First Impressions: Rogue and Gambit Fall Short in Marvel Rivals

Marvel Rivals, developed and published by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games, is a free‑to‑play team‑based multiplayer third‑person hero shooter where two teams of players compete in PvP battles with iconic Marvel heroes and villains. The game features objective‑based combat, unique abilities for each character, and dynamic maps that change as battles unfold. It supports crossplay across platforms and is available on Windows PC (via Steam, Epic Games Store, and NetEase’s official launcher), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series X/S. All players log into the same global servers regardless of platform.

The newly released Rogue and Gambit, however, leave much to be desired. Gambit was designed as a high DPS character with healing capabilities, which sounds interesting on paper, but in practice his kit feels awkward and difficult to use. His healing requires hitting teammates, but Rogue’s highly mobile playstyle makes this hard to execute effectively. This results in poor synergy between the two and the power couple dynamic that players might expect feels largely absent. Playing Gambit often feels like a chore rather than a rewarding experience, as his kit is clunky and unintuitive.

Rogue suffers from a lack of clear focus. She is extremely mobile with a flexible kit that allows her to kick, knock up, and slam enemies, but the damage output feels underwhelming, making her combat feel less impactful than it should. Her signature skill‑stealing ability also underperforms. While she can theoretically steal powerful abilities from other characters, most of the skills she grabs are ineffective, and needing to get close to enemies to steal them adds unnecessary risk. Only a small subset of skills, like those from top‑tier characters, truly make her feel strong, but they are rarely the ones she automatically chooses.

Part of the problem lies in how NetEase has implemented the couple’s synergy. Instead of creating meaningful interactions between Rogue and Gambit outside of team‑ups, the game relies on mechanics that are difficult to use together, such as healing and skill stealing, which conflict with each other. This design choice makes the characters feel awkward individually and even less fun as a pair.

Overall, both Gambit and Rogue are disappointing additions to Marvel Rivals. Their awkward kits, poor damage output, and difficult‑to‑use synergy add to the ongoing issue of seasonal content from NetEase that struggles to engage players. After the success of the Fantastic Four release, it is clear that more thoughtful balancing and design is needed to maintain player interest and excitement for new heroes.