Marvel’s Midnight Suns
- Initial release date: December 2, 2022
- Developer: Firaxis Games
- Setting: Comic Reality/Marvel
- Co-op? No
- Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox
If you have always wanted to be a superhero and fight alongside the big names of Marvel, Midnight Suns is the game for you. Big names like Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Wolverine are making an appearance.
You create your own character, the Hunter, whom you can customize with appearance, skills, and equipment. The gameplay is somewhat reminiscent of XCOM, whose creators also made Midnight Suns.
A major feature of the game is that outside of fighting against the antagonists Lilith and Chthon, you can interact a lot with the other heroes. Conversations and getting to know each other are the focus, but there are no romances.
The game differs from other RPGs mainly through a card system: instead of simply selecting skills, you assemble a deck and use it in turn-based combat. Attacks, skills, and heroics are equipped and utilized through cards.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister
- Initial release date: May 27, 2021
- Developer: Tactical Adventures
- Setting: Fantasy
- Co-op? Yes
- Platform: PC, Max, Xbox
Like Baldur’s Gate 3, Solasta is also based on Dungeons & Dragons, but it does not take place on the Sword Coast. Before Baldur’s Gate 3, the game was considered by many fans to be the best D&D adaptation for PC. Since 2022, Solasta supports a co-op mode and has become even better.
As a team of heroes, you should investigate the emergence of the lizardfolk, who have been roaming around the lands since a path to an elf kingdom submerged a thousand years ago has been rediscovered.
The gameplay is almost identical to Baldur’s Gate 3: you create characters from various classes and races from D&D and fight and cast spells in turns. You complete quests and learn more about the history of the world.
The main difference is also the greatest strength and greatest weakness: you create all the characters you play yourself. While this allows maximum flexibility and customizability, it also means you have virtually no interaction with your companions. The popular part where you discover your companions’ stories is omitted.
Bonus: Dragon Age: Origins and Knights of the Old Republic
As small alternatives to turn-based games, we would like to mention Dragon Age and Star Wars.
Dragon Age is one of the best role-playing games ever for me and tells a huge story. Across several parts, you explore and shape the realm of Thedas. Decisions from the first parts even have repercussions later on.
However, the games do not have a turn-based system, but real-time fights that can only be paused and work with cast times. While it plays similarly, it is still somewhat different. Moreover, Dragon Age has developed towards “The Witcher” with parts 2 and Inquisition. Dragon Age 4 is currently in development.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is one of the earlier role-playing games in the Star Wars universe. You decide whether to belong to the light or dark side of the Force. The game is based on a turn-based mode but is disguised by a fluid combat system with pauses.
Both games offer companions and allow interaction with them, even the possibility of forming relationships. In certain cases, you can even influence them and change their fate.
Outlook: Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader
For those who haven’t had enough yet, be sure to mark December 7, 2023, as the release date for Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader by Owlcat Games, the creators of Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous.
You will play a Rogue Trader, a free trader who is only partially under the laws of the Empire and trades with virtually all factions. The gameplay is similar to Pathfinder, but there are no classes and races.
Instead, you choose your origin and doctrines – a system that has not often been explored in RPGs. How well this works will be revealed. In any case, you will again have companions. Owlcat is known for writing strong characters with engaging stories:
New RPG is coming in 2 weeks on Steam, it’s like Baldur’s Gate 3 but 40,000 years in the future
