Software:Marvel's Midnight Suns

Short description: 2022 video game

Marvel's Midnight Suns
Developer(s)	Firaxis Games
Publisher(s)	2K
Director(s)	Jake Solomon
Producer(s)	Garth DeAngelis Lalie Fisher Magnus Dean Rath
Designer(s)	Joe Weinhoffer
Programmer(s)	Michael Springer
Artist(s)	Dennis Moellers Greg Foertsch
Writer(s)	Chad Rocco Steve Ogden Scott Wittbecker Zach Bush Rony Kahana Shanon Ingles Patrick Kevin Day Matthew Garcia-Dunn Emma Kidwell Benjamin Reeves
Composer(s)	Tim Wynn Phill Boucher
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Release	December 2, 2022 PS5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S December 2, 2022 PS4, Xbox One May 11, 2023
Genre(s)	Tactical role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a 2022 tactical role-playing game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The game features comic book characters from multiple Marvel Comics properties, such as Midnight Sons, Avengers, X-Men, and Runaways. Players are able to create their own superhero named "The Hunter" with a choice of over 40 different powers.

Midnight Suns released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on December 2, 2022. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released on May 11, 2023. A Nintendo Switch version was also planned but later canceled. The game received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial flop.

Gameplay

Combat in Midnight Suns is turn-based, though it also features elements commonly found in deck-building game.

Players take the role of "The Hunter", the sole offspring of Lilith, as they lead a selection of heroes in various missions to defeat her. The Hunter, a customizable superhero created specifically for Midnight Suns by Firaxis Games in collaboration with Marvel, can be played as either male or female. Players are able to choose The Hunter's superpowers from over 30 different abilities.

Combat is turn-based similar to Firaxis Games' XCOM series, mixed with deck-building similar to that found in Slay the Spire. Each hero, including the Hunter, has their own customizable deck of eight cards. At the start of each mission, players are allowed to choose three heroes to take into battle, with their decks combined into one that is to be drawn from each round. The cards represent abilities that may affect either enemies or the player's own heroes. Heroes may also move or interact with objects in addition to making attacks.

Between combat missions, players manage their upgrade-able base of operations called "The Abbey" which they can walk around in a third-person view to explore the grounds and interact with other heroes. Role-playing elements such as interaction with other characters influence the gameplay and those heroes' abilities. The Abbey is also the main source for acquiring new cards for hero decks and upgrading them.

Playable characters

The base game includes 13 different heroes, including The Hunter, with four additional characters being released as DLC.

• Blade (Michael Jai White)
• Captain America (Brian Bloom)
• Captain Marvel (Erica Lindbeck)
• Deadpool (Nolan North)
• Doctor Strange (Rick Pasqualone)
• Ghost Rider (Giancarlo Sabogal / Darin De Paul)
• Hulk (William Salyers / Fred Tatasciore)
• The Hunter (Elizabeth Grullon / Matthew Mercer)
• Iron Man (Josh Keaton)
• Magik (Laura Bailey)
• Morbius (Jake Green)
• Nico Minoru (Lyrica Okano)
• Scarlet Witch (Emily O'Brien)
• Spider-Man (Yuri Lowenthal)
• Storm (Mara Junot)
• Venom (Jake Green / Darin De Paul)
• Wolverine (Steve Blum)

^DLC : Available as downloadable content

Synopsis

Hydra scientist Doctor Faustus (voiced by Time Winters) uses dark magic and science to resurrect Lilith (Jennifer Hale) in the hopes of using her to help Hydra conquer the world. Six months later, a star called the "Midnight Sun" approaches Earth, destabilizing magic and heralding the return of Lilith's master, Chthon (Darin De Paul).

Doctor Strange and Tony Stark attempt to get a page of the Darkhold called the Parchment of Power from Johnny Blaze (Graham McTavish), but he refuses. After being alerted to magic converging at the Sanctum Sanctorum, the two are joined by Carol Danvers in returning to aid Wanda Maximoff in fighting Lilith and a Hydra squad until Strange can create a mystic shield to repel them. Realizing the Avengers are outmatched, Strange leaves Maximoff to maintain the shield while he takes the others to the Abbey to recruit the Midnight Suns -- Nico Minoru, Magik, Blade, and Robbie Reyes -- and Lilith's estranged sister, the Caretaker (Vanessa Marshall), in resurrecting the Hunter, Lilith's child and killer. During the resurrection ritual, the Hunter's collar emits dark magic, forcing Minoru to complete the spell. Strange attempts to contact Maximoff for help in restoring the Hunter's memories, but learns she is in trouble. He, the Hunter, and Blade travel to the Sanctum, where they learn Lilith has enthralled Venom to help her destroy the shield and abduct Maximoff. Venom overpowers the Hunter until Spider-Man intervenes, allowing the heroes to retreat.

