It’s shaping up to be a shockingly good year for former arcade-dwelling beat-‘em-up fans. This month saw the arrival of the excellent Absolum, which infuses old-fashioned 2D combat in a cartoony high fantasy setting with roguelike elements to great effect. And now we also have a release date for Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
Out December 1 on practically every platform, Marvel Cosmic Invasion lets you choose a team of two superheroes from a playable roster of 15, and you can switch character mid-fight. The new release date trailer rounds off the roster with the Invincible Iron Man (heard of him?) and Phoenix/Jean Grey (played by Jennifer Hale, who also voiced Jean in X-Men ‘97), who join a list of previously announced characters that includes Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America.
With its gorgeous pixel art visuals and obvious ’90s-era Marvel comics inspiration, it’s hard to see Marvel Cosmic Invasion being anything other than a hit, and it’s fair to say that the license is in very good hands. Developer Tribute Games’ last game was the excellent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, while publisher Dotemu has already put out the aforementioned Absolum this year, as well as Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, which also got a big tick from Engadget.
You can play with up to four players, local or online, with crossplay also supported. Marvel Cosmic Invasion will be available for PC, Switch, Switch 2, PS5/PS4 and Xbox on December 1.
