As much as I just want to suit up with Iron Man and Blade and go fight Hydra and slay vampires among other assorted baddies, I'd like to touch on the larger narrative the game is built on. We play as The Hunter, an up-until-recently expired warrior who died in combat centuries ago defeating our also recently resurrected villain Lillith. Lillith is a hugely powerful sorceress whose goal is to deliver on a bargain she made with Cthon, an ancient and unstoppable evil and she's using Hydra as her army. She also happens to be The Hunter's mother. Upon The Hunter's revival, their brought into the Midnight Suns, an edgier and more anxious team of heroes that specialize in supernatural threats. But the situation slowly escalates as Lillith gains power and rosters even more powerful followers. The Midnight Suns eventually enlists the help of the Avengers and The Hunter tries to rally the troops and harness their own power to save the day. That's more or less the story and while I wouldn't describe it as bad or without any surprises, I found it to be more or less okay instead of spectacular. The conflict between The Hunter and Lillith is a little dragged out and I wasn't really invested in their strained relationship. To be fair, the game is juggling a lot of characters and subplots and it's not deficient in this area. I could also argue it's not the focus of the game and I do think other aspects of the game more than compensate. But I still would have liked something that pushed the envelope a little further. In summation, the overall story in the game is fine but it isn't going to blow anyone away.
While the story here could be considered what's more or less expected, one of the two of the areas I really want to praise Midnight Suns for is providing a cast of different/interesting/fun heroes for The Hunter to fight with. We get all The Avengers mainstays but The Midnight Suns are all great in their own right and I got to use all the DLC characters (bought the season pass on sale) and they were all fantastic as well. The game also encourages you to spend time with them in casual interactions and "hangouts" where you get to do activities around The Abbey (the home base of the Midnight Suns) with your chosen character and converse about their pasts and the nature of being a hero. These segments quickly became some of my favourite parts of the game and spending more time with your favourite members of the team unlock bonuses for combat or new cosmetics. I've never played a game that's combat based (in this case a card/deck battler) that put so much effort into providing an experience away from the action. I couldn't wait play video games with Spiderman, fish with Wolverine or work out with Venom and there's some exemplary work done on the character development in Midnight Suns.
I've been getting more into card/deck battlers lately, it's a genre I wasn't interested in until I started giving things a shot (I also recently played a great game called Griftlands that put a new spin on it as well). The missions you're sending the Midnight Suns on could have easily gotten old or derivative really quick but I looked forward to every single combat mission. The strategy combined with super hero abilities was a seamless fit and I became addicted to taking down as many enemies I could in the fewest number or turns. The game provides unique abilities for all the characters and it gives you incentive to play creatively and you're rewarded for thinking outside the box to eliminate the Hydra threat. Are some missions frustratingly difficult? They can be (buyer beware with Storm's DLC pack, I got more than a little frustrated) but part of it also comes down to how you build your decks for your respective characters. You're being offered new cards and abilities after every fight and if you put some time into considering your preferred play style, it will streamline some of the bumpier interactions. I loved how Firaxis set up these bits and it helped change my opinion on the genre as a whole.
I loved a lot of Midnight Suns but it still ends up feeling like a bit of an oddity overall. Anything I enjoyed in this game, I adored but there were also some segments of the game that I found disappointing. The lack of character customization for The Hunter as the first noteworthy frustration. That there's no choice in The Hunter's powers and so little ability to change his/her/their build or appearance. I know Firaxis was balancing a lot on their plate but this isn't a novelty, it's more or less expected at this point when you're creating a character. I also wanted to touch on how little personality The Hunter has. You've got all these eye-catching and fleshed-out characters surrounding The Hunter and he just doesn't have much there other than having PTSD about his demise the first time around and brooding/being stoic. I don't want to penalize the game too heavily but I was hoping for better that way, you almost have to imagine the Hunter being more interesting than he is. My last complaint, which isn't a uniquely Midnight Suns problem, is that the PS4 release was really buggy. The graphics were touch and go at points and the game crashed on me consistently (at a rate of almost 1 time per session). I understand that the supply issues surrounding the PS5 have been solved but if it's so hard to optimize a game to several platforms and it can't be done effectively, forget the older consoles. It's just sad for those of us still playing on the previous generation how poorly these games run.
I can't say it's flawless but I really enjoyed the time I spent on Midnight Suns. I also think the game has a lot of replay value, despite any buggy performance issues. You can invest points elsewhere, focus on building relationships with other characters and end up with a fresh experience. I wish Midnight Suns had sold better, I would have loved a sequel but this is a worthwhile game to invest your time in (provided you're open to the combat style) and I'll be playing it again at some point in the future. Give it a try if you're intrigued.
