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felassan · 11 months

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Some more snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age: Origins some months ago -

Chat asked why Marvel's Avengers and Fallout 76 are still being supported yet Anthem isn't. Mark replied, "Two reasons, but they're basically the same reason. EA is definitely not something that likes to support things that they consider to be failures. But the other reason, which is kind've the same thing, is that because BioWare has so much going on, there is a tendency, there's always a lot of pressure to move people onto the biggest need, and Anthem is not the biggest need. If BioWare was allowed to add fifty to sixty people that wouldn't be the case, well at least it wouldn't be in the short-term, but it isn't because EA is very cost resistant, resistant to spending costs, so it's really about corporate structure and culture than anything else. If you look at something like Battlefield or other games at EA that have failed and then recovered, it's usually because the studio that made them literally had nothing else going on so the only option was to let them fix it or to basically shut the studio down. In the case of BioWare, there's always something else they could be working on and as a result, when things don't go as well people tend to get moved onto those other things. That's essentially what happened with Mass Effect: Andromeda as well, though in the case of ME:A there was also pressure from Jade Raymond's studio to steal all those people, which is what ended up happening. So it's really about the approach to these things at a corporate level."

Chat asked "Can you make a video about development hell and how games with long production cycles like Dragon Age Origins avoid that?". Mark replied "The short answer to how do games avoid development hell long production cycles is basically that they don't. It's probably worth a video to talk about what happens in the middle of long projects, but the short answer is what often happens is that they spend some period of their time kind've going in a big circle because the time is so long that projects can get lost. DA:O added and took out multiplayer three different times. Anthem spent a ton of time not being able to admit that it was making Destiny. ME1 spent a ton of time trying to figure out what it wanted its combat to feel like".

Chat asked "What do you feel about the revival of the Griffons?". Mark said "I think it's going to be hard to pay griffons off in gameplay but I'm glad that they are back, it's an interesting addition".

Chat asked "Did you know about the Netflix show? If not what are your thoughts?" Mark replied "I did know about the Netflix show so I'm not going to comment on it at this time, I'll wait and see what it looks like. It's been in the works for a while" [note: this video is from before Absolution released]

On the reason why Dragon Age has so many multimedia things e.g. books, comics, compared to other IPs: "I mean Witcher has tons. BioWare actually has a dedicated business development group which looks for opportunities to make money with the IP".

[source]

He also talked more generally about DA:O and the franchise and things in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length -

[on the lyrium spirits/ghosts that provide the riddles during the Gauntlet] Chat asked "I've never been sure if these spirits are accurate memories of these people, or just how the masses believe them to be. I presume that's deliberate?". Mark said "Yes, definitely the accuracy of these memories is definitely up for debate and that is on purpose. Definitely DA:O, Dragon Age in general is filled with the unreliable narrator"

If you go the Gauntlet with no party members, the game gives you a bunch of indestructible ash wraiths instead. "It's super weird"

Chat asked "Is there an answer to the question of what the Ashes and this whole [thing] are really about, or is it left deliberately unknowable?". Mark said "It's left unknowable, I don't think that the Ashes is ever discussed. It doesn't really fit in with the magic of the rest of the setting does it?"

"Definitely there's a lot of 'Andraste taking over old elven temples' throughout the world"

The Queen of the Blackmarsh "was definitely combat design firing on all cylinders"

Chat commented "I noticed recently that many character models in BioWare games have a 'collar' on clothes even when it doesn't otherwise fit with what they're wearing. Is there a reason for that?". Mark said "The collar is probably to cover a neck seam. That's usually why there's something weird going on with the head"

Chat commented "I still don't know how I feel about the 'every class gets their version of lock pick' in DA:I". Mark replied "The reason for the every class gets their own lock pick thing in DA:I is, the problem is that what you usually end up with is rogues get a bunch of stuff to do outside combat and nobody else does, so the goal was to try to get a variety of activities for different classes. I don't know that it was super effective because I don't think that it was used widely enough, but that was the thinking. 'It's useful to have a mage along because a mage will let you get into these spots, it's useful to have a warrior along because they can lift heavy things and reach jars on high shelves'. But I think there's a lot of established game design around locked doors and locked chests, and I think the things in DA:I, people just weren't used to introducing them"

"I think the reason why you can't recruit anyone into the Wardens in DA:O is you don't know how to do that and Alistair doesn't either I guess. But there are a couple of opportunities in DA:O where you could sort've imagine, 'hey, we could use some more of us'." Chat commented that it's also a blood magic ritual and Mark said "It is totally, I mean it is fairly obviously blood magic, but yes it is not really ever [addressed]"

