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Marvel's Avengers vs STRANGER THAN HEAVEN
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| shopping_cart Where to Buy | |
| info General Information | |
| Release Date | |
| Sep 4, 2020 | Jan 14, 2027 |
| Developer | |
| Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal | RGG Studio |
| Publisher | |
| Square Enix | SEGA |
| Genre(s) | |
| Action-Adventure, Brawler, Live-Service, Co-Op Multiplayer, Looter-Brawler | Action-Adventure, Brawler, Historical Action, Crime Drama, RPG |
| Engine | |
| Foundation Engine | Dragon Engine |
| stars Ratings & Price | |
| Content Rating | |
| Teen | Mature |
| Avg. User Rating | |
| 2.5 / 5.0 | 4.8 / 5.0 |
| Current Price (USD) | |
| Free | $69.99 |
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| sports_esports Gameplay & Mechanics | |
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| trending_up Progression & Upgrades | |
| Skills & Progression | |
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Progression features a dual system: traditional character leveling and a massive gear/loot grind. Earning XP grants skill points used to unlock complex combos, heavy attacks, ranged mastery, and traversal options on sprawling skill trees unique to each Avenger. Separately, the 'Power Level' is determined by the rarity and stats of looted gear (Melee, Ranged, Defense, and Heroic pieces). Gear comes with specific elemental status effects (like Pym Particles shrinking enemies, or Gamma radiation causing poison explosions), forcing players to grind for the perfect synergistic 'build' to tackle endgame content. |
Combat in STRANGER THAN HEAVEN blends visceral RGG street brawling with lethal historical martial arts and period-specific weapon masteries. Makoto can switch between distinct fighting styles: Street Brawler (hard-hitting boxing and dirty bar-fighting techniques learned in America), Dosu Swordsmanship (fast, lethal short-sword and dagger slashes capable of disarming armed thugs), and Western Gunslinger (revolver marksmanship with precision ricochet targeting). Earning experience through brawls, side quests, and theatrical successes unlocks lethal Heat Actions, dynamic environmental finishers, and passive resilience perks. Outside of combat, Makoto develops his 'Showman Skill Tree,' mastering audio composition, stagecraft acoustics, set lighting, and performer charisma. |
| public World & Exploration | |
| World & Level Design | |
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Instead of a single open world, the game utilizes a 'War Table' hub system located on a reclaimed S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier (the Chimera). From here, players select missions in sprawling, segmented biomes across the globe. These include the dense urban ruins of Eastern Seaboard cities, frozen Siberian tundras containing hidden SHIELD bunkers, the arid Badlands of the American Southwest, and the thick, hostile jungles of Wakanda. Each region contains wide-open spaces for exploration, transitioning into tight, linear, high-tech AIM laboratories for indoor combat encounters. |
The game encompasses five completely distinct open-world cities across five historical eras, each rendered with period-authentic architecture, fashion, language, and cultural institutions. Key districts include 1915 Asakusa, Tokyo (a vibrant theatrical entertainment hub filled with silent cinemas, vaudeville revues, and street food stalls), 1928 Yokohama Harbor (a bustling international port district with jazz clubs, foreign docks, and opium dens), 1943 Minami, Osaka (a tense wartime industrial district covered in blackout curtains, steel works, and clandestine black markets), 1954 Kobe (a resilient post-war reconstruction enclave filled with American military jazz bars and black-market brawls), and 1965 Kamurocho, Tokyo (the nascent neon-soaked red-light district on the cusp of becoming the legendary yakuza capital). |
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| book Story & Characters | |
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| Multiplayer Details | |
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The core of the endgame loop was 'Avengers Initiative', a multiplayer mode where up to 4 players select different heroes to complete repetitive missions called War Zones, Drop Zones, and Villain Sectors. The highest tier of multiplayer content included OLTs (Omega Level Threats) and the grueling 4-player Klaw Raid in Wakanda, requiring intense team coordination and highly optimized elemental gear builds to overcome massive health pools and puzzle mechanics. |
The title is crafted as a grand single-player narrative epic. In addition to the cinematic main campaign, asynchronous multiplayer features allow players to exchange custom musical arrangements, stage productions, and theater troupe rosters with friends, competing on national box-office popularity charts to determine who reigns as the premier showman of modern Japan. |
