Marvel's Midnight Suns

While its ideas may be supernaturally-charged, and inspired by one of the strangest periods in Marvel Comics, it remains grounded and personal – imbuing its excellent tactical combat with high emotions and stakes. In dark times, light can still shine – and in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, you and your team of heroes are that light.

Firaxis, in its first new IP since taking on Xcom 10 years ago, have only further cemented its position as perhaps the best strategy game developer on the planet. Midnight Suns, simply put is a must-play, even for those not used to turn-based tactics.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns combines addictive, deep strategy gameplay with a cast of characters that make the moments outside of the action just as rich and enjoyable as those in it. A lengthy campaign packed with missions to go on and relationships to form with Earth's Mightiest Heroes make Marvel's Midnights Suns a modern strategy classic and one of 2022's biggest surprises.

A supremely dense hybrid of many different genres and styles, Marvel's Midnight Suns is an absolutely smashing time and one of 2022's best.

With Marvel's Midnight Suns, Firaxis has ripped out the insides of its own machine and replaced it with an Adamantium skeleton, then given it a little hotrod-red for the hell of it.

Midnight Suns is a little Persona, a lot of Dragon Age, maybe just a little less XCOM than you'd hope and a good dose of Marvel love. It's a mix of spectacularly delicious game ingredients under a layer of slightly aged graphics that will keep fans of superheroes, RPGs and turn-based tactics completely enthralled for dozens of hours. The indirectness of the battles and the excess of dialogues is probably not for everyone, but for this Marvel-loving XCOM fanatic, the smack dab in the middle hits a very specific spot.

While I wasn’t really sold on Marvel’s Midnight Suns pre-release, it has continued to impress me more as I played through the story, and it is chock full of a ton of optional content that will keep you busy for a very long time. It wasn’t a great experience around launch on PC, but Marvel’s Midnight Suns is well worth your time right now, and a joy to play on Steam Deck. It already felt like a perfect fit for Steam Deck from the start, and it has finally been fixed for Valve’s portable system with a recent update.

Comic book heroes show off in great turn-based card battles, but you also get the chance to get to know them very intimately. Who could resist? In terms of content, there is not much to complain about. But poor optimization, frame rate fluctuations and endless loadings hurt the game.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a really cool take on a classic story from the darker side of the Marvel comics universe. Gameplay is a pretty simple mashup between strategy card games and XCOM’s turn-based combat system, making for a refreshing way to experience being a superhero. However the game does have some performance issues, particularly loading times, and some of the side content lacks meaningful contributions to the mission.

If you are looking for deep, turn-based combat, blended with a healthy dose of superhero angst, Marvel’s Midnight Suns will serve up something special and well worth making time for this holiday season.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is an interesting mix of exactly what players expected and some surprising curveballs. Combat is just as tight and tactical as fans of the XCOM series have come to expect from the developer, and the wonderful cast of Marvel heroes are all fantastically fun to play. The game would have benefitted from pulling back a bit on time spent in The Abbey, but, even then, there’s still value for people interested in the Marvel Universe. Midnight Suns is clearly a passion project from Firaxis Games, and that heart comes through in the little things. It's an easy game to recommend, and it stands among few others as a great example of what Marvel games should be moving forward.

Marvel's Midnight Suns may not have the most exciting story, but it makes up for it pretty much every[where] else. The characters are charismatic and charming, the gameplay is meaty and layered, and the player is empowered with freedom and choice in and out of combat. It's a rich RPG that superhero lovers will get a kick out of, turn-based fans will feel is remarkably satisfying, and genre naysayers may even become fond of it. It's a marvelous achievement worthy of the iconic comic publisher's branding.

At the end of the day, it is a video game that is worth it, as long as you keep in mind that it is a turn-based tactics genre that is gradually becoming more popular thanks to how much fun it can be today. And if that's paired with Marvel characters, it's clear fans will want to check it out.

Firaxis delivered one of the best Marvel games ever made. A massive turn-based strategy RPG beautifully crafted.

Marvel's Midnight Suns kept us glued to the screen for hours, making the most of each of its playful components.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns won’t be for everyone. A 60-hour campaign that’s at least half made up of talking to Spider-Man about his feelings is going to turn off even some of the biggest Marvel (or at least MCU) fans, and the combat, despite its cinematic qualities, isn’t exactly God of War. But its limited appeal is also its greatest strength. In a sea of blockbuster open-world and third-person action games, it was a delight to play something so clearly driven by passion for these characters and this kind of gameplay.