"Jade Empire had gay romances, that's probably the first mainstream game that had them"

Chat commented on the difficulty spikes in DA:O being a bit random at times. Mark said "There's only limited auto-balancing in DA:O so things are triggering on certain assumptions and those assumptions are definitely not always being met." Chat mentioned character movement speed and hardware engine speed at the time and Mark replied "Speed is most likely a limitation"

"I don't know if inventory limits are worth it. It's an interesting question. I get the idea but, I don't think everyone loves inventory management. It's been done better but I don't know that it's ever been done good. Especially for stuff like this where it's just, y'know, punishing you for not having sold stuff. I think having a weight limit on what you can equip, maybe, because then it's more you just can't carry around everything and the kitchen sink, but punishing me and my treasure-gathering for not having bought the extra backpack, kinda stupid, honestly. From Baldur's Gate 1 to modern games, inventory is pretty similar"

Chat asked "Were the Warden Colors (from DAII on) not decided on in DA:O? The mods prove the engine can handle the graphics". Mark replied "The art direction in DA:O is a little loose. So it's really about art direction in future games, it's not about technology, I mean you have to remember that this thing was supposed to run on a much crappier console, but yeah it's really more about art direction than anything else. DAII is where the art direction starts to establish a look for Dragon Age"

"Infinite healing is problematic. But yeah toxicity works, some other form of limiting works, but if you can heal infinitely then every single combat needs to be able to threaten you all on its own which is a problem"

Chat asked "How do Sha-Brytol and Golems function in terms of Titan connection? They're identical minus the rocks right? Instead of rocks Sha-Brytol are bound to armour?" Mark replied, "I don't know lore-wise the difference, I mean it's possible that golems are sort've a broken construction in comparison, the lost lore kinda thing"

Chat commented "I asked Mike [Laidlaw] about the golems and I got the impression that there was some sort of implementation difficulty that he couldn't easily explain". Mark said "I do think there was an ask for golems for DA:I from an art perspective and we didn't have the model, the time for the model, so that's part of it for sure". Chat mentioned that we fight golems in The Descent. Mark said "If so they were created after the fact, I don't really remember though"

Shale is small for a golem so they can walk through doors in gameplay. That's why they are the size they are

Chat said "I'd be curious to know how the global metrics break down, what the most popular race and class people choose is. I imagine BioWare has those numbers." Mark said, "I don't know if we have numbers on DA:O because our telemetry was so bad, but yeah, humans are usually the most popular. Dwarf is a pretty niche one but people who play dwarves pretty much always play dwarves. Elf is probably the second most popular. I think human is just sort've the choice that people who don't understand fantasy well, so it's also I would say often the one that's often chosen by people who are less engaged in the game. I'm not saying everyone who plays human is doing so because they don't want to engage n the system, not to deride that, but it includes that group as well". Chat commented, "The order was Human > Elf > Qunari > Dwarf. Dwarf was the least played race in DA:I". Mark replied "Yeah, I think that's probably right. Dwarf is sort've a 10 percent sort of thing. It's got a very strong group that play it any opportunity they can ever have but it doesn't get a lot of play otherwise"

[source]

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context)

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #mass effect #next mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #anthem #long post #longpost #video games #dragon age: absolution #alistair theirin #fav warden #jade empire #lgbtq

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guiltknight-gaming · 1 year

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Marvel's Avengers | The Winter Soldier | Part 3: Tundra Hive

#youtube #Marvel's Avengers #The Winter Soldier #Tundra Hive #Gameplay #Walkthrough #Let's Play

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silvereestars · 1 year

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My Interests!

Here’s a list of all the fandoms I’m in/was into! (WARNING: Very long post ahead! If you want to see what fandoms I’m w/o the reading, just look at the tags!)

EDIT: NEVERMIND, THE TAG LIMIT FOILED ME /GEN /LH I am SO sorry, but the last few fandoms got cut out from the tag list! You’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to see them-

Crowned: These fandoms are VERY near and dear to my heart- and I’m ALWAYS willing to talk about them!

The Legend of Zelda: This is the fandom that introduced me to the internet back in 2019 (I’m a late bloomer, I know- XDDD), and kickstarted me making theories and analyses!

