Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a game full of rich texture. The voice acting is superb and the abbey’s relationship-building is the perfect chill interlude to the tactically sophisticated card play. The two formats are beautifully intertwined through the accrual of additional cards and abilities, and there’s a genuine sense of satisfaction in deepening both battlefield prowess and social role-playing connections. Midnight Suns is not XCOM — but that’s ultimately its greatest strength. It’s something completely distinct and entirely exceptional.
As packaged content, this adaptation of Jaws of the Lion is a surprisingly effective remodel of the cardboard product. Despite abandoning the material’s original purpose of providing a more streamlined introduction to Gloomhaven’s systems, the design team produced an entertaining and effective side campaign that will extend the life of Gloomhaven and bring fresh perspectives to this storied game.
It's fortunate, then, that this build is relatively refined. The Switch edition of Root benefits from months of feedback based on last August's Steam early access release. Many previous rough spots, such as slow combat animations and outright bugs, have been alleviated.
Speaking of which: The dungeons themselves are splendid. Their visuals aren't particularly striking, but they do create an oppressive atmosphere. This mood pairs wonderfully with an enhanced focus on exploration. New rooms and enemies are slowly revealed as you encounter them, unlike the board game, which requires you to uncomfortably ignore unexplored areas on the dungeon setup map. This is a fundamental shift in how we interact with the environment and it injects a heightened sense of tension. It doesn't hurt that these dungeons, with their atmosphere and excellent design, are all the more enjoyable because the digital version removes so much of the busy work of the tabletop game. It's so much easier to be enveloped by it all.