When Marvel’s Midnight Suns was announced a while back, people were still determining what to make of it. The initial trailers for the game focused more on the aesthetic than on the combat or how people would play it. Eventually, it was revealed that Firaxis would be the team behind the game and that they would be bringing a unique turn-based combat system for players to enjoy. One that would feature cards yet also embrace the various Marvel characters within the team and their classic abilities. In a special post on the PlayStation Blog, the lead designer for the game, Joe Weinhoffer, talked about what the combat system would be like. Plus, he noted the challenges they overcame to make it.

For example, Joe is not afraid to admit that the team didn’t realize at first that going from soldiers in the XCOM franchise to the superhero universe of Marvel would be a hard transition. But they learned that soon after development started.

Joe noted that the biggest reason for having cards be the focus of the combat is randomness. He defines tactics games as puzzles. You need to solve it to win, or you’ll get killed. But, with experience comes wisdom, which can lead to tactics that can wipe out everyone easily. That’s where the randomness comes in. It keeps players on their toes and always looking for the right solution for a problem.

The problem they had early on was making the game feel like it was using Marvel superheroes. At first, they plugged the characters into the typical XCOM gameplay, and it worked, but it should’ve been more fantastical. The next step was removing certain classic features to suit the superheroes, which worked but came at a cost. Now the game was too easy. That’s when the card system came into play. Tying hero abilities to cards added randomness to the proceedings and made it so you had to think tactically with each card you used to try and win. You can’t spam cards; thus, you have a balanced, strategic, heroic gameplay loop.

“In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, every hero has a unique set of abilities which you use to form a deck of 8 cards. When heroes are brought into combat, their decks are shuffled together and at the beginning of each turn you draw up to a hand of 6 cards.”

With each turn, you’ll be able to move your character around or redraw cards if you choose, but you’ll only be able to play three cards per turn. There are three types of cards: Attack, Skill, and Heroics. The first is to deal damage, the second is for support, and the last one is your super moves, if you will. But they will require you to have built “Heroism” to use them.

You’ll get to test out the battle system yourself on December 5th.

Source: PlayStation Blog