IGN’s most recent coverage of Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers gives us a lot to be excited about. Avengers has been the “IGN First” game of the month for July and they’ve been showing us deeper dives and exclusive interviews with the developers. This week, we got some insight on what to expect moving forward with Marvel’s Avengers.
Developer Commentary
What I’ve liked most about IGN’s coverage as someone who is excited for Avengers is their exclusive access to developer insights. Specifically, in this week’s coverage, they spoke with Lead Combat Designer, Vince Napoli about the challenges of creating unique and meaningful experiences while using Avengers’ six launch heroes. In the past we’ve seen some good gameplay of heroes like Thor and Ironman, but what about someone without a “super” power like Black Widow. It was very interesting to see how their design choices with Natasha Romanoff gives a different play-style option for gamers looking for a nimble, stealthy, melee class.
They also gave some insight into everyone’s favorite green machine, The Hulk. Initially, I thought The Hulk would be a pretty straight forward melee or throwing debris and enemies type class. I’m glad to have been proven wrong here. Napoli went on to say that The Hulk will have the ability to set up status, like cosmic and radiation, to further strengthen his combat abilities. It’s also worth noting that they talked a bit about how grabbing different types of enemies would change how The Hulk attacks, but didn’t explain that in greater depth. Hopefully, we can see more of this in some gameplay soon.
Lastly, they spoke a bit about Captain America, which I found quite interesting. During their last stream, they practically left out Cap because it’s known that he dies in the A-Day Event that sets up Avengers’ story. How he fits into the game’s story is unknown, but they did show a little bit of shield throwing gameplay. I’m sure the details of how he fits will be left until we play the game in September, but it was definitely nice to see some more of Cap in action.
Betas are Coming Soon
Through the IGN First coverage, they were able to confirm Avengers’ Beta dates in August. There is some timed exclusivity and staggered launches with this one. With how poorly this has been received with other games in the past, it’s definitely a surprise to some that companies continue to do things in this fashion. Either way, here’s how the staggered launches will work:
- On August 7th, anyone who has pre-ordered up to this date will be able to play the Beta on Playstation 4.
- On August 14th, anyone who has pre-ordered up to this date will be able to play the Beta on Xbox One and PC. The PlayStation 4 Beta will now be open to all players.
- On August 21st, the Beta will be open to all players on all platforms.
The Beta is said to have some decent substance to it, but not show everything the game has to offer. Crystal Dynamics are going to outline what to expect in the next War Table livestream.
The Next War Table
Last month, we got to see some new Avengers gameplay thanks to a livestream called “War Table”. This month will be no different. On July 29th at 10 am PT, we will get our next look at the game just ahead of the Beta. We will have the coverage here after the show.
Marvel’s Avengers will release September 4, 2020 on PC, Xbox One and Playstation 4. Upgrade versions will be available for owners who choose to purchase Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 upon their release.
