Crystal Dynamics Says 'Marvel's Avengers' is Built for Gamers of All Skill Levels

As players get ready to dive into the Marvel's Avengers beta and eventually into the full game in September, they'll experience a lot in Crystal Dynamics' superhero RPG.

There's skill trees, gear, special resources and various effects that help each Avenger in battle. All of these are customizable, and players can tailor their fighting to certain aspects of each character so that no player has the same experience.

With the Avengers being a multi-billion dollar IP, there's inevitably going to be casual, less-seasoned gamers who may feel overwhelmed by everything in Marvel's Avengers, but as Lauryn Ash, game designer at Crystal Dynamics told Newsweek they have accounted for that, and gamers should refer to the studio's previous titles as an example.

"Crystal Dynamax always does an incredible job of introducing players to something really new in a really familiar way and so if you look at our past titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider, whenever we gave you a new mechanic it was with a context where you needed to use it," Ash explained. "It was in that story beat that showed the survival of Lara [Croft] and you really took upon those characteristics. When you have to use a new ability you have that core campaign where you get introduced to it."

Ash points to the first War Tables online presentation where Thor's Hero Mission was highlighted and gave a tutorial of sorts to his abilities, complete with information that new players will understand.

"There's a lot in this game there's a lot for you to do and if you want to be a gamma Iron Man, with green lasers go for it, we want you to live that fantasy," Ash continued. "So for new players out there that might be concerned there might be too much, you're gonna absolutely feel comfortable from playing our core story and our core game campaign."

Ash adds that casual players don't have to get into the nitty gritty of the progression system if they don't want to. Referring to the power numbers on gear and how equipping ones with higher power will help you progress in the story and in online campaigns just fine.

Scot Amos, head of Crystal Dynamics, added that players will be able to invest as much time as they want in customizing their heroes in Marvel's Avengers. He brings up the gamma-powered Iron Man or a Hulk whose use of Pym Particles will allow him to shrink anything he smashes, or a Black Widow that specializes in stunning enemies as examples of how deep players can go with their heroes.

In the end, though, players will be able to see what each piece of gear affects your stats in a way that can be followed by anyone.

"We designed [Marvel's Avengers] in a way that if I get a cool piece of gear you can tell that there's one number that's higher than the other number and you can live on that," Amos told Newsweek.

Amos also brings up the difficulty settings in Marvel's Avengers that can tailor a player's experience in a certain way. He says that if players want a more "cinematic" experience where you can just bash your way through enemies in the story you can set the difficulty to level one. The opposite is true as well.

"If you want to pay attention [to the details], set the difficulty to challenge level four or five," Amos said. "You'll be like 'oh my god now I have to make every dodge perfect I have to make every evade perfect I should get skills that help me evade these things.'"

The Marvel's Avengers beta only has one panel of skills per hero. The full game will give each hero three panels of skills to customize the way you play, adding even more depth to the game if you want to invest in it.

Ash adds that in a recent Reddit AMA, they were asked about matchmaking and how players of different skill levels and who are looking for different experiences can team up.

"If you're playing in a party where someone wants more of the story-driven experience and you have someone who's really heavy into the "math" of the gear, how does the game system really relate to that?" Ash said. "Basically we've accounted for this equation where we can have someone who is a really high-level player and a really low-level player and bring them down while still rewarding that high level player for playing with your friends.

Ash continues, "Nobody wants to be the person that's played at max level, but then doesn't play with their friends who got the game a week late. We accounted for that. You can play together. You'll still be rewarded and your friend will also be rewarded to their level."

Marvel's Avengers is scheduled for a September 4 release on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Google Stadia.