Marvel’s Avengershad a solid 2021, as while the game did not completely recover from its troubled launch, there were some important changes and additions. The next-gen versions of the game released, playing significantly better than their last-gen counterparts, while improvements like earnable cosmetics and a proper raid have made the core gameplay loop more rewarding.MCUoutfits were a nice bit of fan service as well. However, the best DLC content forMarvel’s Avengershas been tied to new heroes.
Two Operations saw new playable characters released alongside additional storylines, missions, and locations.The War for Wakanda expansionwas essentially a massive Operation with more content, and it served as the best post-launch addition thus far. However, despite this content being exciting, it has not been enough to keep most players engaged. As such, Crystal Dynamics needs to change its approach to Operations and Expansions so that the updates can release more frequently, giving players meaningful, deep content to engage with on a regular basis.
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The Content Included In Marvel’s Avengers’ Operations And Expansions
Thus far,Marvel’s Avengershas received two Operations and one expansion. The first two Operations focused on the Hawkeyes, with Kate Bishop and Clint Barton getting a chance to shine. The expansion spotlighted the beloved king of Wakanda Black Panther, with T’Challa’s debut getting some extra love from Crystal Dynamics. As forMarvel’s Avengers' Spider-Man DLC, his content was considered a hero event, with the character only getting some cutscenes to watch and challenges to complete.
The Operations inMarvel’s Avengersfeature about three or four hours of story content alongside a new playable character. A boss fight is included with the hero, as Kate brought the Super Adaptoid andClint battled Maestro. New areas came with the Operations, such as Kate Bishop’s SHIELD Substation Zero and Clint Barton’s Wasteland. New Warzones were added as well, with the biggest piece of content undoubtedly being the new playable characters themselves.
As for the War for Wakanda expansion, the bigMarvel’s AvengersDLC saw the Wakandan jungles added as a full region, which provided significantly more content than the Operations. The story was twice as long, a new outpost was added as part of the region, and fresh objective types made their debut. These included puzzles, corrupted Vibrainium, and a horde mode. Brand-new enemy types were added via the Klaw faction, while Crossbones and Klaw himself served as bosses. Crates and elevators were even reskinned to fit the new setting, andthe first raid came toMarvel’s Avengersas well.
The Issues With Marvel’s Avengers’ Operations And Expansions
All the content listed above sounds like a lot, and fans enjoyed most if not all of it. However, it only amounts to about 15-20 hours’ worth of gameplay, which is not nearly enough to keep players engaged all-year round. While the new hero additions get people talking, and everyMarvel’s Avengers heroplays very well, the issue is that players have almost no new content to use the characters in. As such, after they play through their stories, gamers are stuck leveling up the additional characters in the same set of Warzones, Hives, and Villain Sectors that they have seen time and time again.
New hero additions forMarvel’s Avengersare simply not what the game needs right now.Marvel’s Avengers’ roster may be expanding, but the amount of unique content to enjoy is not growing enough to justify these character additions. While Operations and Expansions may be exciting, three major content drops a year like what was seen in 2022 simply is not enough to keep players engaged.
It is no secret thatMarvel’s Avengers’ heroes take a long time to develop, as each has a deep moveset with unique abilities and animations. With new missions being tied directly to these additional characters, players are stuck waiting for long periods of time for any meaningful content to come to the game. Whileevents like the Red Room Takeoverare fine, players need a larger variety of missions to play on a regular basis. Currently, though, the post-launch approach toMarvel’s Avengersencourages players to hop onto the game when a new Operation drops and then leave it behind for several months.
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A New Approach For Marvel’s Avengers’ Larger DLCs
Marvel’s Avengersneeds to keep the ball rollinginstead of having brief spurts of content, and the best way to do that is to separate heroes from Operations and Expansions. Every story Crystal Dynamics tells does not need to introduce a new playable character, as that format is slowing down updates far too much. Instead, Crystal Dynamics should ease up on new hero releases and focus on consistently releasing Operations that highlight the existing character roster.
A perfect example of this would be a DLC release that takesMarvel’s Avengersplayers to Asgard.Loki was teasedat launch but has not yet made a return, so an expansion that focuses on the villain could be an excellent opportunity for Crystal Dynamics. Having a fan favorite character as the main antagonist could give players the most exciting boss fight yet. Asgard could be just as gorgeous as Wakanda, standing out from the empty deserts and forests seen in the base version of the game. A new, four-hour story could show a different side of Thor, improving on one the current characters instead of forcing him to stay in the background.
This same idea would work with aBlack WidowOperation that takes her to the real Red Room to fight Yelena, or a Captain America Operation that sees him battling Hydra in a secret base. The possibilities for Operations and Expansions that focus on villains and new regions as opposed to additional characters are endless, and Crystal Dynamics should begin to shift toward this kind of content going forward. By focusing entirely on new missions, enemies, and locations, fresh content could hopefully be added monthly or at least bi-monthly - giving gamers a reason to keep playingMarvel’s Avengersinstead of returning to it sporadically.
The main reason the versions of The Avengers seen in the comics and theMCUwork so well is because each of the characters gets time to shine. WithMarvel’s Avengers’ current DLC format, only the new heroes are being focused on closely with each Operation, leaving other Avengers completely in the background. Add in the fact that new heroes are slowing down other content that the game desperately needs, and it becomes clear that the current approach is not working. Going forward, the time and resource consuming development of new characters should be less of a priority for Crystal Dynamics. Instead, Operations and Expansions that focus fully on fresh enemies and locations should be prioritized, releasing at a more frequent rate to keep players hooked.
Marvel’s Avengersis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
