I (Mostly) Loved Marvel's Midnight Suns - A Critique

[@Dorkaxe]

I probably could have said more on Deadpool, such as his passive trait and gimmick clashing so hard it boggles the mind, plus his En Fuego stacks not being very generous, refusing to carry over any extra kills into the next stack...but oh well. Hope you liked the video, it took forever to make, and I'm very happy it's finally published. Dorkaxe discord link: discord.gg/rnmSP9FQQg Support me on patreon: www.patreon.com/dorkaxe

[@windwind3170]

One funny thing that happened to me during my playthrough was when I realized that Caretaker doesn't have a relationship meter so I just always chose options that insult her even though I was playing a Light Side Hunter and then not even 10 minutes later I went to Magic and Nico to tell them to trust Caretaker more just to farm Light Side points lol.

[@TevyaSmolka]

midnight suns is a underrated game in my opinion

[@windwind3170]

I find a hilarious bit of irony in the fact that the only hero that benefits most from Blade's cards that apply bleed is Morbius.

[@Tempelers]

The reason Tony Stark loves the Unauthorized Autobiography because he has a magazine write it for publicity reasons in Captain Marvel (2019) #1/2. It's a really good comic.

[@Dorkaxe]

THAT'S AMAZING. Dude thanks for that tidbit, that's such a cool attention to detail.

[@JohnSmithAprilMay]

Captain America loving the sketch book was one of my favorites. I completely forgot that Steve Rogers was an artist before becoming Captain America.

[@avocadothecat]

Ah, thanks. I was wondering to who I should give it to. I'm on my first playthrough rn

[@appstorecritic8125]

At 1:47:03 you mention that you've seen the Obsidian Collar trigger with only 2 dark card plays, that's because the Master of the Hunt collar reduces the necessary threshold by 1 for all collars.

[@Nigel222]

I got this game day 1 and wasn't really expecting to like it that much because of the cards but I ended up playing it for about 100 hours. I loved it. Shame it failed as a sequel focused on the X-men could have been cool.

[@Dorkaxe]

An X-Men/Guardians game would be the best for me, oh man. So sad 😢

[@Artis_OTS]

God an x men game styled like this would be so damn fun

[@Scitch-et4vk]

This game is criminally under rated

[@cheeseblast]

Because it's criminally over priced.

[@OminousToast]

Was actually rewatching your old videos this morning, great timing

[@DouglasBurton]

Oh man that idea of having those 1st comic appearances available in game is a great idea. Something that simple would have probably made the whole game better and gave it great buzz instead of the lackluster release..

[@TummyRubz]

I was surprised about your summation of Magik. In my playthroughs she was a one-man army, that card adding damage to her portals stacks infinitely and when she is the last one remaining you start to see it every turn, her portals make it so in the early game she is great at multiple removals of weenie characters, then late game is an absolute monster. I was one shotting bosses after stacking her portal damage all fight. Closest character to broken in the game for me, but you do need to pay close attention to her card bonuses you add on to get her to go infinite.

[@Dorkaxe]

Oh wow I just got two comments about the same Magik being OP limbo grasp thing. Yeah I didn't realize it stacked, wow.

[@TummyRubz]

@@Dorkaxe She only gets really good late game though, many of her cards like the portal damage stack can be modified to be free. Thanks for the video, you made me start replaying the game again :)

[@Dorkaxe]

@@TummyRubz Ah, mods. Yeah I imagine there's a few niche perfect scenario builds out there that I didn't see since I didn't like the modding at all. I think I mostly tried to gamble with Hunter, since...you know lol

[@Reynolds128]

It's actually good...I'm a player who never really liked turn based games until bg3...tried this after and really enjoyed it 👍🔥

[@terry85mar]

Turn based is amazing. Final fantasy 1 through 12 are great. Persona is great too. Way better to have to use strategy instead of just parry and dodge like the horrible ff7 demake and ff16.

