Firaxis knew well what it was doing when it came to the tactical gameplay inMarvel’s Midnight Suns. Balancing each iconic Marvel character’s abilities must not have been a simple feat, but Firaxis managed to represent characters’ powers authentically while still making every tactical encounter a huge strategic bout. This is primarily successful due to the card deck system that Firaxis has tip-toed precariously around, which is phenomenal in how it draws cards into the player’s hand. Players must then decide what to do with the cards they are dealt inMarvel’s Midnight Suns.
In contrast,Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ Abbey and social simulation featureshave a lot of room to improve. These features are by no means poor, but some are more elementary in their function than others. This is only the case due toMarvel’s Midnight Sunshaving hundreds of hours worth of content through endless endgame missions and resources to collect. Therefore, the interactions characters have will not be as impactful once players complete the story. In a sequel, it would be incredible to see a new dynamic added to reinforce how fun character interactions could be.
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Marvel’s Midnight Suns Needs Stronger Character Dynamics
The most exciting character interactions inMarvel’s Midnight Sunsoccur within the game’s intermittent club meetings. Not only do players learn about particular characters this way, but they are always given an opportunity to seehow iconic characters inMarvel’s Midnight Sunsinteract with one another, which is arguably the more exciting feature. Fans may have wondered how Robbie Reyes would take to Tony Stark, or how Magik would take to Stephen Strange, andMarvel’s Midnight Sunsgives players a taste of that.
Otherwise, character interactions are primarily concerned with how the Avengers and the Midnight Suns butt heads on certain choices that are made at the Abbey, withMarvel’s Midnight Suns’ Hunterbeing their mediator. None of these interactions are particularly annoying or uncharacteristic, but they are also not as engaging as they could have been. Moreover, conversations between characters are hardly ever remarked upon in the Abbey’s leisurely moments. It would obviously require an exponential increase in dialogue to sustain that, though, and the Abbey is unfortunately quiet at most times as a result.
Playable Villains in Marvel’s Midnight Suns Would Make Interactions Exceptional
One solution for how character interactions could be more dynamic ina potentialMarvel’s Midnight Sunssequelis by having supervillains room with the superheroes for a change. This would be taking slightly from theMarvel Ultimate Alliancefranchise, which featured a handful of playable villains itself, but Firaxis can amplify that experience with real-time social simulation wherever the characters may be housed together in a sequel.
It would be exciting to see how Doctor Octopus would interact with a character like Captain America, for example, or how Magneto would interact with Spider-Man. The potential would be wonderful so long as Firaxis could supplement these interactions with enough dialogue that it felt lively. Tactical gameplay with playable villains would be remarkable too, as players can only imagine what card abilities Sandman or Loki could have.
Now thatJake Solomon has left Firaxis, it will be interesting to see what aMarvel’s Midnight Sunssequel could look like in general based on the foundation that the game has already established. That includes whether it decides to forgo social simulation features altogether or expand upon them further. Either way, playable villains would help it excel with another distinct feel to its narrative.
Marvel’s Midnight Sunsis available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, with PS4, Switch, and Xbox One versions coming later.
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