Marvel's Midnight Suns: Why Its Environments Need a Star Wars Jedi Lesson

Marvel’s Midnight Suns takes players on a journey to familiar locations such as Avengers Tower and the Sanctum Sanctorum, but for the most part, it charts a unique course in nondescript areas. The game's narrative leads players to take refuge in the woods, shielded by magic, and reside with a plethora of Marvel characters in the Caretaker's Abbey. This provides an entire gameplay feature where players can explore the grounds for various collectibles. However, the mission locations in Marvel’s Midnight Suns are unfortunately less thrilling.

The game's mission content is spread out across three distinct landscapes: New York City, the American Southwest, and Transia. These locations are gradually introduced in the game's narrative, and they are the only places that players travel to for their miscellaneous missions. Although the locations have different sceneries, players will have seen them all if they complete enough missions in each. Therefore, drawing inspiration from the Star Wars Jedi franchise would be an excellent source for a sequel.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Holotable is a Good Level Design Formula

Both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, as well as Marvel's Midnight Suns, share a notable similarity in their use of a point of interaction for players to choose their next location. While the Holotable aboard the Stinger Mantis is featured in the Star Wars Jedi franchise, Midnight Suns features the Mirror Table. However, in Midnight Suns, players must make additional decisions and fulfill prerequisites before they can select a location. Each location has its unique set of missions, and a randomly assigned character leads each one. On the other hand, in the Star Wars Jedi franchise, players can easily choose any available planet without any additional requirements or decisions.

The availability of a particular character is crucial for players to embark on a specific mission, especially at the start of the game. However, the Star Wars Jedi franchise offers a much more extensive range of unique planets to explore, unlike Marvel’s Midnight Suns, which only has three locations on Earth. Given this limitation, traveling to different planets in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor feels more gratifying. Nevertheless, Marvel’s Midnight Suns could potentially address this issue in its sequel by introducing a more elaborate narrative.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns Needs More Mission Locations

Marvel's Midnight Suns locations lack the iconic and dynamic feel that is present in the Marvel lore. However, the game's tactical gameplay makes up for it. Despite the repetitive landscapes, the engaging gameplay keeps the experience fresh. While the absence of outlandish planet-trekking is understandable, introducing a plot that features different environments for players to battle within would add much-needed variety. For instance, a sequel that allows players to explore Battleworld, Latveria, Asgard, Knowhere, Wakanda, or the Quantum Realm would provide a plethora of unique environments for players to enjoy.