Brisbane based developer Spitfire Interactive have announced a new superhero turn-based strategy game called Capes which is set to release next year.

If Marvel thought delaying Midnight Suns' release to next year would move it out of the way of superhero competition (Gotham Knights), they may need to think again.

Return to the Golden Age where heroes saved the day for fame and glory and villains concocted schemes in glorified games of cops and robbers… until it wasn’t fun anymore. One dark day, the villains truly won, brutally wiping humanity’s protectors off the face of the planet. After nearly two decades of villains running the world and instilling a fear of superpowers, a new generation of heroes are ready to stop the filth of crime from spreading or die trying.

Take center stage in turn-based tactical battles, rescuing reluctant citizens trapped by dangerous debris, each in different situations best handled by specific units. Traverse the battlefield on foot or via teleportation to draw the attention of goons and create openings for teammates. Upgrade efficiencies and stats after each mission, before readying for the next bout.

Combine superpowers to create iconic strategies worthy of their own comic book panel, like slinging a spiky-crystal-covered powerhouse head-first into a villain’s chest. Character diversity is at the forefront of Capes throughout its modern take on classic comic tropes. Not just in powers, but in the heroes themselves to showcase a variety of ethnicities, genders, hopes, and dreams. The future is in the hands of the nascent youth as they work together to fight against the overwhelming odds of the generation before them.

As another turn-based strategy game Capes is a lot closer to Midnight Suns than Gotham Knights.

Midnight Suns has the obvious huge brand advantage in Marvel but may lose out for their inclusion of card-based combat and also microtransactions.

The bane of microtransactions require no explanation but if you've watched any gameplay for Midnight Suns you'd know that you're not in complete control of any of your characters.

There's a card-based system which deals you a hand each round and you have to do your best with what you're dealt.

Back before the advent of computer games, card-based abstractions like this may have been clever and popular.

But today, to modern video gamers?

Plus there's the gambling factor.

Monetisation of gaming is a very sore spot for many gamers and overtly randomised and gambling like mechanics have the potential to trigger lootbox trauma.

Some aspects of Capes' combat aren't entirely clear, eg. skill combinations, but it looks much more fun than Midnight Suns.

The UI in the trailer appears to show 12 slots for your super hero team in combat.

That's substantially more than the norm and could get wild.

It's also marvellous to see new superhero properties.

Fantasy and sci-fi have enjoyed decades of games set in original worlds.

Relatively few superhero games have strayed outside the bounds of Marvel and DC.

Who Are Spitfire Interactive?

They are not entirely new kids on the Bribane block.

Capes is published by Defiant Development who made some big hits like Hand of Fate and its sequel Hand of Fate 2.

They won Studio of the Year at the 2014 in the Australian Game Developer Awards.

Defiant ceased development in 2019 and some of its developers founded a new studio Gifted Youths which in July this year they rebranded to Spitfire Interactive.

Spitfire's director Morgan Jaffit began their career writing for 2002 superhero game Freedom Force which is one of those few original property superhero games.

We are very keen to see more of Capes which is scheduled for a Q1 2023 release on PC (Steam).

[ Main Image: Capes announcement trailer. Credit: Defiant Development via YouTube. ]

References

Defiant Development (August 18, 2022). Capes - Reveal Trailer. YouTube.

Defiant Development. Homepage. (viewed August 19, 2022)

Defiant Development [@DefiantDev] (July 24, 2019). Sad to announce that Defiant are ceasing development of new titles. Twitter.

Good, Owen, S. (July 24, 2019). Hand of Fate studio Defiant Development ends work on new games. Polygon.

Steam. Capes. Defiant Development. (viewed August 19, 2022)

Wikipedia. Defiant Development. (viewed August 19, 2022)

Wikipedia. Hand of Fate (video game). (viewed August 19, 2022)