Marvel’s Avengers, six months later

Marvel’s Avengers was as plagued by buzz as sluggishness. Before the game was released, it was defined by a chaotic roar of muddy messages, skyrocketing expectations, and that little thing called the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After the launch, the conversation shifted: could it be aother success like Destiny, it’s going to be disappointing way of Hymn, or land somewhere in the middle? Six months later, here is the situation.

• In 2017, Square Enix announced a partnership with Marvel to create games based on Marvel franchises. Crystal Dynamics, hot of the Tomb Raider reboots would lead the development of a game based on Marvel’s hugely popular Avengers franchise. Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex: Mankind Divided) would pitch.
• Crystal Dynamics pulled back the curtain Marvel’s Avengers Bee Square Enix’s E3 2019 presentation, with a release date of May 15, 2020.
• About that demo. Fans noticed that something … wasn’t right. The five playable characters – Black Widow, Thor, The Hulk, Iron-Man and Cap – bore a remarkable resemblance to their on-screen counterparts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even speaking like a bunch of Hollywood Chrises. It seemed like Crystal Dynamics was trying to copy a facsimile of a fictional universe that already existed. And where was Hawkeye?

• At New York Comic Con 2019, Crystal Dynamics disclosed that Kamala Khan (who you may know as Ms. Marvel) would be the sixth playable character in Marvel’s AvengersShe would prove to be the driving force behind the game’s story.
• For much of 2019, it was clear that Marvel’s Avengers would be a single player game with cooperative elements, and that it would have games-as-a-service elements, a la DestinyThe E3 presentation certainly looked neat. But it was not clear how, exactly, all of the disparate parts would come together. A video from the end of October made things startling clarityBring on that loot, baby!
• Two weeks in 2020, Square Enix delayed the game until September 4.
• As cities across the country took steps to (finally) remove Southern monuments, the official said Marvel’s Avengers Twitter account Posted a short ad spot featuring an illegible statue of Captain America flanked by drones flashing some very police-like lights. The account quickly deleted the tweet and posted an apology.
• Ah, there is Hawkeye! In July 2020 Crystal Dynamics disclosed die Clint Barton, aka The Guy Who Totally Bailed On Infinity War, would be the first DLC hero for Marvel’s AvengersA week later Crystal Dynamics announced that Spider-Man would also be joining the roster, but only for the PlayStation version. Oh, yes, and he would be free. Console-exclusive DLC, folks: it’s worthless. It too does not make any sense
• In August 2020, Crystal Dynamics held a series of open betas. Kotakuis Mike Fahey gave the game a twist, but came out unimpressed, not quite inspired by the same old, same old combat and repetitive mission structure. Looking around as Ms Marvel and Iron-Man was pretty cool though.
• Just before the game launched, an entrepreneurial individual superimposed the actual faces of MCU actors on the in-game models of Marvel’s Avengers(Warning: don’t click that link if you don’t want nightmares of the spooky valley.)
• A third character after launch! Crystal Dynamics announced that instead of Hawkeye, Kate Bishop would be the game’s first hero after launch. No hard feelings between mentor and mentee, right?

• During a pre-launch stream, Crystal Dynamics hinted that Black Panther would also join the Marvel’s Avengers schedule at any given time. According to the tragic death from Chadwick Boseman, who played the hero in the movies, Crystal Dynamics changed the original plans for that stream.
• Marvel’s Avengers officially released on September 4, 2020, but the ones that have picked up the deluxe edition could play on September 1. With his hands on the full game, Kotakuis Mike Fahey found himself more impressed than he was with the beta, especially since the game’s story missions – anchored by a scene theft Mrs. Marvel– were creative, engaging and a true pleasure for any longtime Marvel fan.
• The specter of microtransactions, which have infringed almost every live game to some degree, turned out not to be almost as intrusive as potential players feared.
• The other big cloud hangs over it Marvel’s Avengers before launch: “How bad is the grind?” That too, turned out not to be almost as bad as many expected. Of course, with all the different in-game currencies and level-up meters, some amount of increase in ratings was to be expected. But the campaign was, surprisingly, the focus, and you could play Marvel’s Avengers as a one-time game for one player. The grind was there – but only if you wanted itWhat a pleasant surprise.
• Of course, those who wanted the grind ran into problems quickly. Less than a week after launch, endgame players noticed that loot drops at the end of certain high-level missions sometimes dropped lower gear or, worse, no gear at all, despite the fact that those same missions had the chance to let it go fall off the very best equipment. Crystal Dynamics recognized the loot issue drops and announces a fix, but noted that the top level items fell “as intended.”
• Marvel’s Avengers is not based on or even related to the Avengers movies. Easter eggs are fair game, though. In one of the game’s multiple hubs (more on that pesky design choice soon), players discovered a neat reference to Avengers: Age of UltronWho’s Worth It Now?

