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Marvel Mystic Mayhem signals a smashing superhero story

Get ready for a super story and strategic gameplay in Marvel Mystic Mayhem, an upcoming game that we tried out during its current beta.

marvel mystic mayhem preview - key art of Doppelganger and Lady Bullseye

Marvel Mystic Mayhem comes from NetEase, the developer behind Marvel Rivals, Dead By Daylight Mobile, and the upcoming gacha game Ananta. It seems they’re having a heyday with Marvel right now, and it bodes well for the future of this strategic RPG.

Marvel Mystic Mayhem recently announced a beta test, and I managed to sneak my way in as a public tester before the end of the signup period and jump into the action. The current beta is now closed, though, so if you’re wondering why you can’t find the game on Google Play, that’s why.

Now, a Marvel game on mobile isn’t exactly groundbreaking. We’ve got Marvel: Future Fight, Puzzle Quest, Contest of Champions, Snap, Strike Force, Future Revolution, Avengers Academy – the list goes on. But, Mystic Mayhem is a game focused on team building and tactics, setting it apart from previous titles. It has an excellent art style and a cool story woven in, which will endear plenty of comic book fans.

Mystic Mayhem has a great story mode, where your heroes face off against villains in fights interspersed with animated comic book sections. There are also dedicated sections just to fight bosses, earn materials to build up characters, and a wonderful set of tactical challenges where you’re limited to one character that I genuinely couldn’t get through. That’s likely a me problem though, and gives something to work towards.

marvel mystic mayhem preview - a screenshot of gameplay between heroes and an enemy

As for who makes an appearance in Mystic Mayhem, you have your classic big-ticket heroes like Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, and Spider-Man, mixed with left-field options like Sleepwalker and Mister Negative. Each fills one of four roles – striker, fighter, defender, or controller – and has a unique move set with attacks, buffs, or occasional healing moves.

To get more characters, you pull on a banner. Yes, Mystic Mayhem is a gacha game. How heavily NetEase will lean into this on full release remains to be seen, for now, there’s only one banner in the beta featuring six three-star characters and 11 two-star characters.

The rates seem to be quite forgiving so far – within about 100 pulls I got three-stars Scarlet Witch and Juggernaut, with mostly dupes of Doppelganger and Mister Negative. However, unlike systems in other games that require one copy of a character to unlock a new skill, here, you need five copies to get the Soul Saga skills – think of it like constellations in Genshin Impact. Granted the pool of available characters is very small and you’re very likely to get lots of each, but it still seems like a lot. I’ve only managed to unlock one of Doppelganger’s Soul Saga dupe skills, and I’m maybe halfway to the first one for any other character.

marvel mystic mayhem preview - results from a five-pull on the gacha banner

While you’re not playing the main story or pulling on the banner, you can amuse yourself with classic live-service game shenanigans. There are daily tasks to complete, events that pop up, log-in bonuses, and a store to spend your currency. And, yes, there’s a code redemption function. You can also unlock auto battling and pop it on two times speed if you want to just farm some XP or equipment. I’m guilty of this, as it means I can put my phone down and watch it like a tiny movie.

I’m playing on a shiny new Samsung S24 FE and encountered no issues at all. No crashes, no lag, and no disappointing visuals, which I’m very pleased with. Though this is one of the best Samsung phones out there, it may not work as well on lower-budget or older models.

Essentially, if you like Marvel’s comics, and you’re a fan of strategic gameplay, you’ll have a good time with Mystic Mayhem. Whether much changes between now and the full launch remains to be seen, but the game has a solid start and I’m intrigued to see where it goes and which heroes it adds.