A Marvel's Midnight Suns version was created in 24 hours for a terminally ill gamer

From time to time video games leave us with beautiful stories, like the one starring Luke Wiltshire and Firaxis, creators of Marvel's Midnight Suns. Luke was a boy who at the age of 14 was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, and after 9 years of struggle, he resigned himself, knowing there was no hope, to finally enter the terminal phase. Luke was not only a fan of video games, but also of Marvel, and his last wish was to play the Firaxis title before he died, something the studio could fulfill in record time.

An astonishing last will

Knowing he was about to die, Luke let his family know what his three wishes would be before he left: a puppy - which his mother now cares for - a hog roast... and to play Midnight Suns. Unfortunately, time was against him when it came to fulfilling this last wish.

It wasn't easy to get Luke to the studio's headquarters, as the boy, a resident of Great Britain, would have to move to Baltimore, Maryland. But his sister, Claire, asked for help from an association by the name of Solving Kid's Cancer, whose CEO did the rest, posting the request on Linkedin. "People reshared it, shared it in their networks, I started getting messages, I got a message from Disney and different gaming companies," says Gail Jackson, head of the association. " After a couple of weeks, an email dropped into my inbox from some company called 2K, which I had never heard of. They had seen my post and wanted to know how they could help."

After several phone calls, 2K began to pull strings, but there was one more problem to solve: there was no playable build of Midnight Suns at the moment, and the clock was ticking for Luke. It was then that Firaxis was able to pull off quite a feat: create a playable version in just 24 hours. It would be Asim Tanvir, Social Media Manager, who would bring a tablet with the build installed so that Luke could enjoy it, and so he could appear in the credits as Game Design Consultant.

One more detail: if you play Marvel's Midnight Suns, maybe you can find an easter egg with Luke as the main character, because on a tree you can read, carved, "Luke was here". Knowing this, Luke declared that he would be "forever immortalized in Marvel." Finally, Luke passed away about a year ago, on November 12, 2021.

Marvel's Midnight Suns is now available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC.