FRENEMIES WITHIN

MARVEL'S MIDNIGHT SUNS defies every expectation an XCOM player could have.

- Tyler Wilde

According to creative director Jake Solomon, Marvel's Midnight Suns is "the complete opposite" of A XCOM 2, which is a preposterous claim. How can one turn-based tactics game be the opposite of another? And yet after hearing Solomon's explanation and playing a few hours of Midnight Suns during a visit to 2K's headquarters, I have a hard time disagreeing. Midnight Suns kind of is the opposite of XCOM. At the very least, it's the version of XCOM where you declared that it's Opposite Day and started rewriting its rules, which is something I can imagine Solomon actually doing.

It's also a surprising game from a studio best known for 20 years of Civilization sequels and the stories that emerge from XCOM's dice rolls and permadeath. Firaxis toyed with more authored storytelling in XCOM 2 spin-off Chimera Squad, but this time it's gone full BioWare. Midnight Suns takes about 60 hours to complete, according to Solomon, and when you're not battling demon-possessed Hydra members, you're customizing bedroom decor, attending movie nights, and processing your feelings with the X-Men, Avengers, and other heroes of the Midnight Suns, a superhero team based on the Midnight Sons run of comics from the early '90s.

"It's the first RPG that my team and I have ever made," says Solomon, who's been making games at Firaxis for 22 years now. "So, you know, doing something for the first time: Guaranteed recipe for smooth sailing. It's been equal parts exciting and terrifying."

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