Marvel's Midnight Suns

Good strategy game good marvel game. Bad thing about the game your character progress doesn't Cary over trough new game plus

This game is quite entertaining, the game play is quite simple but pretty effective and having different heroes from all around joining the fight while optimising your decks and abilities is great fun

However, it is sometimes poorly optimised performance wise in the abbey (main area of the game or home base) where there is significant drops when you go from zone to zone or interact with one of the stations and the there is sometimes a lot of fluff before getting into the actual combat of the game which is the most entertaining part which can be sometimes of a chore. Especially if you don't have that much time on your hands.

It is not a masterpiece but a entertaining game with a bunch of content for sure, especially if you want to spent a lot of time completing and min maxing your hero.

What an absolute slog. The card/combat bits are great fun, but everything in between is a boring, poorly-written, "a to b to c back to a" slog of yawn-inducing dialogue. This game could have cut 80% of the "story building" and been 100% better.

Underrated gem.

I'm sure this game will be a huge cult classic hit for many years to come. There is a *ton* of dialogue and voice acting in here, and yes - like much Marvel content the depth only goes so far - but you can feel the love oozing out of this game from the developers even if not every system they implemented hit the mark. There is a lot to do. You will spend a lot of time here. The card-based combat is extremely engaging, innovative and, on the higher difficulties, punishing.

There's a lot to lament, as well. It seems obvious this game was geared towards a potential romance simulator that got quashed by Marvel (which makes sense, I guess) and so it's a turbo friendship-sim. It's a bit bloated. You will spend a lot of time in between missions if you want to optimize. Good vibes, good times, somewhat bland villains and a *lot* of team-building time and getting to know your dorm-mates in the Abbey from Captain Marvel to Blade to Doctor Strange.

If you can get down with all that, and you enjoy good turn-based strategy? You'll love it. Everyone has a different tier-list for the top heroes to put on the squad which is the hallmark of a well-balanced game. Every character feels unique, and very *very* powerful under the right circumstances. I hated Nico early on but by the end of the game her combined support and damage abilities were just an absolute terror on the battlefield and I went back and forth with all the decks like this - and that is great!

Having completed the game, I could easily have given a positive vote, so consider this to be a mixed rating.

Slant: This game had a lot of witchcraft in it, more than I like in a video game. It was not what I was expecting from a super hero game. So, if you are a Harry Potter fan, you may give this a higher rating than I would.

The Good:
There is a lot to like in this game. I remember starting the game and hearing the music and thinking this is pretty cool. It makes me feel like I am a super hero. The combat system is unique and fun. Instead of some grid based system for a strategy game, it was instead gridless with precise placement of units playing a role in combat. I also enjoyed learning about some super heroes that I haven't watched before, giving me an introduction to more of the rich lore that exists in the Marvel universe.

The Bad:
While the combat system was good and fun. Most of your time in the game was spent doing tasks that weren't enjoyable. There was also a first person perspective where you run around a 3D world (ok, it is third person since you see your character). In it you grab ingredients, and solve puzzles. And you spend a LOT of time talking to the various super heroes. You are basically the psychologist to super heroes. Trying to make friendships (which has bonuses) with each, and encouraging the super heroes that seem to have a ton of doubts. It is too much. The ingredient collection side of things was also super onerous. For a while I tried to run around the entire map each night collecting ingredients, and it just burned me out. I eventually stopped and only collected the rarest of the ingredients that only spawned on a new moon, and even then didn't stress too much on whether I got all of them. Besides this there were the various daily tasks that you did running around the chapel. Looking for essences that randomly spawned in certain areas and putting the next item in "the oven" so that it completes the next day. Overall, I found myself spending most of my time doing tasks that I wasn't enjoying, instead of the combat system which I did enjoy.

The bugs:
This game had more bugs/poor design choices than I think should exist in a game. I had one game crash after I opened a chest that gave me a speed boost (I think the speed boost is also a bug). So, each time, after that I got the speed boost bug I was afraid the game would crash again. I ran one "easy" mission that was impossible to win because I had to kill 12 enemies to win, and there weren't 12 enemies to kill. There were ingredients on the map that weren't lootable. You couldn't interact with a character unless you were standing in front of them (not the back). There were missions that awarded essences for successful completion, but it wouldn't give you heroic essence even though that was listed as a reward. So, as a result, you were always short of heroic essence. You would max friendship with a super hero and it would then reset it back to 1. That was intentional, but it would have been better if they used the system that was introduced for the level cap. For the level cap, you would stay at level 25 (the cap), but could still "level" for more bonuses even though your displayed level remained at 25.

