When can I play Marvel Rivals Season 5 and what's new?

Marvel Rivals Season 5 is just around the corner and here's everything you need to know about when you can play it and what's new.

Servers went down for maintenance at 9am GMT (4am ET / 1am PT) and they are expected to be down for two-to-three hours. That means players will be able to play Marvel Rivals Season 5 at, or shortly after, 11am GMT (6am ET / 3am PT).

Developer NetEase Games has confirmed what additions and changes will be arriving in Season 5.

The story for Season 5 is: "Before the Timestream Entanglement tore their world apart, Gambit and Rogue were ready to say 'I do' on Krakoa.

"But destiny intervened.

"Now, Gambit sets out on a daring cosmic heist to steal the universe's rarest ring - and win back the moment time itself stole from them. Across galaxies ruled by the Elders of the Universe, their bond will be tested by lies, power, and impossible choices.

"Can love survive when even time turns against it?"

Gambit will be a new playable hero. There's also a new non-combat map called Times Square where players can interact, hang out and enjoy various activities.

There are two new stories - a new serial called 'Love Is a Battlefield' and new gambit lore 'Deal of a Lifetime'.

There are new systems where the home background can now be set to randomly rotate, there are new interactive emotes and cross-progression account linking is now fully available.

On Xbox, Discord linking and cross-platform chat has been added and across Xbox and PC, there's the option to hide unlinked Discord friends in-game.

There are loads of new store items too and a Battle Pass with 10 new sets of heroic costumes.

The season event, Elders' Chessboard, lets players complete missions to earn a free Iron Spider Spider-Man costume.

There have been bug fixes too.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review in progress - the CoD that we need
• Assetto Corsa Rally early access first impressions - I'm useless but I'm addicted

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.