Marvel Rivals released on Dec. 6 2024, bringing a Marvel Cinematic Universe spin to the hero-shooter genre. As with any hero shooter, however, inevitable comparisons have been with Overwatch, the icon of the genre.
While Marvel Rivals has a lot of similarities to Overwatch, with everything from art-style to some of the maps looking almost identical on first glance, there’s a lot of differences that you can pick out. Here’s the biggest differences between Marvel Rivals vs. Overwatch.
Image Credit: NetEase
Differences Between Marvel Rivals vs. Overwatch
Battlepass Format
The biggest difference when you stack up Marvel Rivals vs. Overwatch 2 has to be the battlepass format. While both games are free-to-play with a battle pass, OW operates with a large degree of FOMO (fear of missing out), giving limited time battle passes that only exist for a limited time. Marvel Rivals has adopted a system similar to Helldivers 2 where the battle passes are persistent, and can always be bought. This way there’s little to no FOMO.
Heroes/Characters
Overwatch 2 currently has 42 playable characters. Overwatch released with 32 heroes in 2016 and over the span of eight years has added 10 new heroes. Marvel Rivals released with 33 playable heroes and plans to add five over the next year, including four members of the Fantastic Four and one secret hero.
Image Credit: Blizzard
Team Size
Overwatch is currently, primarily a 5v5 game. It used to have a 6v6 competitive format, and also has that old mode as a featured game type occasionally, but is balanced around 5v5. Marvel Rivals is 6v6 and works around those team sizes. This works well with the game’s 33 characters.
Team Ups and Synergy
While both games have hero abilities, ultimates, etc. Marvel Rivals really separates itself vs. Overwatch with its Team Up abilities. These abilities work by pairing up specific heroes on the same team, which gives them unique heroes. For example, Rocket Racoon and Jeff the Land Shark can ride around on Groot’s shoulders using the Planet X Pals ability.
In Overwatch, some characters have inherent synergies, but no overt special abilities for playing specific groups of heroes.
Image Credit: NetEase
Casual vs. Competitive
At the moment, Marvel Rivals is a far more casual focused game with an emphasis on fun and enjoyment of the characters from the Marvel universe. Overwatch, on the otherhand, has long existed at the behest of its esports scene, with balance, competition, and team play being the biggest focus. As a result, Marvel Rivals, at the time of writing, is a much more approachable and enjoyable game for newcomers.
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