At Gamescom last month, 2K Games and XCOM studio, Firaxis, announced Marvel's Midnight Suns, a new strategy game starring Marvel superheroes from The Avengers, X-Men and more. No gameplay was shown at the time, but this week, Firaxis dropped a gameplay preview for the game, revealing a card-based strategy combat system. 

Initial rumours pointed to this game being XCOM meets Marvel, but Firaxis is going in some new directions with its strategy formula. Marvel's Midnight Suns will still be turn based, but rather than having an action bar for each hero, there is a card-based battle system. At the start of a combat scenario, you are dealt a hand of cards containing abilities for your heroes, from there it is up to you to use those abilities wisely to beat the mission.

Some of these tactical choices will include hitting enemies into environmental hazards, such as walls or off ledges. Of course, combat is just one core element to the game, Firaxis has also been working on its own social system. As reported by Eurogamer, this will introduce RPG-like elements to Midnight Suns, giving players a chance to forge relationships and strike up conversations with their allies. All of this will take place in an area known as ‘The Abbey', which is said to be a “living hub” and is the main place you'll be spending your time in-between missions.

At launch, Marvel's Midnight Suns will include 12 playable heroes, including those appearing on the game's front cover, like Wolverine, Iron-Man, Blade and Ghost Rider.

Currently, Marvel's Midnight Suns is scheduled to release in March 2022 on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

KitGuru Says: I was a tad disappointed when I first saw mention of a card-based combat system, but the success of titles like Slay the Spire gives me some hope that this can be done well. What do you all think of Marvel's Midnight Suns so far? 

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