Marvel and NetEase have just announced a brand new game – Marvel Rivals. The new PvP shooter will throw your favourite Marvel heroes and villains into the arena as Doctor Doom and his future counterpart wreak havoc on the timestream. The game leans into the familiar aesthetics and feel of games like Overwatch and Valorant. It will also feature an original story crafted by the team at NetEase.
From what Marvel Games and NetEase have revealed, Marvel Rivals will be a third person shooter. The game will feature a robust roster of heroes and villians including familiar faces from The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and even Marvel’s X-Men. Characters like Black Panther, Spider-Man, Magneto and Magik have already been revealed for the upcoming Alpha test scheduled for May.
Gameplay seems to build on the PvP gameplay we’ve seen in games like Overwatch and Valorant. Players will be able to play as their favourite Marvel heroes and villains to take out the opposing. Think of it as having your own Civil War battles like in the movies or comics. The 6v6 setup will allow you to also create combo attacks and synergies between heroes. In the trailer, Marvel and NetEase showed off The Hulk powering up Iron Man with Gamma rays to produce a devastating blast and Rocket jumping on Groot to take on a group of enemies. There seems to be more hero synergies possible in the game which we will have to discover when the game launches.
Marvel Rivals will also feature a diverse and evolving set of maps. These will cover familiar places like Asgard to story specific places like Tokyo in 2099. As you play, you’ll also be able to use the environment to get an edge on your enemies. You’ll be able to corner enemies by taking down walls or even set traps as you prepare your hero synergy to deliver a devastating blow.
The game is billed as a free to play game coming to the PC soon. So, if history is any indicator, we can expect some form of microtransaction for monetisation. Hopefully, it will be less offensive than NetEase’s mobile games. That said, Marvel Rivals will be available in Alpha starting May 2024. There’s no word on the actual release yet.