Whether you’re a fan of strategy games or the Marvel universe, Marvel’s Midnight Suns should be considered a must-have. Even more so if you’re a fan of both. This is an ambitious title that offers dozens of hours of engrossing gameplay, full of battles that will have you on the edge of your seat, and party building that will have you carefully weighing up your options. One of the best superhero games ever made, Marvel’s Midnight Suns will grip you from the outset with its unpredictable story, and its gameplay makes you feel like the one with all the power.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a fantastic tactical adventure that adds much-needed depth to the superhero genre. Taking advantage of deeper-cut characters and lore, a heartfelt and sweeping story is told, even finding a way to make an entirely new character fit into the fray. Accompanying that are engaging and curious mysteries to find around the Abbey grounds and a nice feeling of found family among friends. Losing track of time as I had talks with my favourite superhumans, doing whatever menial task at hand too was a particular highlight. Even in these moments of charming oddities, characterisation is stellar. Rounding it all off is another superb tactical experience from Firaxis Games, this time going all in on approachability and options to dominate the battlefield in your own personal ways. This is one of the best tactical games of the year. Marvel as a franchise still has some fight in it yet, and I can't wait to have more experiences like this from them in the future.

Marvel's Midnight Suns manages to meet the hype strongly with an enjoyable cast, an engrossing story, and unique turn- and card-based gameplay to mix it up a bit. If not for Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, this would easily be the best Marvel game.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a pure success, both as an excellent tactical RPG and as an epic adventure.

A superhero game that teases the brain as much as it can tug at the heart, with rich strategy mechanics, great writing, and wonderful characters. A few bugs and visual problems aside, this is a great tactical RPG.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns exceeds expectations. It delivers a wonderfully rewarding, XCOM-topping combat system and a world full of larger-than-life characters you'll be eager to learn more about.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns exceeded my expectations to be one of my favourite games of the year. With a good Marvel story and the ability to make friends on top of excellent turn-based tactical combat systems, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a super experience.

Marvel Midnight Suns show a unique understanding of strategic game, making the combat gameplay under the card system more addictive than ever. Each system is coupled so well together that you'll be plunged into it for dozens of hours without realizing it. For fans of Marvel superheroes, it's like a well-curated feast.

Firaxis' expertise fuses perfectly with the Marvel lore to create a complete, spectacular and really interesting adventure. Even if you are not a fan of strategy games, you should give this one a try.

Who knew Sid Meier's protégés had a secret, and completely brilliant, Persona game in them?

Firaxis is a guarantee of quality in tactical games and Marvel's Midnight Suns continues the developer's very good streak.

The ability to partner familiar Marvel superstars with a hero of your own creation is just part of Midnight Sun’s appeal. The card battle system perfectly balances easy-to-learn with tough-to-master. With a heavy emphasis on narrative and character, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is much more than an X-COM clone. The Marvel gang feels right at home in the tactical RPG genre thanks to the game’s smart mechanics. Fighting alongside iconic Marvel heroes never gets old.

A unique take on the tactical turn-based strategy genre, with peculiar RPG traits. The game is fun, well-designed and compelling thanks to its mechanics and a solid narrative. It's a bit too repetitive to become a masterpiece, but it's definitely a game worth checking out by anyone remotely interested in the genre.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a fine tactical RPG and also a great superhero adventure. So if you're a fan of Marvel comics and the game's genre, it is a need to play. But if you just like one of these „sides“, it's hard to get around this game.

Marvel's Midnight Suns manages to make a hit with all comic book fans. By integrating cards into the XCOM-style turn-based combat system, it succeeded in enriching both deck building and combat system. If you want to hear firsthand about Wolverine being cut in half by a brutal Hulk, you have no other alternatives.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is clearly a departure from Firaxis’ typical turn-based strategy formula, but it’s a successful one. Bar some performance issues, the game is very enjoyable despite locking you into a loop that requires you to take part in both aspects of the game: combat and social. There’s a lot to do outside of combat in Marvel’s Midnight Suns that it’s hard to get bored. The way that Firaxis manage to “port” the entire base-building and ability upgrading parts from XCOM to their new game is absolutely genius. Marvel’s Midnight Suns is the perfect example that we can actually have great superheroes games, it’s just a matter of choosing the right studio to make them.

