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(Image: SQUARE-ENIX)

Following my behind-closed-doors presentation of Marvel's Avengers, which featured the first single-player gameplay vignette shown to the public - I sat down with Noah Hughes, Studio Creative Director at Crystal Dynamics to get some more insight on the game.

I wanted to figure out how the multiplayer was going to work and what players can expect from the wider experience, having only seen the first mission in the game's core campaign.

Luckily for everyone involved, Noah offered some revealing answers, outlining a lot of the nitty-gritty that fans may not have grasped during the E3 showcase.

In my first interview with Noah Hughes, one of my first questions was about the locations in the game. Surely, we're not just going to see San Francisco! After all, Marvel lore is full of amazing locations and massive setpieces - surely these would all be explored in the game?

Hughes was quick to reassure me, explaining that the studio is grounding the game in a "global context."

"Not only are we bringing the heroes to life, but we're bringing that Marvel world to life as well. And we have a lot of that packed into the core campaign experience, a diversity of locations."

As well as the broad, international stage, Hughes also confirmed that we're going to see new heroes and regions as part of the post-launch content coming to Marvel's Avengers (and at no additional cost to players!)

In regards to the PS4 exclusive content - I pressed about whether this could have something to do with Marvel's Spider-Man, given its Sony exclusivity and the team's close work with Marvel Games.

Hughes did not confirm or deny my assumptions but mentioned that Sony players were going to get the Avengers beta first over competing platforms - the rest is yet to be revealed.

One of the main questions I had after the demo centered around how the game was going to work in multiplayer, given that all we've seen so far is a segmented story mission where the player swaps between the main Avengers.

Hughes tells me that the missions in Marvel's Avengers are flexible and varied in this sense... "some levels are meant to introduce heroes, or are an opportunity for that particular hero to do something that showcases his or her abilities."

So some missions will focus on certain heroes, but according to Hughes "a lot of the content can be played with any hero."

From what I gather, you can opt-out of the co-op experience in Marvel's Avengers, but the option is open if you want to play exclusively as a hero or group up with other players to take it on. There is a full cinematic campaign to play - with some missions single-player only, but in the wider world, you can play with friends too - it sounds like Destiny, in that respect.

Hughes also mentioned that when the game wraps up there is "plenty of levelling up to do" - suggesting a fleshed-out postgame (an area that shared world adventures like these typically struggle with).

Hughes later told me that the post-game will involve "even greater threats" which the team hope will be an "exciting experience that ultimately gets harder and harder as you get farther through that progression."

Hughes made it clear that "co-ordinating as multiple Avengers will become a more significant demand" as you get to higher levels in the post-game and unlock more powerful skills.

On villains you might face in these pseudo-raids - Hughes told me that as well as "hero-sized villains" there will be "much larger" foes too!

The way I started to rationalize it in my head after a few of these answers is that this game is kind of like a superhero-themed instance-based looter shooter that you can enjoy single-player or co-op. Yet, it also has a fully fleshed-out single-player campaign. It's a hybrid in that sense.

The bridge mission at the start of the game is a good example in that it is single-player only - but later missions in the campaign will be multiplayer too. Hughes breaks down the barometer as "Any (mission) that isn't specifically showcasing the story and powers of a particular hero" as a mission that will be open to multiplayer play.

Hughes also confirmed that there is a "base of operations" in the game where players can choose what missions to embark on.

I asked about the existence of a social hub a la Destiny but Hughes wasn't ready to talk about that just yet.

According to Hughes, once you beat the opening bridge mission from the trailer you can also "jump straight into spoiler-land if you want to play any hero in any of the missions." It's a very fresh structure for a game of its kind, and it seems like the variety is necessitated by the unique nature of each Avenger.

When asked about the means of unlocking Avengers across the course of play - Hughes made note that we will "reassemble the avengers" after the events of a-day (the bridge level) mean heroes are outlawed.

I also asked whether Captain America was dead (he appears to die in the trailer thanks to a gigantic explosion,) but Hughes wasn't ready to confirm or deny his status after the explosion - upon being asked whether he'll be played by a replacement Captain America - Bucky Barnes or the like - Hughes was quick to shut me down "There is no replacing Captain America!"

In a similar vein - when asked whether we'll see a Peter Parker and a Miles Morales Spider-Man, Hughes laughed and told me they weren't announcing anything Spider-Man related today (he could tell I was keen to see Spider-Man!)

On monetization - after announcing that the game had no pay-to-win or loot boxes, Hughes told me that the only microtransactions in the game were based around the "things that allow players to express their own identity," so think fan-favourite skins - but Hughes told me that they won't have "gameplay abilities" tied to them, it's purely on an aesthetic basis. It was also confirmed that outfits are unlocked over the course of the campaign without cost.

Crossplay and next-gen questions were met with a stony response - no news right now for both of those - but I did learn a little more about the levelling system before the interview wrapped up. Each hero has a particular level in Marvel's Avengers rather than an over-arching progression meter across all the Avengers.

According to Hughes, the team wanted them to feel like superheroes from the start but through the levelling system and skill trees, you can tailor them to your own personal play style or add additional options.

So that's a lot of information - and it sounds like Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have got a massive project ahead of them... and we're sure to hear more about it at SDCC later this month.