Marvel’s Midnight Suns Review: Brilliant turn-based card combat

Marvel’s Midnight Sun built on a promise from hell. Take the studio that rebooted XCOM For stunning results, combine it with a card battle system inspired by titles like Kill the tower and encryption, and then add the Marvel superheroes that have defined pop culture for the last 15 years. And while these pillars stand well enough on their own, Firaxis Games uses them to support a title that’s utterly unique, full of personality, and infused with clever systems.

The first thing that needs to be clarified is that this turn-based strategy game is actually not XCOM. You don’t micromanage positioning, you don’t face constant roster changes, and you don’t hold your breath as you ride the thin line of shooting percentages. Overwatch isn’t a thing, and sensible tactical maneuvering doesn’t exist. Instead, all compromises, tensions, and gnashing of teeth are framed around a hand of cards.

Within this system there is a duality between strict limitation and wild creative independence. You’re limited to three characters in each fight, chosen from a roster that starts off a bit small but blossoms over the course of the 60-hour campaign. Icons like Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Wolverine and many more are fully controllable. Each hero comes with a deck of eight cards representing their various, sometimes iconic, abilities. Each round of combat, your hand is randomly drawn from this combined pool of 24 character cards, giving a sense of uncertainty about the combat options available to you from round to round.

The individual character decks are the lifeblood of midnight suns. Yes, they are how you interact with the battlefield, but also how you creatively shape the tactical experience. New cards are constantly being earned, and the constant dripping of new abilities proves to be a strong motivator to dedicate yourself to deck building. As you build each deck throughout your campaign, you’ll be able to recreate the great figures of the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man constricts enemies with his bind attacks, while Blade inflicts massive amounts of bleed damage, to name a few. But you also have enough leeway in your builds to fill specific niches in your three-person squads. As I delved deeper into deck building, natural pairs or groupings of heroes began to appear, and I started leaning on them: Captain America can tank hits in binary form, while Ghost Rider deals massive amounts of damage.

At the beginning of the game everything feels mundane and small. You’ll play three maps each turn, kill a few grunts, and maybe take out a bigger opponent with a little more effort. In fact, I was a bit unimpressed by the early morning hours midnight suns. The card system felt competent but measured. It worked smoothly, but the limitations of completely flat environments with little emphasis on positioning left me wanting more. I was skeptical that a card combat framework could be combined with Firaxis’ turn-based battlefields. My opinion changed drastically as the card pool grew and I was able to string together six and seven card plays in a single turn. The first time I did multiple hundred damage with a single attack was exhilarating. That twist of standing at death’s door but being able to turn it around by triggering lifesteal and using multiple huge combo attacks to heal fully – that was exhilarating.

While the card system’s hilarity is regularly boosted, this contrasts with the dull overarching narrative. The Playing Field: A demon named Lilith joins forces with the eternally evil organization Hydra to threaten the world. On the other hand, the Midnight Suns are a group of young misfits led by a veteran hero named Caretaker. The story has obvious parallels with Professor Xavier and the X-Men, and that undermines the novelty it sometimes deserves elsewhere. But while the plot itself may be sloppy, the focus on the personal stories of the heroes holed up in the abbey, the game’s hub, creates a spark and drives things forward.

To start, you create an original character called The Hunter, a lukewarm avatar for dialogue and behavioral choices midnight suns‘ Duration. Ultimately, The Hunter’s backstory and arc are mere distractions (it’s difficult to create an impressive hero through simple cutscenes, and Firaxis falls short in this regard), but the character plays an important role in the charming social interactions that follow unfold into Midnight Sun’s headquarters.

This free form person 5-Esque relationship building brings The Hunter to life. You can join Blade’s book club, work in a workshop group on Ghost Riders Hellride, or even play video games with various allies. Relationships are rated with a friendship rating, and participating in these activities will gain experience and unlock new benefits. It’s impossible to devote time to everyone visiting the abbey, so deciding who to cozy up with and swap tales of war becomes a tough one. Maintaining strong relationships with characters is a strong incentive as it is a source of unlocking new passive abilities as well as cards. After spending many hours debating books, fishing, and roaming the terrain with Blade, I built a ridiculous deck that synergistically combines bleeding and healing with a large area of ​​effect. These advancements encourage character development and exploration, and enhance interactions within the Priory.

Marvel’s Midnight Sun is a game full of rich texture. The voice acting is excellent and the relationship building of the abbey is the perfect chill intermezzo for the tactically sophisticated card game. The two formats are beautifully intertwined through the collection of additional cards and abilities, and there’s a real sense of satisfaction in deepening both battlefield prowess and social RPG connections. midnight suns isn’t XCOM – but that’s ultimately its greatest strength. It is something very special and very extraordinary.

Marvel’s Midnight Sun will be released on December 2nd on PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X. The game was verified on PC using a pre-release download code provided by 2K. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find For more information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy, click here.