Strategy Legend Jake Solomon Explains Where Marvel's Midnight Suns Went Wrong | Push Square
The announcement that Jake Solomon, first amongst the legendary Sid Meier's pupils, had left Firaxis to start his studio, Midsummer Studios, comes as a surprise, especially with the switch from strategy to the life sim genre. Looking towards the opportunity to create something entirely different, Soloman reflected on where his last game, Marvel's Midnight Suns, went wrong.
A great game at its core, Midnight Suns takes the XCOM formula that has come to be synonymous with Solomon, mixing social elements with a card-based combat system. Critics and players loved it, but the game was ultimately considered a commercial flop. Speaking to VGC, he explains that the cards were probably to blame: «I think cards were a major problem. It was a good design solution, but I was naive about what people would think when they saw the mechanic was cards. Not everyone on my team was behind the idea, but they trusted me.»
Then there is the issue with how the game was perceived, which, as Soloman describes it, was not exactly what he was hoping for: «The most typical reaction when people play Midnight Suns is surprise, and that's not the reaction you want. That is not the reaction that lends itself to mass appeal.»
Dead cruel
Around 30 employees affected
What did you think of Marvel's Midnight Suns? Did you get around to playing it? Was it the cards, as Soloman suggests, that was the problem? Let us know in the comments section below.
Khayl Adam is Push Square's roving Australian correspondent, a reporter tasked with scouring the internet for the most succulent of PlayStation stories. With five years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.
I completed it when it hit ps plus and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Maybe the cards put off a good part of people at 1st gut reaction but once you tried it, that aspect is fun as well.
The social thing
