Midnight Suns by Firaxis is not an XCOM with heroes by Marvel -apkrig

Even before the start of the E3 trade fair, it was speculated that one of the games, which was created under the banner of 2K Games, could be a new project of the Firaxis studio. Many insiders and journalists, including Jason Schreier, therefore began to speak openly about the fact that this was another game in the spirit of XCOM, but this time with a license from Marvel. There was no performance at E3, with Gamescom approaching and Take-Two confirming that it would introduce a brand new brand in August, but it was becoming more and more certain that we would see it at the German trade fair before the end of the summer holidays. And if you watched yesterday’s Opening Night Live broadcast with us, you know that this is the game Midnight Suns, which really fits into the genre of tactical turn-based action RPGs. During yesterday’s show, we were able to watch the first trailer, which focused on the story background, and already on September 1, we should watch the first shots of our own playing. However, to avoid speculation about how close the Midnight Suns will be to their XCOM model, the developers talked to select media and explained that the games didn’t really have much in common.

But let’s start with the trailer, which at first glance represents a slightly disparate group of superheroes, the meaning of which will probably only be understood by avid fans. If you are one of them, the name of the game probably evoked the storyline Rise of the Midnight Sons, which began to appear in comics with Ghost Rider in 1992. They merged in it dark heroes like Ghost Rider, Dr. Strange, Blade or Jonny Blaze to stop the mother of all the demons, Lilith. And that’s exactly what will be the case in the newly introduced game. However, the situation around its development and appearance is not so easy, which reflects the already slightly changed name. According to the editors of Den of Geek magazine, the developers changed the name to show that they are entering the story on their own with the permission of Marvel, which is reflected not only in the involvement of other, rather positive heroes such as Captain America or Iron Man, but also in the presence of a completely new hero. A hunter who will be a player character. According to lead designer Jake Solomon in his interview for Polygon, Hunter is the result of a collaboration between Firaxis and Marvel, and in the story of the play, he depicts the rejected son of Lilith, who was the only one able to beat his mother in the past. This is one of the reasons why a group of other heroes – a total of 13 of them – will try to resurrect the Hunter at the beginning and then work with him to save the world.

As for the game, Midnight Suns can’t match the resemblance to XCOM in terms of genre. As mentioned above, this is a tactical turn-based action RPG, which corresponds to the famous series mentioned. But Solomon suggested that the game mechanics can’t be the same just because of who we control in the game. You will fight the demons in a four-member group, which will always include Hunters. Who the player takes to help depends entirely on his decision, but we are still talking about superheroes, whose power far exceeds the team of soldiers from XCOM. According to Solomon, there is already a considerable contradiction in this, even though he admits that about two years ago, an XCOM with a license from Marvel was really out of their hands, as the players are talking about at the moment. “The theme itself and the characters on the map require us to change direction, so we end up developing something completely different. [než jsme původně očekávali], ”Says the game designer. He and his team of colleagues are said to have spent a lot of time on HeroClix characters, who served as a living model of future fights in the game and adjusted the individual elements of gameplay based on that.

Players should therefore be prepared that they will probably be in the role of those whom the enemies fear and very strong attacks, a greater degree of interaction with the environment and, for example, more frequent group divisions and separate combat on several fronts, which may not always pay off in XCOM. . The difference will be that the Midnight Suns will not have an element of final death, so you will not lose the constellation of heroes and will stay with you until the end of the game, or until the storyline decides otherwise. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the Hunter has a bunch of heroes at hand, who will always be ready to go into battle. Between missions, the player will move around the Abbey – a secret base – in the traditional style of 3rd person games Midnight suns, where it will be necessary to establish relationships with individual superheroes, spend free time with them, find out other important information about them and simply make sure that nothing creaks anywhere. It is already clear when you look at the composition of the heroes that it will probably not be easy and will not be universally friendly with everyone, but even that, according to Solomon, is another element that the new game from XCOM deviates from.

To be specific, in addition to the player’s Hunter, there are already confirmations from Yesterday’s video by Ghost Rider, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Maik, Nico, Captain Marvel and Blade, but as it was said, there should be 13 of them together, so we have to wait for the rest of the ensemble to be revealed. The Hunter himself will then be a superhero in the true sense of the word, only his focus will once again succumb to the tastes of each of the players, who will be able to choose from forty superpowers and mix them arbitrarily. We definitely expect some restrictions, but the developers themselves claim that this is a very unique moment on the desktop licensed game from Marvel and something they are proud of. Solomon himself, however, did not forget to add that he was a huge fan of Marvel, that he loved the Rise of the Midnight Sons line, and it was he who offered it to Marvel representatives when they contacted them with an interest in cooperating. He was also pleased that during the first phone calls, the people from Marvel demonstrated sufficient knowledge of XCOM and went into the partnership with a clear idea of ​​what genre the resulting project would fit into.

Midnight Suns will be released in March 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch. In just a few days, on Wednesday, September 1, the developers will reveal the first shots of their own gameplay.