[@almalone3282]

If you never played xcom (original or reboot), you're not a real gamer.

[@budlikycz2445]

​@@terry85marwhat strategy? Turn based is slow and boring as fuck. Nothing there screams skill or strategy. You just attack until you have to heal in which case you heal and continue to attack. And the worst thing is percentage in which case you can fucking miss your attack which is so fucking terrible I dont need to even explain

[@cornellcarterjr6287]

Ngl I liked majority of the dialogue mainly because I love marvel

im playing it now, its awesome. I tend to end up liking the stories and chat between heros more than the wicked sick tactical gameplay at times xD

[@avocadothecat]

The "being in move mode and trying to select an environmental" is a mood. Also, press F to pay respect. Like at the Statue. I laughed out loud at that. Funnily enough, Strange was the first one at full friendship. He's my favourite Marvel hero. It made me so happy to see him in this. I also couldn't get mad at him being sad about losing his home. I'd have the same reaction probably. He's also not that self centered. Maybe I am projecting hard from the comics but dude does have an important job. Also I just love being snarky to Tony and maxing out friendship despite that. It's just funny.

[@7thesage853]

I remember being 100 hours deep in the game and realizing that limbo grasp actually stacks on top of itself. I felt the same way about magic until I realize that, and she became an absolute monster late game afterwards

[@Digger318]

Basically, the missions are fun and everything outside is just a boring grind wake up talk to heroes training collect research start research run around getting orbs collect intel start intel select mission night talk spend time with 1 hero book club repeat every time between missions so many load screens ughhhhhhhh just let me play missioks 1 after another

[@lutherheggs451]

why would anyone want to "talk to heroes" they have like the same 3 lines of dialog, once you've heard it there is zero reason to ever talk to them again.

[@ThePhilatkinson]

I fully agree with you. Firaxis fumbled the bag here.

[@koenvandiepen7651]

Yes this games suffers from the fact that much of it's loop should have been a menu. Something the developer solved whit xcom before this game. There you do not have to waste time walkking from research to training and back to missions you just do it. It tried to do the persona/fire emblem thing where you spend time whit the other chracters to improve them for battle. But the thing is in persona and fire emblem that shit is entertaining because you get to know the chracters better. I already know who ironman and spiderman are. Appart from literal heroworship there is just no point to that part of the gameplay loop.

[@MEDDlNO]

A DORKAXE VIDEO LETS GO

[@the_travelingbreeze]

Midnight Suns is XCOM Lite, and I’m fine with that

[@BennyTheBuff]

23:40 fun little note

[@Qualjyn]

I grabbed this for Black Friday, in large part thanks to this video, and I'm having a hoot thus far, so thanks for that. I love the general feel of tactics games like XCOM, but the weight of decision making in the strategy layer, and the potential for a death spiral makes them often too overwhelming and intense for me. Midnight Suns almost feels like a "cozy" tactics game. I get a little bit of a similar feel from games like Wildermyth and Hard West, which I think are also a lot more simple and forgiving than XCOM, though maybe not quite to the same extent as Midnight Suns.

[@Vapour85]

I went through the first playthrough without even activating the cauldron and only realised when I couldn't fulfill a hero request in the 3rd act. Lol

[@Kurotaisa]

Hey I like Chimera Squad lol. I also like that the game rewards you for going non-lethal, seeing as your squad is a police force!

