Video Gamers Podcast - Hijack A Host Marvel's Midnight Suns - Gaming Podcast

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

Gaming hosts Josh, Ryan and John are suiting up and diving into the supernatural world of Marvel’s Midnight Suns for this Hijack a Host! Is this bold blend of card-based tactics and superhero drama the shake-up the gaming genre needed? We’re breaking down everything from gameplay mechanics to the surprising emotional depth of its story. If you love video games that take risks, this episode’s for you. Plus, we’ll talk about how Midnight Suns fits into the current video games landscape and what it means for the future of strategy in gaming. Don’t miss this epic episode of the Video Gamers Podcast!   Thanks to our MYTHIC supporters: Redletter, Disratory, Ol’Jake, Gaius and Phelps   Thanks to our Legendary Supporters: HypnoticPyro, Patrick and PeopleWonder   Connect with the show: Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/videogamerspod Join our Gaming Community: ⁠https://discord.gg/Dsx2rgEEbz⁠ Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/videogamerspod/⁠ Follow us on X: ⁠https://twitter.com/VideoGamersPod⁠ Subscribe to us on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@VideoGamersPod?sub_confirmation=1⁠ Visit us on the web: ⁠https://videogamerspod.com/⁠ Follow us on Twitch: ⁠https://www.twitch.tv/videogamerspodcast⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello fellow gamers and welcome to the video gamers podcast. I've been hijacked. Don't worry this isn't deja vu, it is a new episode. The return of hijack a host is always a good time and we had another Incredible supporters sneak their way in and force me to play yet another game Eat it Ryan wasn't a good time or am I bitter about back-to-back picks? Well, we're about to find out but first some introductions are in order I am your host Josh and joining me I'll bring him on every mission I can but also yell at him for

dying so quickly it's Ryan me I'm mr. res dude Ryan res me Ryan res me once or twice I like how you res once or twice and now you're like whatever everyone that watches the Twitch knows. Stupid Twitch man. Stupid Twitch documenting everything. I got receipts brother. Can't hide from it anymore. I know man, what the heck man.

And joining us, he's equally as metal but has hotter takes than Ghost Rider, it's John. That's the most flattering comparison anybody has ever made for me. Bro, Ghost Rider in this game is incredible by the way. Yeah, he's awesome. He's, yeah. But most of it is awesome. It's really weird, I don't actually know that much about Ghost Rider, man.

Believe it or not, as much as I love like superhero stuff, Ghost Rider's one of those guys that has flown under the radar for me. It's Nick Cage, dude. Well, no, he was terrible, bro. What are you talking about? Nick Cage?

Yeah, Ghost Rider is the coolest character in Marvel that they cannot get right. Oh, man. Because they need more Nick Cage. He's got to roll up on his motorcycle. No, man. Terrible. Terrible.

Terrible. I'm going gonna save the day I love Nick Cage and I hate Nick Cage at the same time man But he's been in some of my favorite movies to the rock with Sean's almost Superman Yeah, what Nick Cage was almost super. Oh my here. I haven't seen this can know you can find him. Burton's Superman Yeah, cringy. He looks pretty cool. No, it looks terrible Oh my gosh. All right. Well for the listeners out there that maybe haven't pieced this together yet I did get picked to play a game that involves

Marvel superheroes and we're going to announce that here in just a second but guys we have a new supporter to thank which is one of our favorite things in the world to do a huge shout out to bullet for signing up for rare status bullet join the day like all awesome people has been chatting it up with everybody awesome member already we'd love to see a bullet thank you so much for supporting this podcast thank you you, buddy. Making this show possible. I think they, I think they were like immediately in, um, in like, uh, Helldivers or peak,

or they were playing something like right away with everybody. Oh, right away. It was awesome. One of my absolute favorite things about our community is seeing people jump in and then just instantly like finding people to play games with. And it's just like people are super welping welcoming super welcoming and You know, they're just playing and anybody that wants to join man. They're like hop on in with us, buddy

We got you which I know people are like that doesn't happen Oh, it does happen and if you want it to happen to you if you need people to play games with There's a link in our episode description fellas. So you can click that and be in gaming Nirvana. Yeah. Guys, I got hijacked again. Again. Now I know people are like, bro, you just, you guys just did a hijack episode.