| extension Editions & DLC | |
| Available Editions | |
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Marvel's Avengers originally launched in 2020 with Standard, Deluxe, and 'Earth's Mightiest' Collector's Editions. Before being delisted in 2023, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics released 'Marvel's Avengers - The Definitive Edition', which unlocked nearly every premium cosmetic outfit, emote, and takedown animation for free for all owners. As of September 30, 2023, the game has been permanently removed from Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox digital storefronts, though existing owners can still download and play it. |
The game is offered in two primary digital and physical editions: The Standard Edition ($69.99 USD) includes the full fifty-year campaign and standard minigames across all platforms. Pre-ordering any edition grants the exclusive in-game weapon 'Dosu: Kagekiri' (Shadow Cutter short blade). The Deluxe Edition ($89.99 USD) adds the 'Showman & Outlaw Pack' containing an exclusive alternate wardrobe for Makoto Daito, bonus legendary weapons (including the Gold-Engraved Nambu Pistol), three exclusive master theatrical performers (including special guest star character cameos), stage production props, a retro vinyl record player for Makoto's hideout playing licensed jazz and blues tracks from each era, and an in-game vintage electronic camera expansion. |
| Post-Launch Content / DLC | |
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The game adopted a 'free DLC' model for playable heroes and story content. Major expansions included 'Operation: Taking AIM' featuring Kate Bishop, 'Operation: Future Imperfect' featuring Hawkeye, and the massive 'War for Wakanda' expansion adding Black Panther, new jungle biomes, and Klaw as a villain. The Mighty Thor (Jane Foster) and The Winter Soldier were also added. PlayStation players famously received exclusive access to Spider-Man. With the final update in March 2023, development completely ceased. |
RGG Studio and SEGA have planned comprehensive post-launch support. Upcoming additions include an episodic side-story DLC campaign focusing on Yu Shinjo's covert underworld activities during the late 1940s, a standalone 'Endless Theater Management Simulator' mode with global revenue leaderboards, a legendary 'Coliseum of Eras' survival arena, and periodic free cosmetic costume drops inspired by classic yakuza film cinema. |
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| build Technical Details | |
| Graphics & Visual Fidelity | |
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Running on the Foundation Engine (previously used for the Tomb Raider reboots), the game features high-fidelity, highly detailed character models, cinematic lighting, and beautiful, sweeping environments. However, this fidelity comes at the cost of visual chaos; during multiplayer combat, the screen becomes a blinding soup of particle effects, explosions, and UI numbers, severely hindering visibility. The cosmetic skins, ranging from MCU film-accurate suits to deep-cut comic references, are meticulously crafted. |
Leveraging the next-generation capabilities of the Dragon Engine, STRANGER THAN HEAVEN delivers RGG Studio's most visually ambitious title to date. The game showcases breathtaking historical authenticity: rainy cobblestone streets reflecting gas lamps in 1915 Asakusa, gritty factory smoke billowing over 1943 wartime Osaka, and dazzling incandescent bulbs illuminating post-war entertainment revues. Photorealistic facial scans bring the all-star cast to life with subtle emotional nuances and authentic aging effects across five decades. |
| Audio & Soundtrack | |
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The game features a sweeping, cinematic orchestral score composed by Bobby Tahouri, capturing the grand, heroic tone expected of a Marvel property. The sound design of combat is exceptionally punchy: the metallic clang of Cap's shield catching a robot, the heavy thud of Hulk smashing concrete, and the distinctive whine of Iron Man's repulsors are all incredibly satisfying. Voice acting is a major highlight, featuring industry veterans like Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, Nolan North, and Sandra Saad. |
Music is at the very heart of STRANGER THAN HEAVEN. The soundtrack evolves dynamically across the fifty-year narrative—progressing from traditional Taisho folk ballads and acoustic shamisen melodies, through big band jazz and swing in the 1920s and 30s, somber wartime marching drums in 1943, and into electrifying rock-and-roll, bebop, and enka in the 1950s and 60s. The game features an innovative sound-sampling mechanic where players record ambient street noises (train whistles, anvil clangs, bustling markets) to produce original songs. The star-studded audio cast includes voice work and original musical collaborations featuring Ado, Snoop Dogg, and Japanese jazz legends. |
