According to creative director Jake Solomon, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is “the complete opposite” of XCOM 2, which is a preposterous claim. How can one turn-based tactics game be the opposite of another? And yet after hearing Solomon’s explanation and playing a few hours of Midnight Suns during a visit to 2K’s headquarters, I have a hard time disagreeing. Midnight Suns kind of is the opposite of XCOM.
At the very least, it’s the version of XCOM where you declared that it’s Opposite Day and started rewriting its rules, which is something I can imagine Solomon actually doing.
It’s also a surprising game from a studio best known for 20 years of Civilization sequels and the stories that emerge from XCOM’s dice rolls and permadeath. Firaxis toyed with more authored storytelling in XCOM 2 spin-off Chimera Squad, but this time it’s gone full BioWare. Midnight Suns takes about 60 hours to complete, according to Solomon, and when you’re not battling demon-possessed Hydra members, you’re customising bedroom decor, attending movie nights, and processing your feelings with the X-Men, Avengers, and other heroes of the Midnight Suns, a superhero team based on the Midnight Sons run of comics from the early ’90s.
“It’s the first RPG that my team and I have ever made,” says Solomon, who’s been making games at Firaxis for 22 years now. “So, you know, doing something for the first time: guaranteed recipe for smooth sailing. It’s been equal parts exciting and terrifying.”
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Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av PC Gamer.
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SUNDOWNER
Wipe out a cult with one bullet in CHILDREN OF THE SUN
KENWAY AHEAD
Smooth sailing and pearly whites in ASSASSIN'S CREED IV BLACK FLAG
COUNTER INTUITIVE
PICK & POKE your way through this gorgeous tabletop roguelite
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Whatever happened to MULTI-GPU setups?
MICROPHONES
A good microphone can be the difference between a professional sounding triumph, or a crackly, tinny disaster
BORING PLATFORMER
In a good way! The superb drilling of PEPPER GRINDER is sublimely chaotic
MEIER'S BASTARDISATION
MILLENNIA attempts a spirited but messy coup to Civ's throne
LOOSE MORALS
BROKEN ROADS: a cerebral narrative adventure
CROWN WARS: THE BLACK PRINCE
Tactical medieval combat with a gory edge
NO REST FOR THE WICKED
One of the smartest Soulslikes I've played in a long time