Marvel’s Midnight Suns – Everything You Need To Know About Firaxis Games’ Tactical Role-Playing Game

Among the many games based on the Marvel Comics Universe, Firaxis Games’ Marvel’s Midnight Suns is, without a doubt, one of the most surprising. Instead of playing it safe and showing some of the most popular super-heroes in familiar settings, the brilliant minds behind the XCOM series have taken advantage of an old comic series from the 90s to create an experience that will be quite unique and has the potential of becoming one of the best tactical games released in recent years.

Release Date, Platforms, Editions, Season Pass

Marvel’s Midnight Suns will release on December 2nd, 2022, on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S after a series of delays. The game was originally scheduled for a March 2022 release but was eventually delayed to the second half of 2022 and then to October 7th to allow the developers to polish up the experience, add more story and cinematics, and make their tactical game the best it could be. This, unfortunately, was only the first delay, as Marvel’s Midnight Suns was later delayed to December 2nd, 2022, for PC and current-generation consoles and to 2023 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Alongside the $59.99,and €59.99 Standard Edition, which just includes a copy the game, Firaxis Games and 2K will release multiple special editions of Marvel’s Midnight Suns. The first one, the Enhanced Edition, a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S exclusive edition that costs $69.99 in the United States and €69.99 in Europe, includes a copy of the game and the Enhanced Premium Pack, which include five premium skins – Captain America (Future Soldier), Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Magik (Phoenix 5), Nico Minoru (Sister Grimm), and Wolverine (X-Force). A Doctor Strange Defenders skin is also being offered as a pre-order bonus for this edition.

The Marvel’s Midnight Suns Digital+ Edition, on the other hand, is a digital-exclusive edition that will release on PC as well as on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Launching for $79.99 and €79.99 in the United States and Europe, respectively, includes a copy of the base game and the Digital+ Premium pack featuring 11 premium skins – Captain America (Future Soldier), Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Magik (Phoenix 5), Nico Minoru (Sister Grimm), Wolverine (X-Force), Blade (Demon Hunter), Captain America (Captain of the Guard), Iron Man (Iron Knight), Nico Minoru (Shadow Witch), Ghost Rider (Spirit of Vengeance), Magik (New Mutant). A Doctor Strange Defenders skin is also being offered as a pre-order bonus for this edition.

The Marvel’s Midnight Suns Legendary Edition is the edition that will include the most additional content. Launching for $99.99 in the United States and €99.99 in Europe, this edition includes a copy of the game, the Season Pass, which will grant access to four DLC packs focused on Deadpool, Venom, Morbius, and Storm, and the Legendary Premium Pack, which features 23 premium skins – Captain America (Future Soldier), Captain America (Captain of the Guard), Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell), Captain Marvel (Medieval Marvel), Magik (Phoenix 5), Magik (New Mutant), Nico Minoru (Sister Grimm), Nico Minoru (Shadow Witch), Wolverine (X-Force), Wolverine (Cowboy Logan), Blade (Demon Hunter), Blade (Blade 1602), Iron Man (Iron Knight), Iron Man (Bleeding Edge), Ghost Rider (Spirit of Vengeance), Ghost Rider (Death Knight), Doctor Strange (Strange Future Supreme), Scarlet Witch (Boss Witch), Scarlet Witch (Fallen Scarlet Witch), Spider-Man (Symbiote), Spider-Man (Demon), and 2 additional skins for an unannounced hero. A Doctor Strange Defenders skin is also being offered as a pre-order bonus for this edition.

Setting, Genre, Mechanics

Marvel’s Midnight Suns sports a very interesting and unusual story based on the Midnight Sons comic book series, which ran from late 1993 to late 1994. Like in the original series, iconic superheroes like Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America have to prevent the Earth from being destroyed by Lilith, the powerful Mother of Demons that has been summoned by Doctor Faustus. In the game, players will not take direct control of any of the established superheroes available in the game, as they will take the role of Hunter, a new superhero created just for the game. Joining him in his battle against evil, alongside the aforementioned Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America, will be Blade, Captain Marvel, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Magik, Morbius, Nico Minoru Scarlet Witch,  Sistem Grimm, Storm, and Venom.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a tactical role-playing game that, on the surface, doesn’t look too different from the XCOM series Firaxis is known for. Appearances, however, are deceiving, as the game will be much more than a simple Marvel reskin of the latest entry in the X-COM series as it will also feature deck-building mechanics that allow players to unleash special attacks with each playable hero, buff their stats and more, adding a new layer of depth to an experience that already promised to have quite a bit of it without these new mechanics. These deck-building mechanics won’t be the only feature that will differentiate Marvel’s Midnight Suns from the X-COM franchise, as units’ movement, for example, will not be locked to a grid, and they will not miss their attacks, two features that streamline the experience a bit without dumbing it down excessively for the master tacticians out there.

The role-playing game mechanics will also play a rather big role in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. When not off fighting Lilith and her minions, players can explore the main base, the Abbey, and interact with the many superheroes in the game. Depending on the dialogue choices, players can also improve Hunter’s relationship with all heroes, which will allow them to learn more about the setting and this epic war against evil. Also, being a proper RPG, Marvel’s Midnight Suns will sport a rather lengthy campaign that will require players between 40 and 60 hours to complete.

Trailers

PC System Requirements

Being a tactical role-playing game, Marvel’s Midnight Suns won’t be a particularly demanding game, as even the recommended settings aren’t particularly high.