Marvel's Midnight Suns sets things up in a universe Marvel fans have not seen in recent media. Lilith is a demon god that has awakened from her slumber to bring hell to Earth. A secret society known as the Midnight Suns is charged with keeping the more mystical side of the Marvel universe at bay.
This set of heroes includes Blade and Ghost Rider as two examples. To stop Lilith, they summon her child, known as Hunter, to even the odds. That’s who players control primarily in Marvel's Midnight Suns. It plays out like a dialogue-heavy RPG like Mass Effect with strategic gameplay. How does this latest Marvel game shape up to be?
8 Best: Tactics Plus Cards Equals Fun
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a great hybrid of tactical RPGs and card games. Players could engage the game as either genre and gave a good time with it. They could stand still and use cards to attack foes or they could strategically use the battlefield to activate environmental traps.
However one decides to play is up to them as this game’s flexibility shows how good it is. The battles are also quick, even if players study the map, making it perfect for bite-sized sessions.
7 Worst: A Slow Start
The bad part about the experience is how long it takes to get going. There are mechanics on top of mechanics introduced and just when players may think they are done with tutorials, they get some more. The game is trying to tackle too many things at once seemingly to please almost every aspect of the RPG fan community.
It’s like the developers went to a committee, asked people what they wanted and instead of picking the best ideas, they added everything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it creates an uneven experience for those that went to get into tactical combat.
6 Best: A Unique Marvel Universe Unexplored
The MCU was established when Iron Man hit theaters in 2008. Since then Marvel had expanded with TV shows and more movies than it is possible to keep up with. The great thing about Marvel’s Midnight Suns is that it doesn’t tread on any recent territory.
Even though Doctor Strange is in it, this is even a new area for him and gets more mystical. Setting a game in an almost apocalyptic state where a hellish demon could destroy everything at any moment is a great idea for a movie, TV series, or in this case, a video game.
5 Worst: The Graphics
The initial tutorial cutscene in this game is almost mind-boggling in its low quality. The graphics in the rest of the cutscenes, overall, feel like Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a remaster of a PS2 game. The game looks better while exploring the Abbey or fighting in a tactical battle, but it’s still nothing that pushes the PS5 or Xbox Series X forward.
There is going to be a Switch version in 2023 which almost makes this launch edition feel like the game was designed first for the Switch. Maybe things didn’t start this way, but things may have been downgraded to make the game look and run the same across the board. It wouldn’t be surprising if this game launched on mobile platforms in 2023 as well.
4 Best: Charming Characters
The setting for the game is great but the narrative is a little uneven as it gets lost sometimes. What makes Marvel’s Midnight Suns a pleasure to go through though are the characters. The game is a bit like Fire Emblem: Three Houses in that players can chat up their party members outside of battle in the hub area aka the aforementioned Abbey.
Fishing with Blade may seem silly, and it is, but the conversations with everyone are genuinely entertaining. Not all of the jokes land, but charming is the best word to describe the experience.
3 Worst: Overused Characters
Players may feel some facial fatigue given some of the characters chosen for the game. It doesn’t make sense why Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel are there. They justify their presence enough and even Doctor Strange is pushing things. However, he at least fits in with the idea of the Midnight Suns from the comics.
It would have been nice to see some more unsung heroes from the Marvel comics like Nico Minoru and Magik. The developers should have ridden the mystic wave more instead of perhaps worrying about appeasing MCU fan expectations by putting in some favorite heroes like Iron Man. Also, players are going to fight Hydra soldiers a lot and that gets tiring too.
2 Best: Lots Of Customizations Options
Players get to create their character, who is known as Hunter. Being asleep for centuries, Hunter is played off like a fish out of water which is the perfect archetype to have Marvel heroes bounce their ridiculous storylines off of. The customization options for him or her, aren’t wild, but any variety is appreciated.
Players can also decorate their room which is a nice plus for an RPG with a hub area they will continually travel back to. Perhaps one of the coolest customization options in Marvel’s Midnight Suns allows players to make comic covers.
1 Worst: Can’t Take Off Subtitles
Subtitles have been a standard in games as far back as the PS2 era, if not longer. Most games have them and also allow players to toggle between them being off or on. This game, unfortunately, always has them on.
There are some instances where it makes sense to have text bubbles such as back at the Abbey where players can make dialogue choices. The way they are presented in cutscenes is in bad format and their existence in battle is just baffling.
Marvel's Midnight Suns was released on December 2, 2022, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.