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I hadn't touched a hero shooter since Overwatch Season 2, and I didn't even like Marvel very much when my friends practically begged me to hop on and play with them. You can imagine my skepticism as someone who had no interest in the genre for literally years and having a passive curiosity about Spider-Man at best. And yet, I now have the most hours out of any of the people in my stack, and will continue to sink my teeth into this game as long as it has a hold on me.

The game is far from perfect. There are twenty-one Duelist (DPS) heroes to just ten Vanguards (Tanks) and nine Strategists (Supports). The map variety is lacking, as some struggle to distinguish themselves visually from one another, and a handful of the maps can greatly enable some rather grating strategies and characters. The gameplay loop is very ultimate-centric, and many characters will live and die based on how good theirs is. You see this problem especially often with Strategists heroes, as the viable pool gets largely constrained by some of the outliers like Luna and Loki. The tank pool feels very truncated when you have an Emma or Wolverine in your game, and the worst couple of Duelists like Black Widow and Scarlet Witch lag miles behind their meta counterparts. NetEase also aren't shy about showing their gacha and mobile game roots, and a myriad of confusing extra currencies or bizarre monetization choices rear their ugly head at points. The matchmaking is a subject of frequent criticism and for good reason: Quickplay matches tend to be imbalanced stomps 80% of the time and toxic flame fests the other 20%, and Competitive has players parroting all sorts of conspiracy theories about the EOMM (Engagement Optimized Matchmaking) and forced loss/win streaks. I would take any of these claims with a grain of salt, but it's undeniable that the game quality leaves a lot to be desired. This is maybe only exacerbated by ranked not having placement matches yet, a feature that will hopefully come soon (lol).

But, even having said all that negative, there is an incredible amount of enjoyable content and good features to point to. The entire roster is playable from the moment you install the game, a selling point so strong that Overwatch 2 soon after did the same for their game. Marvel's heroes and villains look some of the best they ever have in a video game, with many comic faithful designs and beautiful models up and down the roster. The cast is also incredibly diverse and interesting, with a refreshing mix of all-time favorites like your Iron Man or Captain America, and your relative newcomers like Luna Snow and Jeff the Menace Shark. You can squint and see the obvious parallels with some of Overwatch 2's characters, but I don't think you can understate the number of unique kits that feel very faithful to the canon of their respective comics (Love him or hate him, Spider-Man plays 100% what you would imagine that loudmouthed goofball would feel like in a hero shooter). NetEase go against their typical greedy ways in quite an impressive manner for Rivals, with a very generous freemium model that gives plenty of chances to grind for skins and enjoy several rewards without having to invest a cent if you don't want to. Even the season battlepasses aren't locked behind paywalls, just some of the rewards in said battlepasses, which unlock at any point if you pay for them. You can even farm the battlepasses in subsequent seasons if you buy the premium version, largely mitigating the risk of FOMO in case you decide you need to sit out the Black Panther and Wolverine meta. Events and skins come out on a very frequent basis, and they have already shown a willingness in the past to experiment with game modes and try new things (BTW, if you read this NetEase, rerelease Ultron Battle Matrix with some quality of life changes, and my life is yours). Even relatively minor things about the game in the overall grand scheme impress, such as the practice range being accessible during queues by the entire stack and a robust collection of art graphics and story content for the lore-inclined players to get lost in. I would go as far as to admit I have, since getting into this game, become a much larger fan of Marvel overall, and even checked out some comics for the first time after only ever watching a handful of the films.

If you, like me and many others, were on the fence about checking out this game because you felt burned after Overwatch and its sequel's development history, I think there might be something for you here. Rivals scratches an itch in video games that I've only ever had scratched by my all-time most played games, like Dota 2 or Fallout: New Vegas. It's probably not as good as either of those, but it's 100% worth checking out. Maybe bring a friend or try to have some thick skin before you get out there, though.

no april fool's joke has any right being THIS well-made

a dragon melted my militia while one of my dwarves murdered a child to make a leather cloak. it's only 50% finished developing btw

It made me cry.

Bought this $20 Game of Thrones mod, got a free ancient European grand strategy game with it!