Marvel Rivals has officially released its first PVE mode in the form of Marvel Zombies, inspired by the Disney+ miniseries of the same name. But how does this new mode shape up, and what does it mean for the future of PVE in Rivals beyond this Limited Time Mode?
Despite what recent clickbait articles may have led you to believe, Marvel Rivals has become a dominant force in the Hero Shooter genre, consistently hitting Steam player numbers of 80k-100k. While the numbers are a big drop off from their record-breaking launch, Rivals has settled into a consistent player base and a wonderfully responsive and active dev team.
Now, in contrast to forgotten promises of PVE focus in a certain other hero shooter, Marvel Rivals has unleashed its first PVE mode, with next to no fan expectation for one, and it’s sure to pull in new and returning players for a terrifying battle in the Queen of the Dead’s domain.
Journey Into Mystery
No one could know what to expect from this new game mode for Rivals. I was especially sceptical, worried that a mode like this can often feel a bit bullet-spongey. But I’m pleased to say I’ve really enjoyed my time with it.
The mode is broken up into 7 distinct difficulties, each unlocked upon completing the previous one. The first 3 are a journey through the Midtown map, added back in Season 3, with hordes of zombies and boss fights at distinct points throughout. But despite familiarity with the map from classic PVP play, the layout has been shifted around with debris and roadblocks, giving it a joyfully different feel. The latter 4, Nightmare, modes are a more classic Zombies experience, stay in one area and survive wave after wave, with boss battles at the 5-round marks.
Overall, I think both modes work very well, and the ramping up of difficulty encourages you to experiment with the unique build function they’ve given characters for this. Now granting upgradable traits, abilities, and cards, drastically shifting how your heroes play. The difficulty changes also reveal that enemy variation is more than you might expect, and make each difficulty feel very different simply because of the difference in level and type of threat you face. For example:
- Undead Sentinels: High HP, massive damage, but slow.
- Explosive Zombies: Low HP, but an explosion range I consistently underestimated.
- Toxic Zombies: Low HP, but an AOE hazard that can sneak up on you while on the run.
In my opinion, difficulty can be one of the hardest things for a game to nail and every game does it differently. Some will change how abilities function, some will focus on the skill of a player and leave less room for error, and others will simply boost enemy HP and turn the game into a chip damage nightmare.
But I think Marvel Zombies has avoided a crucial error on this part and created a satisfying PVE experience on every difficulty, though I’m yet to beat Nightmare IV.
You’ve Got Red On You
As with the Marvel Zombies miniseries, the Queen of the Dead, a zombified Wanda Maximoff, along with Namor, make up the two bosses players will have to face in their battle for Midtown. I think both bosses are fairly well designed with attack patterns that, if learnt, create excellent opportunities for players to deal maximum damage and navigate avoiding it.
Namor’s initial invulnerability can be frustrating; his squid aren’t exactly as fun to fight as the usual zombies, but it’s the closest to the chip damage loop I think the mode gets, thankfully. But once you can deal damage to the King of Talokan (or Atlantis), the fight gets a lot more interesting, especially the danger of his Horn of Proteus Ultimate, launching multiple Whales at players with a limited window to avoid them.
Wanda, however, is the far more interesting boss for me. Her attacks and movement create a drastic incentive to constantly deal damage to gain health. Eyes on her at all times are vital, as when she triggers her Mystic Projection, you might find yourself completely losing her while she deals damage to you, even easier with the chaos of zombie hordes still approaching.
Then her shielded state, leaving Dark Seal stuns around the map, and progressive damage that will certainly kill players without them dealing damage and healing constantly. This wiped out whole teams right in the endgame in some of my early games. Finally, when the fight concludes in a ticking time bomb when she triggers her Ultimate, a surefire death for the whole team unless they can kill her before she triggers it. The added mechanic of crystals that, if destroyed, can delay her attack triggering, made for one of the most satisfying game mechanics in the mode in my opinion.
I can safely say, for their first try, Marvel Rivals has nailed the experience of that desperate confrontation between superhero and villain.
Avengers Un-Assembled
But what about the playable heroes? Fans were somewhat disappointed with the limited choice of characters in the new mode, but devs explained that with the customisable abilities, upgradable traits, and cards, it was a big undertaking and unrealistic to do for the whole roster.
For me, it’s a very mixed bag with these characters, and my one major critique would be a significant lack of balance in the small roster. Not to mention the ultimates become very redundant in higher difficulties, doing less damage than upgraded base attacks and essentially just leaving you vulnerable in the transitional animations.
Here’s my overall take on the characters:
- Punisher: One of the strongest characters in early games, but mostly good against bosses. Certain upgrades make his headshots deal some of the highest damage, but only to one target at a time.
- Magik: Potentially strong, her ability to be perpetually in her Ult is interesting, but her attacks feel very untactile to me and make for a dissatisfying gameplay experience.
- Thor: Strong, but conditionally on the right upgrade. His Awakened State allows him to throw lightning. If you unlock the rapid fire version, he’s one of the best, but it’s all down to the card draw.
- Blade: By far the best character, and it’s not close; if a Blade is in the game, he will get the MVP. His damage is consistently double other characters, and his Bloodline Awakening lifesteal makes it unlikely he’ll ever lose health for more than a second till you get to the highest difficulties.
- Jeff the Land Shark: Great at healing himself but not much else, I’ve barely seen anyone play as him and only briefly did myself. He seemed mostly disruptive with little to contribute on the damage/kills side of things.
Obviously, these are all based on my playstyle and experience, so form your own opinions when playing.
28 Years Later?…
So what does this mean for the future of Marvel Rivals PVE? Devs and partners have promised more to come, but nothing official on what. Ideas were thrown around like X-Men vs Sentinels, or Avengers vs Ultron, both of which could be fantastic comic book brought to life kind of modes. Personally, I’m a massive X-Men fan and would love to see anything that puts the team together against a threat, especially with the rumoured addition of Rogue and Gambit next season. Given the bosses being preexisting characters in the game in Zombies, perhaps Magneto and Dark Phoenix bosses could be in the cards.
Overall, I think this has been a fantastic debut for PVE in Marvel Rivals and an unexpected joy.
So while it’s still up, be sure to check out the new mode while it’s still around, it officially ends on 13th November, when the current Season also ends.