Like, how are you doing this one? Well, the good news is we started these games early. I started last of us probably like a month ago. And then after that, I started Last of Us probably like a month ago and then after that I started playing this game and so I've got a decent bit of hours into this one and this is a game that I've actually been really curious about for a long time. So when our legendary sneaky supporter snuck into the legendary tier and I get to make one of you play a game, right? And I went, yeah, you just made it before we switched everything up. So this episode is courtesy of the one and only Patrick,

AKA Debt Marp, one of our favorite people in this community. Yeah, Patrick, my clone. I mean, yeah, we say this all the time, but it's like, dude, if you really wanna meet awesome gamers like yourself, that are are like just have a love of video games want to talk about it are absolutely cool people are respectful to everybody else like you know Patrick is the epitome of that you know it's

awesome dude and so Patrick reached out to me and I will say say this, guys, just to give everybody a little bit of prep, Patrick asked me two questions. They said, hey, have you ever played Ratchet and Clank? And have you ever played Marvel Midnight Suns? And I said, no, believe it or not, I've never played either one of those. And they went, man, this is really tough. And then they said, OK, I'm going

to pick Marvel Midnight Suns for you to play. And I was like, all right, I'm in man I've been super curious about this game for a really really long time I I knew that it was a game that a lot of people liked I knew that it was a game that people had some complaints about because I looked into this game when it first released back in the day and I just I love the fact that it's like if it hadn't been for Patrick, I probably never would have played this game even to this day.

It's just one that's been on my backlog. But I got forced into it. And here we are, boys. So are either one of you familiar with Marvel Midnight Suns? Yeah, I played it. I didn't finish it, but I played it pretty close to launch. I think it came out in 2022, 2023, something like that. But I played it.

Then out for a couple years now, yeah. Just as a guest image on, do you know how many hours you put into it, if you had to take a wild guess? I probably put 20ish hours into it. Okay. Oh wow. That's a pretty good bit, yeah. Yeah, it was at a time when I was selling my business. So I got, like we do, we got distracted with real life stuff

and I never went back to it. So I'm really curious now, what were your thoughts on it, John? So my overall thoughts are, is I'm a total mark for anything Marvel related. I love the Marvel universe. I have Stan Lee's tattoo, like his autograph tattooed on my arm.

I am a huge fan of anything Marvel related, so I was really excited for this. I, at that point, hadn't had a lot of experience with deck building type games, and so that was kind of a new new venture for me but overall what I found was that the combat was extremely enjoyable but I didn't like most of the other elements of the game if I'm being honest the there was a really forced kind of relationship building

element to the game that I really didn't care for. And the whole experience kind of reminded me of my experience with the Fire Emblem games, where I was like, man, I really love the combat, but I can't get out of the other elements of the game fast enough. And I think that was part of why I like can't get out of the other elements of the game fast enough. And I think that was that was part of why I ultimately didn't go back was I loved the combat, but I just the the the relationship building parts of it, the meandering through

I can't remember what it's called, but the the mansion part, the meandering it's like, you know, kind of it was repetitive and I like couldn't get out of it fast enough. You know, it, I mean, that's a fair, honestly, this is, I talked about being excited for this game. I talked about some of the things that when it released that were some of the complaints, because I was very interested in this when it released. And then like you said, life happens and I just never got a chance to play it. But you kind of voiced.

One note, like the combat is, in my opinion, exceptional. Like it is perfect for me. I just wish that the overall presentation, if they would have approached this more like a Sleigh of the Spire where there's a very minimal story component and it's mostly just the cut dry clean combat element to it I would have far preferred the experience. I got a question on that.

John, do you think that doing that is they just tried to do too much instead of you know when sometimes everyone tries to get like their fingers into every kind of aspect of a game or the way they do it. Should it have just been more heavily focused on that combat and that would have made it overall a better experience, you think? No. I mean, I think that there is a world where they could have pulled the game off as it was intended.