Replayability:
Like many modern games, this game is too long. It took me 75 hours to complete. A game should be something more like 20-40 hours to complete, with reasons to replay it again. This is especially true for a strategy game. Since it was so long, less than 20% of those who purchase the game actually complete it. As for replayability, there really isn't that much. You have max friendships with most superheroes, and have mostly the decks that you want for each. If the game was shorter, and you only had max friendships with just a few, replaying again and focusing on other superheroes would have been a lot of fun.

If you play this game, be prepared to sit and watch hundreds of hours of animations... the same animations you have seen over and over again... with no way to skip them or speed them up. The devs are really proud of these animations. You will see them in your dreams and weep

I lie awake at night, whispering into the night the burning question in my heart: "why is this game rated so highly?"

In a regular playthrough, you spend 90+% of the time running around, "exploring", "solving puzzles" and "talking to people" (notice how these activities are in brackets because you are not REALLY doing them... More on that later.)

The Combat: The few % left are spent in combat. The combat system is actually decent and the combination of movement and environment attacks requires you to think about your actions and plan your next turn or even two. This is good. Sadly, most superheroes have extremely generic action cards that rarely synergize with one another (let alone with other heroes haha please) so you are mostly left just clicking the biggest possible damage.

Offense is also ALWAYS the best defense as even weak enemies deal MUCH more damage than you can shield and most strong attacks bypass shields anyways. Sadly they didnt utilize the solid system for anything meaningful.

The worst thing about the combat is the repetitive nature of your enemies. There are like, literally THREE enemy variants (gameplay wise, plus some reskins) and you RARELY RARELY fight actual characters.
The first superhero villain you fight feels exciting and fresh (and actually strong) until you fight him again. And again. And again.... I believe i had to fight him 4-5 times(????)
And it doesnt get any better from there...

The non-combat: oh boy. The combat already wasnt super exciting but the "rest of the game" (the actual GAME, 90% of it) is insulting. I dont know how i managed to stay in this for 40 hours...

The vast majority of the time you walk around in a church and sourrounding forest and "talk" to people. Again, this is in brackets because almost all conversations are shallow and mostly completely meaningless. I skipped over them after a while.
Also, you can only ever talk to the people whose turn it is to talk to you now, so you are basically just an NPC going where the game tells you and clicking buttons. Zero meaningful player agency.

The walking around in the forest part (aka "exploration") felt good the first couple of minutes. Then you realize you can go exactly only where the game wants you to go and no further unless you progressed far enough into the "Story." Then you go to new place and click same old Button. Repeat.
Aside from cosmetics, there is barely anything to find.

And im not getting into "The puzzles" part. Lol.

If you get off on watching your favorite superheroes drop the same generic lines over and over and customizing their outfits, youll love this game because that IS the game.

I got this on mega sale for like 10€ and it feels alright but if you buy this for full price, god bless your soul.

A game that's a lot of fun for the first 30 hours.... then gets very repetitive. So much so that I needed to give up on it. I didn't get through to the end. Still a good game and worth a positive review!

The mechanics are fun, the voices, setting, story are all enjoyable and very well done. It really just has a smooth play style. I wish I had started playing when it first came out.

I would definitely recommend this game, if only for the chance to play alongside so many iconic Marvel characters in their fantastic outfits. On a more serious note, the side stories were surprisingly engaging. They’re not incredibly deep, but they each have a bit of personality and purpose—they don’t feel like random filler.

The main story was compelling, and I appreciated the freedom to engage with as much or as little exploration and side content as I wanted. Gathering materials through exploration helped make combat more manageable thanks to useful upgrades.

I’ll admit I’m not the most experienced turn-based strategy player, but I really enjoyed the combat. It wasn’t too easy or too punishing. I played on Normal difficulty and found the challenge balanced—a few tough battles here and there mostly due to RNG, rather than poor design or overwhelming difficulty.

One feature I found especially fascinating was how your choices between light or dark affinities influenced the skills you gained. It’s a really cool concept that added a layer of depth to character building.

