Marvel Games and NetEase have announced their new multiplayer shooter game, Marvel Rivals. The new title features some of the company’s most popular characters from the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy as they battle their way through various alternate dimensions and timelines. As is often the case in multiversal stories, these new dimensions show some of the Marvel universe’s most well-known characters in a new light.
Some of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have turned villainous, and vice-versa, with plenty of surprises in store for players as their heroes go head to head in 6v6 multiplayer battles. Currently, the game’s roster pulls from a variety of Marvel media. Aside from the more commonly known Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, or X-Men characters, players will also be able to make up their teams of 6 with characters who haven’t been portrayed as often in mainstream media, such as Luna Snow or Magik.
Five Avengers can be seen throughout the trailer’s gameplay footage, each displaying their own unique abilities in combat. Bruce Banner can be seen in his human form, using some kind of Gamma blaster before transforming into Hulk to unleash more brute force attacks. Doctor Strange, who has been an Avenger in the comics, albeit not a permanent or long-standing one, is also featured heavily throughout the gameplay footage, flying alongside Iron Man and a web-slinging Spider-Man high above his allies on the battlefield, such as Black Panther, and using his magic to create some kind of protective forcefield.
Four of the Guardians of the Galaxy are confirmed to appear in Marvel Rivals, with Rocket Raccoon and Groot being shown prominently throughout the gameplay footage, with the duo being combined to ignite new “Team-Up Skills” as Rocket climbs atop Groot to get an additional height advantage to unleash his attacks. While Star-Lord and Mantis weren’t shown in gameplay footage, they did appear alongside other Marvel heroes toward the end of Marvel Rivals‘ trailer.
Various mutants will be joining the battle to save the multiverse in Marvel Rivals, and whether they have clashed in the past or not, these characters will be setting aside their differences when teamed up. Storm and Scarlet Witch were both featured prominently in the foreground of the game’s key art, while Namor and Magik were shown in the gameplay footage, with the latter using her Soulsword in combat and transforming into her demonic Darkchilde form much as Bruce Banner can with Hulk. Magneto was also briefly shown alongside other Marvel characters toward the end of the trailer, and can be seen toward the back of the game’s key art.
Marvel Rivals includes several characters that aren’t affiliated with these teams. These include Loki, who can seemingly shapeshift into other characters and use their abilities in the gameplay footage shown, a hulking, muscular version of Frank Castle (a.k.a The Punisher), and the estranged daughter of Galactus, Galacta. There’s no word on whether Galacta will be playable in Marvel Rivals, however, as there was no gameplay footage for her or Punisher in the trailer.
The gameplay also showed the ice-wielding Korean pop star Luna Snow – who first appeared in Netmarble’s Marvel Future Fight mobile game before joining the comics as an Agent of Atlas – in action, along with Gerard Way and Jake Wyatt’s Anime-inspired Spider-Variant Peni Parker, who is accompanied by her robot SP//dr.
While not shown in the trailer, a press release confirmed that Marvel Rivals features a new storyline crafted by the Marvel and the NetEase writing team. In Marvel Rivals‘ story, there is a central clash between Doctor Doom and his future counterpart from the year 2099, which has forced countless universes to collide in the Timestream Entanglement, creating new worlds and crises that the Marvel universe’s heroes and villains must team up to face.
Marvel Games and NetEase announced a closed alpha for Marvel Rivals will be starting in May, so it won’t be long before players can experience exactly what multiversal chaos ensues, and there will likely be more information available on how to join this in the coming month. Marvel Rivals is confirmed to be coming to PC via Steam and Epic Games Store with its full release.
Source: Marvel Rivals/YouTube
