Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers Gets Brand New Gameplay

Square Enix recently hosted an event called Avengers War Table, where they shared brand new clips and details regarding the upcoming Avengers game. They talked about the type of missions available, the customisation options as well as aspects of the game that feed into player progression and specialisation.

M.O.D.O.K (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing) was revealed as the overarching nemesis behind the game, using A.I.M (Advanced Ideal Mechanics) to distort public view against the superheroes, ultimately driving a wedge between them. A young superhero, Kamala Khan uncovers a conspiracy that drove the Avengers, and decides to bring them together once again for the ever-growing threat that MODOK now presents in the absence of any heroes.

 

The game visually looks really cool, but personally to me feels like a mismatch of ideas so far. You can clearly see it drawing references from Live-Service RPG games like Destiny, with character spec, intrinsic skills; rarity based gear and perks as well as enemies with large health pool.

Whilst I don’t necessarily dislike the Live-Service RPG genre, it does feel like it goes against the notion of wanting to play as a specific hero, especially when tons of different play-styles get involved. Not to mention, paid cosmetic feels like a sore spot in a genre where you usually unlock superhero costumes for free. I understand that their reasoning for this might be to support free DLC, but not every game needs tons of support after launch with new content every day. The excellent Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games on PS4 clearly being the main example.

Here is hoping they use these mechanics in meaningful ways, as these are usually used in order to increase playtime and grind. Marvel’s Avengers will be out for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One on the 4th of September.

It has also been announced that those purchase the game on PS4 or Xbox One, provided that they own a copy of the game, will get a free update for PS5 and Xbox Series X, whether physical or digital, which is a nice touch from Square Enix.