It’s not uncommon, in the world of video games, to see one game jump-start a genre gold rush. Vampire Survivors led to the bullet-hell bonanza, Dota Auto Chess spawned its fair share of imitators, and there was certainly no shortage of hero-shooters in the wake of Overwatch.
In that respect, Marvel Rivals almost feels a bit late to the party. Overwatch lit the world on fire back in 2016, eight years that feels like an eternity today. We’ve seen games like Paladins, Gigantic, and Lawbreakers all put spins on it already, followed by discourses about whether similar shooters like Apex Legends or Valorant were going to cut into Overwatch‘s base. Hell, we got Overwatch 2.
Yet Marvel Rivals, and a few other games like Concord, seem confident that the bell hasn’t rung yet. They might even be right. Despite Overwatch weathering so many storms and still coming out on top, Marvel Rivals might be enough to make Blizzard’s titanic hero-shooter sweat a bit.
Heroes never die
Marvel Rivals is, in its base essence, quite similar to Overwatch; specifically, the original Overwatch. Teams of six, made up of heroes and villains from the pages of Marvel comics, fight through hallways and corridors over objectives. Some maps might see an attack team pushing a payl🍸oad, with a defense team trying to stop them. Others just pit two teams more directly against each other, vying for control of points across a series of maps.
Heroes themselves have several basic abilities and an ultimate they charge up over time, forming kits that can feel cohesive, though sometimes idiosyncratic (more on that in a moment). All of the heroes can be classified as Vanguard, Dueli🦋st, or Strategist, though Tank, Damage, and Support would have sufficed.
If all of this looks and sounds familiar, that’s because it is. When Marvel Rivals lifts from the Overwatch blueprint, it’s not exactly subtle. Scarlet Witch’s siphon skill that fuels her chaos projectiles has a similar set-up to Overwatch‘s Moira, albeit more DPS-focused and less about healing. Magneto and Dr. Strange both bring Sigma to mind, and Venom’s toolkit is quite reminiscent of Wrecking Ball.
That’s not to say it’s without its own ideas, though. Some of them are just interesting mixes of ideas. Luna Snow has become a fast-favorite for me in the healer department; she’s got some ideas that feel familiar to Zenyatta and Lucio, alongside a potent skill that can freeze an opponent. It’s really fun to snowball an enemy and freeze them mid-ultimate. Supports, in general, feel really engaging to use, and don’t feel relegated to topping off health bars the entire match.
Some tech feels refreshingly new, like Dr. Strange’s portal. Where using a teleporter sometimes felt funky, opening a portal and jumping through, or shooting through, feels natural. On one control point, the other team opened a portal from their spawn to the point and poured in, catching us completely unaware. It was surprising, in a way I haven’t felt in a hero shooter for a while.
Marvel Rivals‘ best contribution to the genre, for my money, is the Synergies concept. Characters, linked by their in-universe connections or just a novel pairing of talents, can get bonuses when they’re on the same team. Guardians of the Galaxy can synergize with Adam Warlock’s “cocoon” respawning talent. Venom can lend Symbiote powers to Spider-Man and Penni Parker. These aren’t necessarily game-breaking, but they do feel like an interesting wrinkle that makes the cast feel a bit more connected in gameplay; you don’t just see these heroes fighting alongside each other, but teaming up and assisting each other in tangible ways.
The maps have their own identity too, though they still have to classic Overwatch locales. The destructible environment gimmick is neat, though it does result in really strange moments where pieces of the level slowly spawn back in as you’re fighting over them.
Straight from the pages
Ultimately, Marvel Rivals‘ biggest advantage may just be in its name. Marvel has reached peak cultural saturation; it is everywhere, for better or worse, thanks to the never-ending rollout of MCU and the renewed flood of Marvel games. Sure, some have been hits and some haven’t, but there’s an advantage to be had in Iron Man, Spidey, and Black Panther being essentially household names. Even relatively lesser-known characters get renewed spotlights here; I was personally thrilled to see Magick, a highlight of Marvel’s Midnight Suns for me, on the Rivals launch roster.
