WARNING: DO NOT BUY AT FULL PRICE!
I need to preface this by saying this is not necessary a "bad" game, but it's not one worth 100 euro/gbp/us dollars under any circumstance. The people that are putting in thumbs up reviews are midwits who seem to have lived under a rock their whole lives and this is their, apparently literal, first game. I have played 1hr at the start of this review with 1 main mission completed (excluding the Tutorial Mission) and I can smell the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ from 10,000 miles away.
Down to it's core, Midnight Suns is a repurposed hero collection gacha game and I have several points that while by themselves may not prove it, for anyone that has played such games, will easily be able to understand what I'm talking about.
1. You do not "technically" play as the characters. Your actual character is some dude/girl called "the Hunter" (oooh, so original) who looks like a generic NPC that Firaxis borrowed from God Howard's Oblivion. Nothing remotely original or interesting, but when combined with being surrounded my other playable characters makes it look like a hero collector.
2. "Star rating missions". What do I mean by that? At the end of the mission, you get from 1 to 3 stars which then breaks down you XP and other stuff acquired. That is a classic mobile game mechanic.
3. "Superlink" or the social media for your heroes. Again, hero collector gacha 101.
4. You can purchase skins from the wardrobe using a separate currency. I don't know what it's called and I don't really care, but it's a tactiv.
Now, for the rest of the game.
Pros(?)
- Characters look good
- Graphics look good
- Card mechanic is somewhat interesting and novel (at least for me)
That's it for pros.
Cons(Lol)
- Dialogue is god awful and feels like it was written by ChatGPT. Yeah, it's only my first mission but damn these idiot characters are obnoxious.
- VA does not exist. Flat. Boring. Emotionless. Could these VAs possibly fall asleep any faster at their jobs? Phoning it in doesn't even seem close. They sound like they would rather be shot dead in the street like dogs than spend even 1 minute on the game.
- Stages seem to take longer than normal and enemies are generic.
Overall a 4, maybe 5 out of 10. Possibly 6 if you like Marvel. Not worth the price, do not bother unless it's on the Summer Fest like the one running right now at the time of this review where I got the Legendary Edition for 20euro + every addon.
EDIT (after 20+ hours into it): Still not worth the full price. Definitely worth 20 euro/dollars/whatever
Dialogue gets... somewhat better as times passes on. Although that will be subjective. Still, considering the VA talent they hired for some of the characters (Nolan North is my favorite Deadpool) I can definitely let a few cringey one liners slide. My belief that this was a repurposed mobile game became even more reinforced because of all of the currencies you have to use. The exploration is nice especially as you unlock the second Word of Power but the fact that a single twig is a wall like we're in the early 2000s and you don't have jump is annoying to put it lightly.
Difficulty is another problem. Vampyres are the obnoxious enemy. They have far too many abilities. If you have any Tainted Mystics, take care of them first because they can turn an enemy into a Hemalyst which is a glorified nest to spawn more vamps of the lowest level. Each vamp adds Bleed to your cards so when you use them, bleed is applied. They can spontaneously evolve into an elite which becomes tankier. Each can activate a type of Frenzy ability by themselves which allows them to attack in the middle of your turn. Etc, it's just annoying as ♥♥♥♥.
On the other hand, non vamp Hydra are relative easy to deal with. So sometimes, a Vamp Normal difficulty can feel like Hard mode while a Hydra Hard difficulty can be either Easy or Normal mode. It's goofy like that. As for the characters I have so far:
Piece of advice: Focus on upgrading your abilities and also prioritize modded abilities over new ones. Another pro is that many, if not all, of the characters have solid foundations with their starting cards and you can easily get far without getting new ones. My favorites so far from the "original" Midnight Suns are Minoru because she can do a lot and do it well (support, damage, utility), Ghost Rider is a damage dealing mob killer and Blade can become immortal if played right. I genuinely don't like Magik both as a character and her abilities so can't speak much there other than she's a good support that change the stage through repositioning.
Iron Man is half-tank, half-damage dealing monster that if played right can clear entire stages. Captain America is a half-tank, half-support and can be pretty much the same. Spider-Man can stall stages by binding characters and focuses on environmental damage. Strange is a support with some minor damage dealing capabilities. Storm is too annoying to play and 2 of her starting cards require "electric generators" in the stage for her to be viable. Deadpool can be OP but he's a little too selfish, so he should be played with support. Basically, the more mobs he kills the more powerful his abilities become. Captain Marvel is great as she can deal damage, reposition, taunt and has AOE. Her Binary Power adds extra damage and a shield. Morbius... eh, he's mid but maybe I haven't upgraded him as much yet. He's too annoying and I don't care enough for the character.
The MC (Hunter) is simply overpowered. He can do anything, but I choose Light because of the healing and shield with some Dark abilities for damage. The next most OP character that I've experience some play with is Wolvering. Multi enemy hit by chaining attacks + Life Steal and an in-built Resurrection? Damn. Can't wait to get him. I'm not that far into the game because I would like to take my time.
I don't have or played Venom, Scarlet Witch and Hulk so can't speak on them.
Overall, I would bump this game by 1 point from initial review. From a "4, maybe 5 out of 10. Possibly 6 if you like Marvel" to a 5, maybe 6 out of 10, 7 if you like Marvel. Not at full price though, lol.
