When I first played the closed alpha of Marvel Rivals, I was thrilled to have a new hero shooter, but now that it has been released I find myself quickly getting tired of it. Honestly, I should have seen this coming. Overwatch came out in 2016, and I played way too much of it for years. When Marvel Rivals came out, I was excited about a new game to reinvigorate my interest in the genre, but that’s not really what I got.

Instead of getting a new skins for Overwatch. While it is far from a shameless Overwatch ripoff, Marvel Rivals still needed to do more to differentiate itself to really keep my interest. Now, I’m not saying there’s no way for the game to do that, but Marvel Rivals does have its work cut out for it if it wants to win over fans who feel like they already played the game to death before its launch.

Marvel Rivals Feels Like An Overwatch Relaunch With New Heroes

Both Games Have A Lot Of Similarities

Probably the biggest argument in favor of Marvel Rivals’ originality is its roster of heroes. I won’t lie, I was excited to see my favorite heroes like Captain America and Spider-Man on the list, as well as the weird picks like Jeff the Land Shark from the Gwenpool comics. My (ittedly waning) enjoyment of Marvel properties was enough to at least get me to check out Marvel Rivals despite my Overwatch fatigue.

My initial thought when playing Marvel Rivals was “Oh, this is just Overwatch with new characters.” A friend that I alpha tested with even went so far as to dub it "Overwatch but fun." Even when I was the most enthused about Marvel Rivals and its roster of heroes, I still found myself inevitably comparing it to Overwatch. The more I played, the more I started to realize that, while the characters had new names and looks, they weren’t even as different as I initially thought.

Marvel Rivals' Heroes Feel Like Combinations Of Overwatch Characters

Marvel Rivals Heroes Have Some Of The Same Abilities As Overwatch Heroes

Overwatch’s fingerprints are all over the designs of Marvel Rivals’ heroes. It isn’t that Rivals heroes have a complete one-to-one comparison with an Overwatch counterpart, but instead that they feel almost like a mashup of several heroes. For instance, Star-Lord's mobility and rapid fire guns feel very similar to Tracer. However, he also has an ability Tracer doesn’t, where he spins around firing his guns in multiple directions. This move feels very similar the ultimate ability of Overwatch’s Reaper so, while it keeps Star-Lord from being a Tracer clone, most of his moveset still feels Overwatch-adjacent.

Any Overwatch player is likely to recognize even more similarities. Squirrel Girl’s acorns and ability to launch herself into the air both feel very Junkrat. Though the two heroes are different in some ways, Magneto’s shield feels very reminiscent of Reinhardt’s. Scarlet Witch’s basic attack is essentially the same as Symmetra’s, and Hawkeye essentially feels like a slightly reworked Hanzo. Luna Snow may be one of the most egregious examples, with her skating ability, role as a healer, and role as a musician all being very similar to Lucio (whose name even sounds like a portmanteau of Luna Snow).

Now these similarities alone wouldn’t be enough to ruin Marvel Rivals for me. Many of the abilities in both games are pretty standard for this type of competitive game. And it’s now like Overwatch was completely original. Roadhog’s hook was essentially just the FPS version of Thresh’s from League of Legends. However, the similarities between the two games’ heroes are only part of the issue.

Marvel Rivals Has The Exact Same Game Modes And Similar Maps

Marvel Rivals Also Features Modes For Pushing Points Or Playing King Of The Hill

Had Marvel Rivals offered a new gameplay experience, the fact that its heroes feel like Overwatch Frankenstein creations wouldn’t have bothered me all that much. However, Rivals' two primary game modes are exactly the same as Overwatch’s. Both games feature a mode that sees an offensive team pushing a point (usually represented by some sort of moving vehicle) while the defensive team tries to stop its progress. The objective in both games' mode is a best-of-three king of the hill scenario.

Not only are the objectives and mechanics the same between Overwatch and Marvel Rivals, many of the maps seem similar too. The starting area in Overwatch’s Hanamura, for instance, has a very similar layout to Rivals’ Tokyo 2099 map. Honestly, it’s a little shocking that if Marvel Rivals was going to come so close to recreating the layout of an area from Overwatch that they wouldn’t even try to hide it by not having it set in the same country.

Again, in isolation, this could be forgiven. Both games are set in a parallel version of the real world and take inspirations from real countries. Likewise, it’s hard to say what is Rivals copying Overwatch and what are just best practices for deg a level in this type of game. Still, when combined with the similarities between the two games’ heroes, Marvel Rivals just feels exhaustingly familiar.

Marvel Rivals Needs To Differentiate Itself More From Overwatch

Rivals Can Still Turn Things Around By Adding More Original Content

Luckily for Marvel Rivals, it’s just getting started. It also has the backing of one of the world’s most popular and lucrative IPs. There is plenty of time - and likely plenty of resources - for Marvel Rivals to develop into a game with a more unique identity. One way it can do this is by giving players some features Overwatch has failed to deliver on.

Ahead of the release of Overwatch 2, players were excited about the prospect of a PVE mode. However, any plans for it have since been canceled. One way Marvel Rivals can set itself apart is by delivering a PVE mode to players. This could also help attract more players who are fans of Marvel but don’t necessarily enjoy competitive gameplay.

It doesn’t matter how Marvel Rivals chooses to differentiate itself from Overwatch, but it is something the game needs to do if it wants to win me back. I will say that - although sharing some similarities with Doomfist - I found playing as Wolverine to be a refreshing experience and one that didn’t just have me thinking about Overwatch the whole time. More unique heroes and perhaps some unique game modes will go a long way toward helping Marvel Rivals develop a stronger identity and perhaps get me excited about playing it again.