Shares basically nothing in common with XCOM.
This is a pretty big deal, especially compared to that mobile game that’s coming out or whatever. Firaxis’s XCOM Team is working on a turn-based RPG based on Marvel’s Rise of the Midnight Suns. And development is being led by Jake Solomon, who designed both XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2.
And according to Solomon, Marvel reached out to them, mostly due to XCOM 2. From an interview with Polygon:
“It was Marvel that reached out to us after we made XCOM 2,” Solomon said. “When I had a call with the Marvel team, there was an executive vice president from Marvel on the call and they had very specific feedback about [that game’s notorious] finale mission, and a bunch of people started chiming in, and I was like, well, these guys are actually really are big fans. Right away, they understood the kind of games we make.”
The game’s set to feature 13 Marvel characters in total including the likes of Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Blade, Magik, Nico Minoru, the Robbie Reyes iteration of Ghost Rider… and also Captain Marvel. It will also feature a player created character called The Hunter, which can be customized in a number of ways. Per Solomon, The Hunter has access to over 40 different potential superpowers, ranging across the light (Think Captain America or Iron Man) to dark (more occult characters like Blade or Ghost Rider) spectrum.
Notably, Solomon has stated that the game has nothing in its DNA mechanically from XCOM. It is its own thing. And it’s pretty dang cool.
Players will take The Hunter on missions with three other characters. And while the usual arc of RPG power improvement happens over time, how it happens is a little different. Between missions, players will explore The Abbey, a new location designed by Marvel for this game. And the way your characters improve is based on your interactions with them.
“Robbie Reyes, the new Ghost Rider — he may want to play video games. Captain Marvel may want to go spar with you. Tony Stark may want to go play cards,” Solomon said. “You choose how to hang out with them, choose how you talk with them, give them gifts. There are [also] social clubs around The Abbey that you can join, and that affects your friendships with heroes. […] Some of these are pretty lighthearted [since] the story is dark enough.”
Notably, unlike XCOM, there is no permadeath in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. After all, it’d be kind of a pain in the ass if somehow, despite that healing factor, you managed to kill off Wolverine. Not like I’m bitter about that in some of those X-Men games I played in my youth, no sir.
“We don’t have permadeath because the fantasy is very different,” Solomon said. “The fantasy in XCOM is the fantasy of soldiers holding on for dear life against a superior enemy. And in Midnight Suns very, very quickly — early on — I realized that the superior enemy in this game is the superheroes. So instead the bad guys are terrified of you.”
Also, unlike XCOM, you’re not in command of a bunch of normal duders, so expect to feel powerful.
“You’re doing these very large moves, these epic moves, and so the mechanics are just completely different,” Solomon said, “which results in you still scratching the same itch, because it is turn-based tactics combat where you’re controlling the team. But the fantasy is very different. And that means the mechanics are 100% different.”
Notably, though Solomon states that the game didn’t start off like that. Rather, it initially felt a lot more like XCOM’s power scale, where your tactics were based more around avoiding unnecessary risks. But it had to change, because you’re not playing with a bunch of Red– or Mauve-shirts — you’re playing with some of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Things had to change to fit that theming; most of these characters aren’t known for dropping like a sack of potatoes.
“That was surprising and terrifying in the beginning,” Solomon said, “to realize like, ‘Oh man, we’ve gotta do a whole different game.’ But it’s cool, because it gives you this different feel than XCOM, for sure.”
The first actual gameplay trailer is set to go live on September 1st. So it’s definitely one to keep an eye on.
Source: Polygon
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