For all its focus on supernatural magic and demonic threats, Midnight Suns is a fun-loving and thrilling ride. XCOM strategy fans won’t be disappointed; the format changes still result in a gratifying combat flow. But this is a more approachable and story-driven experience than Firaxis has previously attempted, filled with some of the most recognizable pop culture heroes of the moment. It’s big, boisterous, and a little bit silly at times, but just like the best of Marvel’s output in recent years, it’s also a rousing good time.

Putting Action games aside, this game is an unusual mix for beloved super heroes; its part a cards game, and parts a dating sim game, but its full of smart and fun interactions, its a game that Marvel fans will love through and through.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a huge experience. Firaxis mixed a lot of good things but mastered none. The experience is still enjoyable, the story is fun, and the gameplay is magnetic, but the feeling is there's something subtle that is missing to have a masterpiece.

Marvel's Midnight Suns manages to make tactical combat accessible to a new audience while showing great respect for the license it features. By choosing to create a new character, the Firaxis teams place the player at the center of this adventure, surrounded by a cast of five-star superheroes to please everyone. This desire is also felt in the tactical combat which advocates a more direct approach, but also more spectacular and satisfying thanks to a card system that is more intuitive than one could imagine. But in addition to its fairly slow pace of play, the title is particularly talkative with all the funny and friendly interactions they offer within the Abbey. Despite these small flaws, Firaxis manages to offer an experience that is both affordable to an audience unaccustomed to tactics and rich for fans of the genre thanks to its complex mechanics, while honoring the superheroes of the Marvel universe.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a strong tactical RPG that feels like something that wouldn't be amiss in the MCU. Some elements can feel a little bloated, but it's a very strong game. The characterisation is top-notch, with some excellent scriptwriting and voice-acting to support it. Outside of the RPG aspects, combat is fun, engaging, and challenging - particularly at higher difficulty levels. I've had a lot of fun with the game, and I'm still having fun with it, and I can't help but think that fans of the genre - and Marvel - would enjoy it as much as me.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a game where you can experience a great turn-based fight of Marvel heroes. The combination of turn based tactics and deck building system feels new and easy to learn, also giving players many rooms for their own strategies. Even for those who are not used to turn based games, the game offers a quality time with their favorite Marvel heroes.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a lot of character and base building built into a unique deck building Strategy RPG. There are some story pieces that just aren’t entirely enthralling, and you may find the exploration to be lacking. What Midnight Suns does happen to do exceptionally well, is provide a purely satisfying strategy game, once you wade through all of the monotonous upgrades to get you to the combat. With plenty of characters to unlock, and multiple difficulty levels to amp up the strategy required, this is one of the best Marvel games to release in years. The best part is, whether you’re a Marvel fan, or you’re just a strategy buff, Midnight Suns delivers. Do not make the mistake of passing on this one.

Brute, thrilling turn-based battles with superheroes, action cards and tactical maneuvers. Too much chatter between missions.

Marvel's Midnight Suns left me dumbfounded for a few hours, unsure of what to think of this impressive work by Firaxis. Day after day, however, I realized a simple concept: I was having fun. Yes, ok, with some limitations due to design choices that I didn't appreciate on the turn-based combat, but I liked the card system, particularly how each hero's skills reflect their personality. And then there are many other delicious contents available, whose only flaw is to divert attention from the main course, a story so fascinating that we could easily find it in many beautiful softcover volumes in our favorite comic store.

The fights are very specific, tactical and surprisingly fun and often challenging, even knowing that a fallen hero can be put back on his feet on the spot during a fight and used in the rest of the encounter. [Issue#324]

In spite of its technical issues, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is an easy recommendation to strategy and superhero fans or anyone who’s been missing the more traditional BioWare experience. Its tactical combat stands out in the genre and is consistently compelling. The plot is no great shakes but the characters are excellent renditions of decades-old favorites. It’s also a well-paced game, never getting bogged down in any one form of play for too long but free-form enough to allow for players to do that if they wish. Not only is Midnight Suns a great Marvel game, it’s a great game in its own right.

Midnight Suns is so huge you probably won’t believe it at first. The sheer magnitude of its superhero-themed content is acceptable, though. Why? Because the game is good. Its tactical combat is fun, its storytelling hits all the right beats. The only true drawback is the aged graphics.

Midnight Suns deviates from the XCOM format in many ways, the biggest of which is eschewing dice rolls in favour of a deck of cards. [Issue#380, p.100]

Have you ever wanted to join a book club run by Blade and chat about Sun Tzu with Steve Rogers and Carol Danvers? How about hanging out on the sofa, gaming with Peter Parker? If that sounds up your alley, this might be the game for you.

