ALTER EGO

How tackling the Marvel universe revealed an unexpected new side of the XCOM team

-  Alex Spencer

Rumours of a Firaxis Games Marvel title have been circulating since June. Long enough, no doubt, for us all to build up a mental picture of what the XCOM team would do with this licence. Whatever version has been living in your head these past few months, though, know this: Marvel’s Midnight Suns is not that game.

Rather than the XCOM reskin we might have anticipated, Firaxis has created a game that has as much in common with Slay The Spire and Persona as it does with the studio’s previous releases, one that borrows equally from fighting and dating games, and periodically ditches its trademark turn-based approach for realtime adventuring. But the surprises begin before any of that – right from the first time we see the game’s title.

By this point, Marvel might well be the single most profitable word in the English language. The two that follow it, though? They represent one hell of a deep cut. The game is a loose adaptation of Rise Of The Midnight Sons, a 1992 crossover event which launched such titles as Nightstalkers, Spirits Of Vengeance and Darkhold: Pages From The Book Of Sins. A part of comics history, it’s fair to say, that is not especially well-remembered. Except in the two cases that matter here: self-described “Marvel superfans” Jake Solomon and Chad Rocco, now creative director and director of narrative on Midnight Suns.