Marvel has announced its new shooter title, Marvel Rivals, featuring some of the company’s most popular characters from the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy. The title was previously rumored to be a first-person shooter, but new gameplay footage shows that this will not be the case, with the title being playable from a third-person perspective, with the heroes using their unique abilities to fend off their opponents.
A press release by Marvel Rivals‘ developer, NetEase, accompanied the game’s reveal trailer and described the title as “a thrilling, fast-paced, cooperative gameplay experience” with 6vs6 multiplayer battles seeing players bringing together their favorite superheroes from the Avengers, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy. These heroes can be combined to ignite new “Team-Up Skills”, with Rocket Raccoon climbing atop Groot, or Hulk charging Iron Man’s armor with his Gamma energy to unleash even more damage.
While its trailer focused mostly on revealing some of its main character roster and showing their powers in action, the accompanying press release revealed that Marvel Rivals features a new storyline crafted by the NetEase writing team. In Marvel Rivals‘ story, the central clash between Doctor Doom and his future counterpart from the year 2099 has forced countless universes to collide in the Timestream Entanglement, creating new worlds and crises, with the universe continually evolving in-game, providing the opportunity for regular seasonal updates and other post-launch content.
These new dimensions can show some of the Marvel universe’s greatest heroes turn villainous, and vice-versa, showcasing many characters in a new light as they have to band together to defeat both Dooms and save their respective realities. As the players fight through iconic locations such as Asgard or the Tokyo of 2099, they can use their heroes’ unique abilities to alter these environments, reshape the terrain, and craft a strategic advantage on the battlefield in real-time, with NetEase promising “endless possibilities“.
NetEase has previously worked with Marvel Games on the mobile titles Marvel Super War and Marvel Duel, but the trailer confirmed Marvel Rivals will be coming to PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. For those keen to play Marvel’s new shooter, a Closed Alpha is starting in May, and there will likely be more information available on how to join this in the coming month.
Source: Marvel Rivals/YouTube