Edtech firm Kuato Studios has given its mobile title Marvel Hero Tales an overhaul.

The company has made various changes to the education-based game as it attempts to combat issues with child literacy.

"Literacy and storytelling skills are really important for children's development from learning languages and fuelling their imagination to developing their writing skills," said Kuato Studios managing director Mark Horneff.

"However, boosting literacy levels amongst children isn't as simple as putting them in front of a book.

Marvel Hero Tales is aimed at five-to-11-year-olds and has racked up 800,000 downloads since its launch in 2019.

It tasks players with forming sentences through unique word cards, meaning they get to construct their own story.

The developer has given the game new animations and environments and added a mission map designed to make navigation easier.

I need a hero

"Growing up with dyslexia, I always found reading incredibly difficult, and so it was something I just wasn't interested in until I discovered my passion for reading through comics," said Horneff.

"We believe the best way to engage and motivate children to learn is to choose a medium they are familiar with.

"The Marvel Hero Tales is a creative vehicle to help children create stories, experiment with words and sentences to boost literacy using characters they know and love."

Kuato recently added a new free Aladdin book to Disney Story Realms in an effort to ensure all children have access to books regardless of social status.