| User Interface (UI/UX) | |
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The UI suffered from significant 'looter-shooter' clutter. The menus were heavily cursor-driven (even on consoles) to navigate massive inventories of gear, artifacts, and skill trees. During combat, the screen was flooded with damage numbers, status effect icons, objective markers, and cooldown timers for three distinct Heroic abilities (Support, Assault, and Ultimate), often making the actual gorgeous combat animations hard to read. |
The interface is styled after vintage 20th-century Japanese newspapers, theatrical handbills, and vintage jazz record sleeves. Health and Heat gauges are displayed as art-deco illuminated meters that flare up with ink-splatter calligraphy during combat. The interactive city map resembles an authentic hand-drawn period cartographic map, marking dynamic substories, sound-sampling nodes, cabarets, and underground gambling dens with vintage seal stamps. |
| Accessibility Options | |
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The game included a decent suite of accessibility options upon release. This included highly customizable subtitle sizes and backgrounds, high-contrast UI modes, toggleable aim assist, options to change rapid button mashing (QTEs) into simple button holds, and fully remappable controls for both keyboard and gamepad, allowing players to customize the heavy combat mechanics to their physical needs. |
RGG Studio has embedded an extensive accessibility framework: fully remappable controls for keyboard, mouse, and gamepads; customizable rhythm-game timings and simplified one-button QTE options for Heat Actions; scalable UI text and dialogue boxes; high-contrast subtitle settings with character color coding; adjustable screenshake and motion blur sliders; and multiple colorblind filter options (Protanopia, Deuteranopia, Tritanopia) that enhance combat target lock-on reticles. |
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| Gameplay Video | |
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| settings_applications System Requirements | |
| 1080p (Full HD) - Recommended (High Preset, 1080p (60 FPS Target)) CPU: The official recommended processors that provide enough threads to handle the chaotic 4-player co-op encounters seamlessly. CPU (Laptop): Provides excellent frame pacing, critical for maintaining combos during intense fights. GPU: The official recommended GPUs provide sufficient VRAM to load high-res textures and process massive amounts of combat VFX. GPU (Laptop): An excellent card that guarantees locked 60 FPS at 1080p when paired with DLSS. RAM: Highly recommended to prevent stuttering when the game dynamically streams in new sectors of the map. Storage: SSD is officially recommended due to the massive size of uncompressed high-res audio and texture files. | |
memoryCPU: Intel Core i7 4770K, 3.4 Ghz or AMD Ryzen 5 1600, 3.2 Ghz developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon RX 480, 8GB laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i7-9750H / AMD Ryzen 7 4800H laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile layersRAM: 16 GB saveStorage (Tier): 110GB SSD space | memoryCPU: Intel Core i7-10700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 (12GB) / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12GB) laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i7-11800H / AMD Ryzen 7 5800H laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (95W+) / RTX 4060 Mobile (85W+) layersRAM: 16 GB saveStorage (Tier): 95 GB NVMe M.2 SSD |
| 1080p (Full HD) - Minimum (Low Preset, 1080p (30 FPS Target)) CPU: The official minimum CPU requirement capable of running the baseline game logic and physics calculations without instantly bottlenecking. CPU (Laptop): Entry-level quad-core mobile CPUs will struggle during highly populated chaotic combat but can manage the single-player campaign. GPU: The absolute official minimum to render the game, requiring all settings to be turned to low to avoid exceeding the 2GB VRAM limit. GPU (Laptop): Capable of providing a playable 1080p 30-45 FPS experience on low/medium settings. RAM: Official minimum required to prevent constant game crashes due to out-of-memory errors. Storage: Official minimum storage requirement, though mechanical hard drives will result in incredibly long elevator loading screens. | |
memoryCPU: Intel Core i3-4160 or AMD equivalent developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GTX 950 / AMD 270 (min 2GB video ram) laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i5-8300H / AMD Ryzen 5 3550H laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Mobile / RTX 3050 Mobile layersRAM: 8 GB saveStorage (Tier): 75GB HDD space | memoryCPU: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600 developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (6GB) / AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6GB) laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i5-10300H / AMD Ryzen 5 4600H laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti Mobile (6GB) / RTX 3050 Mobile (6GB, 60W+) layersRAM: 16 GB saveStorage (Tier): 95 GB available space (SATA SSD) |
