According to creative director Jake Solomon, Marvel's Midnight Suns is "the complete opposite" of A 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 customizing 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."
MULTIVERSE INCURSION
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Denne historien er fra September 2022-utgaven av PC Gamer US Edition.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.
Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big. Four years later, its successor Inkbound’s launch from Early Access was looking more like Sandwich Big.I’m not just saying that because of the mountain of lamb and eggplants I ate while meeting with developer Shiny Shoe over lunch, to feel out what the aftermath of releasing a game looks like in 2024. I mean, have I thought about that sandwich every day since? Yes. But also, the indie team talked frankly about the struggle of luring Monster Train’s audience on board for its next game.
SCREENBOUND
How a 5D platformer went viral two months into development
OLED GAMING MONITORS
A fresh wave of OLED panels brings fresh options, greater resolutions and makes for even more impressive gaming monitors
CRYSIS 2
A cinematic FPS with tour de force visuals.
PLOD OF WAR
SENUA’S SAGA: HELLBLADE 2 fails to find a new path for its hero
GALAXY QUEST
HOMEWORLD 3 is a flashy, ambitious RTS, but some of the original magic is missing
FAR REACHING
Twenty years ago, FAR CRY changed the landscape of PC gaming forever.
THY KINGDOM COME
SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE is the culmination of decades of FromSoftware RPGs, and a gargantuan finale for ELDEN RING
KILLING FLOOR 3
Tripwire Interactive's creature feature is back
IMPERFECTLY BALANCED
Arrowhead says HELLDIVERS 2 balancing patches have 'gone too far'