After learning the Midnight Sun's gamma energy is preventing Bruce Banner from transforming into the Hulk, the heroes recruit Spider-Man before capturing Faustus to learn Lilith's next objective. While Hydra operative Crossbones (Rick Wasserman) kills him before he can talk, they find Faustus' journal and learn Hydra is stealing artifacts from the Sanctum. Meanwhile, Sabretooth (Peter Lurie) is hired to kill the Hunter, but is mortally wounded by Wolverine and rescued by Lilith, who destroys Avengers Tower to steal a gamma accelerator and enthralls Banner. The Hunter, Minoru, and Magik use a divination spell to teleport to a Hydra base, where Banner uses the accelerator to empower a similarly enthralled Maximoff. Unable to reason with her, the heroes retreat.

While stopping an attack by Lilith's demons, they recruit Wolverine and fashion a new suit for the Hunter so they can bypass the Hydra base's mystic defenses, use the accelerator to destroy the Parchment, and free Maximoff. Blaze contacts Reyes and gives him the Parchment, but also attempts to give the Hunter to Mephisto (Jason Isaacs), trapping them in Limbo and preventing Lilith from reaching the Hunter. Nonetheless, Magik frees them so the heroes can enact their plan, banishing Sabretooth to Limbo along the way. Blaze sacrifices himself to destroy the Parchment via the accelerator, but Banner uses the device to transform into a smarter, demonic Hulk.

The heroes track Hydra and Lilith to her tomb, where Reyes tries to seal her and the Hulk in a cave before they can restore the Darkhold, but she unleashes demons around the world. After defeating Crossbones and his forces, the heroes steal a dagger imbued with Chthon's power while Maximoff and the Hunter subdue and free Banner. The heroes confront Lilith, who reveals her plot to destroy Chthon upon learning of his plans for her child and destroys the Hunter's collar, learning too late that it kept Chthon from possessing them. Nonetheless, the Hunter expels him while Lilith uses the dagger to destroy the Darkhold, restoring her human form. Realizing she and her child were corrupted by the grimoire, Lilith sends the heroes back to the Abbey while she, the Hunter, and Chthon's realm are consumed by the Darkhold. Nevertheless, the Caretaker believes that they are still alive.

Elsewhere, Doctor Doom (Graham McTavish) witnesses the events that transpired and takes the Darkhold for himself, deeming the other users "amateurs".

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead

While investigating an art collection that a Hydra battalion led by Sin has stolen, the Hunter encounters Deadpool, who was hired by Doom to recover a magic statue called the Magna Corrigo in the collection. After Sin betrays Hydra, steals the Magna Corrigo, and unleashes a group of infected "vampyres", the Hunter offers Deadpool sanctuary at the Abbey to protect him from Doom over the heroes' protests. With the Magna Corrigo in their possession, the emboldened vampyres publicly attack innocents and establish nests across Manhattan. With Deadpool's help, the Midnight Suns eventually track Sin to Transia, where she intends to use the Magna Corrigo in a ritual to empower the vampyres until Deadpool destroys it. Sin escapes and reports back to her master Dracula (Stephen Stanton), who assures her the Magna Corrigo was not vital to his plans.

Redemption

Spider-Man and the Hunter locate Venom, who went underground and became infected from eating vampyres. Mephisto appears, offering to cure Venom in exchange for the heroes killing Dracula's forces, which Spider-Man agrees to. Upon being cured, Venom calls for a truce and joins the Midnight Suns. Seeking revenge for Dracula breaking a deal between them, Mephisto helps the Hunter, Venom, and Spider-Man find the vampyres' primary nest and Dracula himself. Working together, the trio destroy the nest and force Dracula to retreat.

The Hunger

As the vampyres convert Hydra troopers and attack New York, Spider-Man convinces Blade to help him recruit a mutual acquaintance of theirs, Dr. Michael Morbius. The heroes accompany Morbius to his lab, only to find the vampyres have stolen his research and a prototype "sunlight serum" capable of dampening his and the vampyres' lethal photosensitivity. After the trio fend off vampyres who came to kill Morbius and destroy his remaining equipment, Spider-Man offers Morbius sanctuary at the Abbey despite Blade and the Hunter's reluctance. Deducing the vampyres intend to mass-produce the sunlight serum, Spider-Man locates a Hydra facility under attack from vampyres led by Sin. He, Morbius, and the Hunter mobilize to stop them and recover the prototype serum, though they learn too late that she had already delivered several completed batches of sunlight serum to Dracula. Nonetheless, while fighting off Dracula and his empowered forces, the heroes discover the vampyres had diluted Morbius' sample while mass-producing it, weakening its effects. Defeated, Dracula escapes to the sewers.

