What is Marvel Rivals?
Marvel Rivals is a team-based PvP shooter from NetEase Games (published together with Marvel Games) that turns the Marvel multiverse into a competitive arena. Its premise is the Timestream Entanglement: a clash between the tyrannical Doctor Doom and his future counterpart from the year 2099 has smashed countless universes together, forcing heroes and villains to fight alongside — and against — one another. The real hook, though, is that you win through combination rather than solo skill, linking abilities across characters into Team-Up skills on destructible battlefields that never stop shifting.
Getting started
The core loop is simple: two teams, one objective, and a clock. Your job is to help your squad hold or take ground while the environment around you gets torn apart.
A sensible first week looks like this:
- Play a few matches before you study anything. You need to feel the pace — how fast fights start, how quickly they end, how much punishment a single hero can absorb.
- Try a handful of heroes, then pick one or two. Every Marvel character plays differently, so sampling widely early saves you from committing to something that doesn’t fit your instincts.
- Read your team’s Team-Up skills. These combination abilities are the game’s signature system; when a squad is built around them, fights get noticeably easier.
- Look up, look down, and look at the walls. Battlefields are destructible, so cover you were relying on can vanish — and routes you assumed were blocked may not be.
Marvel Rivals runs on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC, so if your friends are spread across platforms, settle on one before you commit.
Tips for beginners
- Specialise before you diversify. One hero you genuinely understand beats five you half-know.
- Build around Team-Up skills, not individual power. A modest hero in the right pairing outperforms a strong one acting alone.
- Don’t fight the map — use it. Destructible terrain is a tool for creating angles and breaking sightlines, not just scenery.
- Stay near your squad. Team shooters punish lone wolves, and no single character can hold an objective alone.
- Review one decision per session. Ask what killed you, not how many kills you got.
- Pick a platform with your friends. Cross-platform availability only helps if you actually coordinate.
- Treat losses as data. The multiverse premise means matchups keep shifting, so adapt instead of repeating the same plan.
Is it worth playing?
A score of 76.0 puts Marvel Rivals in solid-but-not-perfect territory. It’s worth your time if you enjoy team shooters and have any affection for the Marvel roster — the Team-Up system gives it a clear identity that most hero shooters lack. If you want a tight solo experience, look elsewhere. This is best approached as a social game: gather a squad and the combination play is where it shines.