Friday Night Funkin: Hate it or love it, you can’t deny there are some amazing individuals out there! And for you modders out there, this game is actually heavily moddable- and one mod in particular was what caused FNF to blow up in the first place! This is actually the fandom I’m hyper fixating on right now-

Favorites: While they aren’t as important to me as the “crowned” ones, they still managed to hold my attention for a month or so- and that’s something to admire, considering how hyper my brain is!

Animator Vs Animation: This is the fandom that introduced me to Tumblr and AO3 back in the late summer of 2021- don’t worry, @ann-aha, you’re not alone! XDDD

Oh, and I can’t talk about “AvA” without mentioning the rest of the stick figure community! Shout out to Henry Stickmin, Rock Hard Gladiators/Hyun’s Dojo, Hyun, and Gildedguy! :D

Genshin Impact: Contrary to popular opinion, this game isn’t just for “nerds” or people who can afford to splurge thousands of dollars- I managed to complete the current (back then!) storyline as a free-to-player! While I’m not in the fandom anymore, at least give this one a chance?

Undertale: Ah yes, the funny skeleton man fandom /j /lh But seriously, this fandom isn’t all “Sans Fangirls”- just search up animations and artwork! Or, better yet- search up a full play through of the game (I recommend this order for newcomers- Neutral, Pacifist, Genocide) and let the story and gameplay do the talking! ^^

Just Shapes and Beats: Exactly what it says on the tin. Pro tip- once you’ve seen the full story mode, go check out KofiKrumble!

Minecraft: Of course I’d be into this fandom at some point, everyone will! I’m not into DreamSMP (please don’t kill me I’m just not interested in stuff like server-wide wars), but I AM fond of Hermitcraft and Empires!

Normal: I don’t really think about these fandoms too often, but they deserve a mention!

Harry Potter

Voltron: Legendary Defender

My Hero Academia

The Owl House (hey, while this fandom isn’t one of my favorites, you bet I watched the finale and cried the whole time!)

Doki Doki Literature Club (somewhat- in my master post, I mentioned I hate horror, so I avoid gameplay and stick to tvtropes/summaries- sorry- ^^;)

Kipo & The Age of Wonderbeasts

Pokémon

How To Train Your Dragon

Marvel (The Avengers!)

Mario

Splatoon

Kirby

Subnautica

Trollhunters (and the rest of the Tales of Arcadia! I LOVED that series- except for Rise of The Titans. We don’t talk about Rise of The Titans. /gen /lh)

Carmen Sandiego

Amphibia

“The Big Three”: These were the fandoms I was into as a little kid, and inspired me to start making fan fiction & headcanons!

Kung Fu Panda: Oh my god, I loved this series- and a 4th movie’s coming in 2024!

Big Hero Six: This is the OG- the first fandom I EVER got into! :D

Wakfu: Yugo accidentally inspired an OC (no info- yet! Not unless I learn how to draw!), so it’d be a crime to not include this fandom!

Well, I think that’s all- for now! If you want to learn about favorite characters, theories, head canons and the like- just ask! :D

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autolenaphilia · 3 months

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Shadow of the Tomb Raider from 2018 pleasantly surprised me.

If you follow my blog, you might remember I wasn’t much convinced by its two immediate predecessors by Crystal Dynamics, see my reviews for the 2013 and 2015 games. Now this game wasn’t developed by Crystal, but in circumstances that don’t inspire confidence. The studio’s corporate owners Square Enix bizarrely decided Crystal’s time and effort were of better use on a Marvel’s Avengers licensed game, and instead gave it to another studio they owned, Eidos Montreal, with Crystal only having a supporting role. Lead writer Rhianna Pratchett had already left Crystal by this point, so her stories had to be concluded by other writers. By the way, the Marvel’s Avenger game Crystal developed was delisted from Steam only three years after release.

Now all this corporate nonsense doesn’t bode well. Even the name Eidos has a dark history with the series, even if probably no one working at Eidos Montreal today or on this game had anything to do with it.

But Eidos Montreal surprised me. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is actually the best game in the series since Underworld released ten years earlier. The game is very similar to its predecessors, using the same engine, and basic gameplay. But there has been important changes, a rebalancing of the gameplay and environment of the 2010s trilogy, all to the game’s benefit. Tomb Raider ever since the first game has been a mix between action, platforming, exploration and puzzles. And the main problem with TR 2013 and Rise was an overemphasis on action. The main storyline was just action setpiece after setpiece, which got wearying, while tombs with puzzles were relegated to side content. Even Core Design made that mistake sometimes, the mix of gameplay styles can be delicate, but Crystal’s 2010s games took that focus on action to extremes.

