Toward the end of the year, the game industry surprises time and time again. Marvel’s Midnight Suns turned out to be almost the most interesting release of the month. Although, at times, the novelty seems overly ambitious, this is what attracts it, constantly surprising and impressing with its scope.
The Firaxis Games team, known in recent years for XCOM, could have taken a working template, changed the operatives to superheroes, and collected the box office on Marvel fans. More Firaxis games can be reviewed on the pirate bays. Currently, the studio has made an exceptional game. First of all, Midnight Suns wants to be compared to Persona and Fire Emblem, a series that combines a life simulator with a turn-based combat system.
The Plot of The Game
In the game’s universe, the Hydra terrorist organization has revived Lilith to conquer the world. Dr. Strange turns to her sister, called Caretaker, to resurrect Hunter/Huntress (depending on your choice), Lilith’s son/daughter. This is an entirely new character to the Marvel universe, whose appearance you customize in the not-so-rich editor. About 300 years ago, it was the protagonist who was able to defeat his mother, so now his help is needed.
Gameplay
For a game from such a studio, Midnight Suns have an unexpected number of videos and dialogues. And the staging is excellent – at times, it seems that you are watching the game versions of the scenes from the movies. The impression is slightly spoiled by the weak facial animation, but otherwise, it’s hard to pick on. The main character’s dreams of communicating with Lilith, the quarrels and reconciliations of the other characters, and their attempts to save their friends are interesting to follow. There are 12 playable characters, and there are others besides them, like Bruce Benner, Wanda, and Crossbones. They don’t just appear, some of whom Lilith tries to win over to her side.
But much more attention in the story is paid not to the moments when the superheroes shoot down helicopters and, in other ways, show their power but to the quieter episodes. After each mission, you return to the Abbey, the castle that serves as the headquarters for the team. There, the heroes not only discuss plans to save the world but also live their lives. Peter Parker can go pull dumbbells, and Tony Stark and Doctor Strange are busy researching. Some are reading a book, some are hanging out in a bar. And strangely enough, this kind of domesticity is addictive.
Combat System
Battles in Midnight Suns are not boring even after dozens of hours. Characters are completely dissimilar to each other in their skills, random maps force a different approach to the battles, and thinking through the actions and squeezing the maximum out of the next move is always fun. Plus, the developers regularly toss in additional modifiers: the different points on the map where the shells fall, you have to rescue a prisoner or capture a target that is protected, then you are asked to destroy the helicopter that will fly away in four moves. So even when the game forces you to go through side missions for the sake of access to story missions, you don’t consider it a grind – you’re just happy to solve another puzzle.
When you’re running around the Abbey, pumping up maps, and interacting with superheroes, you don’t want to say goodbye to that part of the game and go on a mission. When engaging in turn-based battles, you don’t want them to end quickly because there are plenty of exciting mechanics in them. As a result, you switch between the two equally wonderful halves of the game and have a tremendous amount of fun from both, which doesn’t go anywhere after dozens of hours – Midnight Suns is very big. There may be minor flaws, but there are so many advantages that I don’t even want to think about the minuses.
Conclusion
Midnight Suns is an unexpected mixture of life simulator and turn-based strategy; an interesting story with entertaining videos; a mountain of opportunities to get to know the superheroes better and listen to fascinating dialogues; HQ likes to spend time and improve the team’s characteristics; exciting turn-based battles; characters differ from each other in abilities and allow different ways to solve problems.
