With all the hype, anticipation and positive reviews, Marvel Snap—the latest digital Collective Card Game (CCG) with the Marvel IP—was released on the 18th of October and almost immediately landed on a well-deserved spot in the Top 3 Free Games of the iOS App Store. With all the fanfare about this game, it will be curious to see how it holds up.
Former Hearthstone developers are behind the design of this game. When one of the biggest video games has success, like Blizzard’s Hearthstone, it makes a lot of sense that they would want to take another shot at designing an online CCG. Ben Brode’s announcement of working on Marvel Snap with an all-star former Blizzard team created high expectations around this new title.
Marvel Snap aims to be a quick-paced digital card game with all the most famous Marvel heroes and villains, each with its characteristics and unique abilities. Decks are composed of 12 cards, and the 1v1 matches take a couple of minutes each. It’s an area control game where players battle to accumulate the most power in three zones (with different characteristics) by placing up to four characters in each zone. After six quick rounds, a player who controls at least two zones win.
So far, I have played it for several hours and am as engaged to keep playing as I was after my first matches. I’ve built a solid deck, and I almost rarely lose. Still, I keep trying to make minor changes in the deck in the “search of perfection”! After playing the introductory Seasons (because this is a seasonal game), I am currently playing the Symbiote Invasion Seasons Pass, with plenty of new locations and 50 awards to be unlocked, many unique.
Unfortunately, immediate access to rare content is available behind a paywall, as is typical for free-to-play games. But it was announced that “every card in the game over time without paying anything” would be available. You can play this game while spending absolutely nothing and still build a vast collection of cards with a few missing. So far, I have never felt obliged to pay to keep playing or felt disadvantaged for not buying any add-ons. Most paid content is merely cosmetic, such as artwork variation to your existing cards, and they are not required to progress in the game. Some paid content can give you a boost in advancing in the game, but you can do the same by completing very engaging missions. I don’t find it justifiable to waste on paid content if you can acquire it while playing and having fun.
Its gradual and easy learning curve makes it a fantastic gateway game to Collectible Card Games (CCG) that may intrigue new CCG players, especially the vast community of Marvel fans. The game is simple, so simple, maybe too simple. Depending on your level of appeal to the gameplay mechanics, Marvel Snap can quickly become lather, rinse and repeat. For some, It can feel that a lot of grinding is required to obtain news cards and level up characters. The randomness is fun but sometimes frustrating, yet it delivers immense satisfaction after winning or being rewarded. Based on the presented points, I question the impact of replay value and lack of excitement in the long run.
However, Marvel Snap delivers a great variety of cards and zones; with unique traits and abilities; and adopts a seasonal model to keep introducing new content to the game. The positive feedback loop of continuous rewards game after game engages you to play one match after another. It is the perfect type of game that appeals to “collectors” who want to collect every card and their variants in the game and improve every card rarity factor. It will also appeal to competitive gamers looking forward to levelling up to the highest ranks, which takes a lot of commitment and consistently wins. There are over 150 cards and several card art variations. You can improve a card from common to rare, epic, ultra, and so on, which results in cosmetic variations to each card and gives you collection points. It seems like you cannot improve the cards’ stats and abilities. You can use collection points to unlock a series of rewards, including new cards to your collection.
To conclude. Marvel Snap delivers a solid and neat CCG Deck Building game with simple mechanisms but a deep Strategy. It is incredibly polished with outstanding artwork and overall design; it is highly intuitive and provides top-notch user friendlinesses and usability. Marvel Snap key signature is being highly addictive; I keep playing match after match tricking myself into playing only one more last one! I strongly suggest you download it and give it a try. You won’t regret it!
As of the 18th of October, 2022, Marvel Snap is available on iOS and Android, along with an early access build for PC.
