I have Nexus donations disabled because they haven't worked for me since September 2023. If you would like to donate, here is my Ko-fi :) - Belinn

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Description Author: Dreadheart

What is the Dreadheart Overhaul Mod? What does it do?

This is a full-scale gameplay overhaul of Marvel’s Midnight Suns that rebuilds every hero, system, and enemy encounter from the ground up for a deeper, tougher, and more tactical experience.

• Reworks every hero with new cards, roles, and mechanics
• Adds status-based synergy, custom decks, and mod-driven builds
• Turns Taunt into a mod, giving you full control over team roles
• Massively expands enemy damage, density, and pressure
• Introduces full endgame progression with challenge packs and roguelite elements (Fun RNG + Thrive & Survive or Die feel)
• Powers scale from 1–10 with a new resource-based system creating a new gameplay loop. Think of Heroism Gain like mana regeneration in other games but adapted for turn-based combat. Instead of automatically refilling over time, you’re the one choosing how/when to build it up through your card plays. That means you're directly controlling when and how your heroes gain the power they need to unleash their strongest abilities. It’s all in your hands now, power up and spend (the new ebb and flow of combat).
• Friendships unlock massive offensive power boosts
• Adds new mechanics like resurrection, chain-bleed consumption, and enhanced AOE
  

Why should I play it?

Once the vanilla game was beat, we were often left one or two turn beating every encounter with no real end game challenge or progression left. Also many heroes were still subpar and or non-comic lore powerful - The gap between the best and worst was too great. This game is for veterans and players who want a brand new, yet familiar, tactical team-tactical experience with their favorite heroes (who are now awesomer). This Overhaul delivers meaningful team-building, life-or-death combat, and a true endgame designed for veteran players who want to think, plan, and earn every victory. If you thought Hulk, Spidey, or Scarlet Witch were weak? Not anymore. 

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AND SUPPORT COMMITMENT
(Please Read the Important Notes, Known Quirks, Non-Compatible Mods, and Installation Guide after this Section)

Dreadheart Overhaul: Version 0.9

We’re incredibly proud to bring you the 0.9 release of Dreadheart Overhaul, a bold reimagining we’ve poured countless hours into. But we want to be transparent: The core experience is about 95% complete - With hundreds of cards, mission types, team compositions, and emergent strategies, no internal test lab can replicate what the real community will do once set loose. We’ve reached the point where further internal testing would mean months of delay (due to how hard it is to find bugs at this stage).

That means the Overhaul is fully playable and content-complete, but it not yet flawless. A minor bug or issues may arise during regular testing. Rather than hold the game back chasing perfection, we’re inviting you to help us shape that final 5%.

But we’re calling it a 0.9 release with a 95% core readiness, a near-final configuration that we will continue to refine with your feedback.

Also, remember to start your first story mission on STORY difficulty. You will, within a few missions, upgrade more cards and be able to tackle normal. Use Story to farm and upgrade more cards. Please start your new game using the 'Dreadheart NG+ Save File' (it is a clean file with all cosmetics that carries over no champion levels).

The first mission might not be a total walk in the park. Hang in there and don’t give up. Think through your next steps, get your tank going, and keep going!

Why We Need Your Eyes

The Overhaul is deep and dynamic. With so many possible deck builds, mission variations, and tactical synergies, wild edge cases will emerge. Some balance quirks or bugs may slip through, and we’re ready to and will respond.

So here’s the ask: Partner with us.

• If you find a bug, log it on the forums with a description, reproduction steps, and (if possible) screenshots or clips.
• If a mission feels unfair or a strategy seems broken, tell us.
• If something just feels off, we want to know that too.
  

We will triage each report, test, and prioritize fixes in frequent patches over the coming weeks.

No Progress Lost - Patches will not require you to start a new game, and your progress, builds, and campaign state will remain fully intact. At this stage, all changes will be minor balance and polish updates, not structural overhauls.

We are just two people. Please be patient with us, but know that we’re fully committed to making this the strongest version of the game possible. Your feedback will help us push Dreadheart Overhaul from great to perfected.

Thank you for playing. Thank you for testing. And thank you for joining us on this journey.

