Post "Marvel Rivals CAT Arc" :: Variety Transition Arc 2 [Q2 - Q4 2024]
Becoming lost until we can be found again - The time before starting our true endeavors in Marvel Rivals & VR!
After Marvel Rivals CAT we looked to transition into other games to keep the momentum going with streams! This blog will cover our endeavors in variety, during this time we also had two additional Marvel Rivals playtests which will be covered in a separate blog (coming soon).
It was an extremely difficult journey, honestly the most difficult era of my time streaming to date. We had a lot of incredible moments while at the same time some of our hardest moments. I am the type of player that requires a level of comfort and prior knowledge to really do a great job showcasing games while being entertaining. We also had multiple roadblocks with IRL / Stream setup changes that really effected things. We started things with a trip to MHUR before attempting doing variety content which was a nice start.
Part1 - Post Marvel Rivals CAT
After making strides into Marvel Rivals and not really being able to do new fresh MHUR content we looked into what this generation of gaming had to offer in genres of my interests.
We started with a military style hero shooter called "XDefiant" which was a fun game that got tough toward the end. This is when I started to realize my playstyle and fundamentals in a FPS environment were worse than I originally thought. We still had some solid improvement and started to get a feel for what I needed to work on.
MultiVersus came out shortly after & we dove straight into that for a fun casual competitive stop. It overall was a good time it just reminded me too much of the culture of Smash Bros that I walked away from a long time ago. I just don't have the right mindset to play one of these platform fighter-style games (I also was playing on my keypad+mouse which severely affected my mechanics).
I may one day re-visit it because I feel bad about how I stopped as it was more of a personal reason rather than the game's fault. I entered a tournament for fun but had a serious series of anxiety (due to my past experiences in Smash Bros) during that event that heavily affected my mental and performance.
It still was overall a great time, lessons learned & just another hurdle for me to get over. We also tried Overwatch 2 for a day or so around this time, I opt'd not to get more into it as it like MVS felt like moving back to toward my past instead of a new future.
Part2 - Pre-Marvel Rivals CBT (Still Post CAT but the vibe shifted around here)
After the initial start of our variety journey, we got to try some really cool games out while waiting for the next Marvel Rivals playtest!
There was a really cool game that caught my attention named "Strinova" which was essentially a third-person anime hero shooter that had 2D paper movement mechanics. Many including myself compared it to Overwatch/Valorant with Fortnite/Paper Mario playstyle. You can fold into 2D paper mid-combat for movement like dodging, gliding and wall running. This is a game not many people heard about but was extremely enjoyable to play!
(1st 3 clips are Day1 footage)
After Strinova, we got into the Supervive playtest as one of their CCs. It was a quick stop to showcase a new action combat style MOBA. I'm not a huge moba player but I did have some fun playing this game casually. If you like the idea of WASD/Joystick movement in a MOBA as opposed to clicking to move like in mainstream traditional MOBAs this might be a good game for you to try!
After SuperVive, a new military style hero shooter went into playtesting named "FragPunk" for it's alpha. It felt similar but different to XDefiant & had an interesting concept with cards effecting the status of players. There is definitely a lot of potential and depth with this game. The modes also felt really polished with it's bomb-mode, TDM/FFA & Capture the core!
(We have no good clips of me actually playing this playtest because I only got to try it for it's last day. So I will include a silly knife clip we got in a FFA then a clip from the FragPunk Beta that we played later on which we will revisit later)
After FragPunk a new TPS Destiny-style game came out named "The First Descendant" for it's alpha. It felt similar but different to XDefiant & had an interesting setup. We were going to play more but games kept popping up including the Gamecom Marvel Rivals Playtest!
We also did a short visit with MHUR right before Marvel Rivals CBT & Tried out Splitgate2 (A Portal CoD/Halo Style Shooter) which was a ton of fun and another hidden gem that I hope more people try!
Part3 - Post Marvel Rivals CBT
After the end of Marvel Rivals CBT, we tried out Fortnite for it's Marvel season & shortly after they announced a Private playtest for Gamescom that I was invited to thanks to being part of the Marvel Rivals CC program! We also played some Halo MCC because I love halo a lot (it was my first shooter, the first game I was ever known for. I was the best player in my area, won local tournaments and got 2nd out of 55 players at a real LAN).
