Over the course of the past year, Marvel Rivals has made a number of welcome improvements and added several new modes, which are all part of why the game has seen a resurgence in popularity after things seemed to stall a bit. With season 6 about to begin later this week, the unfortunate news is that one of the game’s best additions will be going away, but there is good news on the way.
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In the Season 6 Dev Vision (Vol. 13), it was revealed that after being extended twice, the popular Marvel Zombies mode is being retired. That’s not to say it won’t return, but for the foreseeable future, the mode will be closing up shop. The good news is that Netease also announced that they will bring a brand new PvE mode to Marvel Rivals in the first half of 2026, so we won’t have to wait too long for more details.
Marvel Zombies Reignited Marvel Rivals (And The New PvE Mode Can Be Even Better)
There were quite a few articles and online discourse about Marvel Rivals during the latter half of 2025, and that included a host of discussions about the game falling off from its lofty launch numbers. That was also credit to Overwatch 2 gaining some renewed momentum, and even though the new heroes in Rivals were received well, there was a general feeling that the game was somewhat stagnant or at least running in place.
That all changed with the introduction of Marvel Zombies, which was the game’s first PvE mode. The mode had you playing as a team with a selection of characters like Blade and Magik against a swarming horde of zombies and zombified Marvel heroes as the bosses. It was a button-mashing good time and became incredibly popular, which is why the mode was extended past its initial end time twice. This also preceded the 18 vs 18 mode and Times Square, and coupled with Marvel Zombies, these modes gave the game a much-needed boost.
While Marvel Zombies was fun, the next PvE mode can be even better. Marvel Zombies only featured access to Blade, Thor, Magik, Jeff, and Punisher, so a new group of heroes would instantly give the next PvE mode a fresh feel. It would be great if more than just five heroes could be included, and since this is a cooperative mode, perhaps we can work in some team attacks or level-ups to reward team tactics. The first run was already quite successful, but with a few tweaks, the second PvE mode could leave it in the dust.
Marvel Rivals Season 6 begins on January 16.
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