— Dreadheart (Concept, Strategy, Testing) and Belinn (Modding)

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IMPORTANT NOTES & TIPS – READ BEFORE PLAYING

• WARNING: If you want ALL your heroes from the start - Please start your new game using the 'Dreadheart NG+ Save File' (it is a clean file with all cosmetics that carries over no champion levels) Do Not Carry Over Cards/Mods and Friendship. (You can bring over Cosmetics and Resources if you want). See picture below for ideal start set up if you want all heroes from the start. PLEASE START IN STORY DIFFICULTY. 
• When starting a NG+ with our clean Dreadheart NG+ save file, please upload to your game's save file folder. For a steam user it might look like: ...Documents\my games\Marvel's Midnight Suns\SavedSteam[random unique number]\SaveGames. Just put it into the save folder with your other saves and NG+ from there :)
• 
• Otherwise, if you want to discover heroes as you play - just make a regular new game and go have fun!
• Warning: Advancing past Hard Difficulty BEFORE beating the final campaign mission will REDUCE the challenge/difficulty. Beat the Last Mission to unlock level 40 missions and the ability to truly challenge yourself, your teams, your builds, and your strategies.
• Story-Hard Difficulty is specifically tuned for Pre End Game (level 25) due to enemy multiplier interactions, it's not tuned for level 40 missions/enemies (End game). That is what Heroic 1 - UC3 is for. More details in the Difficulty Pak Article: DIFFICULTY PAKS
• Discover our amazing cards yourself, while creating builds as you go. Enjoy the new journey, don’t feel rushed to use progress accelerating mods to rush to the end game.
• The true end game begins after the last story mission is completed, once missions all switch over to level 40.
• Please note our NON-COMPATIBLE mod list. Feel free to add whatever we recommend as optional, but DO NOT use anything from the NON-COMPATIBLE mod list.
• The two Deadpool mods are essential - download them and download any recommended/optional mods you wish - All have been tested. See the section further below for details and links to the mods.
• We have a list of some technical issues below. We are aware of them, and you may want to be as well.
• Charlie related missions - We recommend bringing a Tank specc'd Hunter to protect Charlie. There are many ways to build a tank Hunter for both Charlie missions, as well as difficult missions.
• There are massive power-boosts tied to Friendship levels - Invest in raising these levels.
• There are new functionality/abilities that exist in the Overhaul that never existed before - Explore and enjoy the journey, not just the destination.
• Champ level progression begins at Heroic 1 Difficulty.
• Whether it's a DLC mission or the final story mission, sometimes you might need to lower the difficulty. Do your best, challenge yourself, have fun, but don’t be afraid to experiment and lower the difficulty a bit before you reach endgame.
• Try to complete DLC missions before end game, or they will still be level 25 after you beat the final mission and thus might be very easy. Not a major issue, just a heads up.
• Some Hunter build/suit/collar combinations may be considered “OP” - Plan/play accordingly and in a manner that fits your desired playstyle and experience. Play the Hunter in a balanced way, or play her as "OP" as you want, but understand that she alters the difficulty of every fight and has broken builds - by our design. This is a single player game, play the game as you wish and enjoy! For example: Master of the Hunt and the Ancestral suits are considered completely OP. Same with the Salem aka Boon of Twos suit, this one is for "cheese" play. I do not recommend for anyone playing the game with the intent to challenge, however, play this game as you wish and have fun. Don't just chat the end game, which will come, enjoy the new journey.
• Credits don't scale when missing and intel/salvage rewards are doubled.
• Bleed Consumers – Important Clarification: When using a Bleed-consuming (chain) attack, the game's damage prediction may overestimate or the actual outcome. Here's why:
  
  -Bleed is only consumed once per enemy, not once per hit.
  -But the prediction may incorrectly apply Bleed consumption prediction to every hit, inflating the preview if you're chaining into the same target. So, the system shows like you're about to blow the target up, but you are actually doing 1 consume + X number of follow up attacks.
  -If you're chaining into multiple targets, each with their own Bleed, the prediction is accurate as each Bleed is consumed once, per enemy.
  