It's just that, man, it just wasn't done well, in my opinion. The relationship building part of it was very, very arduous. The character you play is kind of by design, but it's kind of like unremarkable. And there are certain parts of it that just should have been eliminated altogether. I think there's a world where they could have pulled it off, maybe with a bigger budget or something. But if they would have just reduced off, maybe with a bigger budget or something. But if they would have just reduced it down to the core combat element and made it more like a just straight up deck builder like Slay the Spire, but featuring Marvel characters,

I thought it would have been awesome. If it would have been like the Magic the Gathering version of Marvel Rivals, I think it would have been like a 10 out of 10 game for me. Yeah. It's funny because we're going to talk about this, but in my outline for rivals, I think it would have been like a 10 out of 10 game for me. Yeah, it's funny because we're gonna talk about this, but in my outline for this, I literally have this game has three very distinct aspects. You have your relationship, I'm just gonna call it a relationship sim because it literally is like that is one massive part of this game. You have your turn-based combat, which I am a fan of in general. I know Ryan is not. So we're going to kind of talk about that because there is very much a world of turn-based combat

that I despise. And that is like XCOM, a very famous series where it's just too slow. It is too tactical. It is, I just don just does, I don't like it at all, but then you have turn-based combat that's like Baldur's Gate three or expedition 33 or you know, there's other games where I'm like, Oh, I freaking love this. Like final fantasy for instance, like where I'm like, Oh, I am totally jiving with this turn-based combat, man. I love the strategy involved. I love the thinking. Um, and so it's like, I was very curious which angle Midnight Suns was gonna

kind of lean into on this and then you almost have this weird like exploration type game where John you mentioned it you're really they put a lot of emphasis on exploring this massive like mansion and the grounds that it's on and unlocking secrets and stuff like that also so we're gonna get into that to try to give people an idea. But since you had played it, and I didn't even know that you had played it, then I just, I wanted to get your take on it to see if we agree or disagree on that.

So Ryan, you are a fan of Marvel stuff. Does this game, when you, I know you've watched gameplay on it. I have to imagine the turn-based combat was like an instant like, nope, not for me me kind of thing I mean, I remember seeing trailers and it looked like The character designs and the way they portrayed them and stuff looked cool from the trailer and what I remember seen and I was intrigued And that's kind of as far as it went because yeah, just the second I see turn-based my brain just goes And I you know, it's it's it's you know it's it's it's my thing but it's

it's my thing you know it's I just I see that and it's immediate turnoff yeah yeah I get that man if expedition 33 didn't do it for you then there is no hope that almost did it almost did like at this point I realized there's zero hope man this is like me enjoying like a sim game man and this is the best sign of that is that today I was just you know doom-scrolling in between sets at the gym and I came across some expedition 33 like merch video and it like had the music was like in the background and I was like oh I'm like man that kind of like that like pop something in my head I'm like maybe I wouldn't mind playing a little bit

more you know so it's it's uh yeah That was the closest one as far as turn-based goes, but by the way, hey Rick Rick on Spotify I know you're listening to this man. We almost made it through an episode without expedition 33, but we're bringing it right back for you, buddy Sorry Rick, I love Rick by the way. It's funny, yeah. It's a very love-hate relationship with our buddy Rick here, but he made a good point. Our number one Spotify commenter, for sure. Yeah. So, hey, we've always said, man, differences of opinions are okay to have, man, as long as you can be respectful to people that don't have the same opinion. Area of opportunity there, Rick. Area of opportunity. That's really all we promote, man, is just be kind to others that may not have the same. Area of opportunity there, Rick. Area of opportunity. Yeah, that's really all we promote, man. It's just be kind to others

that may not share your opinions. So, all right guys, so you know what, since we kind of brought this up, I want to talk about the three aspects of this game, and then we'll kind, I'll try to divulge some of my thoughts on this stuff. This game is absolutely three games in one, in my opinion. It is the turn-based combat.

I am going to say right now, that is my favorite part of this game. Totally, yeah. Like, being a superhero, Captain Marvel, you know, Dr. Strange, I didn't even know who Nico Miru was. Like, I say I'm a Marvel fan. I was a massive, massive comic book fan when the Infinity War series was going on in the

comic books. And so at that time in my life, I knew freaking everything, dude, about everything Marvel. And then I kind of fell off. But then the movies came out and I got really into Marvel just like everybody else in the world. But then Marvel kind of started falling off and I kind of went, yeah, thus ends the reign of Marvel in my life. But I'll be honest, I didn't know who this Niko person was. She's cool in the game.

