Hello everyone! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. So over the last few weeks I’ve been going through a backlog of some games I wanted to finish from last year. One of those games was Marvel’s Midnight Suns. I spoke about this game briefly on my top 11 games of 2022 list and how it was omitted because I hadn’t played the game yet. Well I’ve been playing that game ever since and yeah, it would have made the list. So this month’s Otaku Mind I wanted to give a full retrospective review on the game, what I thought about it, why nobody is playing it, and why it’s considered a failure.
Who Are the Midnight Suns
So if you’re like me when you first heard about this game you asked yourself: who the hell are the Midnight Suns? Well to answer that question we have to go back to the greatest decade of human history, the 90s. Originally known as the Midnight Sons, this was a group in Marvel comics that shined the spotlight on Marvel’s supernatural heroes. The original group was composed of Ghost Rider, Blade, and Morbius (yes. That Morbius. Don’t let the movie and Morbin’ time memes fool you. He’s a badass in the comics). If you had to compare the group to a DC counterpart it would be Justice League Dark or Night Force which included Raven and other supernatural heroes from DC. In fact, the Midnight Sons were spoofed in Ventures Bros. as the Order of the Triad. The seeds for the group’s formation began in 1992 around different comics. Primarily the Ghost Rider series. The group made its official debut in 1993 and had a number of stories until 1994 before disappearing from Marvel. The group would come back in 2009 for Marvel Zombies 4 before disappearing again and reappearing in 2018 for the Damnation story. Finally, in 2022, the group would reemerge to build up hype for their game now calling themselves the Midnight Suns to include female members. While Ghost Rider, Blade, and Morbius were the main members there were a number of other heroes that joined the group. Iron First, Magik, Nico Minoru, Man-Thing, Scarlet Spider, Moon Knight, Scarlet Witch, Dr. Strange, Elsa Bloodstone, and even Wolverine himself hopped in for a spell. While the stories were good they weren’t groundbreaking or turning heads like some of Marvel’s other comics at the time and would usually get overshadowed. That and people just weren’t all that interested in the supernatural anymore. With the announcement of the game coming in 2022 Marvel created plenty of hype around the game such as starting up their own Youtube page and making short videos giving an inside look into who the Midnight Suns were, what their powers were and where they came from. These were actually well-made videos that are worth checking out and I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing a show done in this style. There were even videos showcasing the characters and how they would play in the game.
Plot
So what’s the plot of this game? Well, it all starts with Hydra who awakens Lilith the Demon Mother and sets into motion a dark prophecy of the world’s end. Lilith quickly takes control of Hydra turning them into her brainwashed followers. Dr. Strange, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel attempt to stop Lilith but are no match for her and in the process, lose Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, as well as the Sanctum. They get rescued by Sara aka Caretaker and current teacher of the Midnight Suns which includes Blade, Nico, Magik, and Robbie Reyes the new Ghost Rider (and honestly my favorite incarnation of the character). In order to fight Lilith, Dr. Strange, Carataker, and Nico resurrect the Hunter, the child of Lilith who defeated her in the past and is basically a build-your-own-character for the game. Along with this team, other notable characters join in as well such as Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and others. Your goal is to lead this team of heroes and save the world from Lilith.
Gameplay
Okay, so now that you know the plot, what’s the gameplay like? Unlike the previous Marvel games which were action/adventures, this game is a straight-up tactical RPG. Each mission will have you control a team of three heroes and each hero will have their own personal deck of abilities they can use in battle. Think Sentinels of the Multiverse (which is a great game and worth checking out if you haven’t played it on Steam) except with Marvel characters, animation, maps that aren’t trying to kill you, and more deck customization. Speaking of which, yes, you can customize the decks of the characters. Each character usually has eight cards in their deck. Four cards are your normal attack cards, two of them are skill cards, and the last two are heroic cards which are special attacks. In order to use heroic cards you need heroic points which you get by using normal and skill cards in battles. You can also use heroic points to do environmental damage on enemies. Along with these cards you also have support cards which are free plays and have varying abilities. Some will let you draw cards, and others give you free heroic points, increase critical damage, and revive fallen allies. Each hero has different abilities in their deck and specializes in something different. For example, Blade and Wolverine don’t have the strongest attacks but they can hit multiple characters and make them bleed which slowly drains their health. Blade can also steal health from enemies as well. Captain Marvel is a tank who can give herself extra defense. Dr. Strange is great as a support character and can increase the damage of cards as well as heroic points you gain. Captain America is good at taunting enemies, making them vulnerable and taking hits. Spider-Man is your go-to guy for environmental damage. Nico’s magic attacks can be confusing at first but once you get to know them she is a huge damage deliverer. Magik is good at displacing enemies and gathering them up for area attacks. Ghost Rider and Hulk are heavy hitters with Ghost Rider specializing in one on one fights while Hulk has a number of area attacks that deal damage to multiple opponents. Iron Man is an all-around fighter who can increase heroic points and good at card drawing. As for Wanda, she’s strikes a balance between attacking, defense, support, and debuffing. Her moves require good positioning and set up but the results are well worth it.
