Marvel Snap was released globally just two weeks ago, and with it came new players, new cards, and a new competitive season. But with all the new content, is Marvel Snap worth spending time on?
Being a day 1 player myself, even prior to the global release of the game (Asia region early access), I was able to play the game long enough to see what the game does well and poorly. In this review, I’ll be outlining everything that you need to know about Marvel Snap from the perspective of a trading card game.
About Marvel Snap
Marvel Snap is Marvel’s third attempt to get into the online card game industry, developed by Second Dinner and published under Nuverse. It does away with all the lengthy duels and complicated card mechanics in favor of a system that I can only describe as a mix of Hearthstone and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links. The game system ensures that your duels don’t last more than 3 minutes each, which is incredibly short considering the normal length of other card games out there.
The game makes use of Marvel’s insanely popular characters, such as Iron Man, Captain America, and even Wolverine. Because of this, Marvel Snap’s global release has accumulated 5.6 million downloads worldwide, and you could be one of them if you’re interested in fast-paced card gameplay.
Marvel Snap Story
An Ironheart variant fighting Doombots in New Asgard.
Marvel Snap puts you in the shoes of SHIELD’s own Nick Fury, replacing him for this new multiversal project. The plan is to assemble a team of heroes that you can send into the multiverse to control different locations. The use of the multiverse follows the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest direction, making use of different hero variants and other cool multiversal quirks.
The story is simple and easy to digest…which is a fancy way of saying that it’s nonexistent. The developers paid absolutely no attention to the story, and it’s obvious that they saw no value in it. It’s as if we were just supposed to see Marvel characters and instantly buy it! This leaves the game feeling soulless and uninteresting, even though the characters themselves are very interesting.
An Ironheart variant fighting Doombots in New Asgard.
Speaking of the characters, there are no actual characters with substance. Your cards may shout catchphrases when you play them, but other than that, there is no actual progression to the story or even character development. The characters are nothing but units and carry no weight, no matter how much you like a character.
A part of me believes that this just isn’t a game that was built with a story in mind, and that’s completely fine. I just wish that the story wasn’t sacrificed for the sake of the fast-paced gameplay, a sacrifice that I don’t even think was necessary to begin with.
Marvel Snap Gameplay
Gameplay breakdown by Ben Brode, Second Dinner’s Chief Development Officer
Marvel Snap has a simple gameplay loop, something that complements the theme of quick games that lead to natural progression. You start off by creating your deck with the cards available to you, which isn’t much at the start. Winning duels will reward you with credits and card boosters, which you can use to upgrade your card rarity.
Unlocking new cards is very different in Marvel Snap. Instead of having booster packs like in other card games, Marvel Snap uses the Collection Level system. Every time you upgrade the rarity of your cards, your Collection Level increases and unlocks a single new card that you can then use to upgrade your deck.
Marvel Snap’s victory screen showing rank and card upgrade progress.
This method of progression is…interesting. On one hand, expanding your collection this way makes sure that you rarely encounter situations where you don’t know what you’re up against because you’ve played every card that they’ve played before. On the other hand, this leaves you in a very awkward spot where you’re playing the same deck for too long because the individual cards that you unlock are only part of a deck that’s still missing a core.
The gameplay loop is good enough, but I just wish that this card game actually gave you an easier way to access more cards at once. I personally wish they would make the change to booster packs.
Marvel Snap Combat
An introduction to Marvel Snap along with additional gameplay.
Marvel Snap’s duels involve three things: your deck, the locations, and the snap.
Marvel Snap offers a lot of flexibility when it comes to deck creation. Not every deck plays the same, and that’s very important when it comes to the longevity of a card game. Decks should be easy to pilot, and every win should be satisfying, and Marvel Snap has that in spades. Which is impressive considering your deck has a maximum capacity of 20 cards.
Each duel gives you three random locations every game, each one unveiled at the start of every turn. Each location revealed gives you a random effect that you have to play around. Some locations increase the power of cards, while some locations summon squirrels to every other location.