[@kylewolf740]

Got this because of the video. Going full dark side during the team meeting and everyone, even Captain, fawning over it aftwerwards was too funny

[@FunSize4Audibles]

I really enjoyed this game and still load it up to play a few general missions now and again, but it was also a big part of a depressive episode I went through. Had a pretty significant upheaval in my life and was really messed up for a while. Any free time I had I would get drunk and play this game until I was falling asleep at my desk. Thankfully I'm making better choices now. Still glad I had this game for some small comfort even though the behavior that led me to playing it so much wasn't very healthy

[@TheTopgeartony]

Yooooo another long video to get me though a work day, you're an absolute savour, just when I thought I had ran out

[@kingster14444]

Dude you're telling me after all this time The Hunter's Merciless ability works with Bind cards!? Oh my god I thought that card absolutely sucked because I thought it was specifically only for the status stun. Which for me basically never happened outside of the occasional environmental because I don't have the DLC character Storm

[@SilortheBlade]

I was really hesitant when I heard the combat would be card based, but it turned out to be great. Really surprised me. The game really hit home for me as I liked the exploration of the abby, I liked the combat, I'm a fan of marvel, and I like the persona style sim aspect. That said, a lot of the interactions seem at odds with the setting. Blade doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who is afraid to talk to a girl, even if that girl is Captain Marvel. I liked the mechanics, and even a lot of the interactions, but I think the writing didn't always jive with the superhero setting. That said the game is great overall so long as you enjoy all those mechanics.

[@bluerose1217]

2:14:13 I never saw it that way but still Lilith pulling a 180 felt a bit contrived

[@jplayer073]

I don't finish many games nowadays. Some of the last games I finished were Soma, Subnautica and Outer Wilds. It's been years. Loved Midnight Suns so much that I played through it multiple times. The gameplay was fantastic and the social aspects with the NPCs was a great way to give a brief respite from the tough battles, and I loved getting to interact with all these superheroes.

[@windwind3170]

1:10:00 You should really check out XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within soundtrack. Michael McCann did some of his best work there and every track from the intro to Squad selection to combat tracks are pure bangers. Check it out when you have free time it's worth it. Also on side note McCann also worked on Deus Ex prequels and it's even more impressive there.

[@CasualNaps]

So, about Wolverine's Legendary skill ... it does 2,464 damage to a single enemy if there's only one enemy on the field?

[@HungryHungryDude]

This combat and leveling up in this game was so much dang fun. While I could have definite done without the high school socializing aspects, it is still a real shame that it will prob never get a sequel.

[@nycto5335]

Ngl an Xmen game like this where you play as a young newbie mutant you customize would be cool. It would also allow them to expand the life sim mechanics quite a bit since it could take place in the Academy. Maybe giving more stat customization depending on the training and classes you take. It would honestly be peak. Comboing cards to take down a Sentinel and saving a couple of mutants then heading back to base to hang out with fellow students or classic members of the Xmen. Imagine a boss fight versus Magneto and how they could make the environmental attacks and positioning a really important thing or else your character ends up taking three buses to the face 💀

[@Dorkaxe]

*sigh* that sounds incredible tbh. I really hope somehow, SOMEHOW, that will be a possibility at some point. Man, would be amazing.

[@kingster14444]

I'm lucky my first playthrough I decided to go more neutral, or at least not fully light or dark, since it was pushed kinda hard at the start that I don't need to go one way. This made the light and dark dialogue options not a problem for me, as I basically just completely ignored that and just chose options either I agreed with or what I think the superheroes would like

[@windwind3170]

Oh I get it, it costs Heroism to have Venom on your team because his methods aren't exactly "Heroic".

[@Supernothing08]

Runaways is actually a very good story and highly recommend the B.K. Vaughn book.

[@AJ-zi6ry]

Y’know they made this game free on PS+ a bit ago. Maybe I’ll pick it up

[@batmanstrike8287]

I got this game recently and I gotta say, I really enjoy the combat/team mechanics. I would even say I really like the friendship idea. Where it drags for me is the endless dialogue. After I got Spider-Man I think I skipped through almost every conversation/cutscene, only stopping for my light points or friendship boosts. This game has WAY too much dialogue. To the point where any time someone wanted to talk to me after a mission, I would just skip past them until the story forced me into it

[@Ai.chehade]

I think their biggest mistake was not making a PVP post game option. This looks like a perfect chess tactics game

[@Optimusj1975]

I liked the game mechanics, but I think they made the graphics too complex, and yet the hero models look basic and not very appealing. Id it had simpler graphics (environment specially), and hence a lower price, word of mouth would have helped. Marvel's Avengers really hurt any Marvel game expectation.

