NEW CHARACTER BLOG – MISTER SINISTER (NATHANIEL ESSEX)

Schemes within schemes, plans within plans, contingency for each contingency, if there’s an evil plan about, Mister Sinister is probably the one that started it. When it comes to long term devious planning, not even the great M.O.D.O.K. can compare to the machinations of Nathaniel Essex. Mister Sinister is the newest 5-star character to come to Marvel Puzzle Quest! Learn more about Mister Sinister (Nathaniel Essex) in the latest new character developer blog!

Quite a bit less of a runner than the recently released speedster Northstar, Marvel Puzzle Quest turns to the more indirect combat style with Mister Sinister. Methodical and inscrutable, and almost never in the thick of the fight himself, Sinister prefers to set traps and let his opponents do themselves in with their own hubris.

In-game, he provides a bit of protection for his team, but really best serves the team as an engine for AP manipulation and large bursts of damage. He thrives on a team where he is not taking the brunt of the damage and is left to have his abilities fire, but has mechanisms to help him survive when those big hits come in. Mister Sinister is a unique character mechanically because each ability generates Trap tiles that all appear on random colors – finding the right balance of the amount of and types of Trap tiles that get generated was a fun design challenge that comes across in his usage in-game. It’s also the reason that 2 of the 3 types of traps he makes do damage; It frees up some cognitive space for his Sinister Secrets ability, which is a more complicated power to use properly.

Mister Sinister, especially in his recent comic appearances, has a really big and bombastic personality. He shifts between being wildly absurd and deadly serious and yet always seems to be enjoying himself. This swapping of personas was something that we love about the character that we wanted to bring across to the game.

 

Original Sinister is a prime example of this capricious nature. With this ability, Sinister grabs a clone of himself to toss in front of an incoming major strike, avoiding injury at the slight loss of, you know, himself. From a character identity perspective, it doesn’t get much better than Sinister deciding that a lovingly grown clone that had such promise to bring decades long plans to fruition is just tossed away at need.

With Behold!, Mister Sinister makes use of the many traps that he’s already placed, bringing some of his plans to fruition. Which also just happens to cause massive pain for his opponents. At max level, each of these trap tiles can deal a whopping 26K damage which is often around about half of an opponent’s health. Since it’s a Trap tile, the opponent doesn’t even get to see the strike coming!

There’s also one sort of a joke / intentional dissonance built into Mister Sinister’s Behold! ability. The story being told with it is that Mister Sinister has a really convoluted plan that only he (or you as the player) can comprehend. So in the art Mister Sinister holds his hands up and a spotlight shines on him for the big reveal, only for it to be such an arcane plan that the opponent cannot understand it – leading to it making Trap tiles that cannot be seen by the enemy. Behold! Err… behold what?

Mister Sinister is a very self-synergistic character that can deliver on having powerful swings both in terms of damage and AP denial. He also can synergize with other Trap tile users which is a somewhat unique mechanic. At the 5-Star tier, this is a little light, but he works well with many 4-Stars, especially when they’re buffed, such as Black Cat or Mysterio. Even 3-Star Doctor Doom gets a look in, adding his Diabolical Plots to Sinister’s plans.

Making Mister Sinister in Marvel Puzzle Quest was an all-new design challenge in creating a character that can work totally on his own as villains often do, but also works well with other schemers like Loki and Doctor Doom. His reliance on Traps is another new thing, with other Trap users being pretty sparing in their usage, and certainly not creating them with all their powers. Translating his machinations into strong in-game mechanics has been a task, but one that we’ve greatly enjoyed doing to bring the newest 5-Star into Marvel Puzzle Quest.

We really hope you enjoy his release in Marvel Puzzle Quest and we look forward to everyone’s feedback. To learn more about his powers, please visit our FAQ HERE for more details.

Thank you!

– Demiurge Team

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