• The game was plagued with a series of minor issues, from poorly balanced combat to the occasional never-ending loading screen, just a few things bugged players more than the computer-controlled teammates. Among other errors, AI Hulk, Cap and co. would attack enemies if you needed a revive and would fail to attack enemies if you were still alive. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? Sure. Earth’s smartest heroes? Not really.
• Crystal Dynamics has the first major patch for it Marvel’s Avengers on a Friday evening in mid-September. It addressed some of the aforementioned minor issues, but didn’t change any of the more fundamental issues (notably a lack of new content or engaging endgame activities).
• Then, crickets, for a while. As players maxed out grids and the endlessly replayable missions replayed endlessly, the enthusiasm for the game waned. In early October, more than a month after launch, the Steam playbase dropped below 2,000. Crystal Dynamics told Kotaku that the game would get exciting again, citing the then upcoming releases of Kate Bishop, Hawkeye and new mission types as examples of content coming to the game with starving content. Meanwhile, the most fun we had back then was in an in-game chair.
• In mid-October, Crystal Dynamics dropped a second major patch. Like the first, it consisted almost entirely of quality of life adjustments. However, there was one big addition with the addition of a new hub: the SHIELD substation. In addition, the patch ensured that factions were not relegated to specific hubs. (Prior to the update, if you wanted to collect a faction’s bounty, you had to load it into one hub, collect all your assignments, load them into the other hub, collect those orders, etc. The update made sure you could do all that. busy work in one place. Sweet relief.)
• In October 2020, Crystal Dynamics delayed the Kate Bishop DLC from that month to an indefinite date. Furthermore, the next-gen versions of the game, which were scheduled to launch alongside the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S in November, were pushed in 2021. Crystal Dynamics cited problems with a work-from-home framework as the reason for the delay.
• The Kate Bishop launched in early December with surgery – that is Marvel’s Avengers-speak for “main mission” – inexcusably called “Taking AIM”. The extension was quite nice, at least for a short while, thanks to an engaging if short storyline and the awesome power of Kate’s powers.
• It took months, but Crystal Dynamics in December made it so Captain America could use his shield to refract Iron-Man’s laser beam.
• Iron Man receive a suit that makes him look like an insect with dead eyes. It’s purely cosmetic – and as scary as it is hilarious.

And that’s where things are. Marvel’s Avengers no doubt generated more excitement in the weeks before it was released than in the weeks after, but it’s not up to the count. On March 18, the Hawkeye DLCwhich looks utterly insane– will be released, along with those next-gen versions. Also remember that there are more Marvel superheroes than grains of sand on Earth. That’s a bottomless pit to draw from, and could serve as the basis for a seriously heroic comeback.

But these superhero stories always have a big deal, and for Avengers, it’s not MODOK or Thanos or any other giant purple-faced thumb. It’s the grind. When that Hawkeye expansion hits, the game is worse gets a major overhaul, switching from a linear experience point system to an exponential system. It starts for all characters “around level 25” – half way through – which essentially does nothing but add more gravel to the game. Crystal Dynamics explained the change by saying it could help “new players” get used to the game’s skills system. Now the game only needs those new players.

Meer looks back