Magic is in the game for Marvel rivals, so that was cool. So I had a good bit of familiarity with a lot of these characters. It is turn-based combat. It is more akin to XCOM than it is to like Baldur's Gate three or something like that. And so when I started to get into the actual combat in this game, I kind of went, uh, oh, there's, you can feel the computer thinking sometimes. Like, I know that's a goofy like thing to say, but there's times where it's like your characters are standing still and you can tell that like the computer's going like

processing, processing, don't want to move the guy there We'll move them over here. You know and then it like they take their turn and stuff. I will say guys there is nothing like being iron man and like playing that card and then just blast in like three guys or Setting up some big combo Between like magic and your guy the hunter and then knocking somebody through like a Magic portal and having them smash into an electrical generator and getting shocked for the turn and stuff like that So this one was weird to me because in theory I shouldn't like the combat in this game And yet somehow I really liked the combat in this game. I do wish it was a little bit more sped up.

It is a little bit slower in its pacing. Every round that you do, reinforcements show up. So you get a couple little fodder guys that pop in there as well. And it kind of got old after a little while where it was just kind of like, okay, well I don't need new guys every single round. So what are you two giggling about nothing? No no no no no No, we're Want to know what the two of you were giggling about Ryan made a mark that would be just a very appropriate

That's what she said sort of moment That's worth noting I saved that for later. That's the behind the scenes stuff. We'll have Greg turn that into something great. Also, you've got to say Nico, because my brain just goes to Nico Bellic. Nico Bellic.

And I'm just picturing him like, Wolverine, let's go bowling. Come on. Yeah, she is the staff of the one. I've never even heard of this thing before. So all that to be said, I really enjoyed the staff of the one. I've never even heard of this thing before so All that to be said I really enjoyed the combat in this game. I wanted more of the combat But we're gonna talk about the relationship sim part of this game, too Can I ask a quick question too? I know you mentioned because I was reading through reviews and what people thought of this game on Steam and stuff

You said XCOM one of them said that it's like XCOM, Slave the Spire, and Persona all wrapped up into a Frankenstein of a game. Is that off base or is that- No, that's actually, there's a lot of truth to that statement on its like, at face value, except it doesn't do relationship building nearly as well as Persona.

Like one of the reasons I like Persona is that it kind of, it's a turn-based RPG, but it has all these other fun elements to the game where like I truly enjoyed the relationship building in Persona. When, you know, there's a romantic element to the, this is totally cringe to say out loud by the way There's a relationship building like a romantic relationship building to persona that like towards the endgame of persona 5 I felt

Conflict I was like gosh, who do I who do I choose here? And there was literally no no element whatsoever of that in this game. I honestly didn't care at all about the relationships in this game. The XCOM- I really tried to riz up magic. I'm just going to throw that out there. Well, yeah, see, but except I read somewhere that you're the hunter, the character that you play as like Captain Friendzone. You're talking to everybody

But there's no romantic element whatsoever Okay, I listen listen you guys what the hunter is the worst character as a lead character I think I may have ever seen in a video This dude is the Cringiest worst voice lines worse acting. I mean he's the worst Superhero I have ever seen in my life Ryan since you know nothing about this guy. You want to know what is his his like schtick is he's got two swords He's the hunter

You don't know what his powers his like shtick is he's got two swords he's the hunter you don't know what his powers are you like occasionally has some weird yellow beam with like some black tendrils that wraps out and like can fling somebody around and then otherwise it's like this dude is the worst man I could not stand playing it's this guy I'm literally like I said magic I'm like magic I don't understand playing against this guy. I'm literally, like I said, Magic, I'm like Magic, I don't blame you that you have zero interest in me at all in this game because this guy is terrible. You're like this kind of newborn guy because you're brought back from the dead and you don't know how to interact with people

and it is just the cringiest worst thing ever. Whoever came up with the hunter, you need to be fired because anybody could have come up with anything better than this, man. He's like Steve Buscemi at the school. He walks up, he's like, hello, fellow heroes. Dude, it is so bad, like so bad. Have you ever played a game like this

where you are creating a hero in a really well-known IP universe that actually was good? Like, I can't... The only other... I tried to play DC Online or what, DC Heroes Online, and they had like... City of Heroes? Yeah, there you go, thank you. And there's like a create a hero feature there, and's just like dude you how do you stand up to these? Like legends of pop culture, you know, like I don't It's the crazy part is is that you're supposed to be like the strongest one out of all of them and it's like why because

of my two swords that I have like You know like yeah, it was one swords one thing but two swords You know like yeah, it was one swords one thing but two swords He's what am I hunting you know like a like a terrible like character cuz I found it like this guy's I oh my gosh. So anyway the hunter is I would have strongly purfers part of this entire game I Would have strongly preferred a situation where they let you take Where they would let you take the point of view of one of the actual Marvel the established Marvel characters Dude, let me be Iron Man and just lead everybody from that like this