It's Marvel meets XCOM meets Fire Emblem, which isn't something I knew I wanted, but now I have it, I want the hell out of it. Firaxis deserve a lot of respect for taking risks and trying something new, especially with such a high-profile property. The dialogue and a few technical hiccups mean Midnight Suns doesn't quite stick the landing, but the rock-solid core gameplay and fun character moments more than makeup for it.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a very good tactical RPG. A real ode to the Marvel universe that has enough qualities and fan service to please everyone. Combats, scenario, casting, everything is look great. Only regret, the game is sometimes a little slow in its implementation, with a lot of dialogues.

The worst thing a strategy game fan or a Marvel fan can do is not give Marvel’s Midnight Suns a chance. Midnight Suns regularly feels like a game that shouldn’t be as entertaining as it is because it has some flaws with its presentation, technical performance, and writing. However, the combat system and team-building mechanics are so good that the game can stand tall despite its issues. Firaxis stepped out of its comfort zone and did an admirable job at making Midnight Suns its first tactics RPG game, even if its rock-solid gameplay foundations often pick up the pieces where other elements fall short.

There is no doubt that Marvel's Midnight Suns is a very good strategy RPG. The interaction between the popular and less popular superheroes of the Marvel universe is a feast for fans, with the biggest meal of all being the incredible turn-based fights.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is a successful experiment: mixing up both Marvel's worlds and a soul that comes directly from X-COM, the game manages to offer a layered and smart gameplay that, even if we can't say that everything is always at the right place and at the right pace, works and entertains amazingly.

It’s kind of brave of Firaxis not to just give us XCOM with an asset swap. Midnight Suns is its own thing, combining strategy and soap opera in a nod toward Japanese battle tactics games and the underlying frivolity of the Marvel universe. One thing Firaxis certainly hasn’t done is dumb down turn-based strategy for incoming comic book fans. This is a hugely challenging game, with dozens of hours of play and a narrative that wants to say interesting things about family, identity and sacrifice. Sometimes, it even manages it.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is another essential Firaxis title, this time blended with superheroes. Smart use of the Marvel license and some bold choices mean this is essential for turn-based tactics fans, even if the young adult Abbey nonsense might not work for everyone.

A fantastically idiosyncratic approach to both superheroes and turn-based strategy, that manages to remain perfectly accessible without ever talking down to its audience.

Midnight Suns is honestly a brilliant bloody time: an extremely fun tactical RPG nestled amongst an adorably wholesome relationship simulator. A superhero game which understands that the appeal of comics is often much less about punching Venom than it is about seeing a bunch of daft looking folk cutting about in a big house, being nice to each other, bickering about leaving towels on the floor. Real stuff. Relatable stuff. The stuff of life.

There's a lot to love about Marvel's Midnight Suns. The combat offers a rewardingly tactical experience, with a deckbuilding card system ensuring that randomness challenges the player, not frustrates them. Plus, the mission variety and cast of diverse playable characters keep combat fresh across dozens of hours. But I most enjoyed the role-playing elements and giving The Hunter a chance to connect with the members of the Midnight Suns and Avengers, forging friendships that resulted in powerful abilities I could take back to the combat side of the game.

Midnight Suns is long and overloaded with systems (I didn’t even mention the light/dark faux-morality system, or new game plus, or levelling up your dog), but it is fun, both its combat and its superhero friendship simulation. The combat is good enough to keep you wanting more, and the story and character moments interesting enough that I didn’t mind how much they punctuated the flying fists and swinging swords. Making fighting alongside Wolverine as interesting as having a fireside chat with him is a tough ask, and Midnight Suns has nailed it.

Marvel's Midnight Suns works wonders to freshen up familiar Marvel characters, producing lively battles from focused turn-based systems, then diving into their personalities and histories to reveal their intimate concerns. The combat missions can feel a little side-lined by the sheer wealth of resource management tasks and relationship building, but all the pieces serve a purpose within the richly detailed whole. Marvellous? Pretty much.