Overall, if you’re looking to get into turn-based, deck-building style games, this is an excellent beginner-friendly title with a strong story and an incredible lineup of Marvel characters. PS: Always remember to pet Charlie and get her a comfy dog bed.

This game is phenomenal. It sat in my library untouched for the longest time. The promotion material does not do it justice, unfortunately because of this, I fear that this game will not be getting a sequel which is a real shame. One of the best turn based strategy games out there in my opinion. You really have to think and plan out your moves to succeed, especially on higher difficulties.

If you're a Marvel fan and a game that is like a cross between X-COM and Marvel Snap-esque deck builder with awesome 3-D graphics (besides some character models), and a light RPG aspect sounds intriguing (There is also a friendship simulator aspect of the game in a strange and unexpected way) - then this game is a hidden gem for you. The fact you can now get this game under $10, it is an instant buy. I paid much more and I am very happy with it. Don't be like me when the game launched and only do the tutorial and formulate an opinion, give it a fair shot, which you can do within the first 2 hours and still be eligible to refund.

9/10

It's a great game, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. The target audience is small: fans of Marvel and open-minded XCOM fans who enjoy turn-based strategies and deck builders. In other words, Jake Solomon and team tried to appeal to a bunch of different groups without totally pleasing any of them.

The missions themselves are engaging and the story is sufficient, but the rest of the game can get to be quite tedious. It's a lot of running around the abbey, home base, and being pulled into super hero social clubs and side-plots that go nowhere. As an example, being wing-man to Blade as he considers courting Carol Danvers while never actually making the move. The game is cyclic: you wake up; you unlock/upgrade cards in various locations; you upgrade heroes levels in various locations; you complete the turn-based strategy missions; you hangout with heroes, go to clubs, or unlock more areas of the home-base; and finally you head to bed.

Regarding the heroes themselves, the Avengers and the later Midnight Suns crew are represented with Agatha Harkness thrown in and given a big spotlight. Given that Harkness raised Mr. Fanastic and Invisible Woman's kid, you'd expect some kind of Fantastic Four crossover. Sadly, that never came. There are some subtle nods in the form of hidden symbols, but that's it. With as much backstory they're giving about the Salem Witches, you'd expect elements inspired by those early comics. At least the Scarlet Witch is in the mix.

The turn-based strategy game-play itself is solid, and balancing is mostly on point, as each hero has their place, and missions require careful consideration of heroes and their cards (if playing at higher difficulties). Instead of randomness in the form of a probability that attacks will land, like in XCOM, the randomness comes from which cards are dealt to your hand. In other words, each attack lands 100% of the time but you never know what card's you'll be dealt.

The DLC content is limited but worth a few extra bucks if bought with the base game. In my opinion, the DLC missions are more difficult than the base game's (especially at higher difficulty levels), but having the DLC heroes for general missions and tackling the Vampyre stuff later on in the game can be rewarding.

All in all, Midnight Suns is not the XCOM but Marvel game that it was being marketed as when released, but that's not exactly a bad thing if one is open-minded. It's definitely worth picking up on sale for those who enjoy turn-based strategy games. Don't make the same drunken mistake I did, by buying the Digital+ edition instead of Legendary Edition during a sale. Buy the latter as it actually includes the DLC, the Digital+ is just the base game plus a few useless character skins.

* I should add, the game is great on a Steam Deck locked at 30 FPS, but I was forced to reset the resolution to 1280x800 each time I started the game.

If you like to make hero friends, this is the game for you. Never played a card battler before but enjoyed this game.

The combat is fun (no surprises there Firaxis) but what the hell is everything else.

More than the sum of its parts, this game is the simplified combat from XCOM with deckbuilding at its core and a pile of (if you read comics) pretty formulaic and predictable... but well-written story. The characters are voiced (both in tone and in linguistics) like they should be, some of the emotional moments hit, and the stakes have some heft despite aforementioned formulaic-ness. The core loop (wake, adjust decks + upgrade + maintain relationships, mission, evening meetings, start again) is satisfying and offers a good variety of intensity and chill.

The game is not spoiled by the introduction of the main villain or the fact that there is a family relationship between you and her. The all-powerful Lilith rises again after centuries with the help of Hydra, led by the maniacal Doctor Faustus, which the positives in our story have to balance by reviving you, Hunter, the descendant of Lilith herself.