| 1440p (QHD/2K) - Enthusiast (Ultra Preset, 1440p (60 FPS Target)) CPU: Modern mid-to-high end CPUs provide massive overhead, ensuring AI pathfinding and physics don't halt the render thread. CPU (Laptop): Easily powers the game's logic while driving higher resolution laptop displays. GPU: Required to maintain a sharp 1440p resolution without losing 60 FPS when all particle effects are enabled. GPU (Laptop): Provides the necessary compute overhead for 1440p rendering on portable panels. RAM: Mandatory for handling higher resolution texture caches. Storage: NVMe SSD highly recommended. | |
memoryCPU: Intel Core i5-10600K / AMD Ryzen 5 5600X developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i7-12700H / AMD Ryzen 7 6800H laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Mobile / RTX 4060 Mobile layersRAM: 16 GB saveStorage (Tier): 110GB SSD space | memoryCPU: Intel Core i7-12700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (12GB) / AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (16GB) laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i7-13700HX / AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile (115W+) / RTX 3080 Mobile (130W) layersRAM: 32 GB saveStorage (Tier): 95 GB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD |
| 2160p (UHD/4K) - Ultra (Max Preset, 4K (60 FPS with DLSS)) CPU: Ensures absolutely no bottlenecks at the highest visual fidelity during ultimate attacks. CPU (Laptop): Desktop-grade performance in a mobile chassis. GPU: Powers the grueling 4K resolution, requiring heavy use of DLSS/FSR to maintain 60 FPS in dense War Zones. GPU (Laptop): Required to maintain a stable 4K frame rate on an external display. RAM: Optimizes system stability and ensures zero background application interference. Storage: Gen4 NVMe SSD. | |
memoryCPU: Intel Core i7-12700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 / AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i9-13900HX laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile layersRAM: 32 GB saveStorage (Tier): 110GB SSD space | memoryCPU: Intel Core i7-14700K / AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D developer_boardGPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (16GB) / AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (24GB) laptop_macCPU (L): Intel Core i9-14900HX / AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX laptop_windowsGPU (L): NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile (175W) layersRAM: 32 GB saveStorage (Tier): 95 GB PCIe Gen4/Gen5 NVMe SSD |
| save Overall Storage | |
Spec: 75GB HDD space (110GB SSD Recommended) Note: While 75GB is the minimum required install size, an SSD with 110GB available space is officially recommended to prevent abysmal load times and severe texture streaming hitches. Type: SSD | Spec: 95 GB available space (Solid State Drive Strictly Required) Note: High-speed SSD storage is mandatory to eliminate streaming hitches across the five vast historical city maps and seamless interior-to-exterior transitions. Type: SSD |
| desktop_windows Operating System | |
| Spec: Windows 10 64-bit Explanation: A 64-bit operating system is strictly required for addressing the high memory overhead of the game's high-resolution superhero models and massive levels. | Spec: Windows 10 64-bit (21H2 or newer) / Windows 11 64-bit Explanation: Requires a 64-bit Windows operating system supporting modern DirectX 12 Agility SDK command scheduling and high-frequency multi-threaded task management. |
| gamepad DirectX Version | |
| Spec: DirectX 12 Explanation: The game was built heavily around DirectX 12 to handle efficient multithreading and the immense amount of on-screen particle effects during ultimate abilities. | Spec: DirectX 12 Explanation: Utilizes DirectX 12 for efficient multi-threaded GPU draw calls, dynamic multi-source shadow maps, and realistic screen-space reflections across historical districts. |
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info_outline Feature details based on available data. System requirements and performance estimates may vary.
laptop_chromebook Laptop Recommendations
Common Recommendations (Handles All Compared Games)
For Marvel's Avengers Specifically
For STRANGER THAN HEAVEN Specifically
info_outline Laptop recommendations are estimates based on available component benchmarks and game requirements. Actual performance may vary depending on settings, drivers, cooling, power limits, etc. Prices and availability subject to change. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.