Marvel's Midnight Suns

I'm a huge fan of modern XCOM, but I'm not really a Marvel afficionado. I was only interested in Midnight Suns at first because of the studio behind it. I was expecting a good tactical game and uncertain how well they'd manage the other aspects of it, but I ended up greatly impressed with the whole package. The card-based combat is great fun, chasing after specific mission rewards offers an engaging gameplay loop, and I adored the Persona-inspired social aspects. The abbey side of the gameplay petered out midway through, for me, and running around to harvest reagents and chests ended up feeling like busywork, but I still enjoyed the exploration when there were new places to discover. The photobooth, beloved feature of XCOM2: WotC, is expanded into a full photo mode here. Being able to pause mid-battle and get the perfect shot of your heroes unleashing their powers is entirely optional, but a wonderful option to have. I don't know how the DLC characters and missions work if they're bought piecemeal, but with all of them they form a mini campaign-within-the-campaign, complete with a capstone mission after finishing the four individual character stories. All the characters, base game and DLC, have distinct enough decks and playstyles to enjoy playing around with the combinations and putting together different teams, although the Hunter is an absolute powerhouse on their own. While I love this game, I do have some quibbles. There are some glaring bugs that were never fixed (one of them, which prevents you from getting an entire suit for the Hunter from finishing a quest, was apparently introduced in the game's final patch). The story's pacing seems off- to me, it really feels like there was another act-length segment planned near the end that was never made. And while I thought the final mission and the ending itself was very satisfying, it did conclude with a teaser for a sequel which will, sadly, probably never come to be. All that said, though- I think Midnight Suns is a gem.