Marvel's Midnight Suns has been given a rating by the Australian Classification Board. The rating assesses various factors based on the impact they're likely to have on gamers, and could indicate that the game is nearing content completion, if not actually complete.
What is Marvel's Midnight Suns Australian rating?
According to the Australian board, Marvel's Midnight Suns has been rated "M" for Mature. This indicates the presence of "mature themes" in the game, as well as supernatural violence (which is largely unavoidable in a superhero setting like this one) and in-game purchases. The game was also assessed on other factors, with language, drug use, and sex deemed to have a "mild impact" and nudity a "very mild impact". The impact of Marvel's Midnight Suns' themes and its violence are what gave it the Mature rating in the end. The Mature rating indicates that the board doesn't consider the game's material suitable for children under the age of 15, but younger children aren't legally restricted from accessing the material.
While this rating doesn't help us identify when the game's release date might be, it does tell us that Marvel's Midnight Suns could finally be content-complete, as the Australian Classification Board has all the material it needs to confidently classify the tactical RPG. After Midnight Suns was delayed in November last year, this could mean that we won't see any further delays, and that the current release window of 2022's second half is accurate. Of course, this is speculation, and we don't have any official confirmation of this by the devs or the publishers yet.
What is Marvel's Midnight Suns?
Announced during Gamescom in August last year, Marvel's Midnight Suns is a tactical RPG from XCOM: Enemy Unknown developer Firaxis. Helmed by Enemy Unknown creative director Jake Solomon, Midnight Suns is a tactical RPG starring iconic Marvel superheroes like Wolverine, Doctor Strange, and Iron Man. According to Solomon, while Midnight Suns bears a superficial similarity to XCOM, it'll be faster-paced in terms of gameplay and mission structure. You'll be able to build relationships with Marvel heroes, as well as creating character builds for them in multiple different ways for the tactical combat. If heroes die, they won't be out of commission permanently, unlike XCOM soldiers. All in all, it sounds like XCOM gameplay crossed with the traditional power fantasy of superheroes.
Although Marvel's Midnight Suns will feature microtransactions, Firaxis says they're only cosmetic and won't affect the gameplay in any way. Beyond that, we're still waiting for more significant information about Marvel's Midnight Suns. Currently, the game is slated to launch in the second half of 2022 after being delayed from its original March 2022 release date. Hopefully, that doesn't change again. We'll bring you more on this game as soon as we get it, so stay tuned.