And Eidos Montreal seems to have realized this. Shadow dials back the action, if anything it’s the least action-orientated Tomb Raider game ever. There is action, but it’s more occasional than anything, which honestly makes it more fun. Instead the focus is on exploration, platforming and puzzles. This comes with a welcome re-orientation in environments: the tombs are back, baby. In force too. Eidos Montreal remembered the title of the franchise is litearlly tomb raider and so we get a game where Lara is in the jungle, raiding tombs. Most of the main storyline takes Lara into various tombs (well, also old ruins, temples, you know) to solve puzzles and evade traps. And a lot of the extra content is even more tombs. That was the case in previous games, but that comes off better here where tombs are integrated into the main storyline. Instead of a slightly condescending tribute to old fans, while the main storyline is all action, they recognize that good extra content is for those who like the main game and want more of it.

The puzzles are fairly simple compared to the classic Core games, but not entirely trivial, and they are far more welcome as main quest content than whambang action setpiece after setpiece. These puzzles more than anything convey a mood and it’s the mood appropriate for this game series.

The exploration is also made much better, and that’s thanks to the difficulty settings. Shadow has a similar system to System Shock, where you can set the difficulty of various gameplay elements separately. So you can set the difficulty of combat, exploration and puzzles independently of each other, allowing the player to tailor the experience to their interests and skills Setting puzzles to hard removes the hints Lara gives in dialogue, for example, while on easy she outright explains what you need to do. And setting the exploration difficulty to hard removes the “white paint” on climbable ledges. “White paint” is in scare quotes, because they are clearly birdshit to my eyes.* This birdpoo has been a feature of the series ever since Crystal released their first game in 2006. They make it easy finding out where to climb, but in my opinion they make it too easy and remove the immersion of the environments and a lot of the fun of exploration. And now the player can keep the birdpoo or get rid of it as they desire. It’s great.

(* Ex-Core Design dev Andy Sandham agrees with me about the ledge whiteness being birdpoo in a TRIV stream, and was proud Core Design never used them, and he’s right)

It helps that Eidos Montreal has expanded upon the platforming and climbing mechanics of the two previous games in good ways. Lara can climb on horizontal rock surfaces now, and rappel off rocks, and swing or wall-run on her rappel rope. This makes Lara’s moveset really varied. The climbing and platforming sections in this game are so three-dimensional, varied and extensive that they feel exciting, like you are doing something really daring and dangerous.

It helps that this is a pretty game. The jungle Lara explores looks so warm, vibrant and inviting, and the tombs are moody and atmospheric. It’s a nice game to look at. This is partly a product of technology, of course, which is why this game has GPU-melting specifications. Yet it is also a product of great art design.

And is is fundamentally because of the intelligent choice of setting. This game is primarily set in the jungles of Peru. Peru is also the setting of the first part of the original Tomb Raider, and the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark, so it’s a setting of importance both for the genre and the franchise in specific. And as I gushed about before, the tombs are the focus once again.

Not that everything is good. This game suffers from a bunch of the bloat typical with open world games, with some very boring busywork sidequests that I only accepted in the hope they would lead me to extra tombs, which admittedly they sometimes did. Also some of the extra tombs are DLC, which is a format I don’t like. Though buying the “ultimate edition” or whatever it’s called in a Steam sale five years after release helped with that, I got the whole package in one go.

And the obligatory RPG-like skill tree system feels kinda redundant in this game. The skills are carried over from the two previous games and thus mostly combat-related, but this is not a combat-focused game, so they feel kinda useless.

The writing is once again garbage. I won’t say it’s worse than the two previous games, which were pretty badly written, but it definitely isn’t any better either. There is a basic tension here, which has existed in the series for a long time, between wanting to tell a classic adventure story and simultaneously not wanting to affirm the genre’s inherent colonialism in the modern day. So we get in many ways a classic adventure story, complete with a lost world and the white heroine saving the day. And there is simultaneously a clear attempt to ameliorate the colonialist implications of this, but it never gets there. This game ends up trying to eat its cake and have it too. And it doesn’t quite work that way.