Why would someone wake up a relative of their enemy, you ask? Let's say that your relationship with your mom is not exactly rosy, it's downright hateful and only you, as is often the case, can stop the threat that promises the destruction of the entire world. Although, you won't be able to do it yourself, which is why you will have the Midnight Suns at your disposal - a group of superheroes that you can (mostly) rely on.

Your awakening begins a painful and really long journey to save the world. Every day you wake up in the morning, walk through a refuge called simply the Abbey, which is torn from space (maybe not from time), and Lilith can't touch it, talk to some of your colleagues, then go on a mission into the world and spend the evening with your colleagues again.

It's a shame about the very outdated graphics. 15%

Addictive combat cycle, corny story and 'friends' system makes the whole thing a bit stilted but by gods the card combat is addictive.

super fun game that is basically "XCOM with super heroes that have high-school level interactions between missions"
Even with all the high-school relationship drama, the game is super fun.

Oddly, this game makes me like the Marvel heroes more. X-com card game with a "dating sim" twist to it. I bit of exploring with the click-pick-up-everything-not-nailed-down exploration. The "busywork" is oddly fun and rewarding. I found the in-game free purchasing of civilian and hero costumes I indulged in and putting the outfits on daily random made a more living world experience. The entirety seems to exceed the sum of it's parts. They seemed to nail the essence of each hero. I have enjoyed this game more than what I expected: this has been a pleasant surprise.

An underrated game let down by its publisher and slightly poisoned by superhero fatigue. But this is superheroes done right, with cards and tactics! You can also make your character look silly and pet animals.

flashy and pretty but drags on a bit too long...
there's a mini open world for some reason?
dialogue is peak 'marvel quip quota' in a bad way, story nothing to write home about but *some* characters are likeable
gameplay is solid aside from some dlc enemies being complete bs
note that it's a deck builder in the 'build a small loadout' sense, not the full on deckbuilder sense
it's good but not great, i'm sad that XCOM died for this but it's an alright game on its own 🤷‍♂️
+ its probably a blast if you're into marvel
- morbius does not morb all over the place

If you're into JRPG's and having to manage friendships, as well as a Marvel fan, I think you'd really enjoy this game. It's severely underrated an overlooked in my opinion. It's obviously got issues here and there but it's a great game nonetheless

Midnight Suns is a pretty good Strategy RPG under several dense layers of Boring. The game, visually, is not appealing. But that's made up for by the fact that it has filler out the wahooney. The relationship system is boring, the abbey is boring, the long drawn out walking to and from places is boring. Why am I doing any of this. Why is there crafting. Why do the dialogue options NEVER MATCH what the lightbringer says.

This one is a surprising gem. Sad that it flew under a lot of people’s radar. The dev team (that was later laid off by 2k/Firaxis) put a lot of heart into this, in the writing and combat system. Got some great voice acting too. Got some familiar names with Nolan North, Blum, Mercer, Bailey but the whole cast is pretty good.

It’s not a x-com copy and its not a marvel cash grab. (Though wait for it to be on sale)

This could have been ''game of the year'' material if given some more time to fine-tune it's rough edges.

However, it is still a very interesting title, well-worth it's ratings, and for me it also managed to scratch both the X-COM and MARVEL itch at the same time. Good win, play it with DLC :)

I am not sure how it happened that a game based on multi-billion dollars IP became one of the most innovative games I played recently but here we are.

I don't have anything good to say about the story, lore, characters or otherwise, and I mostly skipped the dialog from act I forward. You would think this would make me hate the game but the gameplay is downright brilliant. I enjoy deck-building games and turn-based tactical games a lot but never imagined merging them together would work so well.

In its core, this game is a deck-building game, where each hero has its own deck (8 cards) with its unique abilities, and each mission is played with 3 heroes, and their combined deck. Every individual card can be customized to a small degree, and there is enough choice to make deck-preperation interesting. Then, you have plenty of reasons / limitations that force you to vary your squad from mission to mission, which adds a much needed variety to the gameplay. On its own, the deck-building is solid.

Except that rather than remaining a number games, the game still takes place on a tactical battlefield, and each card causes your units to move on it. Enviromental effects, area of effect attacks, and throwback actions (i.e. shoving enemies around as if it was BG3), makes the game a fun tactical game on top of being a deck-building game.