[@nyx4926]

Will you be reviewing EDF IRON RAIN????

[@Dorkaxe]

gimme 3 more days

[@TargetRenegade]

It's free on Epic just now.

[@ShaneStapler]

great vid

[@leafia133]

This game is so good and I’m so sad that it’s not going to get a sequel. Which sucks because A lot of its problems could be fixed with a sequel

[@amazonen66]

Great video (and thanks for the small inclusion :D)! Might have to dust off the old xcom copies soon...

[@garretwoeller7669]

Midnight suns would've been loved more if it came out like 6-8 years ago its a good AA game and its fun the character writing is shockingly good. Ill note the sexual tension in Magik and Nico with some of these conversations really makes me think they wanted it.

[@DoritoGOD2811]

It's so interesting to me how we came from polar opposite backgrounds (I'm a big comic geek, but haven't played Xcom), yet we came to such similar opinions on this game. I agree so much with a lot that was said here, like: -How the alignment system can be pants on head stupid at time -How useless the team-up cards are and how it would be SO MUCH BETTER if you could just get rid of them. Or at the very least, pick which ones you want to use. If I have Captains Marvel and America in one team, then I want to have Steve's effect on the team-up card with Carol to give her a lot of block to help out her binary form. But sometimes the game fucks me and doesn't give me that one. The only thing I disagree with is Venom, I love his gameplay here. He is pretty selfish in combat, but so is Iron Man and he's my favorite to use. I do agree that he's boring as a character though, they really nerfed his psychotic goofiness to make him more family friendly. Great video, I'm looking forward to seeing your vid on EDF: Iron Rain since that's another game I've gotten into recently.

[@Dorkaxe]

MORE PEOPLE AGAINST TEAM-UP CARDS, YES!! Let's start a fan club

[@IcyHorn]

This game is free on epic games right now if any wants to play it on pc

[@lulairenoroub3869]

Did you just say that Firaxis is best known for XCOM?

[@justinfleck6329]

Wow this is a WAY more complex and flexible game than I thought based off the original description! I put way too much time and money into MTG and so i totally get how you enjoy getting new cards and how to use them with others. It was cool when you mentioned Matt Mercer as the male voice as I've been watching Critical Roll over the last few months so I got to be like "I KNOW HIM!" xD As always a very well done and complete video great job! Excited to see your next one :)

[@Dorkaxe]

Oh very cool, I had no idea Matt Mercer was involved with that! I know him from his work in a ridiculous number of video games. He's a very prolific VA, so that's sick you knew him!

[@justinfleck6329]

@@Dorkaxe Yeah he's the DM for Critical Roll, it is a VERY big and long running D&D group that have a ton of content out there so 100% worth checking it out if you're interested :)

[@Ocean5ix]

The game is amazing but it didn't really know who it's target audience was. The XCOM audience would've loved the tactical gameplay but would've hated the social aspects. Fire Emblem fans would've loved the social aspects (and tactical gameplay) but I don't think they were ever targeted as potential consumers. Then there's the ones that didn't consider the game at all because they judged it as a "card game" which it kind of is, but it kind of isn't. I've never found myself in a situation in this game where I couldn't use a move in a mission because I never got the card I wanted. This is not the kind of card game that has 52 card decks and you need luck and the stars to align for you to get what you want, in Midnight Suns it takes roughly 2 turns ou 3 at max for the card that you want to appear in your hand. IMO this game is masterfully designed. What surprised me the most was the amount of the "general" Marvel fans that completely hated on the game for being turn based. Of course I know there are a lot of teenager and kids that love Marvel but I didn't know they hated the idea of a turn based game so much, at some point after reading some comments I had the impression they would rather have Marvel's Avengers instead of Midnight Suns, just because of it's real time action combat system.

