On the 16th of July, NetEase Games declared officially that the release for the new map called K’un-Lun: Heart of Heaven in the Marvel Rivals game will be September 25, 9 AM, UTC time. This is a mythical ancient world, with Chinese undertones, for the protector dragon Shou-Lao has fallen asleep, and the city was exposed to Doctor Doom’s schemes. Players will have their dust kicked in Iron Fist and others to defend their home in this exotic land.
Marvel Rivals has just announced the next great map K’un-Lun: Heart of Heaven, releasing on the 25th of September. Which is great, right? The attitude among players about the map’s release is varied. Some are just totally excited at the visuals, while others aren’t too keen on it simply because of the game mode that accompanies it. Let’s explore.
If we are talking about the map first. A mystical city adorned in ancient Chinese architecture, a complete change of scenery from the few dark and symbiote-themed maps we have been getting lately. One player, Ren, said: “This map is so pretty 🥺💗.” And it did genuinely give off some traditional roof type vibes with misty mountains when looking at the promotional art. Another player, ZENZERO, said “W map. Tired of dark symbiote theme maps,” which is something many are saying. That’s a visual breath of fresh air.
Then, it is the complete opposite. Another player named Sulyvahn pretty much summed it up for a lot of folks when he said: “Beautiful Map but unfortunately bound to the shit gamemode.” Which, basically, is the ongoing debate. The map is for the game mode that an enormous chunk of the player base loathes. It’s like getting a really nice paint job for a car that has engine trouble. You appreciate the effort, but you’re frustrated with the actual experience.
There is also the lore dropped. The story goes that the Timestream Entanglement has messed with K’un-Lun, putting the Immortal Dragon Shou-Lao to sleep. Now, it is up to Iron Fist to defend the place from Doctor Doom. He wishes to steal the dragon’s heart. Epic stuff. The players are already deep-diving into the background lore which is hidden in the trailer. Someone spotted what looks like a Ghost Rider from the 1,000,000 BC Avengers, which hyped up baron skullfire kind of guy, and he wrote, “Yeeaahhh!!! Finally some Ghost Rider presence in Rivals!!!” The devs are definitely going to throw in a few deep cuts for the comic fans.
Now, where was I, ah yes, deep-cut references. This spilled into a thread about skins, with people spotting ancient Avengers in the background and begging for skins based on them, like an Agamotto skin for Doctor Strange or the first Black Panther look. It’s a whole thing. cunty_wanda said, “it’s actually agamotto but i see no reason why it cant be a strange skin,” which makes sense since Black Panther already got a Bast’s Chosen skin from that era. Players always want more customization; it’s a given.
On the contrary, the game’s downtime brought Neo Gamer back out to Twitter, saying, “¡Meh! I told them a week ago. That if they didn’t fix the matchmaking I was leaving, today marks that week. So goodbye. No more money from me,” signaling he’s done due to toxicity in matchmaking. The sentiment is clear enough. Some players are at a breaking point with what now exists, and no matter how shiny a new map is, it will not be enough to keep them.
An interesting additional point came from user 無名: “To be honest, the K’un-Lun in Marvel Rivals is too Chinese, and very different from the K’un-Lun that is a collection of Asian stereotypes in Marvel comics.” That is a very thoughtful critique on cultural representation in contrast to the sometimes messy comic book origins. It seems players are paying attention to more than just gameplay.
Of course, the eternal calls for new characters started. Norsca_warrior asked for Carnage: “give me Carnage Netease, pls don´t make me wait 3 years to see my boy.” Its always something; new map? Cool, now where’s my favorite character.
So where does that leave us? K’un-Lun looks absolutely beautiful, and a big visual win for Marvel Rivals. The community seems to adore this aesthetic change. However, that in itself is setting the biggest spotlight on the ongoing dispute about game modes, matchmaking, character releases, etc. So, as always, this update will have something positive and negative for everybody. Launching on September 25, we’ll all know then if the gameplay is worthy of these beautiful new surroundings. Perhaps this will put the game back in the spotlight, or it’ll just become one more great thing to argue about-it’s a toss-up for the meantime. PlayStation and Xbox players are all joining in.