As I have never seen anything like it before, its an easy recommendation from me.

The game is far from perfect, of course. Apart from the story, the difficulty is generally too low. For some reason, you are not allowed to take higher difficulty until you unlock it until you grind, which is annoying since I would have choosen higher diffuculty that avilable given the option. I am not someone who usually complains about the online stores but the way the game bombarded me with new colors for my exisiting, bad looking suits was a bit much.

Tremendous game.

Slay the Spire + XCOM + Marvel

The heroes are very well represented if you are a major fan of them and there are plenty of nods to the marvel universe.

The voice acting is also very good with many voices reprising their roles.

Played more like an old school comic book than a modern movie.
Best game I have finished in a while.

Not for me,

The story and game play between missions is not what I am looking for and imo clashs with the mission game play rather than complements.

I enjoy turn based strategy like xcom
I enjoy story based rpgs,
Turns out I don't enjoy them stuck them back to back, Similar concept for Fire Emblem game where I mostly skipped the dialog.

Very good game, well worth trying out. I don't think it was marketed well and didn't sell as well as it should so probably won't get a sequel. Which is a damn shame as it deserves one.

A combat/strategy game bogged down with ENDLESS yapping of hollywood generics, some good writing followed by a legion of bad. I get one mission done only to have to wade through everyone's little social issues, emotional breakdowns and feelings of inadequacy before I can FINALLY do another, and if it is story-based the dialogue decisions do NOT matter and every other decision is just +1/-2 etc.


Now you could say: "You can skip all of that and just walk past them" but if you do that, you limit yourself and I don't like to limit myself if I don't have to, but after awhile I got so bored of it I was skipping the prolonged cutscenes just to get some action after a half hour of chatter and then you miss "important" details blah blah.

So in the end, I got tired of the usual hollywood girlbosses, the moody emo chick and the angry lesbians and all the white men being the TV commercial: "goofy idiot" archetype and just uninstalled.

Gameplay-wise interesting concept for turn-based super hero action, but they took the concept and overstretched it with endless insufferable "narrative" of either "Tony Stark you idiot!" or constant butt-kissing of each other or teen angst weather they were teens or not.

Fresh, cool game but could use some tactical depth at the normal difficulty. Lack of a cover system with hit probability modifiers is annoying.

This game rocks, perfect mix of relaxing friendship + foraging simulator with puzzling tactical card strategy. If you love these characters you’ll love this game. Lots of missions to do so you can really take your time with it and allow yourself to enjoy the characters interacting.

There could be more specific character banter when you pick certain teams and the main ground of the abbey hub could be larger and more interesting, but it’s beautiful and very fun.

Lots of customization available.

Definitely buy it especially if it’s on sale and it’s worth to get all the DLC too. Hopefully they’ll come back to it and release more content at some point even if it seems unlikely now.

There are a lot of things wrong with this game. But I'm not going to go into what and why. I did't finish it, that's all you need. I found myself finding it more annoying than anything.

GOOD GAME, NO SUPPORT. WATCH OUT FOR THE FAITHBREAKER SUIT GLITCH DO NOT CRAFT THE SUIT BEFORE THE MISSION BECOMES AVAILABLE. sorry for the caps im not retyping this tho

Great game to get when it’s on sale! The storyline and dialogue are fun. The gameplay is enjoyable and surprisingly challenging.

If you're a turn-based, card-loving, life-simming, Marvel fan, this game is definitely for you.
There are literally hours of dialogue and cut-scenes, to the point where I really only play 2 or 3 actual missions per session because of how much extra fluff there is between them. 40 hours in and I haven't even finished Part 1 of the main campaign yet! It can drag on at times, but once you settle into the game play loop and buy-in to the relationships you're building with the superheros, it's very fun to keep coming back to. Get the complete collection on sale!

Combat is fun, but the story side can be annoying

If you are a comic book fan and turn base strategy gamer then this game is for you. Each hero and villain have different set styles and the card system is a sweet touch as well. I got this during a sale and got the legendary edition for cheapo! I am hoping that they make another game like this but for villain characters!