[@boiwhoactuallyareyou]

I need a dead island 2 and dying light 2 retrospective aha so many more too I’ve been binging loads of your videos for a while surprised you don’t have more subs

[@graysonschofer2242]

Dorkaxe posted I am now busy for 2 and a half hours

[@fishraposo7192]

Honestly, this game looks like the perfect "xcom lite with marvel characters" I hoped it would be. Thank you for the review, I'm 100% going to get it.

[@Exigentable]

The game went on sale and I took the plunge. It's pretty charming and just deep enough to be satisfying in both sim and tactics.

[@Exigentable]

I appreciate the runtime of the video, but I was sold as soon as you said you could pet a dog.

[@toongrowner1]

just finished the game yesterday and even though it was freakin long (and crashed a lot, playing on ps4) still freakin love it. It also helped that this game did not had any connection with the mcu. Even made love Morbius, a character I usual don't care that much for. He was such a blast and personally loved his gameplay (he even beat the final boss for me basicly XD). As for Caretaker.... lets just say, at some point I started to skip all her dialog, she was sooo insufferable.

[@Dorkaxe]

Caretaker slander is welcome here!! Haha glad you loved the game too.

[@felman87]

I was super interested in this game. "coming to Switch!" they announced. So I waited. And waited. Only for them to cancel the port. Boo, not cool!

[@Dorkaxe]

I would have been interested to see a switch version, since on my steam deck, the thing was working overtime to keep it going it felt like. I definitely feel like a switch copy would have sold well, though, so it's a sad deal all around :(

[@josesosa3337]

Question: is the main character of the game an original character by the player???? Or a canon character??

[@Dorkaxe]

They're an original character made for the game as far as I know.

[@josesosa3337]

@@Dorkaxe cool

[@WaddleDee105]

This game was a really pleasant surprise when I played it last December. I've never played a game like this before so I found it pretty difficult but it was a rewarding experience. I just really wish the Abby stuff was cut down significantly. There's just too much time spent on what amounts to chores but that's 90% of modern AAA games sadly.

[@cornellcarterjr6287]

This game made me want to play turn based games in general

[@Venzynt]

I unfortunately got bored of this game within 2 or 3 days. I was already skeptical of something as bombastic as superheroes being depicted by turn-based card gameplay. However I am an enjoyer of Magic the gathering, superheroes, the custom Hunter, and even the lifestyle/friendship stuff. So I bought the game. Ultimately the battles started to feel more like puzzles with only one or two designated ways to succeed, constant repeats of the same enemies and environments, and boss mechanics that were just annoying. Maybe if the game was about fighting villains in an interesting way, or even pvp against other players teams and builds. Also I wish Hunter could have other options beyond just light and dark, maybe like psychic or elemental. 6/10.

[@ed-edd-n-eddy]

With the exception of a few characters, I don't care about Marvel. Yet, I put 50 hours into midnight sun. I think that's a telltale sign that the gameplay was incredibly fun. I couldn't get enough so I'm shocked to see how poorly it was received.

[@hollowriller]

Would be funny if light side hunters obsession with caretaker is due to a miscommunication of their primary character trait from the writer to game devs: Good people like taking care of people -> Light side like caretaker of people -> light side loves caretaker.

[@jtsmelik1574]

YOU MEAN TO TELL ME WE ARE GETTING LOTR 3rd AGE!! MY KING!!

[@diegeticfridge9167]

As a HUGE Xcom 1-2 fanboy this game was really really good.

[@cheezburgrproduction]

Lmao intel isn’t a term that should be attributed to XCOM, as it’s just short hand for intelligence which is hilariously ironic.