Anyway, I digress guys I could spend ten minutes talking about why the hunter is terrible and how he doesn't know how to interact with people and yet he's he's Commanding dr. Strange and iron man and they're like deferring to this guy all of a sudden and I'm like bro my two swords They go who fear me, you know, and it's oh, it's just the worst man. Who's this guy? Oh crap. He's got two swords Yeah, I listen to him. Oh goodness So alright, so now that that's out of the way this relationship sim thing is just weird man I I didn't hate it oddly enough like it was an interesting part of the game to be like, okay I see where they're going with this They want to really build this relationship between like these superheroes and how they can interact and and that kind of thing

It was it felt weird at, and then for a little while I kinda got into it, cause it's like you meet Spider-Man a little bit later and I'm like, oh sweet dude, like I get to hang out with Spider-Man, you know? And so it's like, hey dude, we're doing these like little hangouts and you're building your relationship up.

And the whole point of all this is that if you build your relationship up with these characters, it unlocks like hero combos, it unlocks like hero combos, it unlocks new abilities for them. So it does have like gameplay elements that you benefit from. But this complaint that I saw and you mentioned, John is legitimate where it is like, dude, the, the, this game is so dialogue heavy in some areas that it was just like, I got to the point and I really, I really tried to be invested for like the first 15 hours of this game.

And then it just got to the point where I was just like, dude, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip, skip. You can't skip some cut scenes is the problem. Some cut scenes where it's like a store, it's more of like a story-based element. You cannot skip. And then I'm just like, Oh, okay. Well, I gotta watch this. And then like, am I, you know, checking Twitter or chatting on discord until it's over and that kind of stuff. So it's, it's an odd thing because for a while I was like, cool,

I'm kind of digging this. Like you really learning some of the stuff about these characters and and and you know like magic's got some dark past and stuff like that but you know ultimately it was just like guys I just don't care about this anymore like just let me fight people man let me use this cool card based like hero system thing, man, and I don't want to talk to people anymore. So, it was a very, very weird combination to me to go from this turn-based combat with superheroes and their abilities, which was really neat, and how they pair together, and the strategic elements to like, let me bring these three heroes on this mission because their

Abilities pair up in this way. This guy might be more of a support character or I can reposition enemies Which is helpful. This guy's pure damage Oh this person's tanky and I like that and I just wanted more of that. But ultimately for me the relationship sim part wore out very quickly You know like I said I hit about that 15 hour mark And then I was just like I'm kind of done with these relationships man like I agree dude I still read I read probably four to five different trade paperback cut. You know comic book compilations every single week and Man I I couldn't get through that I can't imagine anybody listening to all the dialogue in this game

Like even the most die-hard fans. I could imagine Some people love it dude like honestly I have seen people be like dude if you dig in like the relationships in this game are really deep and you learn a lot about them and you forge these bonds and blah blah blah. So I didn't hate it. Oddly enough, I thought I was going to hate it and then I did not hate it for like a solid like 10 hours. And then I kind of started to hate it and I was just like, I really don't care about these guys, man. And the other thing is there is a light and dark system to where it's like the choices you make, you can choose to be kind of evil or dark,

and then you can try, I went with the jerkiest playthrough I could possibly do. I picked dark for everything, no matter how uncomfortable it was. The neat thing is, is that there's a couple characters that are more on the dark side of things. So like Magic, for instance, was like the meanest, like just darkest thing I could say. She's like, we understand each other. And I'm, for instance, was like the meanest, like, like just darkest thing I could

say. She's like, we understand each other. And I'm like, yeah, we do. And then other people, I did that to like Dr. Strange one time and he was like, how dare you speak to me this way? And then it was like relationship down. And I'm like, oh, you funny, dirty, I don't care. You know, like, I just, I don't know, man. So, there's that, there's this whole big exploration thing, man, where you're running around these grounds, you have to unlock these abilities that like, will show you hidden things or open doors that you come across, and it's all just cosmetic rewards,

