It’s not uncommon, in the world of video games, to see one game jump-start a genre gold rush.Vampire Survivorsled to the bullet-hell bonanza,Dota Auto Chessspawned its fair share of imitators, and there was certainly no shortage of hero-shooters in the wake ofOverwatch.
In that respect,Marvel Rivalsalmost feels a bit late to the party.Overwatchlit the world on fire back in 2016, eight years that feels like an eternity today. We’ve seen games likePaladins,Gigantic, andLawbreakersall put spins on it already, followed by discourses about whether similar shooters likeApex LegendsorValorantwere going to cut intoOverwatch‘s base. Hell, we gotOverwatch 2.
YetMarvel Rivals, and a few other games likeConcord, seem confident that the bell hasn’t rung yet. They might even be right. DespiteOverwatchweathering so many storms and still coming out on top,Marvel Rivalsmight be enough to make Blizzard’s titanic hero-shooter sweat a bit.
Heroes never die
Marvel Rivalsis, in its base essence, quite similar toOverwatch; specifically, the originalOverwatch. 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 payload, 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, Duelist, or Strategist, though Tank, Damage, and Support would have sufficed.
If all of this looks and sounds familiar, that’s because it is. WhenMarvel Rivalslifts from theOverwatchblueprint, it’s not exactly subtle. Scarlet Witch’s siphon skill that fuels her chaos projectiles has a similar set-up toOverwatch‘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 havesome fairly visible similaritiesto classicOverwatchlocales. 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 havebeen hitsandsome 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 ofMarvel’s Midnight Sunsfor me, on theRivalslaunch roster.
So yes, the Marvel name could takeMarvel Rivalspretty 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 forRivals.
The state of the hero shooter
But as muchasMarvel Rivalshas its own advantages, the hubbub also seems driven byOverwatch‘s relative precarity. As I wrote up above, the similarities betweenMarvel RivalsandOverwatch, especially the originalOverwatch, aren’t hard to notice. Everyone playingRivals, fromcriticsto people onthe Blizzard forums, have noticed the similarities anddrawn comparisons.
Overwatch 2isn’t exactly on steady ground these days, either. Blizzard’salready scrapped its original plans for PvE, one of the biggest reasons behind adding a number to the name. Initial response toOverwatch 2waslukewarm, its stadium-sized esports ambitionscrumbled under the weightof theOverwatchLeague, and its cosmetics and currencies havecurried controversy. While the studioseems optimisticabout its player count, it’s hard to feel likeOverwatch 2, as it is right now, panned out like Blizzard would have hoped.
WhileMarvel Rivalsdoesn’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.Rivalsdoesn’t have to fulfill the promisesOverwatch 2didn’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 consideringthe return of 6v6, after it cut a tank slot from teams going intoOverwatch 2. In the blog, game director Aaron Keller is fairly transparent about taking a broad look at a consistent feeling of familiarity in matches:
“When you look at the changes toOverwatchsince its inception, it’s clear that many of those have reduced some of the variety within anOverwatchmatch. We get feedback from some players thatOverwatchcan 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 anOverwatchmatch without the severity of issues that accompanied it.”
Who will survive?
DoesMarvel Rivalshave what it takes to be anOverwatchkiller? The strewn corpses of MMOs past, all dubbedWoWkillers, 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. BothOverwatch 2andMarvel Rivalshave battle passes. So doesHelldivers 2,MultiVersus,Apex Legends,Fortnite,Diablo IV,Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,Call of Duty,Genshin Impact,Destiny 2, evenFoamstars. WhilePalworldand the upcomingConcorddon’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 2andMarvel Rivalswill 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 toOverwatchjust makes the fight for your Friday night gaming time more palpable.Many end-of-services past make it clearthat it’s a tough arena, and even the Marvel monikerdoesn’t always guarantee a long lifespan.
Opinions onMarvel Rivalseven now are positive, but it’scertainly not universally praised, and will continue to evolve over time. But if anything, it’s clear that eight years afterOverwatchtook the world by storm, there is still room for a new hero shooter on the block. Why not the one with Iron Man in it?
