Marvel's Midnight Suns, announced at Opening Night Live today, is a new tactics RPG from Firaxis Games, developers of XCOM. While Midnight Suns will share XCOM's turn-based style of combat, Firaxis says players should expect a very different experience.
"Just like XCOM, combat in Marvel’s Midnight Suns is turn-based tactics, where you’ll select up to three heroes to bring into battle," says Jake Solomon, creative director for Midnight Suns. "But in many ways, that’s really where the comparison stops." Solomon explains that XCOM and Midnight Suns are trying to fulfill very different fantasies. While XCOM is designed to be a more survival-style experience, where players are constantly fighting against insurmountable odds, Midnight Suns instead wants players to feel as powerful as the superheroes they're playing.
Related: Marvel's Midnight Suns Will Feature 12 Playable Heroes From Avengers, X-Men, and the Runaways
"In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, we didn’t want the player to be afraid of the bad guys – the bad guys should be afraid of you," Solomon explains. For that reason, XCOM and Midnight Suns won't really share any combat mechanics. Don't worry if you're a huge XCOM fan though, Solomon says that Midnight Suns will definitely scratch the same itch. "Marvel’s Midnight Suns will have the depth and complexity that is really essential to making a good tactics game."
Another big difference between XCOM and Midnight Suns is a new emphasis on roleplaying and relationship-building. In Midnight Suns, players will be able to take the game's original hero, the Hunter, back to the game's hub zone called the Abbey to interact with the other heroes. Solomon says that the RPG elements are "equally as important as the combat" in Midnight Suns, and that players will get to live among the heroes and interact with them in a way that will be very new to Marvel fans.
Marvel's Midnight Suns is coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Epic Game Store in March 2022. If you'd like to get a first look at the gameplay, tune into the livestream on Midnight Suns' official website next Wednesday, September 1.
Next: Marvel's Midnight Suns Is Part Tactics RPG, Part Dating Sim
