Ahead of Marvel Realm of Champions‘ launch on 16 December, I had the chance to try out the available beta build to check out what Battleworld can offer. There will definitely be more to come, and you can check out our interview with the devs to get hints of what’s coming here.

CONTROLS

With Realm of Champions being a mobile title, one does not expect overly complex controls. The left side  of the screen is for movement, with the virtual joystick. The right is where your skills are:

• Tapping repeatedly fires off your auto attacks
• Both the top and bottom buttons are your active skills
• The right most button is your ultimate that recharges over time
• Holding down on the right fires your Heavy attack, which has its own cooldown
• Swipe in a direction on the right side of the screen to dodge, also with cooldown

The screen is kept relatively clean to keep you focused on the action instead of inundating you with too many buttons to press, and you won’t accidentally hit them when you don’t want to either. When your Heavy or Dodge is off cool down, you’ll be informed with a pop up also on the either side of the screen. It handles itself well enough, and seasoned mobile players should find it easy to jump right in.

GAMEPLAY

The beta has Arena Conquest (versus other players) and Stronghold (co-op). These game modes don’t take very long, designed for quick bouts wherever you may be. It also means you don’t have to scramble for a charger in case a match takes too long, wink wink.

ARENA CONQUEST

Capture the middle and defeat the opposing B.O.D.O.K.! As long as you have opponents in the middle space, capture will not be possible. Only once you capture the center, the enemy’s B.O.D.O.K. will be temporarily disabled so that you can whack away at it. Once it recovers, it’ll knock you back if you’re in its range, and you’ll be momentarily down, which can leave you vulnerable to respawning enemies.

It’s not as easy as dancing around the arena to capture the center either; the capture area will shrink quite quickly, so if you don’t get in your opponent’s face to take them down, you might find your B.O.D.O.K. under fire! It can get quite hectic, as a positioning error could either see you get taken out, or losing the capture.

STRONGHOLD

Here, you fight off waves of enemies while protecting the ISO-Core from them. The final wave will feature a boss, that once you take down, will make you victorious. You can read what enemies will spawn in the map and try to tailor your build towards it. Otherwise, it’s a matter of working together and ensuring the core doesn’t take too much damage before you fight off the boss.

IN GENERAL

Enemies will have tells of where their attacks will land, so you can dodge out of the area as you need to. At least for me, my phone vibrates to alert me when I’m matched up and ready to go, which is handy if you’re not one to always be watching your screen. Winning in matches can grant equipment and resources.

WORKING IT OUT

Champions will have various equippable pieces, each coming with their stats, rarities and skills. I didn’t manage to acquire a full set piece, but you will be able to find those to get synergies! These pieces not only change the look of your champion, but also your champion’s skills should you find the corresponding piece, which then influences your playstyle. It’s quite the interesting system, as the Iron Legionnaire on the other team may not have the same skill as you do, as with all the other champions.

These pieces can then be further upgraded for additional stats to increase your power, besides upgrading the champions themselves. Pieces of gear can be purchased with in-app purchases, but for those who go free to play, besides grinding it out in the game modes, you’re also offered a Crystal every 6 hours for additional resources, so you won’t be drastically falling behind. Besides, there’s the whole matchmaking system in place.

You have missions and milestones you can tackle for more resources as you play the game, and I do feel it rewards you the more you play. You can get the basic tank, damage and support role champions – Hulk, Iron Legionnaire, Sorcerer Supreme – for free, so you can definitely just pick one of them that fits your playstyle and pour in your resources as you consider getting other champions in the store in the future.

As mentioned in the interview, you can read up on the story behind the rotating arenas, or the location it’s at. Lore enthusiasts will want to keep an eye on this space.

Marvel Realm of Champions will launch 16 December 2020, so get ready to jump into Battleworld and experience the release for yourself!