Marvel Cosmic Invasion Can Turn Anyone Into a Beat ‘Em Up Fan

Following the success of games like Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, Dotemu is giving Marvel the beat ’em up treatment next via Marvel Cosmic Invasion. Given how well those games were received and how much Dotemu has solidified its space in the side-scrolling brawler genre thus far, it should come as little surprise that Marvel Cosmic Invasion feels fantastic to play. If you’re already big on both Marvel and beat ’em ups, you’ve got a lot to look forward to, but if you only care much about one of those interests, Marvel Cosmic Invasion might be enough to get you invested in both.

That was the exact situation I was in when playing Marvel Cosmic Invasion for the first time at Summer Game Fest. Beat ’em ups are far from my forte, but everything about Marvel Cosmic Invasion is built to welcome newcomers to its streets. Dotemu’s attractive pixel art returns here in a way that pays homage to some of the best looks Marvel characters have boasted over the years (the game takes after the Annihilation comics storyline, but longtime Marvel fans will spot other influences in character designs). The controls are easy enough that Marvel Cosmic Invasion felt quite natural and intuitive after only about 30ish minutes of the demo, and despite not knowing my co-op demo partner prior to the session, getting in sync in Marvel Cosmic Invasion is easy once you get a feel for the game.

Of the 15 playable characters planned for launch, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Venom, Captain America, Storm, Nova, and Phyla-Vell were available during the demo. Those last two characters are the ones that more casual Marvel fans will have to dig a bit deeper for, but the rest of the cast so far included staple picks which, again, ensure there’s something in Marvel Cosmic Invasion for everyone. You get to pick two characters per person in the Marvel game, so I chose the very thematic combo of Spider-Man and Venom without much thought into optimizing our four characters, but it became apparent throughout the demo that compatibility will definitely play a role in how well you do during harder levels.

It’s impressive to see how much per-pixel personality Dotemu packed into Marvel Cosmic Invasion. Spider-Man’s had more determined and surprised expressions, but watching Venom work was a joy on such a vibrant, colorful battleground. A dash attack sent him flying across the screen, mouth agape like a symbiote land shark while a jumping attack propelled him forward like a wrecking ball swinging from the ceiling. Venom’s more amorphous size and form gave him room to be far more expressive in Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and his combo of room-clearing abilities and grabs to deal with faster foes already made him feel like a solid starting point.

Once we found a groove with our characters, fights were pretty smooth aside from the occasional new enemy type and environmental hazards up until we got to the final boss: Taskmaster. The Marvel villain utilized a shield mechanic where they’d block attacks until they threw their shield at which point you’d have to stop them from retrieving it before doing as much damage as possible until they inevitably retrieved it. For whatever reason, Taskmaster didn’t want to let go of the shield at all which turned what probably could’ve been a shorter fight into a much longer ordeal. This was such an early version of Marvel Cosmic Invasion (a point reiterated by nearby Dotemu devs watching the Taskmaster fight) that it’s hard to imagine Taskmaster’s shield being quite so sticky in the final release, but other than that, everything felt balanced in favor of the players by far.

We haven’t seen the full list of all 15 characters that Marvel Cosmic Invasion will launch with just yet, but based on what’s confirmed, the roster strikes a healthy balance between the must-haves and the deep cuts. Between the roster and how Marvel Cosmic Invasion felt so far, Dotemu seems to be on its way to another pixelated hit later this year.