and maybe you get a new hero ability, or you get a copy of a hero ability, so it's like, then you can upgrade that ability, that card, so it's a little bit better and stuff like that. But this was just a lot of like running around these pretty massive grounds, just looking for something new to kind of interact with. And then it's like, okay, like you have to do like

a challenge to unlock this new ability that you would then use at these icons that you would see on the ground. And then that would reveal something that you couldn't see before. And I'm like, bro, I'm the hunter. Dr. Strange and Iron Man are deferring to me. You telling me I can't see invisible stuff yet?

Like, come on, man. Like, I don't know. So that part was weird. I really legitimately feel like this game was made to be a live service game like in so many aspects with the cosmetics and the upgrades and the Relationship building and and and all of these different systems There's there's daily training where you get to like level up your training grounds And then you get if you take that character that you train with on a mission

They have like a bonus for that mission mission but then there's like the relationship system but then there's the like the the hero system where if you send them out on these little like side quests that they get a new level up to an ability or something like that and it's like every this game screamed live service game to me that didn't ultimately wind up being made into a live service game for some reason and they kind of just went yeah maybe we should just make this single player guys we're out of time and money but that's what it felt like and it was weird man because it's like who makes a live service single player game but that

is exactly what midnight suns felt like to me and it worked sometimes and then other times it didn't and I was just like I don't know that I played a game like this I think it's like Is it was really weird man? So that's that's weird I mean cuz they do life service games have a certain feel to them not to say that they're not fun or they can't be bad But there is a feel to a live service game and for it to feel that way But not be a live service game and for it to feel that way but not be a live service is definitely unique.

It really is. This game is not like very many other games that I have played because of the way it's trying to mishmash these three different genres together. And they don't really jive together super well to me, but in a weird way, it still kind of works, man, because while I was playing this, like, I'm like, okay, cool. I just did this really fun combat mission and I made it through and okay, cool.

And I move on to the next part of the story, but now I'm back in this mansion and I'm talking to these characters and I'm trying to put a birthday party together for Magic because Nico wants Magic to be happy. So I'm running around talking to all these characters, trying to get Peter Parker to hang up the decorations because he can climb on the ceiling and stuff.

And then it's like, but it's this weird glimpse into like the mundane part of superhero life, which is kind of endearing in a weird sort of way. Yeah. But then 10 hours later, I'm like, I'm done with this man, I don't care, like just let me fight people and enjoy the combat part of it. So yeah. So like for instance, on the other side of this point.

We're running out of time already somehow. Spider-Man 2 is a game that did that mundane side of like superheroes really, really well. Oh yeah. Like to just see his daily life and going places. Yeah, there's just like little odds and ends kind of like errands that he's running, but the way that it's presented, you're like, oh dude, this is awesome.

Like I'm loving figuring out the day to day of Spider-Man. This game didn't pull it off. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think it pulled it off very well. All right, so listen, somehow we're 30 minutes in. Yeah, what the heck? I think it pulled it off very well. All right. So listen, we're somehow we're 30 minutes in. Yeah, what? Like this is a massive game. I mean, I just we don't have time to break down all the little subsystems in this game. But again, it has like 50 different subsystems.

You can decorate your room. You have this like this is part of the other issue is like they wanted to do this like weird cosmetic thing where you can wear like civilian clothing. And there's this whole thing where you have like a hundred different outfits but I'm like dude I'm the hunter but I'm running around and like like a weird like colorful sleeveless t-shirt and like beach shorts all of a sudden you know and I'm like this is so like distracting to me like and then I don't know how the IP worked

but like all the superheroes look like the superheroes but they kind of look a little janky because the visuals in this game weren't super top-notch so it almost looked like a cheap Bethesda clone of like superheroes and then the voice acting for the heroes was way different than I expected it to be and it's not Robert Downey, Jr As Iron Man, it's some dude. There were some good ones. Oh, this isn't my eye. What's that? There were some good ones like Wolverine and a few of the other ones that I wrote It's been a while since I played but there were some good the voice acting. It's not terrible in this by any means