So yes, the Marvel name could take Marvel Rivals pretty far. I’ve been less sold on the cosmetic variety; there is a Battle Pass with a premium track, of course, and there are some solid alternate looks in there, like a steampunk Iron Man. Others are simple color variations, like “what if this character had more green.”
The cast is also wide-open, and NetEase Games has been making some interesting decisions in that department. Already, since the start of the beta, we’ve seen the addition of Thor (expected) and Jeff the Land Shark (unexpected). The latter’s not just surprising, but really fun to play from the few matches I’ve had playing as him. There’s really no shortage of Marvel faces and names to draw on, and if the team keeps making deep cuts, it could be a killer angle for Rivals.
The state of the hero shooter
But as much as Marvel Rivals has its own advantages, the hubbub also seems driven by Overwatch‘s relative precarity. As I wrote up above, the similarities between Marvel Rivals and Overwatch, especially the original Overwatch, aren’t hard to notice. Everyone playing Rivals, from to people on 🍒, have noticed the similarities and .
Overwatch 2 isn’t exactly on steady ground these days, either. Blizzard’s already scrapped its original plans for PvE, one of the biggest reasons behind adding a number to the name. Initial response to Overwatch 2 was lukewarm, its stadium-sized esports ambitions of the Overwatch League, and its cosmetics and currencies have . While the studio about its player count, it’s hard to feel like Overwatch 2, as it is right now, panned out 🔴⛦like Blizzard would have hoped.
While Marvel Rivals doesn’t currently seem to have cinematic or story ambitions, it does have some style, substance, and novelty. It’s new, it’s got a surge of staggered launch hype pushing it, and it’s got Iron Man in it. Rivals doesn’t have to fulfill the promises Overwatch 2 didn’t, just provide a compelling alternative.
It’s hard to not feel like Blizzard is already reacting to this renewed competition. The studio is apparently already considering the return of 6v6, after it cut a tank slot from teams going into Overwatch 2. In the blog, game director Aaron Keller is fairly transparent abou⛦t taking a broad look at a consistent feeling of familiarity in matches:
“When you look at the changes to Overwatch since its inception, it’s clear that many of those have reduced some of the variety within an Overwatch match. We get feedback from some players that Overwatch can feel ‘the same’ from game to game. While much of this gets attributed to 5v5, we feel that there is more at play here. Besides running experiments with 6v6, we’d like to run some that re-examine the ways we tried solving previous problems, specifically with the goal of bringing some of the freedom back to an Overwatch match without the severity of issues that accompanied it.”
Aaron Keller, Overwatch 2 Game Director
Who will survive?
Does Marvel Rivals have what it takes to be an Overwatch killer? The strewn corpses of MMOs past, all dubbed WoW killers, may be enough to prove it’s not easy to usurp Blizzard. But even those dynamics have shifted. The enemy, in my opinion, isn’t really other games. It’s time.
There are so many games coming out every single day, all vying for your time and attention. Dozens of titles, every year, don’t just want you to dip in when possible. They have systems meant to drive engagement over time. Both Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals have battle passes. So does Helldivers 2, MultiVersus, Apex Legends, Fortnite, Diablo IV, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Call of Duty, Genshin Impact, Destiny 2, even Foamstars. While Palworld and the upcoming Concord don’t have passes, they are still games with persistent updates. There are always new characters, skins, and more. Everything to keep you coming back, grinding objectives, and competing to fill your finite hours.
Yes, Overwatch 2 and Marvel Rivals will offer each other a bit of direct competition. But the live service arena at large is as competitive as it’s ever been. Rivals‘ similarity to Overwatch just makes the fight for your Friday night gaming time more palpable. Many end-of-services past make it clear that it’s a tough arena, and even the Marvel moniker doesn’t always guarantee a long lifespan.
Opinions on Marvel Rivals even now are positive, but it’s , and will continue to evolve over time. But if anything, it’s clear that eight years after Overwatch took 🐻the world by storm, there꧙ is still room for a new hero shooter on the block. Why not the one with Iron Man in it?
Published: Jul 30, 2024 02:50 pm