Marvel Snap has proved extremely popular since its launch in October last year, but one promised feature has remained illusive.

The mobile card battle game (for iOS and Android) allows you to take on random players online, it matches using decks made up of Marvel super heroes and villains. However, you cannot currently battle a friend.

This PVP feature has been mentioned in the past, with developer Second Dinner announcing plans to introduce it before the end 2022. But, it is understood that its implementation has been tricky and Marvel Snap fans have had to wait a bit longer.

Thankfully, according to a recent blog post, player patience won’t be tested for too long - it could arrive on 31 January as part of a new patch.

Second Dinner hopes to include it with a series drop of new cards, also planned for that day: “The patch with this series drop (and the ability to battle friends!) is currently planned for 31 January,” it wrote. It also suggests a little caution, though, “If we run into last minute issues we may choose to delay for a little longer to make sure things work correctly.”

Marvel Snap is an excellent free-to-play game whereby you use a deck of 12 cards featuring heroes and villains to battle it out for rewards. Each card has its own abilities, cost to play, and power level that adds up at the end of a game. You must play cards across three zones with the aim of scoring highest in at least two of them by the end of the sixth round. The zones themselves also have abilities that affect the scores or your hand of cards.

It’s actually relatively simple to understand, but the strategies for card play are more intricate than initially thought.

In addition, you earn new cards and variants on existing ones as you play, so can swap around your deck to best suit your own tactics.

There are payment options to build your card collection more quickly, plus seasons that offer additional cards and rewards to paying players. However, we’ve found that the game is just as enjoyable and addictive without having to spend a single penny.

As well as iOS and Android, it is available in early access for Windows 11 devices.