supernatural group of heroes forms to fight the mother of demons Lilith. The Midnight Suns are formed by the vampire hunter Blade, the witch Nico Minoru (known from Marvel’s Runaways), the demonic bounty hunter Ghost Rider and X-Men member Magik. However, many more familiar faces from the Avengers, X-Men and Runaways join the group of heroes. In the trailer we see Wolverine, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Captain America and Captain Marvel. (Attention, earworm danger!)
But the most exciting member might be The Hunter – our specially created hero or heroine. We are none other than the child of demon mother Lilith – and the only human who could ever defeat her. We are supposed to be able to freely customise The Hunter both visually and in terms of our abilities. An exciting decision and a first for Marvel games.
Thrilling for whom?
Now for the obvious question: how does this play? For one thing, we can of course expect tactical turn-based battles once again. However, Midnight Suns is supposed to differ from XCOM in many ways. Jake Solomon even tells us, “In many ways, it’s the opposite of the games we’ve made before.”
Midnight Suns is supposed to focus on more accessibility and in return play faster and more action-packed than the XCOM series. “Superheroes should also feel awesome in battles.” However, the accessible difficulty level is not meant to come at the expense of complexity or game depth.
Although – or perhaps because – Midnight Suns has a big story focus, permadeath is avoided. Nor will there be different endings or drastically different storylines. Instead, there will be more emphasis than ever on friendships and relationships. In our base, we even switch to a third-person perspective and can move freely to spend time with our comrades-in-arms, have deep conversations and make friends – similar to Persona or Fire Emblem.
What do we like so far? What remains unclear?
What do we like so far?
– Faster fights: While we don’t know any details yet, fast and furious fights would fit tremendously well with the superhero theme and the drastically different abilities of a group of heroes – so we’re cautiously optimistic.
– Focus on relationships: Taking Persona and Fire Emblem as models for meaningful relationships in tactical RPGs seems like a great idea. We’re hoping for characters that grow on us and deep gameplay implications, just like we’ve come to expect from the XCOM series
– Fresh Universe: The gritty universe of Midnight Suns is unspent, exciting and lets our favourite characters from the Avengers, X-Men and Runaways collide.
– Customisable main character: Who hasn’t dreamed of creating their own Marvel hero? Aside from the hopefully varied abilities, we think it’s exciting to make history in the Marvel Universe with our own character.
What remains unclear?
– Difficulty level: The statements about the complexity still sound rather vague and according to the developers, the difficulty level cannot be compared to either XCOM 2 or the simpler Chimera Squad. So we’ll have to wait and see.
– Linear Story: The fact that there will be no different storylines or endings could be a missed opportunity – after all, Midnight Suns is set in its own universe and would have a free hand in terms of character deaths and alternative endings. The lack of permadeath could take the tension out of the battles – but that remains to be seen.
– Abilities: We don’t know how the drastically different abilities of the heroes interact with each other and whether they form exciting synergies, as befits a group of heroes – or end up being used completely separately. So far we haven’t seen any enemy types either.
Some of these questions could already be answered on 1 September, when Midnight Suns celebrates its gameplay premiere. The tactical role-playing game is then scheduled for release on PC vial Steam and Epic, as well as PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch in March 2022.
