Marvel's Midnight Suns and XCOM 2 may be among the best strategy games around, but they also have something else in common: bond systems. Midnight Suns presents you with the chance to strike up friendships with famous figures from the Marvel Universe, while XCOM 2 measures the developing relationships between soldiers as they fight together. Developer Jake Solomon, who worked on both games, highlights how he hopes to bring these types of designs forward into his next project: A next-gen life sim from the newly founded Midsummer Studios.
With a veteran team on board, including former Firaxis developer Will Miller and The Sims director Grant Rodiek, Midsummer is aiming to create a life sim with a focus on storytelling that's driven by players. While both Solomon and Miller have a strong background in strategy, coming from Firaxis, Solomon has always believed that the types of design techniques and features they've worked with previously would also be a good fit for a life sim-style game without any combat.
