Marvel Rivals review

This Marvel Rivals review is based on official sources and player reviews, not on our own play time. NetEase Games' 6v6 Marvel hero shooter launched free on December 6, 2024, for Windows, PlayStation and Xbox, and NetEase said all heroes would be free at launch and beyond. Money buys Lattice for cosmetic items, seasonal Battle Passes and chance-based Pop & Win costume draws. On Steam, 75% of 306,712 English reviews are positive, and the PC minimum asks for 16 GB of RAM.

What is Marvel Rivals?

Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play team-based PvP shooter developed and published by NetEase Games. Steam describes it as a Super Hero team-based PvP shooter in which two teams of six pick heroes and villains from the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the X-Men and other corners of the Marvel universe. Heroes can combine powers in Team-Up skills, such as Rocket Raccoon riding on Groot's back, and maps such as Asgard and Tokyo 2099 have destructible environments.

The game launched on December 6, 2024, and runs in seasons with half-season updates and weekly patches. Season 10 began on September 11, 2026, with the new villain Gorr the God Butcher, and Season 10.5 followed on October 9 with Path to Doomsday modes based on Avengers films, including a mode where 12 players form six duo squads. Besides Quick Match there is ranked play with seasonal rank rewards, limited modes such as Blood Hunt, the Marvel Rivals Championship and the Ignite esports series.

Is Marvel Rivals free to play?

Yes. Steam, the Epic Games Store and the PlayStation Store list Marvel Rivals as free, and NetEase announced in August 2024 that all heroes would be unlocked and free to play at launch and beyond. Heroes are not sold; new ones such as Gorr arrive with season updates.

According to the ESRB's parents' guide, Lattice, the premium currency, can be earned in play or bought. Units, a second currency, appear as event rewards: during the Avengers: Endgame event in October 2026, a group photo in Times Square paid 100 Units, and the Night of Illusions event that runs to December 31, 2026, lists Units and rare Gallery Cards among its rewards. Seasonal events also give away costumes, such as Thor's The Avengers costume in the Infinity Finale event and Captain America's The Winter Soldier costume in the Path to Doomsday - Avengers: Endgame mode.

Each season brings a new Battle Pass of costumes; Season 10's pass, The Godbomb, has ten costume sets.

Is Marvel Rivals pay to win? What money buys

The ESRB's parents' guide lists Lattice packs from 100 for $0.99 to 11,680 for $99.99 (as of October 30, 2026) and says Lattice can be exchanged only for cosmetic items and does not affect gameplay. NetEase's patch notes add new costume bundles, emotes, chromas and Ultimate ability effects almost every week, many for a limited time, such as the Winter Soldier Celestial Soldier bundle sold from October 30 to November 27, 2026. Each season also has a Battle Pass of costumes.

Random items are part of the shop. Pop & Win is a recurring draw in which each balloon pop has a price and gives a chance at featured costumes below their normal price; the October 2026 round added a Cross-Pool Promo that halves the price of the same balloon number in the other two pools. The ESRB and the PlayStation Store both flag In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items). No official page lists Pop & Win odds.

Heroes themselves stay free for everyone, per NetEase.

Based on what the official stores sell, we rate it as not pay to win; we will check this again when we play it ourselves.

Marvel Rivals on PC, Mac, consoles and mobile

On PC, Marvel Rivals runs on Windows through Steam, the Epic Games Store or NetEase's own launcher, all three linked from the official site. Steam lists it as Windows-only with full controller support, cross-platform multiplayer and in-app purchases. Since May 15, 2026, Steam has also offered a free High-Resolution Pack with sharper character and environment textures, which Steam recommends for mid- to high-end PCs and says does not affect gameplay.

On consoles, the official site lists PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro, PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X|S, and the PlayStation Store lists the PS5 and PS4 editions as free.

There is no macOS version and no version for phones or tablets. NetEase's launch FAQ from December 2024 says all players log in to a single server and can pick the lowest-latency region in matchmaking.

Marvel Rivals system requirements

Steam and NetEase's launch FAQ list the same PC requirements.

Minimum: 64-bit Windows 10 (version 1909 or newer), an Intel Core i5-6600K or AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, 16 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, AMD RX 580 or Intel Arc A380, DirectX 12, a broadband connection and 70 GB of available storage.

Recommended: the same operating system, an Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, 16 GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 (Super), AMD RX 5700-XT or Intel Arc A750, DirectX 12 and 70 GB of storage.

NetEase recommends installing the game on an SSD. Note that 16 GB of RAM is required even at the minimum tier. If the game reports that DirectX 12 is not supported, NetEase's FAQ advises updating Windows 10 to version 1909 or later and installing the latest graphics driver.

Games like Marvel Rivals

These free-to-play shooters from our catalog also center on online PvP:

NARAKA: BLADEPOINT: a melee-focused battle royale for up to 60 players from 24 Entertainment, also published by NetEase Games, free on PC, Xbox and PS5.

Delta Force: Team Jade's tactical shooter with an extraction mode and large combined-arms battles, on Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, iOS and Android.

World of Tanks: HEAT: Wargaming's tank shooter in which each player picks an Agent with special abilities, on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Mech Arena: Plarium's PvP mech shooter with 5v5 and 2v2 modes, on iOS and Android and on Windows and Mac through Plarium Play.

• Naraka: Bladepoint
• Delta Force
• World of Tanks: HEAT
• Mech Arena