Rather than building its own internal development studios, Disney and Marvel Entertainment chose to leave video games to the professionals andlicense its properties to third-party developersand publishers with the right pitch such as Sony and Insomniac Games withMarvel’s Spider-Manor Nintendo and Team Ninja forMarvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. It was inevitable that Earth’s mightiest heroes were bound to get a team-up adventure and that dream came to life withMarvel’s Avengers, an online multiplayer cooperative action-adventure game from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix.
It’s been one year since the release ofMarvel’s Avengersand a lot has changed in that timewith three expansions, three brand new playable heroes, eight to ten hours of new story content, and a complete rework of the UI and menus. Despite some ever-present and ongoing issues surrounding the games-as-a-service component, there’s never been a better time to playMarvel’s Avengersand with a new content roadmap less than a week away, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics clearly still believe in the future of this game. For the first anniversary ofMarvel’s Avengers, it’s time to look back at the past year and assess the state of the game now.
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The Launch of Marvel’s Avengers
In recent years, Crystal Dynamics is best known forTomb Raider (2013)and its 2015 sequelRise of the Tomb Raider, so it’s no surprise that despite negative previews of the opening mission,Marvel’s Avengersstory campaign was praised by both fans and critics alike. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives begin to drop off. Its multiplayer component was heavily criticized as forced, uninspired, and incredibly repetitive with a lengthy grind to reach max level. Crystal Dynamics built a strong gameplay foundation and each playable character felt fun and unique, but struggled to give players compelling reasons to keep coming back.Marvel’s Avengersgames-as-a-service component wasn’t where it needed to be; luckily three new heroes were on the way in the coming months.
The First DLC for Marvel’s Avengers
Prior to launch, Crystal Dynamics had announced that Kate Bishop would be releasing forMarvel’s Avengersin October 2020, one month after launch, in a new miniature expansion known as an ‘Operation.’ However, a troubled launch and the ongoing effects of the global pandemic pushed the entire content roadmap back with no concrete dates in mind and by November,most of the launch player base forAvengershad already dropped off. The Taking Aim Operation was finally released in December and introduced Kate Bishop as a new playable hero as well as two to three hours of new story content set after the events of the main game. While the expansion did little to improve the core issues, Crystal Dynamics once again delivered a compelling story and a unique new hero.
Expanding the Roster in Marvel’s Avengers
A delayed content roadmap meant the second and third DLC characters planned forMarvel’s Avengers, Clint Barton’s Hawkeye andPeter Parker’s Spider-Man, were pushed back with the latter coming to the game later this year.Operation Future Imperfectwas released back in March, five months after its original November release date, and followed suit withOperation Taking Aimin almost every way. New playable character, new campaign, same old problems with what to do next. Future Imperfect did add a brand new zone and a new Villain Sector but overall felt too similar to existing content to stand out in any meaningful way. Once again,Marvel’s Avengerswas stuck between a rock and hard place with excellent story content and playable characters, and a tacked-on games-as-a-service component six months later.
A Content Roadmap for Marvel’s Avengers
Following the release of Hawkeye and Future Imperfect, Crystal Dynamics released asolid roadmap forMarvel’s Avengersall the way up until its first full-scale expansion in August,Black Panther: War for Wakanda. And for the past six months, Crystal has delivered on every aspect of that roadmap, introducing new limited-time events that make use of existing content, finally letting players use any combination of heroes, and adding new endgame missions such as the Omega Level Threat.
War for Wakandawas released as the third free expansion last month and added a new hero, new campaign, the new Wakanda biome, new villains in Klaw and Crossbones, and more. In overall size, War for Wakanda is admittedly short, being not much bigger than either of the previous operations and not even close to aDestiny 2annual expansion, and once again does very little to improve the endgame or games-as-a-service component. For lapsed players, it serves merely as a strong jumping on point as the game now has up to three new characters depending on where they last left off. For newcomers,there’s never been a better time to play asMarvel’s Avengersalways had incredibly strong story content and the Earth’s mightiest heroes roster now sits at nine.
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The State of Marvel’s Avengers
One year on from the launch ofMarvel’s Avengers, for better or for worse, the game is for the most part in the exact same place it was this time last year.ThreeAvengersexpansions later, there are three brand new characters that all feel distinct, roughly 8-9 hours of new story content which is where the game shines the most, and a couple of new endgame based activities. Unfortunately, a lot of the core issues with the game from unexciting loot to a lacklustre and repetitive endgame are ever-present andBlack Panther: War for Wakandadoesn’t seem to have done a whole lot to bring back lapsed players.
Crystal Dynamics is due to release an in-depth look at the nextcontent roadmap forMarvel’s Avengersnext week, and with the PlayStation exclusive hero Spider-Man confirmed to be on the way before the end of the year, it won’t be long before players have a much better idea of the game’s future. At least on the surface,Marvel’s Avengersdoesn’t look to be going anywhere with Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics dedicated to the project, so hopefully, this was only the first year in a long and prosperous life.
Marvel’s Avengersis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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