  

Installation Guide

• Download Overhaul Mod and place it into your Pak folder.
• You do not need an optional difficulty pak to start playing - The default, built-in Difficulty Pak is plenty challenging.
• (Optional)  Difficulty Paks can be chosen later on based on your preferences (“I want it easier, harder, etc”). Please reference the Difficulty Pak article later on for specifics: DIFFICULTY PAKS
• There is an (Optional) Enhanced Secondary Stats Pak also. The default, built-in secondary stats are great, but you have the option to download and add this to your Pak folder. Default is now 50% max crit chance and 50% max crit damage. The optional Enhanced Secondary Stats Pak is 25% max crit chance and 100% max crit damage.
• Download compatible mods. Ignore non-compatible mods.
  

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1. Core Game Design Limitations & Known Quirks


While the Dreadheart Overhaul rebuilds nearly every system in Midnight Suns, there are several limitations built into the core engine and UI that modding cannot fully overcome. These quirks are rare and non-critical, but players should be informed:

• Occasional Animation Glitches (Non-Locking)
  

• Sometimes when a mission starts and the game shows which enemies have mission cards, sometimes the card description will very briefly display code and then clear up.
• Blade will label himself as Marked if no enemy is bleeding when using Hunger.
  

Examples:

Morbius might run off-map and returns. Captain America’s shield bounce may lack an animation in one story sequence. Scarlet Witch’s Unleashed can experience a very brief and rare animation issue related to how far it reaches beyond the map, and Wolverine’s Lethal Pounce occasionally dips underground before resetting normally. These are purely visual and resolve on their own, many bugs also existed in the core game. If a specific card or hero seems affected, please report it with details (who/where/which card/screenshot/video) to our forums so it can be triaged and updated into a future hot-fix release.

• Card Content Limitations:
  

 Due to the structural design of Midnight Suns, each ability must fit inside a single card’s text space.

This sometimes limits how much we can display, especially with complex multi-buff effects or reworked logic. When in doubt, zoom in or inspect the card midbattle to review effects. While we wish we could implement skill trees or expandable sub-abilities within one card, the system doesn't support that. Every change was built within the UI and function constraints of what a card can contain, so a little familiarity will go a long way.

• Stray Code in Card Crafting Screens:
  

Occasionally, when viewing or crafting un-upgraded abilities, you may see a line of internal “code” on a card. This disappears upon upgrade and does not appear in play. It's a known, harmless issue, typically tied to lingering New Game+ data. This has been logged/triaged for evaluation.

• Witchfire Quirk (Intentional Design):
  

 Nico’s Witchfire may strike enemies who are already down, due to its random targeting logic and its inability to strike stunned/dazed foes. This is part of how thepower is written in the game’s logic and not a bug. “The Staff of One cannot distinguish life from death, and will attack any foe, dead or alive.”

Certain attacks might make Nico or Hunter's arm light up with power. We left this quirk in to show them powering up.

• Smarm Quirk :
  

This card may display the heroic cost damage, which is a 5 cost, but its actually damage can be a 3, 6, 7, 9. When you hover over the enemy the enemy damage taken predicator is correct, so it will show you how much damage is actually going to be done. On occasion this issue has been fixed by a new game however what’s important is that the damage works as intended and indicator works

• Rare ‘Red Box’ Targeting Bug:
  

If you encounter a red square or strange targeting highlight at the start of a mission, the game may be targeting something below the map. This is a very rare engine-level glitch. Simply restart the encounter and continue, no permanent impact, and it should be gone.

• New Game+ Recommendation:
  

We recommend beginning a New Game+ and bringing over only Resources and Cosmetics, NOT cards or friendship. Experience the journey once more and find the cards through battle, just like the first time. If you do import cards (which you shouldn’t..), make sure Hunter is built as a tank to preserve intended balance on Story Mission 1. Also, avoid using Charlie in the first story mission to prevent instability; Charlie is otherwise fully supported and have tons of utility now.

• Dark Blessing’s Now Hidden Effect:
  

The vanilla passive of Dark Blessing is still active—by design—but now hidden from the tooltip. This passive has also been added to Fortify and Inspire, with strongest impact in Story Mission 1. This is intentional and enhances early-game utility.