Part4 - Post Marvel Rivals Gamescom Playtest
At the end of the Marvel Rivals Gamescom Playtest, Valve lifted their new TPS Hero Shooter MOBA from NDA, "Deadlock". This was a very interesting game as it went completely viral and became one of the most popular games to play. It offered a fresh take on the genre with very smooth mechanics.
I really don't enjoy MOBAs as much as other gamers, but this game was hands down the most fun MOBA I have ever played. The mechanics being so smooth and effective really is what stood out to me with this game. We played it for a couple weeks before moving onto more playtests & releases to try out!
(next few clips are from Day3 Deadlock)
I did rather decent while at the same time, I felt the huge amount of experience I lacked in the game which kept me from taking it too seriously. This will be a game I casually return to and see how its development is going because the developers were honestly incredible at listening to community feedback and were updating their game multiple times a day. It was the most impressive hotfixes/balance changes based on community feed that I have ever seen in modern gaming.
We heard about a new Anime-BR named "Fate Trigger: The Novita" which was a game that looked similar to previously mentioned "Strinova" but set in a PUBG-Hero Shooter style Battle Royale environment. We were able to become a CC for Fate Trigger & showcased what the game was about. The idea behind the game is really cool & I hope they optimize it with some feedback from the community so it's an incredible game on release. The big takeaway from this game was it's unique map setup having elevated floating islands way in the sky that you can traverse to.
Getting interested in trying VR Games! (Sept-October FPS Training)
For some reason I have always had a huge passion and desire to play video games in Virtual Reality (VR). I was exposed to it's possibilities as a child when I went to Disney Quest in Disney World for a VR Game that played like using a Star-Wars lightsaber called "Ride the Comix". It was a tradition for me every year we went to Disney to go to this Arcade to play all the video games, but the driving force was to play this VR game.
It was without a doubt my most desired game as a child as it was a game that was unattainable & only a short 1 level experience that I could replay once a year or so. The ability to feel a video game has always been a thing I talk about as one of my strengths as a gamer & playing a game like this allowed me to feel something that I could never forget & have always desired.
I got to mess with VR on occasion over the years but never had the accessibility to own it outside of trying early mobile VR. Then very recently I had the opportunity to visit a Round1 Arcade and noticed a few VR-Arcade game-stations were there. In it I saw "VR Agent" an arcade-style VR Shooter which allowed me to feel that realm that I felt as a child when I held that light saber but this time in a shooter.
The mechanics of being in a VR Shooter felt so dynamic and the possibilities of this new way to play gaming began to flood my mind. VR Shooters have so much to offer and are still so new & in an era similar to Xbox/Xbox360 in terms of development but still after research I realized that these games do exist and are only going to improve. The idea of playing these VR games as they become more of a thing is exciting to me as I do feel this is something I was destined to do (VR Gaming as a whole. I also have a strong desire for a VR MMO game & some sword/magic play). Dunk Hunt for the Nintendo was the first game I remember playing and that type of immersive game style is something that has been missing in my life.
I might be able to feel games again and really ignite that passion that I lost from since Spellbreak went down. Around this time, We started a Fundraiser to raise funds to get a MetaQuest3 - If you would like to support to help - Donate Here.
With this all in mind I decided to get more into FPS games on PC to try to prepare for the adjustment to VR gaming. I really feel FPS has always felt off for me on Flatscreen games due to my inability to actively and properly immerse myself (I struggle to have the same level of control, focus & other aspects as I am with TPS games due to this dynamic).
We also got to play more MHUR, Strinova & FragPunk along with get into a new MMO to check out and pass the time until we get a VR headset / Marvel Rivals.
Pre-Marvel Rivals Release (November to December 6th Release date)
Learn more about this time in Part2 of this article HERE!
And with that our 2nd Variety Transition Arc has concluded! It was a long hard trip but gave me a lot of insight on how to move forward! Thank you so much for being part of it!
Any plans for My Hero Ultra Rumble or Spellbreak?
See Part2. I had some ideas in mind to try in due time involving occasional community events that ended up going really well!
.jpeg)
Thank you all so much! We know what's next and we are going beyond a super hero!!
~ Kairi Caitlyn
P.S. We also had multiple IRL issues happen during this time, from having to go to the hospital, to bringing my cat to ER Vet, to extreme financial issues [including being robbed] & much more. From the bottom of my heart I greatly appreciate everyone who has been sticking through this rough patch as it has been the hardest time in gaming as a streamer+IRL.
