Marvel's Wolverine made the right call, ignoring Spider-Man's best feature

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Marvel's Wolverine will be Insomniac Games' first non-Spidey superhero game, and will have to be tweaked accordingly. One of the most intriguing aspects of the upcoming game is how different Wolverine, AKA Logan, AKA John Hewlett is from the likes of Peter Parker and Miles Morales. These differences will resonate WolverineIts gameplay as much as its story and tone.

For example, we know Marvel's Wolverine Will be significantly more violent and rude-spirited than all age groups in comparison Spider Man Outing by Insomniac. Wolverine is an evil killer, after all, who often walks a thin line between hero and anti-hero. His tortured past, world-weary, and often enforcer-style role in X-Men make Wolverine a very different kind of lead, defined by web-swinging whimsy and unpredictable forward motion. As such, it makes a lot of sense Marvel's Wolverine To ditch the open world formula Marvel's Spider-Man games, despite how central this formula has been to Insomniac's superhero endeavors up to this point.

The open-world works for Spider-Man, but it's time for a break

The insomniac Spider Man The games are great in many respects, although they are certainly far from perfect. I have a displeasure Spider Man's toothless story, painfully easy stealth systems, and auto-pilot combat, but the series' sprawling open-world structure shouldn't entirely escape criticism either. Basically, the Marvel's Spider-Man The games suffer from many of the same problems as other AAA open-world titles: its open world can grind against story pacing and prioritize filler over high-quality, meaningful content. It can be hard to take a tense story seriously when you're free to spend most of your in-game days at leisure, helping people and small businesses with relatively trivial matters.

At the same time, Insomniac couldn't really make it Marvel's Spider-Man Without an open world. There has been a great linear Spider Man Games from the past, but a modern, exclusive version of the system-selling PlayStation Spider Man Imagination must be definite. Since so much Spider Man The image ties not only to the excitement of web swinging, but also to the character's New York roots. Marvel's Spider-Man Games never had a chance to be anything other than open world. Again, this can make the gameplay and storytelling feel less deliberate and less well-paced, though the open-world balances out such weaknesses with other strengths. Marvel's WolverineOn the other hand, an open-world format has no such constraints, which is a good thing.

Marvel's Wolverine would be greatly served by ditching the open world

In an interview with IGN Marvel's Wolverine Director Mike Daly described the game as having “comic book-style pacing” and a more linear, mission-based format: “I'd say we didn't set out to make an open-world game or a sandbox game. What we really wanted was a high-octane, high-plot, linear single-player adventure, and the missions reflected that in their structure.”

This works on many levels for Wolverine, which Daly and his team know all too well. Peter and Miles are young and optimistic despite their trauma, and serve their community as “friendly neighborhood Spider-Men”. Of course, these characters will often leave New York, sometimes for other countries, other times for other planets, galaxies and dimensions. But they usually stick to their NYC roots, and that's where they come back. Wolverine has a less stable position.

While we don't know how much Marvel's Wolverine Deviating from mainstream Marvel canon (the game exists in a world without the X-Men, for example), we can assume that Wolverine shares at least one key trait with his Earth-616 counterpart: extreme old age. Wolverine was born John Hewlett in the 1830s, his healing factor keeps him alive and reduces the outward signs of aging. As such, he has been all over the world, fought in many different wars, and participated in many historical events. He usually suffers from memory loss and identity confusion. All of this is to say that Wolverine doesn't belong to a single location, making him a poor fit for a traditional open-world structure.

It's also important to remember Wolverine's powers. He has a healing factor, preternaturally sharp senses, and iconic, adamantium claws, but that's essentially it. He's certainly stronger and more capable than the average human, but not to an extreme degree – Wolverine's abilities come from his determination and determination rather than raw power scaling. for the Marvel's Wolverine To stay true to the character, it doesn't give him the ability to jump 50 feet in a single bound like Spider-Man or the Hulk. This severely limits his traversal options, making him less mechanically interesting as an open-world avatar.

Finally, we have Marvel's Wolverine The story, which is apparently about investigating the kidnapping of various mutant children. It's already been established that this will be a globe-trotting adventure, which is perfect for this kind of mutant-rescue plot. Marvel's mutants are fundamentally different from other Marvel groups, as they are connected by their unique biological differences rather than geography. In other words, stories about recruiting or rescuing mutants are well-served by having so many different locations in this fictional world to drive home the pervasive nature of mutations.

It would also be very interesting to see Insomniac adopt a more linear, mission-based structure after a long time. too Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is one of a kind Mass Effect-like structure, where you can revisit different planets and explore wide-open areas, making it feel semi-open-world at times. Given the fierce and driven nature of the Wolverine character, and the high-stakes storyline about mutants from different corners of the world, this pivot toward a more deliberate, carefully crafted structure is not only appropriate, but also exciting from a player's perspective. There's been no shortage of open-world extravaganzas in recent years; Marvel's Wolverine Having a carefully controlled action-telling experience can actually stand out more.

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systems

issued

September 15, 2026

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Blood and gore, drug references, intense violence, partial nudity, strong language, in-game purchases

publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment