Hero Shooters are a massively popular genre with many popular games such as Overwatch, Apex Legends, Paladins, Team Fortress 2, and the newest game to take the genre by storm is Marvel Rivals. Marvel Rivals, which released on December 6, 2024, became massively popular due to its fresh takes on the hero shooter genre while also bringing in many iconic characters from the Marvel Universe to fight in a variety of maps and game modes which enticed many players from many backgrounds with many coming from the 2016 game of the year winner Overwatch.
One of the critiques of Marvel Rivals is that it is very similar or a copy of Overwatch which while they are fundamentally similar, they are also very different games with many differences in their mechanics that wildly change the way the games are played and the way that team compositions are built.
One of the smaller differences between the two games is that Marvel Rivals is in third person which while a smaller change, makes a big difference in the way people play because you can be much more aware of what is happening around you in a fight without risking taking damage or instantly dying as a fight starts because you have more information.
Another smaller change is the proficiency system that is in Marvel Rivals, where it promotes a person playing one character for gaining cosmetics that are exclusive to that character.
Another much more major difference between the 2 games is the team-ups mechanic. The way this works is when 2 players pick characters that work with each other, they can initiate a team up where the players buff each other by either being able to increase stats or give them new abilities to use throughout the game.
One core difference between the games is even their balance philosophy. Where Marvel Rivals goes with the philosophy of if everything is broken, nothing is broken- Overwatch aims to keep everything in line with each other so that everything is a state of balance.
This has in turn sparked the creation of very different communities between the two games where the players that play Overwatch are much more competitive as nothing really feels exceptionally powerful, except what is the best at that moment, and as many people like Mr. Ali, advisor of the Video Game Club, said that “Games should be patched to ensure that the game remains fun and, at the very least, playable” which shows that many people do prefer the games being patched and things being more balanced.
This however has also created an environment that feels a lot more serious to the point where it can be considered toxic. This seems to be less of the case for Marvel Rivals where many people take the game less seriously due to everything being viable to use and many of the bad characters can still do very well under the right conditions. While both games have their moments of seriousness and unseriousness, Marvel makes a game more catered to a casual instead of competitive fanbase.
While the games are very different in terms of feeling, they do have many similarities that have caused Rivals being called a copy of Overwatch and many avid Overwatch enjoyers like Mr. Ali has said that “Marvel Rivals is an unashamed Overwatch clone. It isn’t original outside of a few gameplay choices and the branding.” This critique of the game is very warranted as many characters and mechanics do come from Overwatch.
As an example, both games at their core are hero shooters that promote team play and comboing with abilities to win games, or game modes such as payload which is where you have to move a vehicle to a certain point to win the game, or domination where you capture a certain point to win the game. These similarities are much more on the smaller end as many other hero shooters have modes like these, but the biggest similarity is the heroes and the connection they have to each other between both games.
An example of a hero in Rivals that is similar to Overwatch is Star-Lord. Much of his kit is inspired by a mash up of Soldier 76 and Tracer. Star-Lord has two rapid fire auto-pistols like Tracer and has an ability that gives him auto aim and faster reload like Soldier 76. This is just one of the several characters like this because many other characters share similarities with Overwatch, leading to the game being labeled as a clone.
Marvel Rivals will likely take over the hero shooter genre in the coming months as it has been on a steady upward trajectory of popularity even after a few months of release and the vanity of the “new hero shooter” has fallen off, its popularity has not fallen, and remains a very enjoyable game to both play and watch even at the highest levels of play thanks to the fresh mechanics and smooth gameplay feeling. This has been the opposite case for Overwatch, much of the community has moved to rivals, along with many veterans and professionals moving to Rivals and the Devs (game developers) not caring as much for the game leading to a toxic environment that no one wants to be a part of.
