First announced at Gamescom 2021, Marvel's Midnight Suns, a collaboration between Marvel and Civilization and XCOM developer Firaxis Games, pits the titular team of superpowered heroes against Lilith, the Mother of Demons. It has become one of the most highly anticipated Marvel video games of all time. During the recent D23 Expo, a new trailer for Midnight Suns was released, offering a sneak peek at several of the game's mechanics.
One of the gameplay features revealed during this new trailer was the "Daily Sparring" system, which allows the player's customizable avatar, The Hunter, to train with one of the twelve preestablished Marvel heroes who compose the Midnight Suns. Through Daily Sparring, players can establish friendships between The Hunter and their teammates that will unlock new character-specific combat cards.
Many modern RPGs allow players to form interpersonal relationships with the members of their party that grant them access to unique gameplay perks, and Marvel's Midnight Suns is no exception. In between missions, players are given free rein of "The Abbey," the mystical dimension that serves as the Midnight Suns' base of operations. The player can search the headquarters for hidden collectibles and complete daily side-missions to gain experience points. However, the main draw of The Abbey, and one of the most heavily-advertised elements of Marvel's Midnight Suns, is the player's ability to use their time there to form friendships with their favorite heroes.
Once every four real-world days, The Hunter will have an opportunity to invite one of their fellow Midnight Suns to a one-on-one sparring match. As shown during the trailer, challenging a hero to a sparring match will cost at least fifty credits, Marvel Midnight Suns' in-game currency, but the rewards for doing so pay out in dividends. Not only does the hero that The Hunter spars with gain a boost to their overall stats, but it also grants them additional "Friendship XP," a mechanic that plays into Marvel's Midnight Suns' role-playing elements.
Having spent the past few centuries locked within a mystical sarcophagus, The Hunter is a stranger to the heroes of the Marvel universe, and Marvel's Midnight Suns allows the player to facilitate friendships between this original character and their more famous teammates through a soft social-simulation system. By engaging in both Daily Sparring and a more-casual "hang-out" system that sees the Hunter and a chosen hero partake in more leisurely activities like working out and playing video games, the player can strengthen these friendships.
Outside the simple joy of being able to sit down and talk with the likes of Iron Man and Spider-Man, Marvel's Midnight Suns' friendship mechanic plays a role in the game's card-based combat system. By cultivating a friendship with the support-based Captain America or the DPS-focused Captain Marvel, the player will unlock unique cards for each of these characters that reflect and complement their specific combat styles. Once the friendship level with The Hunter has reached its max, these heroes will gain access to the game's brand-new outfits, which mix magic with Stark Tech, making them even more powerful.
With a seemingly final release date of December 2, 2022, fans will finally be able to get their hands on Marvel's Midnight Suns within the next two months. With new features being revealed every few days, the game is shaping up to be an incredible experience.