Marvel Realm of Champions

Marvel Realm of Champions
Developer(s)	Kabam
Publisher(s)	Kabam (Netmarble)
Platform(s)	iOS, Android
Release	December 16, 2020
Genre(s)	MOBA
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Marvel Realm of Champions was a mobile fighting game developed by Kabam as a spinoff for their other Marvel game Contest of Champions. The free-to-play game with in-game Store purchases launched globally on December 16, 2020. On January 13, 2022, it was announced that the game would shut down on March 31 of that year.^[1]

Setting[]

Realm of Champions was set in the continuity of Kabam's previous Marvel game Contest of Champions and ran concurrently to it.^[2] While Contest was based on the Contest of Champions story arc and depicted multiple Marvel Comics characters from various alternate realities being abducted to participate in the titular Contest in the "Battlerealm", Realm drew inspiration from Secret Wars storyline and was set on the Battleworld, a patchwork planet made from various alternate Earths. Remnants of each reality formed a "House" which was ruled by a "Baron", all of whom were alternate takes on existing Marvel character (such as Gwen Stacy who took on the role of Madame Web or Shuri who became Queen of Wakanda). Players controlled original characters who were members of each House's special fighting force, such as "Sorcerers Supreme" or "Web-Warriors".^[3] There was cross-promotion between the two games, as several characters who originated in Realm were added to Contest as playable characters.^[4]

Gameplay[]

Players took control of a fighter for one of the Houses, who were named in honor of a legacy character (such as Hulk, Storm or Black Panther). Each character utilized different skills and was intended to represent different playstyles. There was no storyline mode or other solo missions to advance, as all game modes were a variety of multiplayer: Arena Conquest in which two groups of 3 players each fought over control of an area, Stronghold in which 3 players protected a core from a group of enemies, Deathmatch with 3 teams of 2 players fighting one another over points and Onslaught, a survival mode against waves of enemies of progressing difficulty.^[2] After each match players would receive a selection of equipment (only usable for specific characters) and currency which could be applied to improving desired equipment on a selected character.^[3]

Reception[]

The game received mixed reviews at launch. Zach Guida of Hardcore Droid complimented the quick matchmaking and the short duration of the matches, giving the game 4 stars out of 5.^[5] Nick Petrasiti of The Sixth Axis found the matches fun and the gameplay easy enough to get into, while also noticing the small character selection, lack of tactics and issues with gear customization, where selecting higher stats inevitably led the characters to wear mismatched parts of different outfits. ^[3] Eric Halliday of App Trigger Gaming also criticized extremely limited character selection, lack of storyline and mismatched outfits on the characters, concluding that game was not worth one's time.^[6]

In a mid-2021 review that followed several game updates, Alex Sinclair Lack of MobileGames.com complimented the addition of Thor as a new character and cinematics which added actual story content, but also noticed that the lack of new game modes made the short matches feel very repetitive, while visuals of the hero abilities were disappointing and the graphics were below industry average. He gave the game an overall 6/10 score, concluding that the game lacked anything exceptional.^[7]

References[]