• Spiderman's Infernal Spider cannot be made free by its own "Next X Cards" functionality. This is an exploit preventing feature. Not a bug.
  

• 'No More': The player may kneel, like they are down, after this action, however, they are fully operational and functional. Meaning, once you move them they are back in the fight and good to go! 
  

• New and Updated Passives: 
  

There are several redesigns of passives from Hulk to Wolverine to Deadpool to Ghostrider. Just a heads up. Many things are overhauled/changed for this new journey and in support of our core mission with this Overhaul.
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2. RECOMMENDED MODS & INCOMPATIBLE MODS LIST

**—NOT RECOMMENDED / INCOMPATIBLE MODS—** (Please DO NOT use the following mods listed in Red)

These mods are explicitly incompatible or expressly discouraged with the Dreadheart Overhaul. They may break mechanics, undermine intended difficulty, or conflict with core reworks.

Please do not use these as they will break this overhaul aka use at your own risk.

• Bad Mods Be Gone (by Belinn) – Already included into the overhaul. Do not install separately as the Overhaul has its own integrated custom made Mod-list.
• No Injuries (by Luuizao) – Incompatible. Injuries were removed by the overhaul. This mod is redundant and may cause bugs.
• Remove Deck Restrictions (by Luuizao) – Incompatible. Overhaul enforces new deck logic.
• ALMOST No Hero Requirements for Story Missions (by highborne13) – Incompatible.
• Bleed Rework (by Luuizao) – Incompatible. Dreadheart has its own detailed bleed system.
• Every Hero Can Lead (by Luuizao) – Incompatible.
• Zedd Balance Patch mods (all) – Fully incompatible. These conflict heavily with Dreadheart’s rebalance.
• 4 Card Plays (by Luuizao) – Strongly discouraged. Breaks combat economy.
• Squad Size 5 (General Missions) (by Luuizao) – Incompatible.
• Captain Marvel Easy GoBinary (by Luuizao) – Incompatible with her redesigned Binary system.
• More Endgame Missions (by Belinn) – Included as part of core content expansion.
  

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The following mods are explicitly approved (and recommended) for use with the Dreadheart Overhaul. The following mods have all been tested for compatibility and can enhance (or detract) the overall experience without disrupting game balance. Many were developed by the Overhaul’s modder, Belinn, and are considered recommended, optional, essential or general high-quality quality-of-life (QoL) additions.

ADVANCED RECOMMENDED DIFFICULTY MODS

The following mods are compatible with Dreadheart but are recommended only for advanced players. These mods significantly raise the difficulty ceiling, increase encounter unpredictability, or introduce mechanics that can wipe unprepared teams. Use them if you’re ready for next-level challenges and know how to build around them.

• Lethal Lilin (by Fluffiest) – (Essential/Core) and part of Core Overhaul Experience, though some argue this makes some Lilin fights easier. However, I am a fan of this mod. This mod is essential/mandatory and you will be prompted to download this mod
• Villains Appear More Frequently (or not) (by highborne13) – (Optional) - Makes villain encounters more frequent. Recommended for advanced players only. Can result in mission wipes if not prepared - and not every composition might be able to win, especially if caught off-guard.
• Hulk Ambush (by Fluffiest) – (Optional) - Triggers surprise encounters with Hulk. Like above, advanced team synergy is essential and not every composition might be able to win.
• Harder Hydra (by Fluffiest) – (Essential/Core) and part of the core experience. Increases standard enemy power. Compatible and included in core overhaul, but use only if you're ready for a serious challenge. This mod is essential/mandatory and you will be prompted to download this mod
• Fearsome Fallen (by Fluffiest) – (Essential/Core) and part of the core experience. Increases standard enemy power. Compatible and included in core overhaul, but use only if you're ready for a serious challenge. This mod is essential/mandatory and you will be prompted to download this mod
  