Now since the Hunter is the main character in this game, they have the most cards and they can be split into light or dark cards. In the game, you primarily take control of the Hunter and as the game goes on you’ll be given choices which are either light or dark choices. Depending on how you answer the question, Hunter’s moral scale will either shift to the side of light or the side of darkness. Light cards are good for healing and attacking multiple enemies but are on the weak side. Dark cards are more destructive but leave the Hunter with a negative effect or weaken your hand. So what’s the best way to play as the Hunter? Simple, balance. Use both light and dark powers. Don’t just stick with one. Mix both types in your deck to give the Hunter an edge in battle and make them your most versatile player.
Exploring the Abbey and more
Now in-between battles, you’ll be able to take control of the Hunter and do a number of activities. You can explore the Abbey grounds (your stronghold) which are full of mysteries that you can discover and solve as the Hunter. You can interact with your teammates, invite them on outings, and increase your friendship with them. Increasing your friendship with them will increase their stats, unlock passive skills and bring you closer to them. Once you’ve reached level 5 with that character you’ll unlock their Midnight Sun outfit as well as their ultimate card. My favorite was Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare. Not only is it the most cinematic of the bunch but it’s pretty much a one-hit kill move that is perfect for taking down bosses and any high HP character on the field. Some characters will even form their own little clubs and invite you to join them which gives us a small little story involving the characters. My favorite being the book club which was started by Blade in the hopes of getting closer to Captain Marvel who he has a crush on. You can also use this time to acquire new cards for battle, fuse cards to make them stronger, and perform research projects to give yourself benefits in battle and make yourself stronger.
Other Things I Like
Some things I like that stood out are the character models. I do like how some of the characters look like their MCU counterparts. Blade looks like Wesley Snipes. Iron Man looks like Robert Downey Jr. Wolverine looks like Hugh Jackman. The list goes on. The character personalities are also on point as well. The bicker between Iron Man and Strange is believable as the two are always trying to one-up the other but at the same time respect what the other can do. Spider-Man’s witty dialogue is funny but they also capture this New York kid who is in over his head but still wants to do good and help out in any way he can. They do a good job shining the spotlight on characters nobody knows about like Nico and Magik. Despite being a witch, Nico is a huge movie watcher and cares a lot about her friends. Magik is cynical but secretly cares about her friends. She just has a lot of baggage and trauma she holds onto. They even give the Hunter a good personality. The Hunter can make jokes, be intimidating, caring, and curious about the world and the people around them. While this game may be taking place in a different universe, they knew how to give these characters good dialogue and personalities that work off each other and never feels boring.
Why Did This Game Fail
Okay, so I’ve praised the game up till this point, but now it’s time to talk about the game’s negatives. As I was playing I did come across a number of glitches such as character models wearing the wrong outfit on the way to battle. Camera issues, freezing issues, and the game crashed on me at one time during my playthrough and I had to do one whole story battle all over again. Now these issues were far and in-between each other but just know that you may come across them in your playthrough. Despite this issues I still enjoyed the game and think it’s solid. So this leads to the question, why was this game considered a failure? While the game is good a lot of Marvel fans and gamers didn’t pick it up. Why is that? What caused this? Well I have a few theories as to why this happened. First up, RPG. A lot of gamers who are fans of Marvel aren’t too big on RPGs. Personally, I love them and always look forward to playing them. While the game was a little difficult to understand at first once I got the hang of it, knew what I was doing, and familiarized myself with everyone I was good to go. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t have the patience for that and choose to skip over games of this genre. Second, Marvel games leave much to be desired. Aside from Ubisoft’s Spider-Man games, the recent Marvel games haven’t been all that great. The Avengers game was a huge flop and Guardians of the Galaxy was all right but not very memorable. Because of this string of not-so-impressive games I guess a lot of people were hesitant to buy it. Speaking of hesitation this game was also published by 2K Games. Best known for the NBA and WWE games. The fact that a sports game publisher was working on an action game like this made people turn their heads. Although to be fair, the game was being developed by the same people who made the XCOM games. Finally, bad timing. The game came out during the holiday season and was competing against God of War and Pokémon Violent and Scarlet. While these two games came out a month earlier people were still hyped about them and were still playing them. Competing against the two hottest games of the season was never going to end well.
Closing
And that is my theory as to why this game flopped, and it’s a real shame because it’s a good game. It’s not perfect but the game was fun to play and is definitely one I could see myself replaying down the line. Despite the flop, the game has already released DLC characters for the game who have their own side story. The first DLC character is everyone’s favorite Merc with the mouth, Deadpool. Along with him they’ve already announced Morbius (again, badass character. Don’t be fooled by the movie), Venom (who just recently came out), and Storm. In the end, The Midnight Suns is an underrated game in the Marvel line-up that didn’t get the chance it deserved and unfortunately I can’t help but feel that we’ll never get another game like this with Marvel characters. I hope I’m wrong and I hope that more people will start to see the appeal of RPGs and give them a chance. If you played the game, what did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.