So as one of the most common enemies, we get a textbook example of evil natives, dressed in tribal gear and masks. motivated by their fanatical worship of a pagan god, who the white heroine must gun down with her superior firepower. But then the story is about saving a tribe of noble indians, living in the lost world and threatened both by the pagan cult and western civilization outside. Again the game wants to enjoy its evil natives, but doesn’t want to come across as racist and as painting all south american indians with one brush. But such an attempt forgets how utterly stereotypical its native villains are. And colonialist adventure fiction has at least since James Fenimore Cooper used the same setup of noble but doomed by western civilization natives who fight on the white heroes side and evil savage natives who oppose the white heroes.

It doesn’t help that the villain actually is motivated by anti-colonialism, he wants to save the lost world city he comes from western colonialist destruction but of course “he takes it too far.” So the game ends up making an anti-colonialist native the villain.

And Lara’s arc is just a way worse version of the story of the fourth game in the series, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. Same plot setup, Lara takes an artifact she shouldn’t have, and sets off an apocalypse she spends the rest of the game preventing it. In TRIV, it’s implied Lara was just being greedy. But Shadow makes the mistake of having Lara not take the artifact out of greed, but with noble and heroic intentions. She takes it because she wants to keep it out of the hands of an evil organization who wants to use it to remake the world to their liking. Her setting off the apocalypse instead feels like an honest mistake albeit with colossal negative consequences, instead of indicative of some massive flaw within Lara’s character. Her action is a failure, but a noble one. The lesson can’t be that Lara shouldn’t be so arrogant as to believe she can save the world, because in the game’s climax she quite literally does.

Also the evil organization Trinity returns from Rise, and they are even more incoherently written in this game. We learn nothing substantial about their ideology and motivations. Rise implied Trinity are Christian fanatics, but here they are mixed up and possibly identical with a cult that worships the mayan god Kukulkan (what mayans are doing in Peru is at least explained by the lore). The interpretation I landed on in the end is that they are essentially cartoon villains who do evil for evil’s sake.

Lara’s maori friend Jonah returns, the only recurring supporting character in this trilogy of games. But again, I don’t like him. In part that’s because he replaces Sam as Lara’s best friend and all the interesting sapphic implications of Lara/Sam. But it’s also because he is just a boring character, he has basically no personality traits beyond being Lara’s buddy. This makes him feel like a modern-day variation on Robinson Crusoe’s Friday, the ever-loyal native sidekick to the white heroine.

These are serious flaws to be sure, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is not a perfect game by any means.

Yet there is much that it does right, and it feels true to the franchise’s roots. Play it to explore the lush jungle, to explore the tombs and solve their puzzles, to do daring climbs and jumps. This game felt like a necessary course correction after the last two games.

#tomb raider #my writings #game review

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kiragecko · 1 year

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What I really appreciate about some Marvel phone games, and have never seen in a DC game, is the understanding that Aesthetics are Important, and that comics fans are often Collectors.

Like, my beloved Avengers Academy game, and now Marvel Snap, are centred around collecting the cool characters I love (or tolerate), and then giving them cool clothes(/art styles).

Avengers Academy mostly dispensed with gameplay OTHER than this mechanic, and was a beautiful perfect unashamed high school AU that transformed violent crossovers into fun battle of the bands episodes, or science fairs. Marvel Snap uses metallic foil and holographic variant cards as it's leveling up mechanic, and lets you save up points for pretty artwork variants. (I'm collecting Scottie Young baby variants. I have a Morbius the Living Vampire guzzling a baby bottle of blood. Hehe!)

Also, Marvel Snap gave me a Jubilee card whose only power is calling another card from the deck to aid her. It understands the characters!

It's also unashamed of Marvel's back-catalogue. My icon is Forge! I have Swarm, a Nazi made of bees, and Zabu, a sabretooth tiger who is the pet of Marvel's Tarzan knockoff, Kazar. I have different decks centred around Magneto, Jubilee, Odin, Devil Dinosaur, and Bishop! SOME of those names are reasonably well known!

I know that all the superhero fighting games are also appealing to a type of fan, but it isn't the type I am. I memorize the names of hundreds of characters and then want to see them interacting and looking cool. Snap doesn't have the bonding I desire, but it ticks all the other boxes. It's fun.

(It's also trying to activate my ADHD addiction circuits, but I am strong. And was raised by a man who hates spending money. And understand how hollow things become if I pay to win. Not even Jubile variants will sway me!)