Thankfully, the deep and rewarding combat more than makes up for the sometimes sexless superhero daytime soap opera and the sometimes engaging story you get to watch play out. Marvel’s Midnight Suns is at its best when it has all of the various superheroes do what they do best.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is as good of an RPG as it is a strategy game.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is an awesome tactical RPG experience. There are some aspects that have dampened my experience here and there, yet its most important element kept me enthralled throughout my entire playthrough. This is a game that shouldn’t be missed by strategy game fans, though I admit that the appeal of Midnight Suns depends on if your palate is open to card-based games. There is no denying that a significant chunk of Midnight Suns revolves around unpacking, upgrading, and unleashing cards to wreak havoc on foes and if that’s something that doesn’t make you turn away immediately, then this is certainly worth your time.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is an expansive tactical RPG that makes great use of card game mechanics to inject variety and unpredictability into its excellent combat.

Marvel's Midnight Suns shines brightly in a year full of excellent strategy RPGs thanks to a heartfelt love for the license, and a huge roster of fantastically realized characters to go along with a unique card-based battle system...While there's definitely some filler to be found within the walls of the Abbey, this is an interesting new take on Marvel's mystical side, and one I can't wait to see more of.

Marvel's Midnight Suns definitely has some growing pains but the form it takes after this is wonderfully nuanced, with an interesting cast and a sandbox of great moves to try out.

Marvel's Midnight Suns has a number of quirks that are minor in themselves. In total, however, they do eat away at the gameplay experience. But despite these quirks, we had a hell of a lot of fun with the game. It delivers exactly what we had hoped for from a tactical role-playing game with superheroes: gripping battles, great characters and a huge scope that kept us interested for a long time. For someone with Marvel fan glasses, Marvel's Midnight Suns is a wonderful game. But at the end of the day, we're also left with a bit of a feeling that with a little more care and polish, there could have been more.

Far from being a simple clone of XCOM on which we would have added a Marvel skin, Midnight Suns is a different tactical. Forgetting about XCOM's game mechanics for an interesting card system sets Firaxis apart from other games. And then the fights benefit from rather pretty visual effects, and different interactions with the environment which add a small additional tactical layer.

Marvel's Midnight Suns offers gameplay that should not be underestimated, it is rich, fun and satisfying. Fans of TCGs and tactical puzzles should also appreciate its high replayability. The social RPG aspect of the abbey also proved to be much more interesting than expected, but the poor graphics seriously hinder the immersion. On the other hand, the exploration of the territories around the abbey turns out to be heavy and uninteresting. The result is a very contrasted game, which will not please everyone, but which clearly deserves to be played.

Midnight Suns isn't what I expected, in a good way.

Regarding recent games in the Marvel universe, we had a rollercoaster of various qualities. This one is a gem in the rough, and it can be polished to a fantastic shine with a complete and patched edition down the line.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is an innovative mix of different genres that does many things well. Its combat system is satisfying, characters have depth, the atmosphere is great. However, you have to search for the game’s strengths under a massive pile of bland, tiresome dialogues that constantly keep you from actually playing, lame humor and endless tutorials.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is an okay game but could've been a lot better. The game is filled with boring tasks and side missions and the main character doesn't have much of a personality or many emotions. The game would've been a lot better if the developers didn't include all the RPG aspects. However, Firaxis is clearly still great at making strategy games, because the strategic missions are the best part of this game. The storyline is great and It's cool to see the other heroes together.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns has some really great tactical combat that is dragged down by an insistence that you want to care about the heroes beside you.

Marvel Midnight Suns is, by and large, an unfulfilling superhero title that is only as endurable as it is courtesy of how great Firaxis are at what they do. There’s a lot of heroes and just as many hollow hellos between them that makes me wish all of the story’s character drama was checked at the door for more of what Midnight Suns does well.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns, unfortunately, is one of those games that I can only recommend if you’re willing to stick around its noticeable issues. As it currently stands, the game has the foundations for a phenomenal turn-based strategy game, and the gameplay variety offered by the different heroes you can play is a lot of fun. The writing and story, however, are not good reasons to play this game.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is an original blend of seemingly unrelated genres and mechanics: turn-based card battles, extensive story and dialogues, base development and even exploration. Surprisingly, ingredients of this explosive mix turn out to fit together quite well. It's just a shame that none of them have been properly polished.

A tight card-driven skirmisher is the beating heart of a deeply troubled Marvel game, burdened by feature creep and endless hours of terrible dialogue.

The storyline smothered by indifference and combat that becomes repetitive do not bring long-lasting entertainment to Marvel's Midnight Suns players, just as the proposal to create one's own avatar proves meaningless when the character already has his own past. Still, the game entertains and brings rich content in the form of interactions between heroes that can make Marvel comics and movies fans leave with glowing eyes.