It's just not the voices. I'm used to so then it had to like, I had to like, tell my brain like, it's okay, this doesn't need to actually be Robert Downey Jr. But I don't know, man. Like I said, the best way I can describe it is this is three different games that were put into one game. Even the visuals in the art style and the combat is nothing like what the visuals in the art style are at

when you're in the mansion running around Like legit it feels like it's two completely separate games that somebody threw together and went. Okay guys. Well, here you go. So I Don't know. Alright, so let's let's talk about my thinking on this. I I had fun with this game like legitimately Like I kind of started getting into it. It was a little slow to start I really just wanted to fight things and kind of get into this strategic combat system I love the fact that you unlock super Superheroes like I finally met Wolverine. I'm like bro. You gotta let me be Wolverine man And then sure enough Wolverine joins you for a mission, you know, and then it's like Spider-Man joined me and it's like Oh, but then he permanently joined me. So I'm like, oh heck

Yeah, I get to have like Spider-Man and then Captain America shows up on one mission out of the blue, but then he stayed with me. So I'm like, oh, this is super cool, man. Like I loved the interaction between the superheroes. I love the combat in this game. That part was fun. Even though it was a little heavier on the XCOM side, I didn't hate it at all because like John, like you said, the card system I thought made it very neat to kind of how do I make the most out of these cards that I have in my hand

I can redraw a couple cards each turn But I only get three actions that I can do before the turn is over. So I really enjoyed that aspect of it the relationship sim part of it It was novel at first for me, but then it really started to just get old and I was like I don't care about this part of the game but I'm forced into this part of the game every single time I complete a combat mission like every single time so then I was like ugh like so then I start just skipping dialogue and then it's like but does that then I'm if I'm skipping it I'm not enjoying it so then it's like why is this in here It's distracting from what I want in this game.

The exploration part, I actually didn't hate it first. And then I just went, this is giving me absolutely nothing other than cosmetics, which I don't care about because my guy looks like an idiot when he's running around in swim trunks and a tank top. I'm like, I'm supposed to be some massive superhero guy and I look like an idiot. So that part was like, I'm supposed to be some massive superhero guy. And I look like an idiot, you know? Like, so that part was like, I just couldn't get into any of that side stuff either.

So, yeah. This is what do you get this game out of 10? I didn't hate it. That's my problem, man. I'm really trying to figure that out. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm kind of rambling right now because I'm really trying to figure that out. I don't know if you noticed, but I'm kind of rambling right now because I'm really trying to figure out my overall thoughts on this.

I really liked some aspects. I didn't like other aspects. I played this for really, right at about 20 hours of play time. And I didn't cringe to myself anytime I like loaded up and played it. But at the same time, there was always something where I was like, why did you guys do this do this like why did you put this in this game? I?

Think overall for me. This is like a seven and a half out of ten guys Okay It's not bad It is not a bad video game in any form whatsoever and honestly if you're the kind of person that loves relationships and dialogue and trying to like see how much you can max those out and understanding the different personalities, because again, I could be this dark evil kind of brooding guy to magic and she was eating that up, you know, but then if I was that way to like Captain America, he just hated me at

that point, you know, he was like, what's your problem man? And then I'm like, okay. But so I could see like this being very rewarding for like a completionist Somebody that likes like multiple types of distractions in a game to where it's like, okay. I'm kind of tired of the combat Let me focus on the relationship. Okay. Well, I'm tired of the relationship. Let me see you like the combat So it's like you're getting it's like a buffet guys, know there's no such thing as a delicious high quality buffet wrong because you're getting so many foods out there Well, I mean in Vegas maybe but yeah Any Chinese food buffet is the best buffet? When you take this many different foods, and you them all together, nothing is going to stand out.

But everybody likes going to a buffet from time to time. Yeah. And that's what this game is. It was like the golden corral of video games for me. Where it's like, that's what it was, man. There's just a bunch of 70-year-olds around here. You get excited to go. You're like, bro, we're going to golden corral.

You know you're going to leave full and happy. But then when you're there eating, you're kind of like're going to go and corral like you know you're gonna leave full and happy But then you when you're there eating you're kind of like this is not nearly as delicious as I can personally say I've never Been excited to go to Golden Corral Yeah, really no I'm excited every time I go there any buffet man I'm I'm a quantity over quality food. Yeah Chinese buffet or something like that, but golden corral, man. Oh, man, that's the best of all.