It's so flawed in so many directions. The story has no stakes because none of the popular licensed characters are allowed to die. You can't actually fail missions, just try until you succeed, so all the game can do is waste your time, which it frequently does (the final mission especially). I got this for $10 and I still can't suggest it. Just play any other Firaxis game.

I enjoyed Midnight Suns but not enough to replay it. The game was fun and clearly showed its X-Com heritage, with constant upgrades to abilities and crew, a growing list of research opportunities, tactical turn-based combat, and numerous missions spread across the landscape. However, there were significant issues.

If you're coming into Midnight Suns hoping for an authentic Marvel experience, you might be disappointed. The game leans so heavily into witchcraft and supernatural themes that the familiar Marvel science and heroics become mere background decoration. It makes me question whether the creators genuinely wanted to tell a Marvel story or simply used the Marvel brand as a convenient backdrop to emphasize how 'witchcraft isn't so bad when it's saving the world.' They even write Iron Man as an apprenticing sorcerer... like... what!?

Despite owning all the DLC, the storyline felt rushed toward the end. It seemed the developers set up numerous intriguing stories but only completed a handful, leaving many undeveloped:

• I never managed to unlock more than one Abbey power, despite multiple attempts.
  
• Only two statues were unlocked, and their purpose remained unclear.
  
• The entire northern region stayed locked, making me question its significance considering you can finish the game without it.
  

Several frustrating aspects stood out:

• For all the card options, I was never really allowed to customize my hero's abilities... you're playing someone else's vision of a hero, not "you".
  
• Many characters (Nico, Magik, Robbie, Morbius) were pre-destined to remain anti-heroes, despite efforts to positively influence their growth; they never grow or change, lacking any real character development.
  
• Your character frequently makes unavoidable, questionable decisions (such as participating in a séance) and maintains an unnecessarily adversarial relationship with authority figures, behaving more like a rebellious teenager than a mature protagonist.
  
• The writing often felt prejudiced. For instance, when Tony begins helping in workshop, Robbie throws a hissy fit and leaves. When they have the opportunity to talk about it, the writing forces Tony to apologize for helping out, and paint him as the bad guy with Robbie accepting his apology (instead of the other way around). When Tony tries to destroy the page with his gamma accelerator (would've worked), Bruce jumps in and ruins the event. Who do the midnight sun's blame? Bruce Bann- no wait, they go with blaming Tony; and this despite it being Ghost Rider who also interferes with the event (who Robbie still idolizes, despite him selling them out). Yet, when Robbie likewise fails to succeed at their next event, they don't give Robbie the same treatment they gave Tony, it's "aw, shucks, you tried your best, oh well." The group's response was to excuse and support, highlighting glaring hypocrisy.
  
[*] When they wrote a hint for a trist between Eric & Carol, I beelined a solid relationship with Carol to win her over before he could make his intentions known, but you can't do anything about it. The result was *both* of them saying "buzz off"... so much for investing yourself.

Ultimately, the relationship aspect offered little reward. Reaching max relationships provided minor perks like fun powers and outfit changes, but relationships lacked depth, romance options, or unique missions, making them feel superficial and underdeveloped.

And this is where the game ends. You've had fun, enjoyed some of the combat, but the talking & relationships are practically irrelevant. I was actually glad when the game ended, which is sad because I was actually recommending it when I first started. No so much anymore.

-----------

P.S.
Uses Denuvo, and they actively scan for programs like Cheat engine to make sure you can't modify your experience... for a single player, offline game (game literaly quits and poo-poos you). And... actually, you can't play with your DLC skins even after going offline, unless you're online. Makes no sense; just insulting stuff.

This game makes you sink hours into mind-numbing grinding just to afford basic cosmetics. In an offline single-player game, that’s just ridiculous.
Instead of enjoying the actual gameplay, you're stuck farming like it’s some live-service cash grab. They either want you to waste your life grinding or cough up real money like a clown just to change Spider-Man’s underwear.
It’s a shameless time sink that drags out playtime for no good reason. A superhero game shouldn’t feel like an MMO grind just to unlock a damn outfit.
If you value your time (or your wallet), do yourself a favor and skip this one

On paper this game is very odd, a turned based card rpg? for a superhero game? but its so damn good! Seeing dr strange and iron man play monopoly is what i live for. This game makes larger than life characters feel like real people. Its basically the lifting mjolnir scene from age of ultron the entire game. The characters are relatable and down to earth. I cant believe how slept on this game is, its so good

