Marvel Take On XCOM Gets Release, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, which you may know as SpandeXCOM, got a release date again (again). Publisher 2K Games announced the news today with a splashy animated promo during the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase. It’s out December 2 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Though it’s only been a public item for a year, the Marvel-themed tactical game has gone through it. First announced during last year’s Gamescom Geoffstravaganza, Midnight Suns was initially given a March 2022 release window (albeit without a specific date). By November 2021, just three months after its initial unveiling, the game had already been delayed to the back half of 2022. In June, during not-E3 2022, 2K gave it an October release date. Then it was delayed again this past August, and given a new window that coincided with 2K Games parent company Take-Two Interactive’s fiscal year—meaning sometime on or before March 31, 2023.
That window, however, only applies for the Xbox Series X/S, and PC versions; the last-gen console versions aren’t due until way down the line. There’s still no word on when those are expected.
Still, despite the turbulence, Midnight Suns has looked excellent at every turn. Developed by Firaxis, Midnight Suns clearly follows in the grid-based footsteps of the studio’s extraterrestrial-themed tactical games, XCOM and XCOM 2. Rather than a bunch of earthbound space marines, you control a cast of Marvel heroes Macbook, including Doctor Strange, Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, Blade, and Spider-Man. You also get to create your own hero, customizing their design and abilities.
The most interesting wrinkle, however, is its card-based mechanic. Rather than employing a standard moveset, you start each turn with a randomized hand of cards. Some might determine your movement options. Others might dictate what attacks or defensive moves you can make. Though it’s not exactly the XCOM clone some Firaxis fans are hungry for, the mechanic should shake up a longstanding formula. But XCOM diehards might yet bristle at one facet: Midnight Suns won’t have permadeath. Push the envelope all you want, we can’t have those heroes dying on screen!