Guilty pleasure game of 2022

After careful study and scrutiny, I have taken a decision to begin the year 2023 with a review of Marvel Snap. The game first came on my radar after the Game Awards announced its nomination and subsequent win in the “Best Mobile Game” category. So far, this column had been lacking a hyper-casual game review in 2022. Having played this game over two weeks and stacking a colourful deck of Marvel Character Cards, I can now say that I enjoy this game very much.

Marvel Snap is a card-battler. The game is simple. The opponent and I have a closed deck of cards. Over six different turns, I play cards down, and add additional cards to my hand. Winning this requires a combination of luck, card-placement, guess work, energy, and a general lack of interest in doing anything useful for the next three minutes.

Winning a game provides multiple benefits, my brain’s reward centres are permanently awake. The immediate benefits are cosmic cubes. Levelling happens once every 10 cubes. The game then grants you great gifts that either add new character cards to your deck or upgrade existing cards. Additionally, completing daily missions also generate additional rewards. I like Marvel Snap mostly because the game did an excellent job of baiting me. I got several quick wins in the beginning, and spent close to no time waiting to be paired with another player (they may have all been bots). But it did not matter. The numerous rewards made me come back for more. It also did not hurt to have colourful Marvel characters with familiar names and powers.

Marvel Snap is keen on selling the monetised route in the game, so I am fairly certain that I will reach a point in the game where winning no longer becomes a matter of my proficient strategising. At this point I will quickly jump to other options—Magic: The Gathering Arena or Legends of Runeterra, both of which are also card-battlers that are free to play on a phone. Marvel Snap is currently available for iOS, Android, and Windows.