Marvel Rivals reminds me of pre-identity crisis Overwatch in the best possible way, but it’s far from ready

I wasn’t sure about Marvel Rivals after its initial announcement and previews, but the closed beta is giving me hope that something acceptable could come out of this one despite some glaring issues that need to addressed.

It’s hard to deny Overwatch 2 has been struggling for a long time now, and depending on who you ask, the same could be said about Blizzard’s once astonishingly attractive hero-shooter IP as a whole. The truth is that things started to spiral downwards after the first two years or so of Overwatch, after the powers that be deemed it wasn’t enough to welcome players of all skill levels and grow from there, and instead started chasing eSports-related growth. Now, OW2, despite some recent wins, continues to feel like a shell of its former self, and Marvel and NetEase’s shameless take on the formula might just be what many of us have been missing for years.

I must agree with my mate Connor in that Marvel Rivals very much feels like a reskin of Overwatch, but depending on which stage of Overwatch it’s trying to copy, that might be a good thing, as the current iteration of OW2 (it even feels wrong to treat it as a sequel) isn’t very good. Marvel and NetEase are just looking for that sweet hero-shooter money, right as most hero shooters and other live-service gambles are visibly starting to die out. All these recent developments are hard to predict, however, and harder to anticipate if we consider how long AA and AAA development usually takes nowadays unless you’re a studio full of dev wizards (there are some fascinating cases).

Marvel Rivals isn’t escaping the shadow of ‘F2P slop’ I recently whined about either. This thing has been (and continues to be) market-tested to hell and back, and if you’ve been following Marvel’s endeavors elsewhere, it’s easy to spot why some characters have been added over arguably more iconic heroes from all over the Marvel multiverse. For example, Luna Snow’s presence can only be explained by the fact NetEase and Marvel are clearly focusing on the Asian markets with this release; she’s an overlooked South Korean K-Pop-star-superhero that first appeared in Marvel Future Fight. The current 21-character roster might ruffle some feathers, but there’s a good financial reason behind every single superhero (or villain) already present.

Putting such matters aside, the gist of my experience with Marvel Rivals so far is that… it’s damn fun to play. The solid hero designs are there (despite the need for heavy balancing work after the beta), and synergies could be the game’s most defining trait if NetEase plays its cards well enough. By sacrificing too-rigid class archetypes and letting each hero or villain shine based on its comic book counterpart, some bold gameplay possibilities open up, and the unique interactions and boosts that come with certain group combinations could shake up the meta with each new season if handled correctly.

On a more basic level, the game just feels good and looks fantastic (though some sketchy stuff might’ve happened behind the scenes with artists). The tepid response to Concord’s own beta may have partially stemmed from the safe art direction. Meanwhile, Marvel Rivals looks like a juiced-up version of the Spider-Verse movies with strong anime influences, and seeing it all come together in movement (even outside of the actual gameplay) is stunning. The downside to such an aggressive visual style is that chaotic team-fights erode much of the game’s readability to the point where you’ll often fall dead to the ground before realizing the HP bar was too low. That’s an area in need of major improvements ahead of a public release.

The level design is a mixed bag as well. It all works well enough in tandem with the game modes lifted straight from Blizzard’s hero shooter, but layouts lack more instantly recognizable points, and can sometimes become even a bit of a slog to traverse if you’re playing as one of the slower (typically support-oriented) super characters. Meanwhile, Venom and Spider-Man are jumping around like if they were in a single-player Insomniac game. I’m not kidding when I say the overall Marvel Rivals experience can change a lot depending on what character you go with, and I’m guessing devs want everyone to feel powerful despite their differences, so there’s a lot of work to be done on that level as well.

Will NetEase listen to all the feedback we furiously send on its way over the next few days? Hopefully, as the foundation for a hero-shooter hit almost as big as Marvel Snap in the digital collectible card game space. As for Marvel’s role in all this, it should really focus on establishing transmedia synergy with future roster additions. That means getting Agatha Harkness in there this fall and/or recruiting Sam Wilson as Captain America come February. Before that, however, we need to know if it’s coming out for everyone anytime soon. Alas, it could launch in 2025 for all we know.