Why it’s worth exploring the Abbey in Marvel’s Midnight Suns

After you complete a mission in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, you’ll return to the Abbey, your base of operations. You may want to get right back into the action, but you’ll miss out on a lot of activities that will help you on the battlefield in the long run. Here’s a rundown of what you can get and do at the Abbey — and why it’s totally worth your time to do so.

What is the Abbey in Marvel’s Midnight Suns?

The Abbey is your team’s headquarters of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, located in a pocket dimension of Salem, Massachusetts. While there, you’ll be able to decide which missions to send squads on, make friends with the other heroes, use your spoils of war, and perform a variety of other tasks that’ll aid you on the battlefield. Outside of the Abbey, you’ll try to solve the mysteries surrounding yourself and your mother while also discovering the grounds’ numerous points of interest. As you uncover more secrets of the Abbey, you’ll face trials that’ll reward you with Words of Power, which you can use to unlock more areas of the grounds.

You’re free explore the grounds before and after completing a mission. If you don’t want to, you can go on a mission then go right to bed. It is entirely up to you how you want to spend your day, but if you choose to skip these activities, you’ll be missing out on a lot of benefits that’ll help you while you’re out on missions.

How do these things help you on Marvel’s Midnight Suns missions?

Meet Doctor Strange and Iron Man at the Forge to unlock Gamma Coils and Artifact Containers that you’ve received from missions. After opening a Gamma Coil, you’ll be able to choose one of three Hero Ability Cards. Researching Artifact Containers, meanwhile, will reveal magical objects that raise your research level. At higher research levels, you’ll be able to upgrade and build stations that provide a slew of benefits, such as increasing the number of cards you can choose from Gamma Coils and creating single-use combat item cards at the item bench.

Image: Firaxis Games/2K Games via Johnny Yu for Polygon

The Yard is where you upgrade your cards and spar with heroes. To upgrade a card, you’ll need two copies of the same card and some essence — a resource found throughout the Abbey and a reward from missions. Train with one hero per day to gain combat bonuses before your next mission. As you perform tasks at the Yard, you’ll increase your training level, which will boost the efficacy of environmental attacks. At the Forge, you can also research Yard upgrades. These upgrades will allow you to heal any injured allies, add new effects to cards, and gain combat bonuses such as the ability to shove your enemies during a move turn.

The Mirror Table and the C.E.N.T.R.A.L. workstation can be found in the War Room. Select your mission from the Mirror Table, which displays the mission’s requirements, rewards, and difficulty. Completing missions is how you progress through the game’s story and unlock new Marvel heroes to play as. The rewards will also be returned to the Abbey to be used to unlock cards and upgrade your research level. The C.E.N.T.R.A.L. workstation is where you’ll decrypt Intel Caches. With the gathered Intel, an in-game resource, you’ll send heroes on Hero Ops, missions give you new hero ability cards.

Image: Firaxis Games/2K Games via Johnny Yu for Polygon

Explore the Abbey grounds to uncover hidden mysteries and gain Words of Power. Crafting materials can be found throughout the grounds as well as Havens where you can socialize with the other heroes. There are also numerous Arcane Chests and collectibles that will provide you with various rewards such as cosmetics and combat bonuses.