Besides the two games being tactics games, Marvel’s Midnight Suns and the Fire Emblem series share one key feature. Developed by XCOM development team Firaxis Games, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a strategy game exploring the more magical side of Marvel. This side of Marvel comics, while recently explored in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, has been a mostly untapped topic in Marvel video games. At Summer Game Fest, Marvel’s Midnight Suns got a release date of October 6, 2022.
While the game is, at its core, a tactical RPG, Marvel’s Midnight Suns has shown changes to the formula that make the game far different from XCOM‘s gameplay or other similar titles. The game focuses on turn-based combat still, but it’s all card-based. This card-based combat takes the emphasis away from movement and cover, and more on showing off the heroes’ super powers in attacks that are sure to be spectacles.
However, one feature from Fire Emblem making the jump over to Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a version of Fire Emblem‘s support conversations. In Fire Emblem, support conversations are ways for the player to get to know characters better, and grant bonuses in combat for paired-up characters with a deep bond. This mechanic was expanded on in Fire Emblem: Awakening, which helped save the franchise. In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, developer Firaxis is putting its own twist on this mechanic, and maybe even doing it better than Fire Emblem.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns Support Conversations – Why They’re Better
One factor that may help Midnight Suns‘ support conversations surpass Fire Emblem‘s is nostalgia. In Fire Emblem games, players are introduced to a completely new set of characters in each game. In Midnight Suns, however, with popular characters like Spider-Man and Iron Man being confirmed, it seems like Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ support conversations will be rife with already recognizable characters. For many players, the idea of a customizable character interacting with their favorite characters from the X-Men and Avengers is incredibly appealing. With there still being one unannounced playable character, it’s even possible the most memed movie protagonist of 2022, Morbius, could join the cast of Midnight Suns, as he was part of the original team in the Marvel comics.
In addition, the game has an open-world environment to explore to interact with the game’s heroes called The Abbey. This is incredibly similar to Garreg Mach Monastery, the hub world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. In Three Houses, this unique hub allowed players to participate in activities like cooking and gardening with the other playable characters. However, it’s unclear so far if the same will be true with the heroes of Marvel’s Midnight Suns in The Abbey hub world.
Overall, using support conversations from Fire Emblem, Marvel’s Midnight Suns seems like it will offer quite a fun RPG experience. It seems like the game will be Firaxis’ deepest RPG experience yet, taking roughly 40 to 60 hours to beat Midnight Suns. With a new combat system and much bigger stress on character development, Marvel’s Midnight Suns will be the developer’s most ambitious project yet. Players will get to see if the ambition delivers when the game launches on PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 6, with a Switch version coming at a later date.
