Breakdown
- According to a new leak, Marvel Rivals will have a rotating selection of heroes that are free, for a limited time
- However, heroes can be permanently unlocked by grinding for in-game currency or paying real money
- This is similar to the way Multiversus handles characters, but Marvel Rivals’ competitive nature may make this a difficult sell
Marvel Rivals, a new 6v6 hero shooter from developer NetEase Games, has been revealed. The Overwatch-style third-person shooter looks like an exciting time, but for those wanting all heroes unlocked for the best team composition, well, you may want to open your wallet.
Marvel Rivals has already had a fair share of leaks, including TheStreamr's report before the game was announced. However, while I hope that Marvel Rivals can replace my addiction for the original Overwatch, there's one concern about the roster of characters that I can't shake, and it seems that the leaks are pointing towards that outcome.
According to leaker Miller Ross, who has had successful reports around games like Marvel's Avengers and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the game will have a similar approach to unlocking heroes as Multiversus. This means that, over a period of time, a certain selection of Marvel Rivals characters will be free to play, which will then be swapped out later on.
This will definitely give you the opportunity to play through all of the heroes and enjoy their ability sets. However, NetEase Games is teasing it as a competitive game, so having a successful hero composition is key to winning matches in most cases. According to Ross, you can unlock characters by grinding for currency, or, of course, opening your wallet and spending some sweet ol' cash.
During the Open Beta phase a few years back, Multiversus offered Founder's Edition versions of the game which gave you some sweet skins, premium currency, and Character Unlock tokens. We hope that, ahead of the Marvel Rivals release date, NetEase Games offers something similar to potential fans of the game.
I'd much prefer it if the heroes system was like Overwatch 2's upcoming update. While new characters in Blizzard's hero shooter were originally locked to the current battle pass, before becoming unlocked via challenges once the season was over, Blizzard is now letting all players have all characters, which is certainly more player-friendly.
Of course, the game is currently in the alpha stage of development, so there's every chance that it could change ahead of launch. We're hopeful it can strike a balance between making money and being a fun experience.
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