Who would have thought it, but it turns out that superheroes are considered pretty important in Marvel Rivals, the upcoming 6v6 hero shooter from NetEase Games and Marvel Games.
So even with the roster of 25 heroes already revealed, the first question most people have about Marvel Nemesis is who’s coming next. However, while there were considerations to show a range of different types of characters, it’s clear that anyone in the Marvel pantheon could end up showing up.
“No characters are off limits,” Marvel Rivals executive producer Danny Koo told iGamesNews at Gamescom 2024. “We have to pick characters that are fun to look at, that are different, that are fun to play, and they have to bring something to the roster for whatever reason.”
“The narrative designers on the team are all avid Marvel fans, and they’ll suddenly make suggestions. We’ll discuss how this character is similar to other characters, and then talk about each character and pick the strongest one together.”
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Apparently, Marvel Rivals is also not afraid to invite more unknown characters from the Marvel Universe, as evidenced by the addition of characters like Loki and Magneto, such as X-Men’s Magik, Jeff the Land Shark, and Spider-Verse’s mecha pilot Penny Parker.
“When we made the list, probably 70-75% were your biggest hits and well-known characters,” Koo explains. “But for the rest, we tried to put in some twists and depth — characters you wouldn’t have known existed if you didn’t read the comics.
“At the heart of a character is always the question: ‘Is this character uniquely different from the rest of the cast’ and ‘How does this character work with the rest of the cast’?
“We have over 9,000 characters to choose from, which is a great thing, but there are a lot of factors to consider as to who should be part of the roster and who fits in, who they are, how they fit into the world and the lore of Marvel Rivals.”
But none of that matters if the character’s implementation doesn’t accurately reflect the powers and personalities from the comics. You can have as many in-depth characters as you want, but if they’re just cookie-cutter models of the Hero Shooter image, they’re not going to do much for Marvel Rivals’ reputation among longtime Marvel fans.
To avoid this, Marvel Rivals says it’s trying to incorporate the personalities of its heroes into their combat mechanics.
“We have a design philosophy for the characters, and each character has a central concept, and then expands outward from there,” said Zhiyong Feng, combat designer for Marvel Rivals.
“For example, our newly released heroes are Captain America and the Winter Soldier. For Captain America, we gave him high mobility, allowing him to rush into battle and return for supplies. By doing this, we show you the concept of ‘I can do this all day long.’ [his catchphrase from the MCU].
“The shield design is also very iconic. Holding the shield can reflect projectiles and Iron Man’s beam, allowing for collaboration between heroes. We can also see his leadership through his ultimate skill, where he leads the entire team in the charge.
“The second character, the Winter Soldier, we all know he’s a gun-based character – but we wanted to differentiate the Winter Soldier from the Punisher. So the Punisher has all these different types of guns, but the Winter Soldier has mechanical arms to capture enemies and tentacles, which is a unique take on the Winter Soldier.”
Marvel Rivals will launch on December 6, 2024, and will be free to play on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. So far, the game has received mixed reviews from players, with some praising its 6v6 combat as a return to the best days of Overwatch, while others feel it lacks originality.
