Marvel Snap is getting a Battle mode and it's coming soon

Hit card game Marvel Snap will be introducing a new competitive mode later "this calendar year" that will let you play against friends.

The confirmation comes by way of developer Second Dinner's development roadmap, which says that although Marvel Snap's global release was on October 18, it "does not mean the game is finished - far from it!"

"We know you've been asking how you can play against friends and this is how!" a blog update confirms.

"Battle Mode is a totally new way to play Marvel Snap. In Battle Mode, each player starts with 10 health and the winning player deals damage to their opponent equal to the stakes of the game. If you doubled down and SNAPPED, you'll do 4 damage to your opponent instead of 2 – or retreat early and only lose 1 health! Players will play a series of games against each other with the same deck until one player has no health left.

"We think Battle Mode is the best way to play against friends, or run community tournaments, because it provides a clear winner while still incorporating the SNAP mechanic," the update concludes. "We can't wait to see the community play in Battle Mode!"

Whilst Second Dinner's roadmap doesn't give a releaser window, The Washington Post reports that the mode will be added "this calendar year" - so in the next few weeks, essentially.

For the full details - as well as sneaky hints at what else is on the way, including an unranked mode, and more localization - head on over to the Marvel Snap website.

It should be great news for fans of the game like our own Josh West, who said during his review that it was a shame we couldn't "challenge buddies to battle" when the game released at the end of last month. 

We gave Marvel Snap an impressive 4.5 stars out of 5, calling it "a wonderfully intuitive card game that is simple to play, easy to learn, and satisfying to master. Games may take just six minutes to play, but there's a depth of strategy and breadth of variance here that is truly awesome".

"I want to be clear that while Marvel Snap is simple, it isn't shallow," Josh wrote in the GamesRadar+ Marvel Snap review. 

"This is a smartly designed experience that works because of the variance it offers, rather than in spite of it. You needn't memorize endless opening and counter plays; Marvel Snap asks only that you're present enough to consider the small number of cards in your hand on any given turn, and are able to understand how each possible play that you can make will work with and against the state of the board."

Marvel's Midnight Suns is another strategy card game in the Marvel universe, but it seems lighter on cards and bigger on strategy.