It's been a year, but former XCOM boss Jake Solomon still can't let go of probably his last strategy game ever: Marvel's Midnight Suns

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On the game's first anniversary, the developer shares some behind the scenes trivia

Marvel's Midnight Suns
(Image credit: Marvel)

The director of Marvel's Midnight Suns has given fans some behind-the-scenes trivia on its first anniversary and revealed he still loves the game "despite the downs and ups that followed" its release.

Around this time last year, developer Firaxis Games (along with publisher 2K) released its tactical RPG Marvel's Midnight Suns. Although we gave the game a four out of five rating, and described it as "a superhero game that encourages you to stop and smell the flowers" in our Marvel's Midnight Suns review, the game didn't perform as well as its creators had hoped upon release. 

Now, a year on, its director Jake Solomon has taken to Twitter to reflect on the game's release and share some behind-the-scenes trivia about the game's Marvel comics roots. "One year (and a couple days) since Midnight Suns," the developer's tweet begins. "Despite the downs and ups that followed, I love this game. I still view the chance to be a part of the Marvel universe as an incredible gift." 

Following this, Solomon then shared a series of small Easter eggs "out of hundreds" in a thread, starting with a Howard the Duck villain. "Doctor Bong has his face inscribed on the back side of a bell that appears in the last Spider-Man vs. Venom mission," the developer shared, before moving on to a specific location in the game.

"The grotto in the Abbey was always an homage to the X-Men pool party from Jim Lee." In the same tweet, Solomon revealed that at one point all of the characters were wearing revealing swimwear, but "we pulled them at the last minute as they were a bit... much."

Finally, Solomon shared that the caption on the painting of Agatha (which can be found in the Hunter's room) reads: "Painted by Sally Owens" - which is actually a reference to Sandra Bullock's character in the 1999 film Practical Magic. "That's how I pictured the good times between Agatha, Sara, and the Hunter," the director revealed. 

Solomon also shared that the statue of Agatha outside the Abbey is "meant to be an exact recreation of her very first panel drawn by Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #94," which has no doubt pleased Marvel comic fans.  

This Twitter thread proves that the developer still has a soft spot for Marvel's Midnight Suns. As for what Solomon has planned for the future, in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun earlier this year, the director said he wants to swap genres and have a go at creating life sims - which is quite the switch for the former XCOM developer. 

If you also want a trip down memory lane: Jake Solomon on his journey from underqualified graphics programmer to master strategist.

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.