We learned how DC’s characters would be affected by the in-game gear.

NetherRealm’s game will have our fighters level up over gameplay, which makes sense. However, their skills will also improve with the loot drop system. Their four statistics, strength, defense, health, and ability all could see improvements. The last one is about special attacks, such as fireballs.

All characters start out with five default gear pieces, covering the head, torso, arms, legs, and they also have one character-specific item, too. The new gear could improve just one stat, improve all four stats, or even improve one while decrease another (for example, get more strength but have your health bar shrunk). Rare gear could also give some extras, such as more in-game currency or special visual effects during special attacks. If you collect all five pieces of a gear set, you will get more bonuses. For example, Batman‘s batarangs could receive a bigger range.

The developers want to encourage players to find their unique playstyle while also reward them for playing more. The backside to this decision could be that veteran players with the rarest gear on high levels could give no chance to newcomers, plus higher-level play might see a lack of balance as well. Therefore, NetherRealm allows us to disable the stat boosts, which would make the new gear no more than cosmetical changes. If we keep this setting enabled, there will be another balancing option: if a lower level fighter gets matched up against a higher level one, the former player’s character (not the gear!) would see the base stats balanced to the other player’s. It can also be turned off. Similar to Overwatch, there will also be loot boxes called Mother Boxes. You can only buy these with in-game currency. No real money spending here!

Injustice 2, which will launch on May 16 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, will also include Doctor Fate, who received a gameplay trailer. Prepare for some sorcery!