Like a lot of people, I didn't give much attention to this one when it came out.. I am a long time (40+ year) marvel fan, but this looked like just another cash grab. But a friend convinced me to buy it on sale and try it, and I'm glad I did. I am personally more of a Turn Based enthusiast than a Deck Builder, but the core game play had enough variety with the different heroes available and card combinations that it kept me entertained. Note it was not particularly difficult - I fought about 100 missions, and lost only two on the first try (one early, took 3 support heroes on a DPS mission, one late to very bad RNG on card draws). I pushed the difficulty level up a few levels to Heroic II early on, but found that increasing difficulty (baddies have more hits, hit harder) just made the fights longer, not really more challenging, so I didn't push it up further to the max.

While I came for the core play, it turns out what really hooked me was the interaction with the characters (various marvel heroes) and the built in “friendship simulator”. The dialog scripting and voice acting was generally very good throughout and there was a uprising amount of depth, with lots of new dialog available as the game went on. I found myself spending more time making sure I had heard all the lines and enjoying the interacting part than I did the core play. Not something I normally look for in a game, but done very well. Also its almost entirely optional, you could easily skip almost all of it if its not your thing.

Besides core play and relationship simulator, there were several other features.. it surprised me how many they fit in.

Exploration and crafting, which primarily get you bonus consumables that can assist your heroes on their missions (and extra story). That said, I didn't use the consumables much, but might have had to if I pushed difficulty to the max.

Research/base building, to gain minor combat advantages (some required for story missions)

Training/Grind feature that allows you to grind for extra leveling as much as you want to, but since enemies are scaled to your heroes level, it can be skipped for the most part.

Cosmetic system (new combat and casual outfits for all the heroes, plus color pallets) all purchased with in game currency (gloss) you earn from missions and exploration.

Decorate your house” system with cosmetics and the ability to take and hang pictures (which I skipped entirely)

Other thoughts: Replay-ability, not much. You could try to focus more on different heroes, or building your main differently (light/dark mix), but the story is liner. No romance, but hints at two or three FF relationships – stay away if that really offends you. If you get it, recommend you get the legendary edition with all the DLCs, extra heroes and their story missions do add to the game for slightly more.

This game should be called "Marvel Hold B to skip"
So much unneeded "extras" and cut scenes that just drag down a fun card combat game

I personally think this game is the definition of an 8 out of 10. Lot's of fun, not entirely enthralling and has its inconveniences, but super easy to pick back up whenever. It's one strange animal. Gameplay is addicting, all the way till the end. But the strange part is you have to sludge through a superhero dating sim each time you want to play. It's really not terrible, especially if you are already a Marvel comics fan, but it is quite unexpected. The heroes are done justice as far as their character development and dialogue go. Also, the cinematics are pretty entertaining. But I would really advise either speed-reading or just outright skipping all of the dialogue, otherwise you're NOT getting through to the real meat and potatoes of the game.

this game tickles my tism

(very satisfying progression & gameplay loop)

While it's a fun enough time, I leave this experience baffled.
A passable game that goes too long and has decent (though somewhat grating at times) mechanics.
The story paints your "Hunter" (the main self-insert fanfic OC character, and the one you play as primarily) as the only hope. You are looked up to by heroes like Storm, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Wanda, and Iron-Man. The sheer amount of time you could spend becoming the best friend they have ever had is shocking, and it never gets more interesting then the mysteries around the main hub. Same for the main story, which is just a passable comic book story.

Also it's optimized pretty poorly.

Rating: 3.5/5

Positives:
Surprisingly good soundtrack.
A lot, and I mean a lot, of voice lines.
Would recommend to strategy game fans who can stomach comic books and vice versa.

Negatives:
No minimap for the hub area.
Once you go through all the voicelines for the characters the game feels really dead. It is actually a compliment to how lively the game can feel, but the end definitely feels like it.

On the brightside, the game does not overstay its welcome. The lack of romance definitely keeps it in line with a PG rating, but it makes the game feel surface level and not lived in.

Midnight Suns is a card-battling persona game where you can become best friends with spider-man and go to book club with Captain America. It's unfortunately terribly optimized and runs like garbage. At the same time it's fully voice acted, the writing is on-point(and very Marvel), the story is fun.