#marvel snap #phone games #marvel

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an-aussie-button-masher · 1 year

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Marvel’s Midnight Suns - the superhero strategy game I never knew I needed

I wasn’t sure I’d like playing Midnight Suns, as I’d never been interested in the whole “deck-building turn-based-strategy” schtick, but over 130 hours later I’m wishing I’d played it from day one. Developed by Firaxis Games (the team behind XCOM) and released in December 2022, Midnight Suns is the latest addition to the Marvel gaming library. An adaptation of the comics team known as the Midnight Sons, the game focuses on the lesser-seen mystical and supernatural side of Marvel. It’s also the first Marvel game that allows the player to create their own protagonist; dubbed The Hunter, this entirely original character serves as the player’s avatar throughout the game as they battle the evil demonic Lilith (who also happens to be the Hunter’s mother). As Lilith spreads her demonic influence across Earth, it’s up to the Midnight Suns, their allies in the Avengers, and the newly-resurrected Hunter to stop her at all costs.

GAMEPLAY The game wastes no time in throwing you into the action, teaching you the basic mechanics in a quick and intuitive way. As the game progresses, the sheer amount of different tricks and mechanics you’ll need to master might seem intimidating, but you’d be surprised at how quickly it becomes like second nature. With new heroes, cards, enemies, hazards and mission types constantly being introduced over time, the game feels fresh and engaging for the entire playthrough without outpacing the player. Between missions, the player controls the Hunter as you explore the Abbey, the makeshift home base of the Midnight Suns. Exploring the Abbey grounds and hanging out with the heroes is a “love it or hate it” situation; while some might feel it drags down the action, I personally love it as it fleshes out the characters and expands the lore of the game. The game will definitely take a strong PC to run at high settings - you might run into some strange visual bugs and the odd crash here and there, plus some framerate issues in the Abbey when the two-dozen or so heroes all hang out in the same place. I’ve experienced few, if any, performance issues within the actual missions, and the occasional bugs I’ve run into do nothing to dampen my enjoyment of the game.

WRITING The game’s writing is definitely its biggest strength. The characters are excellently written, with a good mix of humour and seriousness that fit perfectly with each characters’ distinct personality. The story campaign takes much longer than I expected but never felt like a drag, with plenty of exciting twists that caught me by surprise in the best way. While some of the voices can take a little getting used to, especially if you’re more acquainted with the film versions of the characters, the actual performances are top-notch. Every quote out of the characters’ mouths, from story cutscenes to dialogue interactions to even the random one-liners in the midst of combat are both written and voiced near-flawlessly; even generic HYDRA troopers get hilariously terrified as the heroes whittle their numbers down in battle. There’s also plenty of familiar voices in the game that long-time fans will be happy to hear again, like Yuri Lowenthal as Spider-Man and Steve Blum as Wolverine. The golden combination of top-tier voice acting, exciting writing and engaging gameplay is rare, but Midnight Suns has more than proven itself in those regards.

GRAPHICS & AUDIO While not quite as high-grade as the game’s other aspects, the overall graphical quality is still fairly good, save for a handful of lighting and texture bugs that keep cropping up. Some of the characters’ facial models are a tad off, especially if you aren’t playing at the highest possible graphics settings. However, the animations in combat and during cutscenes are superb; every single blow landed by either the heroes or villains has loads of impact to it with perfectly-paced slow-motion that really sells the sheer superhuman strength everyone seems to have. Virtually every card you play is accompanied by a unique animation with cinematic camera angles, turning the otherwise-straightforward card game into a grand blockbuster battle straight out of a movie. The music is often overpowered by all the explosive action sound effects of combat, but taking a moment to really listen to the soundtrack reveals just how awesome it actually is. The battle music is tense and exciting, the boss fight music is heavy and foreboding, and even the main menu soundtrack will get you pumped up before you even hit Continue Game.

ENJOYMENT Simply put, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is downright addicting. Not the “guilts the player for not logging in every day” kind of addicting, but the “game is just that fun” kind. I’m not even much for turn-based strategies or card games, having bought this game because I’m a Marvel fan and wanted to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised by how fun I found the gameplay, and the story had me hooked from the beginning. There’s nothing more satisfying than getting just the right combo of cards to clear out the entire enemy team before they’ve even had their first turn; it turns out the Hulk is really powerful. Who knew? As I mentioned earlier, I personally loved the in-between-mission moments of hanging out with the other heroes in the Abbey, exploring the lore and worldbuilding of this particular Marvel universe. I’m really looking forward to the future of this game - there’s still more DLC planned, and I’m hopeful for plenty of extra heroes and missions. Fingers crossed for a sequel!

Reblogs and likes are appreciated, and thanks for reading!

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