One of my favorite stories in Marvel comics is The Omega Effect, a three-issue mini crossover event that starts in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man, continued the following month in the pages of Daredevil, and finally concluded in an issue of Punisher. It isn’t a particularly consequential event - there’s no world-ending threat and no big changes to the status quo in the end - but I’ve always admired the way it managed to tell a concise and cohesive story from three different perspectives while giving each hero a moment in the spotlight.
I’m enjoying the Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ episodic season pass for many of the same reasons. Each chapter introduces a new character and tells a self-contained story about them, but there’s an overarching narrative that carries the plot forward from one installment to the next. The episodes are even spaced out a month from each other, just like a comic book release schedule. I initially feared that the staggered release was going to kill the momentum, but I’m getting a lot more out of each chapter and character this way.
The chapters are nicely spread out within the campaign too. If you’ve already finished Midnight Suns you can play them straight through if you want, but Firaxis has been intentional about where each chapter fits into the main story. The first - The Good, the Bad, and the Undead - is available after your first fight with Venom and introduces Deadpool as well as the mystery of the Vampyre legion. Chapter 2, called Redemption, is Venom’s story, so naturally it picks up right at the start of Act 2 after you’ve defeated Venom and purged the Symbiote pillars beneath the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Unlike Lilith’s other thralls, Venom has a pretty unceremonious exit from the main story. After defeating him at the bell tower, he disappears into the sewers and is never heard from again. In Redemption, we catch back up with him after he’s spent some time sulking down there and feasting on Vampyre minions, which has further corrupted him into an even deadlier beast called Blood Venom. The season pass storyline takes place parallel to the main campaign, but Venom’s chapter makes it feel like an essential part of the story. Once he joins the Suns, Eddie has to reckon with what he did under Lilith’s control and ultimately redeem himself by helping the heroes stop her. Seeing how that story unfolds now, it feels strange that he wasn’t part of the story in my first playthrough. The DLC isn’t just extra content, it makes the story feel more complete.
Venom is a great addition to the roster and features a unique play style that fits in well with some of my underused heroes like Iron Man. Venom uses a resource called Ravenous which enhances his damage output significantly for every point you have. He earns one Ravenous each turn and loses one whenever he attacks, so to play him optimally you should lay low between turns while he charges up then unleash it all at once for a big burst damage turn. You fight against Venom a lot in the campaign and learn how to counter his abilities, so it’s a lot of fun to finally be able to use those abilities yourself and discover how they combo together with your other characters. Anyone who can pull aggro away from Venom like Captain Marvel or Wolverine and those who can generate card draws for Venom’s big turns like Iron Man make for good teammates. I love finding synergies in Midnight Suns and Venom is a powerful character who makes the entire team stronger.
Deadpool’s chapter was a lot meatier than Venom’s because it introduced a new enemy faction, the Vampyre. Deadpool’s taco truck also gave us the discard mechanic to help us have more control over movement in battles, which is a game changer. In contrast, the Venom chapter’s only new contribution is the Whisper Web, which gives you the option to change the required character and associated challenges while selecting general missions. I consider the character requirements a strength of the game because it forces you to experiment with different teams. It led me to find affection for characters I thought I didn’t like, so I’m not a big fan of the Whisper Web. If you’ve already finished the campaign and you’re just grinding out levels now, by all means use the Whisper Web to maximize your time. But for a first playthrough I’d ignore this upgrade and just take the missions as they come.
It’s a relatively short chapter just like the first one, with only three story missions and a handful of cutscenes, but it moves the Vampyre plot forward in some surprising ways. Mephisto inserts himself into the conflict for reasons that feel well justified, and there’s some great developments between him, Spider-Man, and Venom that will make comic fans very happy. Don’t worry though, Spidey doesn’t pull a One More Day - at least, not exactly.
This next part will spoil you if you haven’t played the Deadpool chapter yet, but I have to mention the boss fight in Redemption. As revealed at the end of The Good, The Bad, and The Undead, the unsurprising puppet master of the Vampyre uprising is none other than Dracula, and you get to take the fiend on at the end of this chapter. Dracula is a dangerous foe because he recovers health anytime he attacks a bleeding target, and his fight is filled with Vampyre that love to make you bleed. Every attack has a chance of backfiring on you as he counters and heals himself on your blood, and it’s one of the most challenging and tense boss battles in the game. Now that we’ve got Venom on our side, it makes me wonder what adding Dracula to the team would be like too. Thankfully, the next chapter features the Living Vampire himself, Morbius, so there’s plenty more bloodsucking on the way. Blade must be thrilled.