Blood Storm

Magik and Wolverine are requested by their fellow X-Man, Storm, to assist her in finding Dahlia, a mutant orphan who has gone missing. After helping them defeat vampyres while investigating the orphanage where Dahlia last stayed, Storm joins the Midnight Suns and aids them in their quest while continuing her search. Eventually, they locate Dahlia in New York's sewers, where she lives alongside the Morlocks, mutants with monstrous appearances who were rejected by society and refused to join the X-Men. Though initially resentful of the X-Men, Dahlia later opens up to Storm and accepts her offer to help. Sometime later, Dahlia is kidnapped by Dracula, who wants to use her healing power to create a perfect vampyre race. Storm, the Hunter, and Blade confront and defeat Dracula and Sin, freeing Dahlia in the process. Afterwards, Dahlia accepts Storm's invitation to take refuge at Charles Xavier's school.

Tomb of Dracula

Following a lengthy investigation, Blade, Deadpool, Venom, Morbius, and Storm travel to Dracula's castle to kill him and end the vampyre threat. After successfully killing Dracula, the team escape the collapsing castle and return to the Abbey to celebrate. Meanwhile, a severely injured and disfigured Sin vows to find a new master.

Development

Rumors that Firaxis Games, the studio responsible for the Civilization and XCOM series of turn-based tactical strategy games, was developing a Marvel Universe-based game similar to XCOM emerged in early June 2021 ahead of E3 2021. Bloomberg News 's Jason Schreier confirmed that such a game was in development though was not sure when it was planned for the announcement.

Midnight Suns was announced during Gamescom 2021 on 25 August. It was given a scheduled release date of March 2022. In January 2022, Michael Jai White announced that he will be voicing Blade. In June 2022, alongside the reveal of Spider-Man as a playable character in the roster, it was announced that Yuri Lowenthal would be voicing Peter Parker in the game, reprising his role from the Marvel's Spider-Man games by Insomniac Games, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 (2019). Nico Minoru is voiced by Lyrica Okano, who reprises her role from the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Runaways. According to the game's lead engineer Will Miller, the game has around "65,000 lines of voiced dialogue" and "over two hours of cinematics".

The game includes a tribute to Luke Wiltshire, who had died from long-term complications from neuroblastoma in November 2021 at the age of 23. Wiltshire had been told earlier that all treatment options had run out and was transitioned to end-of-life care. As part of his last wishes, he said he wanted to play Midnight Suns. The charity Solving Kids' Cancer put out a request on LinkedIn, which was seen by executives at 2K. 2K, Firaxis, and Marvel worked to create a playable build of the first act of the game within 24 hours and brought it to Wiltshire to play before he died.

Marketing and release

On September 1, 2021, a first game-play trailer was released showcasing the card system used in combat. Midnight Suns is directed by Jake Solomon. In November 2021, it was announced that the game had been delayed until the second half of 2022. The game was reintroduced during Summer Game Fest in June 2022 with new footage, additionally confirming the October 7, 2022 launch date for all platforms excluding Nintendo Switch, and revealing the additions of Venom, Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange and Spider-Man to the roster of characters. On August 8, 2022, the game was further delayed to the following year, with the PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions slated to launch during Take-Two Interactive's next fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, while the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were left undated. On September 10, 2022, it was announced that the PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game would launch on December 2, 2022. On May 2, 2023, it was announced that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions would release on May 11, 2023. The Nintendo Switch version was canceled.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic PC: 83/100 PS5: 81/100 XSXS: 81/100 Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 7.5/10 Eurogamer Recommended GameSpot 8/10 GamesRadar+ IGN 8/10 PC Gamer (US) 88/100 PCGamesN 9/10 The Guardian VG247

Marvel's Midnight Suns received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.

Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Interactive's CEO, said that despite the game being a critical success, it was a commercial flop. Zelnick thinks "it's possible the release window wasn't perfect" and that it could have a long tail (like other Firaxis games).

An application launcher in the PC version was described as a major cause for stuttering and general performance issues in the game.

During the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Marvel's Midnight Suns for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year".