Marvel Rivalshas been taking the gaming world by storm these past few weeks, providing massive competition for other titles in the hero shooter market. While greatly aided by its easily recognizable characters,MarvelRivalsfixed many of the problems with its predecessors in the genre, while providing a unique and fun-filled gameplay experience for players of all skill levels. While It’s too early to say ifMarvel Rivalswill continue to be the golden child of theOverwatch-inspired hero shooter era, there’s one rumored feature that could solidify its place at the top of the charts.
While it’s not too surprising thatMarvel Rivalswould launch its first season not long after release to better capitalize on player excitement, it offered a shocking amount of content right off the bat.Introducing The Fantastic Four starting withtwo new charactersalongside two more on the way as the season progresses,Marvel Rivalsis off to an incredibly strong start already. While it’s uncertain ifMarvel Rivalswill be able to keep up the same level of quality with each season, it already has a significant advantage, even without one rumored feature.
Marvel Rivals Is Rumored To Be Introducing A New PvE Mode
Achieving Just About Everything Overwatch Couldn’t
While nothing concrete has been confirmed just yet regarding a PvE mode forMarvel Rivals, according toRivalsLeakson X (formerly Twitter),a PvE mode could potentially be coming to the hero shooter sometime in the future. While the author notes they’re unsure if the idea has been scrapped or not as it was experienced before the full release ofMarvel Rivals, it’s an incredibly exciting prospect to consider.
Given that one of the main selling points behindOverwatch 2was its inclusion of a fully dedicated PvE mode that never came to fruition,Marvel Rivalsadding a working PvE mode would be a massive blow to its competitor’s reputation.
Even without the potential PvE mode being added in a future update,thegenerous event rewardsseen in the first official season ofMarvel Rivalsare already proving tough to beat. WithOverwatch 2’s player count and media attention being at an all-time low with the release ofMarvel Rivals, it wouldn’t be surprising if its remaining players jumped ship to try the hero-shooter PvE mode they waited years for, even if it’s in a different game.
Plenty Of Options For Future PvE Additions
Given thatMarvel Rivalsalready includes a players vs bots mode for quickplay,the idea of a dedicated PvE mode isn’t too difficult to imagine. While it’s unlikely that a future PvE mode will simply be heroes fighting off against each other in standard maps, there’s plenty of potential for the developers to choose from. While Dr. Doom’s army of endless robots is an easy choice to start with, future seasons could introduce different enemy types as a part of limited-time events, similar to an expanded version ofOverwatch 1’s Halloween Events.
What are your thoughts about the new Midtown map in Marvel Rivals?
I’m really loving Marvel’s new Midtown payload map that begins at The Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building and ends at Avengers Tower, all while New York is under siege by Dracula and his vampires. It looks really cool, and I love the various buildings and vantage points. I also really like that your team is either escorting or trying to stop the Fantasticar while HERBIE scans pages from the Darkhold.
The Marvel universe is jam-packed with factions and enemies to explore, from hordes of Dracula’s vampires, Ultron’s legions of robotic hosts, or even an invasion by Skrulls that can take on the appearance of playable heroes. Regardless of which enemiesMarvel Rivalsdecides to focus on with its rumored PvE mode,the developers have already shown they’re capable of experimenting withnew game modes.
While PvE modes can be an excellent way to mix up the standard gameplay loop ofMarvel Rivals, it would also be a great introduction for players less confident in their skill level, letting them try the game in a much less stressful environment.
Marvel Rivals Could Add Exponentially More Characters Than Overwatch
A Wider Roster With Even More Gameplay Variety
While there was speculation thatMarvel Rivalswas going to drastically tone down the number of character releases after its first season,Marvel Rivals' developers have already claimed theyplan to add new heroesat a much faster pace, adding roughly one new character every month and a half. Whether or notMarvel Rivalsincludes its rumored PvE mode at some point,the ability to add a drastically higher number of characters is already a major attraction for new players.
While there are some arguments to be made that releasing characters on such a frequent basis can do more harm than good for a game’s longevity and competitive viability, this can always be adjusted in the future as player demand changes.
Marvel Rivals' developers have already claimed they plan to add new heroes at a much faster pace, adding roughly one new character every month and a half.
Compared toMarvel Rivals,Overwatchhas had a drastically lower number of heroes since release, averaging roughly 3–4 additional characters per year, althoughOverwatchhas gone multiple spans of years releasing only one or two heroes, if any at all. While It’s true thatMarvel Rivalshas a significant advantage with a nearly limitless pool of pre-existing characters to choose from to adapt into its roster, that doesn’t devalue the excitement these new characters and abilities add to the game.
Could Marvel Rivals Mark A Quality Shift In The Hero Shooter Genre?
Breaking The Standards Of What Players Can Expect
It’s no secret that the hero-shooter market has been overly saturated for some time now, with the failures ofConcordand other new releases making it seem like there was little hope for new entries in the genre. Despite this stigma,Marvel Rivalshas earned over $100 millionin its first month alone, androcked not only the hero shooter genre but the gaming community as a whole.
Compared to the mixed success of Marvel’s other game ventures, the sheer quality of the wide array of content offered byMarvel Rivalsoffers a surprisingly fresh experience despite its similarities withOverwatch. Even with the lack of a role queue or competitive scene,Marvel Rivalshas managed to capture the core concepts that made hero shooters so enjoyable in the first place, with plenty of character quirks and interesting combos that offer a more memorable experience.
Marvel Rivals Hits One Of The Highest Concurrent Player Counts This Weekend, Outdoing GTA 5 And Helldivers
Marvel Rivals has just reached yet another major milestone, as the hero-shooter has hit one of the largest concurrent player counts of all time.
WhileMarvel Rivalsskins aren’t the cheapest on the market, itsfirst major battle passprovides a surprising number of high-quality cosmetics for its price, being an excellent deal for players willing to put in the time to earn them even with the free version.While the battle pass won’t fully refund players its cost, the rewards are more than worth its price, especially given the number of side missions to complete for more vital Chrono Tokens.
IfMarvel Rivalscontinues to foster goodwill with the community alongside its rapid content additions, it could easily overtakeOverwatch’s popularity in its prime, althoughMarvel Rivals' updated player count shows it might have already accomplished it.
