Everybody knows that Marvel Rivals is absolutely killing it right now. Sure, it’s got plenty of bugs, it’s lacking map variety, and battle passes take forever to complete, but it’s well on its way to becoming the Overwatch-killer so many said it would be, even if it doesn’t need to be that.
I say all this largely as an outside observer. I am, technically, a Rivals player, but I don’t play very often, or with any substantial degree of skill. Most of my exposure to the game is hanging out with my friends while they play it, talking to my little brother about it (he’s ranked Plat 1, and is our family’s real gamer), and reading the discourse. Otherwise, I play now and then, hopping on a few games a week if I have friends online. I’m not invested enough to git gud or even learn to play more than one character well. Quite frankly, even if I was, I’d probably still be bad. I’m okay with admitting that on the internet, where things live forever.
When my brother and I discovered we both played the game, he said, “You seem like a Cloak and Dagger main.” He’s right, but I still have no idea what he meant by that.
All of this really just means that I’m a diehard casual. Like, the only just started playing in comp kind of casual. That also means that I get the dubious honour of writing about Marvel Rivals from a casual’s perspective, because lots of people play Rivals casually, and most of us suck at it.
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There Are Too Many Characters In Marvel Rivals
One thing that I – and a lot of players – appreciate about Rivals is that it launched with a huge number of characters to choose from, and all of them feel heavily inspired by media depictions of themselves while still feeling different from each other, playstyle-wise.
Loki’s shapeshifting and stealth is totally in keeping with his portrayals. Doctor Strange’s portals, of course, are core to his character. Hulk having to be weakened to his human form before you can take him out permanently totally tracks. And, of course, Spider-Man is swinging all over the place. They all have different strengths and weaknesses, different levels of mobility, and often entirely unique powers.
But there are so many of these characters, and it feels impossible to learn them all inside and out. If you haven’t learned to play a character yet, it’s basically impossible to figure out what any of their abilities are doing when they’re working against you. Take Loki, for example. One of my friends, who was sneakily spectating my match, texted to inform me that the green field around Loki was his Regeneration Domain, which converts 30 percent of all damage into healing for allies. I’d been pummelling the guy inside the field and wondering why nothing was happening. I would’ve known that if I played Loki, but I never have. Has everybody played every character and memorised all their abilities?
If Rivals had fewer characters, this wouldn’t be as big an issue. If the game had, say, a roster of 20 characters to choose from, a newbie given enough time could figure out all of their abilities and what they do. I certainly managed it with Overwatch 2, a game that I didn’t play that much of or experiment to any great degree with. But Rivals launched with 33, added two more with its first season (with two more set to come), and will be adding another character every six weeks. It’s a lot of information for any player to remember, let alone one who doesn’t play all that often.
And A Lot Of Those Characters Aren’t Visually Distinguishable
You can fix a lot of these problems by just learning to play every character, but that’s kind of the opposite of what a casual does. And commitment isn’t the only problem.
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There’s also the fact that a lot of these characters, while feeling different to play, can look very similar on the battlefield. I can’t tell Winter Soldier and Punisher apart from a distance. Invisible Woman and Dagger look basically the same, unless you’re pressing your face to your screen. In fact, that’s true of most of the female characters – they basically all look the same apart from the colours.
Throw skins into the mix, and a player like me is pretty much cooked. Somebody could be barrelling towards me and I wouldn’t be able to identify who it is in time to avoid whatever they’re about to decimate me with. Not only do they look entirely unfamiliar from a distance, but even up close, it can be hard to figure out exactly what you’re up against.
It’s too much, and Rivals is only promising to add more and more. How’s a filthy casual meant to thrive under these conditions?
Third-Person Shooter
Action
Multiplayer
- Released
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December 6, 2024
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
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NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
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NetEase Games