Marvel Rivals, the new Overwatch-style third-person hero shooter, has a killer theme song that I heard several times while waiting to log in as its closed beta was hammered by legions of other players trying to do the same. After about an hour, however, the servers seem to have stabilized and I managed to get in and play a match.
The servers went online a few hours ago and it seems like they weren't quite prepared for the number of players who want to team fight as classic Marvel heroes, like Spider-Man, Loki, and Storm. Several players reported being stuck on the title screen on the Steam forums, and some say they were disconnected when they finally entered a match.
On Twitch, Marvel Rivals has already climbed into the top 10 most viewed games with a little over 68K active viewers, putting it above Fortnite's 59K. Most streamers are in and playing now, but for a while there only the first 20 or so made it past the main menu. Even FPS streamer Shroud, who has gathered over 16K viewers for his sponsored stream, was kicked out of a match and forced to relaunch the game in the first hour the beta was up.
The server troubles could be a sign that developer NetEase Games invited too many people, making for a rocky start to the 13-day closed beta. I was able to get into the playtest by simply requesting access on the Steam page—along with several others—and many players who reached level 10 in the previous beta received codes too.
I won my first match as Scarlet Witch by standing with my team in front of the enemy spawn and picking off anyone who dared to try and reach the payload. If the game is truly going for an Overwatch-type feel, a kind of pathetic round of spawn camping is actually pretty accurate. One proper team fight broke out when the enemy Hulk smashed his way to our one healer. I snuck around behind the enemy team using Scarlet Witch's invisible flight ability and saved the fight with her explosive ultimate. Even if it didn't quite work out for the Hulk, the way a tank hero can break open a defense is promising for a six vs. six team game.
Unlike Overwatch, though, Marvel Rivals doesn't force a specific team composition. So it's up to your teammates if they want to have a well-balanced team of tanks, healers, and damage dealers. In the beta earlier this year, I only ran into a few miserable matches where everyone refused to swap. The game's 'team-up' system, which grants you passive buffs for having specific heroes on your team like Groot and Rocket Raccoon, helps incentivize players to work around their team's picks.
There are already a bunch of skins, sprays, and other cosmetics to earn as you play. Anything you earn during the beta will carry forward to the final game—which doesn't yet have a release date. Reaching level 30 on the battle pass, for example, will earn you a blue skin for Venom, who is one of the newest characters added to the game.
The beta will run until August 5. You can request access on Steam, grab an extra code from people who are already in, or earn a code by watching an hour of a Twitch stream starting on Thursday. Although it's a closed beta, NetEase seems to be letting almost anyone in. Let's hope the servers can hold strong through the weekend.