That's like the Little Caesars of buffets. I mean, that's fair. That's fair. You're not wrong. And that's a shot at all you Little Caesars fans in the Discord, just so you know. Yeah. Little Caesars is garbage pizza, man.

It's cheap, and it'll fill you up. I'm not saying I don't eat it, but you gotta accept what it is, man It's garbage pizza. Okay, there's a reason that it used to be five dollars for a hot and ready. Yeah, so um, yeah This one's just weird man. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it to me It's like I can appreciate that a lot of work went into this It is I didn't crash performance was good. Like, you know, it ran fine. It just was very disjointed and I didn't like certain portions of it. Whereas I really liked other portions of it.

So if there was something that I guess after your full playthrough and experience, something that you could change that you feel would enhance your experience or make it better overall, like what? Take out the relationship part. Okay. Take out the whole relationships in part, put all that extra effort into making the combat tighter, faster, more dynamic.

And I would have been like a pig in mud, dude. Legitimately. Oh wow, okay. If you would turn this game into, I mean, this is not a fair thing to say, but like Baldur's Gate 3 for instance, right? And again, that's an unfair comparison. But if you had given me the combat systems where it's like positioning multiple multiple strategic elements you do fight like villains

from time to time but like more of that you know maybe a few more action points to give me like a little bit more variety in the combat like I would eat that up in a heartbeat dude Marvel with like this deep strategic turn-based combat system. I wanted more of that. Like I give me more of that, but it was just so tempered by this relationship sim slash. Like eight different systems, man. And that's not even counting the different currencies that you can get and the unlockables that you can get and the training upgrades and the mansion part and the like there's just so many

different things it's like it's a buffet that's exactly the like the best analogy I can give is like no one part of this game could be incredible because they tried to do too many different parts of it and it just wound up being filling but bland. The steak was, but the rest of the sides were kind of meh. Yeah, the steak was decent. It wasn't like I'm not spitting out the steak, but it's like, man, there's way better steak out there if you're in the mood for steak too. But yes, at the same time, it's like, okay, well, I'm just going to eat the steak because

I found the best thing on the buffet. Can you tell we're hungry? We just keep talking about food. Always hungry. So that's it for me. We just keep talking about food. Always hungry. So that's it for me. I mean, yeah, 7 and 1 half. I'm glad I got the chance to play this. Thank you, Patrick, for making me play.

Like I said, it's really weird because I even told my wife, she's like, how do you like in this game? And my first response was like, I'm actually really glad that I kind of got forced to play this. Even though the game may not be the banger that I was kind of hoping it was, I'm still like legitimately glad that I got to check this off of like my backlog and be like, it wasn't bad guys.

Like this was not bad at all. Like I had fun for about 15 out of those 20 hours that I put into it, you know? Right. But are you going to feel like you're missing anything at all by not completing the story? No. Yeah. No, because honestly, that's the part that started to drag on to me. The combat really didn't evolve a whole, whole lot.

I mean, you do get some new abilities, you get some new cards, you get some new people that join you for a mission or so here and there. You know, you get to fight some other villains, but it's like, one of my complaints was like, Venom is in the game, and it's like, I fought Ven was like venom is in the game And it's like I fought venom like cool. I'd be venom who's next you know and then it's like What's the guy's name dead dead bones? He's lost bones Crossbones, thank you

So then he starts showing up, but then I fought venom like two more times And I'm like let me fight crossbones now You know you do get to fight, but it's like it just they don't know when they like move on kind of So that's it. But I Like I said, thank you Patrick for for making me play this. I am actually grateful for this experience It was not one of those ones where I'm like, I'm just cursing you in the background going like why did you make me play this? Why did you make me play this man? You know, so I could see this being very, very enjoyable for a lot of people. I did enjoy it, just not on like a high level, I guess, you know, so, um, all right, well,

that's going to do it for this one, guys. We have another hijack a host episode coming up because our community has voted and they have chosen the host and the game and I am just going to say as a teaser that I am super excited to see the results of this one man I know the host I know the game and I could not be more curious as to what that person is gonna wind up thinking about this game and what the experience is gonna be like so that'll be coming up here in a little bit as well. Once again, thank you, Patrick. Thank you, Bullet, for signing up for Rare Status.

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