Midnight Suns - Marvel Card-Based Not-XCOM Game - 202X

[Andalusian girls]

how is it tactically compared to XCOM

i'm kinda torn because it's half a social simulator and i don't really care about Marvel but XCOM had some of the finest gameplay this side of the Mississip

[Odesseiron]

I was never hugely into XCOM however I'll have to go back and give them a go now though.

I do think it has more systems than XCOM though. None of them made me overthink. It all feels natural.

Here's something I found that sums it up better than I can (due to limited play time on XCOM)

- In XCOM, each unit acts independently with their own resources. In Midnight Suns, three heroes all share the same turn and resources.

- In XCOM, deciding who to send charging toward near-certain death to complete an objective is an essential part of the experience. In Midnight Suns, it isn't super important which hero lifts the concrete slab off a bystander, just that it gets done.

- In XCOM, you always know what each soldier can do on a turn (shoot at aliens, mostly), but there's a chance they'll miss. In Midnight Suns, your heroes never miss, but what they can do on a turn is always changing, because their abilities are cards dealt from a shuffled deck.

Now when I first saw deck of cards, I groaned. I love me a good Slay the Spire but when I think of a tactics game, I don't think of cards initially. Do NOT let this deter you. While you don't mostly "control" the characters, it still very much feels like you do.

Each hero has their own unique mechanic and move sets. For example, Captain America focuses on gaining block and taunting enemies. Captain Marvel has an ability to go Binary after playing 3 cards and doubles her damage. Blade has a lot of Bleed cards which do DoT and then can play an ability to "blow up" the stacks of bleed for high damage. Ghost Rider is risk v. reward. High Damage but at the expense to his health. But then he has separate abilities to restore health. Each hero has 10 abilities (8 of which can be in your deck at a given time), which are gained over the course of the game. The MC has the most cards in the game though for a huge variety.

You can then enhance cards to + versions of the card that further add to its abilities. If that is still not enough, you can then add modifiers to cards. So you can play around with tons of different heroes and decks. I will say each hero feels really good to play as and is a lot of fun. While I used certain ones over others, but the end once you have all of the abilities and super moves and all it's a tough choice.

Story wise, it's typical comic book schlock. The characters are kind of hokey and cheesy, but in a very comic book sort of way. The MC is voiced by Matt Mercer and has some very strangely delivered lines that are hilarious. Even now with the game beat, I want to go max heroes out, find new OP combos and I can't honestly wait for the DLC. Most of the side content is optional, but doing it does increase your abilities and options in the battles. Don't let The Abbey fool you. You can spend as long or as short as you want in there. The bread and butter is absolutely the fights.

I also have to say an amazing amount of work went into this game for all the heroes. Every hero has unique animations for EVERYTHING very little recycling. For example Spider-Man uses web to throw objects. Dr. Strange lifts it with magic and tosses it. Blade Lifts it and tosses it. Same for blocking, attacking, etc. Heroes feel powerful and the animation/sound quality is all really well done. Honestly at 33% off, the game is a fucking steal.

[Tyrath]

So I was holding off on a sale on this game. But it sounds like I should dive right in? I do love me some XCOM and marvel..

[Takiwaki]

I was 60hrs in before I completed the main story firs time. I think the game was amazing. I was surprised how long it was.

[Tyrath]

Fuck it, it's on sale on Steam. I'm just gonna get the legendary edition which has the season pass. Fuckers got me by putting Deadpool in the season pass lol

[Tyrath]

PS is there any word on release date for the DLC characters?

[Odesseiron]

PS is there any word on release date for the DLC characters?

Deadpool is supposed to be some time this month according to the Devs on Twitter. Gonna be interesting to see what route they take with Deadpool. Personally I want to see what Storm will be capable of.

Game takes a couple of hours to really get going with all the mechanics, but once you know everything you won't stop. Enjoy it, let us know what you think.

There's also a lot of really nice easter eggs.

[Andalusian girls]

i got to the 13th quip before uninstalling lmao, don't think the game is for me. hope you guys enjoy it. gameplay reminds me of Slay the Spire much more than XCOM too.

[Tyrath]

My man thought a Marvel property in a MCU world wouldn't have quips

As I love XCOM, Slay the Spire and Marvel, I'm having a blast so far.

[Tyrath]

Ok I'm liking everything so far except....

I was wondering why Character Customization was so sparse. They really locked customization options behind in game currency?? Let me guess, you can spend real $$ to get that in game currency?

[Odesseiron]

No, Gloss is earned in game. There's various ways to get it, missions, treasure chests, challenges, finding it around The Abbey, etc. Can't buy it with real $

There is one premium type of currency and that is to get the Alternate Hero costumes. But if you bought the Legendary Edition that currency serves no purpose as they are all unlocked. there is nothing else in this game that has a premium currency behind it. Just a bunch of grinding.

[Tyrath]

Ok good, thought it was some money making scheme. Loving the game so far. Wasn't expecting a big explorable home base because of my experience with other XCOM games

Question about light/dark. Is it a spectrum where I go one way or the other or can I fill up both?

[Odesseiron]

Ok good, thought it was some money making scheme. Loving the game so far. Wasn't expecting a big explorable home base because of my experience with other XCOM games

Question about light/dark. Is it a spectrum where I go one way or the other or can I fill up both?

You can kind of stay in the middle and earn most of the cards (I got the achievement for earning all cards in the game without going fully one side or another)

BUT if you are an achievement person you need to pick one or the other and stick to it to go full light or dark. There's some different cosmetics/costumes with slight abilities. Nothing super crazy. And you'll have to beat the game twice, once light once dark to get both of those cheevos. It's fairly annoying. I doubt I get that trophy. But we'll see. After all the DLC is out I'll probs do a full play through again.

[Tyrath]

Don't care that much about achievements. Guess I'll just see what choices I like more

[Tyrath]

Deadpool is out on the 26th. Glad I'll at least be able to use on of the season pass characters in my first playthrough

[Odesseiron]

Still enjoying it? I'm looking forward to Deadpool not only for the character/story content but the food truck is a pretty big deal too.

[Tyrath]

Yeah I've been loving it. Every part of this game is something I really enjoy lol. The XCOM type tactics, slay the spire style card randomization and the Fire Emblem type character relationship building, etc. Oh and also Marvel.

I have intentionally been playing it a little slow so I could get Deadpool into my first playthrough. I think I am currently nearing the end of Act 1. Just did the bells fight with Venom

[Odesseiron]

Oh yeah you have quite a bit to go.

[Takiwaki]

[Tyrath]

Got just the final mission left now I think because I got the Hulk. His abilities, especially his Legendary are absurd. I can see why we get him so late. I'm trying to get Scarlet Witch, Wolverine and Deadpool to 5 friendship still and then will finish the game. It's been so good.