Marvel Rivals’ Season 1 arrives with new costumes, maps and more
by Dominic L · tsaMarvel Rivals is good, isn’t it? More chaotic and unbalanced than its inspiration, Overwatch, but that means it’s also wilder, less prescribed, and arguably a lot of fun. It helps that Marvel Rivals is packed full of recognisable comic-book characters, and the development team at NAME are already adding more to that roster with the arrival of Season 1 – Empire of Eternal Night, with new characters Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman representing the Fantastic Four in a fan-friendly way. Seriously, between this and Pedro Pascale, expect to see a lot of Mr Fantastic fan art in the next few months.
The first, and perhaps most important arrival with Season 1 – Empire of Eternal Night is the new Battle Pass, entitled Darkhold. This book of the damned is thoroughly evil, so each of the new character skins gives them a darker vibe than you might be used to. Wolverine definitely has something of a Van Helsing vibe, while Moon Knight’s outfit is more like an eclipse than normal. As a Rocket Racoon main I’m looking forward to nabbing his Steampunk outfit for sure.
If you’re not trying to pimp out your current character, perhaps you’re planning on playing as one of the new ones. Duelist-class Mister Fantastic brings some Dhalsim-like stretchy melee to the mix, his limbs shooting out to smack enemies around, while he can also pump himself up to take more damage. His special sees him repeatedly bouncing up and down on a controllable area, which looks as though it’s going to cause absolute chaos.
There’s also Mister Fantastic’s partner to think about. Sue Storm appears – or is that disappears? – as Invisible Woman, a Strategist class character bringing concussive blasts and shields to bear against her opponents. She can fire individual blasts, or use a powerful push to force enemies out of the way or bounce them off the side of a map which looks deeply annoying already. Her special can hide an area from sight, stopping external characters from being able to see in, while trapping those inside.
Once you’ve settled on who you’re playing as, there’s two new maps for you to explore. The first of these is the Sanctum Sanctorum, with Dr Strange’s mystic home appearing so that you can make a horrible mess of it. Stalking the halls, players can expect to see a variety of odd and unusual sights, while checking out a range of fan-teasing artwork, set off by a portrait of Dr Strange and his dog, Bats.
The second new map is Midtown. Empire of the Eternal Night has seen Dracula and his cohort attacking New York, and here recognisable Marvel landmarks like the Baxter Building have clearly been having a hard time of it. There’s plenty of destruction for you to work your way around, all topped off by a cheeky inverted A on the Avengers building where the horizontal line blinks in and out so it looks like a ‘V’. For vampire, right?
Marvel Rivals Season 1 – Empire of the Eternal Night launches on January 10th on all platforms, and also coincides with the game’s launch on GeForce Now, so you can indulge in the darker side of Marvel wherever you are!