Despite being the new hotness in online multiplayer, I haven’t been especially grabbed by Marvel Rivals. Maybe it’s my lack of excitement for Marvel properties post-Endgame, maybe I’m wary of a free-to-play game from NetEase getting its pernicious hooks in me. Maybe I was just so betrayed by Overwatch 2 that I’m off the idea of a team-based shooter altogether.
But I’ll tell you what Marvel Rivals can do to get my attention: Give me that rug that Overwatch 2 pulled out from under me. And a new rumor says it might do just that.
Blizzard’s bait-and-switch
A quick bit of context before we begin. I was a rabid Overwatch fan when the game originally came out, bewitched by Blizzard’s slick presentation, a roster of fascinating heroes, and gameplay that felt just familiar enough after a few thousand hours of Team Fortress. But the game stalled, over-correcting to cater to the competitive set as Activision-Blizzard bet the farm on a pro eSports league and people were already soured on the loot box setup that had become endemic to the gaming world as a whole.
I was still onboard to learn more about these wonderful characters and the setting, but by the time Overwatch 2 came out, I had resolved not to spend any more money hunting down rare skins. I didn’t play it when it first came out, seeing the free-to-play game pass setup that aped Fortnite as a lateral monetization move at best. I sat there and waited for what was promised, what was going to make it worth it to upgrade to the sequel and at the same time basically erase the original game: A fully fleshed-out Player-versus-Environment mode.
Blizzard
The original Overwatch had a handful of these missions, sprinkled out to players as special events. They were little treats, games where you’d team up with other players in specific and highly-tuned roles taking down hordes of AI enemies and bosses. And, crucially, they gave us a deeper look at the characters and setting, giving us tasty little bits of lore and character insights that weren’t available in the game’s chaotic primary mode.
They were my favorite part of the game, and I couldn’t wait for a fully dedicated set of “Hero Mode” missions in the sequel. These were to come with leveled progress and branching skill trees, allowing players to explore aspects of the gameplay that just wouldn’t fit in a balanced team shooter.
They never arrived. Despite showing them off to games media and hyping them up as the big selling point for Overwatch 2‘s upgrade, they were canceled months before the game’s launch and Blizzard didn’t bother to tell anyone until half a year after the game came out.
In 2017 I made this custom Overwatch keycap set, using WASDKeyboards’ art tool, Adobe illustrator, and a blatant disregard for intellectual property.
Michael Crider/IDG
I still consider this to be a lie of omission Blizzard’s part and it absolutely killed any desire I ever have to engage with Overwatch as a game or a property. It was a betrayal, and if that sounds dramatic for a free-to-play game, so be it. Despite having a full collection of every LEGO Overwatch set, despite designing my own Overwatch keyboard, I couldn’t even tell you the names of the last several heroes released by the game.
Marvel Rivals is the new hotness
So, I haven’t touched Overwatch in about two years. And I have to admit that hearing there’s a new Marvel-branded game that’s very much going for the same vibe had me interested… until I heard it was from NetEase.
If you’re unaware, NetEase is a Chinese developer mostly known for an endless torrent of free-to-play mobile games, and I developed the habit of instantly dismissing any of its titles when I covered Android for years. They seemed to inevitably devolve into endless grinding that made it impossible to progress or compete without going into debt to do so.
But perhaps I was being too hasty. For one, Marvel Rivals looks good. Really good. Definitely leaning into a more anime-inspired aesthetic than either Overwatch (already anime-adjacent) or Marvel’s own animation and games.
There are some really interesting choices going on in a deep character roster. In addition to heavy hitters like Hulk, Wolverine, and Spider-Man, you’ve also got B-tier heroes that don’t get enough play on the big screen like Iron Fist, Psylocke, and Moon Knight, and some total left-field choices like Cloak and Dagger or Jeff the Land Shark.
Who is a shark that walks on land. Named Jeff. It’s entirely coincidental that Jeff shares a name with Overwatch’s former and much-loved game director, Jeff Kaplan.
Turns out, NetEase has been making a visible and apparently successful effort to break out of the mobile landscape and into more traditional “gamer” territory. Rivals is definitely its biggest-profile game for PC and consoles to date.
But it’s been releasing some interesting stuff as of late like Blood Strike, a PUBG-style battle royale with some fantasy elements currently sitting on a “Very Positive” Steam rating. Wikipedia says that NetEase recently launched an American game studio with some big industry veterans attached, at a time when every other publisher seems to be culling as many developers as possible. Intriguing.
Give me that PvE goodness
So all of that got my curiosity. Now here’s what’s got my attention: Marvel Rivals might get a serious PvE mode. The one that Overwatch 2 promised and abandoned, instead chasing the white rabbit of infinite money. What?
According to a series of leaks, it very much looks like there’s a new mode coming that asks players to team up to take on an environmental challenge with a big boss at the end. Like my favorite Overwatch PvE missions. It looks like a giant squid, at least in the limited pre-release assets that have been peeked at.
I’m under no illusion that Marvel Rivals is on the cusp of delivering the PvE game I’ve been waiting on for five years. The game does come with its own backstory and canon, leaning heavily into the multiverse that a lot of people are kinda sick of at this point, but that’s more an excuse to get a bunch of recognizable heroes and villains together with vaguely defined stakes.
Marvel has put some resources into other media to flesh out the game’s story… but that’s kind of Marvel’s bread and butter. And Blizzard did the same thing with Overwatch, only to let it spin its wheels for the better part of a decade.
But hope springs eternal. Based on the coverage I’ve seen of Marvel Rivals so far, it seems like the developers are extremely aware of how Blizzard mismanaged its game, tweaking and tuning to favor balanced competition over wild and ridiculous fun. And if anything is already primed for stupid fun, it’s superheroes, especially the poppy and colorful versions seen in Rivals.
It doesn’t hurt that Rivals unlocked all its playable characters from day one, sidestepping Overwatch 2‘s biggest and most annoying monetization push. And it borrows some of the better parts of Fortnite‘s setup, wherein you can only buy cosmetics that give no gameplay advantage. Though I’ll point out that Rivals doesn’t give you all the currency you need to purchase the next battle pass by completing the last one.
I never thought I’d be saying this back when I banished your mobile shovelware from my Android game roundups, but I’m rooting for you, NetEase. You have a rare opportunity to kick the legs out from under one of the biggest game publishers on the planet — hell, one of the biggest companies on the planet period, if you extend it to Activision-Blizzard’s corporate daddy Microsoft.
Good luck.
