During Summer Games Fest, I got to play about 30 minutes of Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Tribute Games’ next retro beat-em-up. I got to tackle two different missions using four different characters across those missions, and I came away incredibly excited for it to release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Classic comic art style with modern pixel work
During the first mission to take down Beetle, who had been taken over by Annihilus invaders, the villains of the game, I went with Wolverine and Venom as my characters. Marvel Cosmic Invasion supports up to four players in co-op, although my demo was just two people. You choose two characters, switching between them with a tag button, allowing you to swap between them to utilize different moves or to use the special meter.
On each screen, you battle several bugs in different environments, all in a pixel art style made to look like classic comic designs. That artwork is deeply impressive, especially on Venom, where you can see the Symbiote move, and bits of Eddie’s body underneath are exposed. This level of detail permeates throughout the two levels I played, with gorgeous art and plenty of nods to different comic references throughout, like the Secret Hospital billboards featuring Mary Jane in some of the levels I played.
The combat feels great, with several moves available to each character, along with a super move that you can use with enough meter. When you activate your special, you can hold it so that other players join you, and once one person releases, all of the moves get used for maximum damage. While I was told not to expect vehicle levels like Tribute’s last game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, because of the massive 15 character roster that Marvel Cosmic Invasion is going to launch with, but there will be special interactions to keep the game fresh, like an area where I had a turret to punch, that would shoot at the enemies for me.
Tons of Marvel love, and co-op fun
The first mission I played, which is set in New York, ended with a boss fight against Beetle, a Marvel character I’m unfamiliar with. The second mission though, which I played Captain America and Spider-Man, culminated in a Taskmaster fight. Captain America has a fun move set, including a shield throw which will ricochet between enemies if timed right, and Spider-Man moves and swings in a way that feels right for a 2D experience.
The Taskmaster fight was exciting, because of the dedication to the comic lore. Taskmaster uses moves of his enemies, including the Avengers, and during the fight he used Spider-Man’s web-swing and Captain America’s shield throw. I was told that while he can’t do every move in the game, and that the ones he used weren’t based on my character selections, he does know several different moves from characters on the roster.
Tribute Games and publisher Dotemu have seemingly made another incredible retro beat-em-up, and the variety between the four characters I got to play has me excited to see the rest of the roster. Marvel’s Cosmic Invasion releases in 2025.
