Marvel's Avengers Releases Gameplay Footage

Well over a month ago, attendees at San Diego Comic-Con got a first look at gameplay footage from Marvel's Avengers. Now the rest of us are getting a taste, thanks to a video uploaded to the game's official YouTube channel.

The video — which is nearly 19 minutes long — takes us through the A-Day Prologue mission, and doesn't really hold anything back as far as seeing the squad in action. During the Avengers Day celebration, a multitude of bombs detonate on the Golden Gate Bridge. Naturally, the entire crew investigates, giving you the opportunity to play through the mission as every single one of them.

Thor's combat looks very God of War-esque, right down to summoning back his hammer. Iron Man's arsenal is more tailored to his aerial abilities, granting him air dodges and powerful ranged weapons. The Hulk is just a brute, clobbering everything in his path and even using enemies as melee weapons. Captain America's repertoire is a healthy mix of close-up combat and ranged shield attacks. And Black Widow is all about hand-to-hand martial arts, evasion, and the occasional firing of her pistol.

All the characters appear to play very differently, which should give Marvel's Avengers a lot of combat variety. And there are a handful of cinematic moments breaking up the fights, as well. Again, if you played God of War or Spider-Man, watching the Avengers footage is going to give you some deja vu. That isn't a knock; those were great games, and it looks as though Crystal Dynamics is cherry picking the really good bits of them for this title.

And in terms of how the characters look: once you get ten or fifteen minutes in, you'll likely have forgotten that these aren't the MCU Avengers. That whole controversy was rather silly to begin with, but it's possible Square Enix could've avoided it entirely by showing this first. It does a much better job drawing you into the game's world than the E3 reveal did.

Marvel's Avengers hits PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia on May 15, 2020. We'll be sure to update you if any other Avengers-related news comes our way.