Then comes the snap mechanic, Marvel Snap’s namesake. At any point in the game, you can choose to up the ante and double the amount of ranked points at stake. When either you or your opponent snaps, you can choose to retreat early in the game to avoid losing a huge chunk of ranked points. This offers a bit of extra interactivity with your opponent, giving you the option to bluff your way to a win.
To win, you have to be able to control 2 out of 3 of the locations by having the highest power in those locations.
As with every other card game, Marvel Snap uses the almighty RNG to make every game feel different. Different starting hands, different draw, different matchup, and different locations are just some of the random things that you can encounter with each duel.
Each match is unique and fast-paced, but still involves a lot of thought and never fails to entertain.
Marvel Snap Mission System
What free-to-play games be without microtransactions? Marvel Snap uses the now-popular season pass system that most other free-to-play games use. The standard season pass unlocks in-game currency and boosters to upgrade your collection while the premium season pass adds actual cards and other cosmetic upgrades as rewards.
To progress through the season pass, Marvel Snap introduces daily and weekly missions that reward you with credits and season pass exp. Overall, the daily missions can be easily grinded through just by playing the game, and the season pass can be cleared if you play on a daily basis.
Marvel Snap Graphics
Marvel Snap’s Official Gameplay Trailer, Highlighting Gameplay and Card Collection.
Marvel Snap looks amazing for a card game. The cards use existing art from Marvel comics as their faces which gives all the cards an extra premium feel. Since the game puts a heavy emphasis on upgrading card rarity, the graphical card enhancements also have to be worth it. So far, the highest card rarity I’ve reached unlocks a satisfyingly shiny nameplate for your card.
Marvel Snap graphics showcase played on Steam displaying 3D rarity card graphics.
The small effects that each card does on activation just add to the satisfaction. Each card has a unique animation for actions such as effect activation or evendragging the card around. There’s just something so satisfying about watching Star Lord actually have rocket boosters at the base of the card when you drag it into position.
Marvel Snap also has the best visual responses in a card game that I’ve seen so far. Every action in the game, even in the menus, has great visual feedback that makes you feel good while you’re playing the game.
The only complaint I have would be the menu UI. The main menu feels disorganized, and I often find myself getting lost while navigating the menu looking for a specific menu. Plus, the menu has too much stuff going on in too many colors! I just wish they made things more organized.
Marvel Snap Developer
Marvel Snap is developed by Second Dinner, a small game studio founded by former Hearthstone developer Ben Brode. What’s impressive is that Marvel Snap is their first ever game to be released! The game is a clean machine with barely any bugs or crashes so far.
Right now, Second Dinner is doing a great job letting their community know everything that they’re working on. This includes stuff like season updates, rewards, and even the thought process that the developers went through when they were creating the cards.
Marvel Snap Price
Marvel Snap is completely free to play and downloadable on Steam, the Google Play Store, and the Apple App Store. As with every free-to-play game, Marvel Snap has a pay model that makes it very enticing for players to actually pay for content. The good part? None of it is actually pay to win!
Looking through the shop, you can see that the things that you can pay for with real money are either purely cosmetic or just stuff that you can get anyway if you just play the game. I’ve reached collection level 200+ without spending a single penny, and I’ve enjoyed that journey every step of the way.
FINAL VERDICT
Marvel Snap has a niche audience that it caters to very well. If you’re looking for a fast-paced trading card game that looks amazing and is still satisfying to play, this game is for you. If you’re looking for a long-term card game with deeper mechanics and a bigger card pool, maybe play Marvel Duel instead.
All in all, I would rate Marvel Snap a generous 6.8/10.
Pros/Cons
Pros:
- Quick games for people who like low-commitment games on-the-go
- Satisfying visuals
- Marvel characters are always fun to use.
- Free, and not pay 2 win
Cons:
- Progression feels too slow.
- Lack of mechanical depth
- Too much RNG
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