Quality of Life Mods/Resource & Friendship Acquisition

• Better Abbey Camera (by Nishilega) – Purely QoL. Allows better visibility in the Abbey. No downside.
• Who likes my gift (by Nishilega) – Helps you to know who to give the best gifts to for faster friendship gains.
• No Hero Combos - These have been updated in the overhaul and are thus better, but you still might not want the clutter of extra cards in your hand. This mod must be in BEFORE you start your NG/NG+ or Hero Combos will be in the game.
• Less Annoying General Missions (by Belinn) – If you want to hear less of Caretaker, this is a good pick up :)
• General Mission Rewards Overhaul (by Belinn) – Download the 5x version for enhanced resource generation, though resources are overhauled in this mod. Tony Stark is on the team. We should have the funds we need.
• DeadPool Keeps Enfuego (by Luuizao) – Core to rebalance Deadpool mechanics and you need to download it.
• DeadPool Enfuego Stacks Balance (by Luuizao) – Core to rebalanced Deadpool mechanics and you need to download it.
• Long Distance Friendship (by Belinn) – Including this will massively help to improve friendship acquisition/leveling. You can of course go without this for a slower progression, but remember that offensive benefits are tied to Friendship. Get them at your own pace, or faster. Your call.
• Item Bench Overhaul (by Belinn) – QoL mod, user preference. We do not recommend using items at all with the Overhaul. However, this mod is nice.
• More Daily Sparring Slots (by Belinn) – Helps speed up friendship gains; optional based on your desired pacing.
• Agatha's Cauldron Overhaul (by Belinn) – QoL, no downside.
• Pet the Cat(By Belinn) - QoL, assists with resources
• Pet the Dog (By Belinn) - QoL, assists with resources
• Buffed Collectable Resources (By Belinn) - QoL, assists with resources
  

Gameplay Progression Helpers (Optional)

These mods can optionally assist progression. Use at your own pace:

• Buffed Legendary Hero Ops (by Belinn) – Optional, user preference.
• Buffed Legendary Card Salvaging (by Belinn) – Optional, user preference.
• Spread the Secondary Stats (by Belinn) – Helps stat scaling if you want faster power curves.
• Legendary Cards in the Epic Pool (by Luuizao) – Optional. You may want to consider getting Legendary cards from the challenges, which can be done much quicker now, as the challenges have been optimized for the Overhaul. However, this is player choice and is a compatible option.
• Buffed Legendary Gamma Coils (by Belinn) – Optional, user preference.
• Better Blueprint Crafting (by Belinn) – Fully compatible. Improves crafting without affecting balance.
• Morbius' Laboratory Overhaul (by Belinn) – Experiments at the lab add less secondary stats but also reward combat bonuses instead of subtracting stats. Since secondary stats are important, you may want to consider using this mod, but it's completely user preference. Experiments cost intel instead of credits. Conversely you could enjoy a more paced progression experience and gain your secondary stats slower as you play. Your choice.
  

Cosmetic Credits:

In the main overhaul picture, two mods are used:

https://www.nexusmods.com/marvelsmidnightsuns/mods/3 - for Captain Marvel's hair
https://www.nexusmods.com/marvelsmidnightsuns/mods/6 - for Magik with no helmet
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Details can be found in our article: WHAT IS THE DREADHEART OVERHAUL EXPERIENCE

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4. BEHIND THE SCENES: DESIGN, VISION, AND REBUILDING THE GAME

Details can be found in our article: BEHIND THE SCENES DESIGN VISION AND REBUILDING THE GAME
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Details can be found in our article: INTRODUCTION

This overhaul is not meant for those who prefer the classic, unaltered game experience. It’s a complete reimagining with new mechanics and a fresh approach, designed for players who’ve experienced the original thoroughly and want something new (yet familiar), more challenging, deeply rooted in Marvel Comics lore. Every hero has been reshaped to reflect their comic origins rather than their movie versions,  you’ll notice the difference in every fight.

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6. Modding Your Cards

Details can be found in our article: MODDING YOUR CARDS

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Details can be found in our article: LORE CORNER DESIGNING WITH CANON AND PURPOSE

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8. Difficulty Paks Explained

Details can be found in our article: DIFFICULTY PAKS


Welcome to the Dreadheart Overhaul. Your heroes are ready.