[@JohnDoe-wl5xm]

no but the tony coddling in the light playthrough is so goddamn annoying, like even when tony is objectively being an asshole. like i get that overall light=avengers dark=suns but then they should LABEL THE POINTS AS THOSE

[@cheeseblast]

Zero shot this game is 69.99$ good regardless, and that is it's current steam price. Too rich for my blood.

[@soulsofdeath2569]

Am looking at this character and I got to say it's not really a midnight sons game and more of a marvel super heroes theme.

[@TheBlademan-]

this game is one of those that keeps getting better all the way until the end. Releasing it the same year as that trash Marvel Avengers game completely killed any hype it could’ve got.

[@ihatevnecks7015]

This was released 2 years after Avengers

[@karlklein2263]

I love deck builders, I love xcom. Midnight suns should've been harder.

[@MarinaInChains]

c'mon, show some respect for my girl Magik

[@MarinaInChains]

Firaxis famously doesn't know when to make their characters shut up

[@bandolin1216]

As a 60+ year old who consumed comic books like air in the 70s and 80s this game was sheer crack for me. You pointed out a lot of short comings that I didn't even notice except the emo kids thing which was so cringe. As an amateur 3D artist who pokes around with Blender 3D, I was very disappointed in the character models. They were terrible. Very little respect for human anatomy.

[@ThePhilatkinson]

Big XCOM fan but loathed this game. My guess is that the load of dating sim mechanics to play ping pong with blade instead of base building and meaningful tactics made this a commercial failure.

[@paulg.4812]

I think a big issue was it was initially advertised as "superhero X-Com" but then they pivoted away from that when they realized that particular combination, at least in the Marvel-verse, didn't work. I wouldn't call the final product X-Com related at all. There's a few similar terms, sure, and a couple of similar assets, but that has more to do with the producer as opposed to the gameplay. IMO, they should have done a better job pitching what the game actually was when they realized it wasn't going to be superhero X-Com, but I don't think they did the greatest job so they ultimately didn't end up pitching to an audience who would enjoy the game (in some cases actively scaring them away if they don't like X-Com style games) and they set the wrong expectation for people going in expecting X-Com, only to be disappointed. I personally ended up enjoying the game, but I was definitely worried earlier on and it failed to meet my expectations because it was ultimately a different product than I expected. Whenever I try to sell it to other people, the only X-Com mention I'll include is "it was made by X-Com people" but I don't otherwise try and compare the two.

[@hipo131]

around @12 minutes brother your playing a jrpg light x.x after you said eddie brock sucks all credibility out the window ain't now way bruh lol

[@Ed_G_Boise]

Shrek 2 review when?

[@Dorkaxe]

Just check my channel man, I've already talked about Shrek 2

[@Ed_G_Boise]

@@Dorkaxe I've seen it 😆

[@ITZBROKENhotDOG12]

Can you do a XCOM2 or WOTC retrospective! Excellent video!

[@keyblader2k6]

i wish this game suceeded but it had soooooo much going against it, its not even funny.

[@ubermorpth2208]

Hey another video going over a "big" marvel game that a critique youtuber went over (Charlatan Wonder with Marvel's Avengers and now you lol)

[@DonJosesito]

Great game i wish it wasnt littered with micro transactions.

[@graysonschofer2242]

New parent? Congrats brother

[@harryseldon362]

Never played XCOM so this review is useless to me.

[@kamenriderfourze2358]

I gave up on midnight suns when they showed the season pass characters cause when I think of supernatural I think Storm Deadpool and Venom

[@JoshuaAdim]

The roster is filled with unnecessary heroes which could have been replaced with better characters

[@abnnizzy]

If this game was a pure RPG without the rng cards bullshit, it would've been 110% better. But because of these things alone I skipped this game HARD.

[@meegufin1751]

Should of said with great power comes great rizz

[@haveacigar5291]

i grew up with captain marvel being a man not a woman that is a feminist

[@wickedprophet2375]

“WhErE dO yOu ThInK i GoT tHe SuIt…DoC??!” -🤖🦾