I Wish More Mobile Games Were Like Marvel Snap

I’m extremely picky with my mobile games. The launch of Apple Arcade in 2019 was a huge success. Apple Arcade has spoiled me so thoroughly with its beautifully crafted, ad-free experience that it’s hard to go back to anything else. Marvel Snap, which fits all of those criteria, was launched this month. I downloaded it a few days ago and haven’t put it down since.

Marvel Snap, a deck-building game that is free to play and takes just 3-4 minutes per match. You collect cards with Marvel characters that have unique abilities as you play. Characters range from mainstream heroes like Hulk and Iron Man to ones I’ve never even heard of, like Ka-Zar or Blue Marvel. Decks only have 12 cards so each character is counted. Snap is the name of the app. This allows either you or your opponent, to double down at any time during the match. You win twice as many cubes (the currency that you can use to improve your rank) if you win. You can lose if you snap, which creates a wonderful risk/reward combination.

A game is where you place your cards. There are three locations that have a special gameplay modifier. Kamar-Taj permits certain card abilities to trigger two times, Fisk Tower can destroy any card that moves there and Gamma Lab transforms every card into the Hulk. Between the dozens of locations and the vast number of cards, Marvel Snap has so many variables that much of the joy of playing comes from seeing what’s going to happen in any given match. The game is so exciting because I cannot predict what the future holds.

Ka-Zar was a Marvel Snap card that I loved. It’s a character that I hadn’t heard of prior to playing this game.

These two main mechanics – the snap and the random locations – are how Marvel Snap sinks its hooks into me so deeply. It’s a game that relies on you to think two steps ahead; you have to plan according to the future locations, your opponent’s moves, and what cards you’ll draw from your deck, despite the fact that you can rarely know any of those factors. The stakes are raised when you’re confident. Maybe you even snap if you aren’t feeling confident, just to throw your opponent off their rhythm. It’s a guessing game, and when you come out the other side victorious, you feel like the smartest and/or luckiest player alive. 

If you’re not playing for the thrill of the procedurally generated hijinks, you’re playing for the seemingly endless reward loop. You gain boosters every time you win a match. These are basically experience points which allow you to level up your cosmetic cards. If you have enough boosters your cards will become more rare, which can make them animated or 3D. You can also improve your collection by evolving a card this way. This is how you unlock more cards. A season pass is also available with many rewards, including daily and weekly challenges and an abundance of other rewards. Win or lose, it’s rare that the end of a match won’t leave you feeling rewarded in some way. That’s an impressive feat for any game, especially for a free mobile game.

Marvel Snap is free to play because it has microtransactions that are surprisingly good.  You would only spend money on card variants, which are cards with different artwork. They’re mechanically identical to the base cards, so the only reason to buy them is if you’re interested in the aesthetic or if it’s a card you don’t have yet. They can be purchased through either the $10 season pass which lets you level up via gameplay and earn a variety of rewards. You can get new cards this way, but you really don’t need to. I’ve got a little under 10 hours in the game and I already have 55 cards. The variants in the current symbiote-themed season pass look cool, but I don’t think I’d get any particular strategic advantage by paying for them. The season pass could be updated if developers put in a broken card, however, card balances have been fairly consistent, making it unlikely.

Many rewards can be earned even if you purchase a season pass.

One of the reasons it’s been so easy for me to stick with it is how unintrusive these in-app purchases have been. I’ve never felt any pressure to spend money, which is more than I can say for many other mobile titles. Marvel Snap isn’t designed to make you pay money to keep playing. It’s designed for you to enjoy playing so much that you eventually spend money. If I said I wanted more mobile games that felt like Marvel Snap, I meant true optional monetization rather than using paywalls to make it less convenient.

I’m excited to see what changes and improvements future seasons will bring, but I’m still very impressed by how tight Marvel Snap’s gameplay loop is right at launch. While I was only going to take a peek at the game, I ended up downloading it for my ultimate gaming experience of the year.