Marvel Cosmic Invasion's second DLC, The Siege of Castle Doom, delivers a larger and more ambitious expansion with a new roguelike mode centered on Doctor Doom, earning a 3/5 rating for its enjoyable but not revolutionary content.
The Siege of Castle Doom is a great if not exactly revolutionary way to extend the life of Dotemu's 16-bit superhero brawler, with its new characters being the standout. With Avengers: Doomsday set to be one of the biggest box office behemoths of the year, it only makes sense for any recent Marvel-related video games to capitalise on its purported hype.
In Marvel Cosmic Invasion's case, that means placing the MCU's newest big-bad at the forefront of its next DLC update, The Siege of Castle Doom, wherein you must take the fight directly to him as part of a new roguelike mode that sees you repeatedly punch, shoot, and blast your way through the corridors and ramparts of Castle Doomstadt in the attempt to stop his universe-ending plan.
New Heroes and Their Distinct Power Sets
As far as roguelike additions go, The Siege of Castle Doom isn't the most revelatory, but there are plenty of different upgrade styles, challenge routes, and new abilities provided that help keep Marvel Cosmic Invasion's already brilliant beat-em-up action fresh. This, alongside Fantastic Four's Invisible Woman and Doctor Doom himself now being added as playable characters, makes this second DLC pack still a worthy reason to return to what has swiftly become my go-to 16-bit brawler.
Starting off with the new characters, both The Invisible Woman and Doctor Doom serve as great additions. Doctor Doom, much like The Thing and Venom before him, plays more like a heavy-set fighter, commanding an intimidating presence thanks to the chunky sprite work of his character design and severely weighty punches that can throw enemies across the screen. If this didn't make him powerful enough, his ability to shoot out magic also makes him a dominating force at range, making him a good choice for any scenario.
It's almost like the developers at Dotemu have made Doctor Doom a bit overpowered on purpose, making him dangerous both up close and from afar, acknowledging that most players have likely already beaten the campaign multiple times. As such, he's a great character to play as for those who just wish to go ham.
A bit more methodical in her move set, appropriately so, is The Invisible Woman. She uses her powers of light-bending and forcefield manipulation to great effect in-game, with the latter allowing you to temporarily stop enemies (and even some bosses) in their tracks to help provide some breathing room when the swarms close in. This compliments her natural ability as a high-flyer, similar to Nova and Phyla Vell, which makes it easy to take down sky-high enemies and avoid the several ground-level dangers found in Marvel Cosmic Invasion's later levels. Another nice touch I came to appreciate is how she'll temporarily turn invisible for a few moments after activating her super, letting you further get the drop on foes.
Overall, both characters are a nice compliment to the existing roster, even if the addition of two Fantastic Four focused characters feels like kowtowing to the MCU overlords in the attempt to tie in with the upcoming movie. Their power sets are both distinct. In fact, my only real complaint is that both their supers essentially boil down to being another screen-tearing, AoE attack rather than something slightly more inventive like Cosmic Ghost Rider's bike slide.
Roguelike Mode Mechanics and Challenges
In terms of The Siege of Castle Doom roguelike mode itself, it plays mostly familiarly to something like Dotemu's own Absolum - only with some Doom-themed twists. There are essentially three biomes in Castle Doomstadt you must fight through - corridors, outside ramparts, and the lift halls - but rather than move through one after the other, entering the next one means collecting enough Battery Cells from downed enemies and optional challenges.
It's a slight twist to the usual roguelike format that feels pretty unique to Cosmic Invasion, even if it does make early runs feel a tad grindier than they probably should be. Luckily, every run is kept fresh thanks to the ability to still play with four players at once, all those players regularly swapping between two selected characters, and of course the raft of different passive and offensive run modifiers that present themselves each time you try to fight your way to Doom.
Clearing a screen will give you a choice of different coloured doors, all of which provide different things when entering. Green is a surefire path to more health, while Purple means equipping a chargeable super ability separate to the one unique to each character. My favourite of the optional path doors were always the Blue ones since it means acquiring a randomised number of Battery Cells needed to progress, alongside Orange doors that lead to screens that are less windy in design and have you complete a combat challenge that'll provide a temporary combat buff. From fighting an echo of a boss from Cosmic Invasion's main campaign to trying to survive against a vicious wave of bugs and/or Doombots without losing one of your characters, these challenges are tough but more often than not are worth the reward.
Pressure and Progression Systems
As if building up the team's Stabiliser by powering up three batteries per biome wasn't enough, The Siege of Castle Doom also adds a degree of pressure in the form of what's known as the Siege Gauge. Essentially, the more hits you take during a run the more this gauge will fill, making enemies stronger from then on out, which forces you to fight and dodge more tactically. Filling the Siege Gauge to the top will end a run. And at first I thought this was a bit harsh, yet given how overpowered a lot of the Cosmic Invasion roster is, it makes a lot of sense in hindsight.
Finally, regardless of whether you're successful in a run, you'll quickly acquire gems that can be used to permanently unlock new equipment and modifiers from Reed's lab. Most are designed around giving your run to Doom an easier time, but there's also plenty here for diehard players to increase Siege of Castle Doom's level of challenges, such as the ability to remove cosmic characters swapping on the fly.
Is the final boss battle against Doom himself worth it? Probably not. But I appreciated the way Doom acknowledges himself should you choose to play as him in the roguelike mode and reach the end.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion - The Siege of Castle Doom is yet another perfectly fine reason to return to one of Marvel's best ever beat-em-ups, even if its roguelike mode isn't as deep as it initially lets on. Sure, there's a lot of ways to customise runs, but it won't take players long to see most of what it has to offer by way of randomisation and having just three biomes to fight through ends up feeling repetitive. Fortunately, both The Invisible Woman and Doctor Doom are two great additions to the roster, perfectly poised to build hype in the lead up to Avengers: Doomsday.
