Midnight Sons 2: Highway to Hell

Midnight Sons 2: Highway to Hell (Japanese: デビル メイ クライ) is an action-adventure game based on mystic and supernatural Marvel Comics characters, It is the second installment in the Midnight series, after Marvel: Midnight Sons.

The game was created by Mad Man Ninja and is primarily developed and published by Mad Man Ninja Studios. Its gameplay consists of combat scenes in which the player must attempt to extend long chains of attacks, avoiding damage and exhibiting stylized combat; this combat, along with time and the number of items collected and used, are considered in grading the player's performance. Across the series, new characters with unique skills are available.

The series alludes to Stern & Mignola's Triumph and Torment. The game was released on October 8, 2023 worldwide.

Gameplay
Just like its predecessor, Midnight Sons 2 consists of levels, missions, in which players battle enemies, carry out platforming tasks and solve puzzles to progress through the story. The player's performance in each mission is graded from D through C, B and A, with top marks of S and SS. Grades are based on time taken to complete a mission, the number of red orbs (currency obtained from defeated enemies) gathered, "stylish" combat, item usage and damage received. The games tracks stylish combat by an on-screen gauge, which is the performance of a series of attacks ("combos") while avoiding damage. The longer a player attacks without repetition and evades damage, the higher the score. The gauge registers "Dope" after a few attacks, progressing through "Crazy", "Blast", "Alright", "Sweet", "SShowtime" to peak at "SSStylish". If the protagonist receives damage, the style rating falls; if the gauge is "Crazy" or below, it will reset.

Team Trigger is a mechanic which enables the player's character to switch beetween three previously selected characters. This may alters the player's strategy, increasing attack and defense or speed, restores health and enables special attacks. It also allows a player to choose one of different combat styles; each style has a different focus and techniques. Many playable characters can switch between all four equipped weapons (two guns, two melees) on the fly, allowing for far greater combat freedom and variety.

Character selection is available at checkpoints and at the beginning of each level, each one with its specific style. The styles are "Trickster", for dodging and agility; "Swordmaster", with abilities for swords and other weapons; "Gunslinger", with firearms techniques; and "Royal Guard", which allows a player to repel attacks with a button press (storing energy for retaliation). Later in the game, two additional styles become unlocked: "Quicksilver", slowing enemies, while the character attacks at normal speed; and "Doppelgänger", which creates a shadow double who fights alongside the player. A second player may control the shadow double by pressing "Start" on a second controller. A two-player mode, similar to the Doppelgänger style, is accessible in a certain point of the game.

Plot
After rescuing the soul of Doctor Doom's mother in a dimension of Hell, the unusual group must reagroup to escape the infernal dimension. However, after their battle, there was a change in command and new foes arise to end this journey, once and for all.

Now, the fate of the Midnight Sons lies on their will to survive and in Nightcrawler: after being rejected by Hell for his enlighted soul, he must bring a new team together with mystical reinforcements to storm the hellish dimension once again. But will he? And who is the mysterious figure that proclaims Mephisto's throne and resembles Kurt Wagner himself?

Playable Characters

 * Dr. Doom: a scientific genius and also an accomplished sorcerer.
 * Dr. Strange: serves as the Sorcerer Supreme, the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats.
 * Moon Knight: chosen by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu to be his avatar on Earth to protect and avenge the innocent.
 * Nightcrawler: son of the demonic warlord Azazel, turned himself to the Catholicism. His primary power is the ability to teleport himself.
 * Blade: a dhampir, Blade has devoted his life to ridding the world of all vampires.
 * Brother Voodoo: possesses numerous mystical and quasi-physical powers derived from the Loa, the spirit-gods of voodoo.
 * Magik: she is the Sorceress Supreme of her Limbo dimension.
 * Nico Minoru: whenever she bleeds, a powerful staff emerges from her chest, called the Staff of One, allowing Nico to bend magic.
 * Man-Thing: transformed into a creature composed of vegetable matter through the synergistic interaction of mystical energy and mutagens.
 * Ghost Rider: became bound to the Spirit of Vengeance Zarathos after making a deal with Mephisto to spare his surrogate father.
 * Hellstrom: as a ruler of a dimension of Hell, Hellstorm commands virtually unlimited power in his own dimension.
 * Morbius: experienced a transformation by electrical shock treatment and chemical ingestion into a pseudo-vampire.
 * Wiccan: possesses an innate mystical ability which allows him to alter and manipulate reality at will.
 * Morgan Le Fay: possesses a gifted intellect, and as a former pupil of Merlin, she knows a great deal of magical lore, considered one of the greatest sorceresses in Earth's history.
 * Elsa Bloodstone: daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone, she is a well-known monster-huntress.
 * Hannibal King: a vampire and possesses all of the various superhuman attributes commonly associated with vampires.
 * Jennifer Kale: powerful sorcerer and a leader of the Cult of Zhered-Na, based in the section of the Florida Everglades that is the mystic Nexus of All Realities.
 * Frank Drake: a monster-hunter, he uses the Exorcist Gun, which he calls 'Linda.' It fires energies at frequencies that affect the supernatural. 'Linda' is also attuned to detect supernatural energies.
 * Clea: the Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension, possessing vast magical powers. Clea is half-Faltine and half Dark Dimensional mortal, and can naturally fly and hover.
 * Doctor Druid: possesses extensive knowledge of ancient ritual magic practiced by his Celtic ancestors. He is also fluent with Oriental mysticism passed on to him by the Ancient One.
 * Margali Szardos: with her experience in magic surpassing even that of Doctor Strange, Margali is capable of controlling magical forces for a wide range of effects. Margali is an accomplished sorceress, to the point that her power is equal to that of almost any sorcerer on Earth, having fought its Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, to a stalemate in her own dimension, and occupying "The Winding Way's" highest position.

Trivia

 * This is the fourth game in the recent collaboration beetween Marvel Comics and Mad Man Ninja Studios, following Marvel Super Heroes 2, Spider-man: Communion Anxiety and Marvel: Midnight Sons.
 * Midnight Sons 2 is the first game to adapt more than 13 supernatural characters located in the Marvel Universe in the same team.
 * The Midnight Sons franchise is based on the homonymous group of Marvel Comics. However, some members have been altered in the game due to plot reasons.
 * There are some Easter Eggs in the game as a homage to artists, musicians and comic book writers and characters, as exemplified in the name of this entry - Highway to Hell. Many can be seen during the Catacombs stage and roaming through Hell itself.