Players will be spending a lot of their time in Marvel's Midnight Suns wandering the vast hub area of the Abbey. It serves as the magical base of operations for the heroes, and is where players will be hanging out in-between missions. What could have been a glorified menu seems to actually be a vast locale filled with mysterious puzzles and secrets to uncover. There is so much to discover within its halls that players may end up forgetting about Lilith's invasion as they explore every nook and cranny.
Marvel's Midnight Suns is not the only recent Marvel ensemble game to include a hub area, but it may be the best iteration of the concept. Marvel's Avengers also featured a couple hub areas for players to hang out in outside of missions, but these areas didn't offer quite as much. While both games included a pretty similar concept, their approach could not be any more different.
Marvel's Avengers' Chimera Offers Little
When players are not facing off against AIM bots, they are spending their time wandering the halls of the Avengers helicarrier called the Chimera. The Chimera is one of two hub areas that the player can explore, and it is the one that players will probably spend the most time in. All the heroes hang out here, and it is where the majority of the side activities are. While it may be fun to explore and interact with once in a while, the majority of the Chimera feels like window dressing.
Players can select their next Avengers mission on the War Table, practice in the HARM room, fabricate new items, and go shopping within the confines of the Chimera. The halls are also filled with various NPCs that make it feel like an actual working helicarrier, and every unlocked hero is standing around doing something. Players can interact with the heroes to listen to a couple lines of dialogue, and they can explore their quarters to find Marvel easter eggs, but that is pretty much the limits of what they can do. The same thing goes for the Ant Hill, which is largely a carbon copy of the Chimera with a different coat of paint.
Marvel's Midnight Suns' Abbey Feels Alive
Marvel's Midnight Suns introduces players to the Abbey, which works a lot like the Chimera as players can fabricate items, train, and select their next mission. The unlocked heroes also wander the grounds and players can interact with them. The Abbey sets itself apart from the Chimera with the wide range of side activities that really make it feel alive.
A major aspect of the Abbey is the vast grounds that players can explore filled with puzzles and secrets to uncover. They are guided through these areas by the ghost of Agatha Harkness, and they can explore as much or as little as they want. Players can also hang out with the heroes, assist them with tasks, spar with them, attend club meetings alongside them, go fishing or painting with them, and have long conversations with them. This is all part of the friendship mechanic that allows players to unlock bonuses depending upon how close they are to the heroes, and is only the start of what they can do within the Abbey.
Players can also customize their Abbey to their liking. They can unlock upgrades that flesh out various rooms, and they have free-range to decide what pictures are in what picture frames. They are also given an upgradable bed chamber for their character, and are given the ability to customize the casual outfits that every hero wears while wandering the Abbey. This level of customization and Midnight Suns' large amount of side activities really make the Abbey stand out from the Chimera, and it gives players a reason to keep coming back.
Marvel's Midnight Suns is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, with PS4, Switch, and Xbox One versions in development.
