Marvel's Wolverine will be Insomniac Games' first non-Spidey superhero game, and will need to be modified accordingly. One of the most interesting 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 be repeated Wolverinegameplay, as well as its narrative and tone.
For example, we know that Marvel's Wolverine will be significantly more violent and vicious than relatively all ages Spider-Man outputs of Insomniac. Wolverine is something of a vicious killer, after all, often straddling the fine line between hero and anti-hero. His tortured past, world-weariness, and often-enforcing role in the X-Men make Wolverine a very different kind of leader, one defined less by the whimsy of a swinging web and more by an unstoppable forward momentum. As such, it makes a lot of sense Marvel's Wolverine abandon the open world formula Marvel's Spider-Man games, despite how central the formula has been to Insomniac's superhero efforts up to this point.
Like Logan himself, Marvel's Wolverine's “Canadian wilderness” says a lot with a little
After the trailer for Marvel's Wolverine's State of Play, the direction the story will take is much clearer, though Logan's memory is anything but.
Open-World works for Spider-Man, but it's time for a break
Insomniac Spider-Man the games are great in most ways, though definitely far from perfect. I have regrets Spider-ManToothless storytelling, painfully easy stealth systems and autopilot combat, but the wider structure of the series' open world shouldn't escape criticism either. In principle, Marvel's Spider-Man the game suffers from many of the same problems as other AAA open world titles: its open world can work against the pacing of the story, favoring filler over high-quality, meaningful content. It can be hard to take a compelling story seriously when you have the option to spend a few game days meandering around, helping people and small businesses with relatively trivial matters.
At the same time, Insomniac couldn't really produce Marvel's Spider-Man no open world. There were great linear Spider-Man games in the past, but a modern, system-sold PlayStation exclusive Spider-Man the fantasy had to be definitive. Because so much of Spider-Man the image is associated not only with the excitement of swinging the web, but also with the New York roots of the character, Marvel's Spider-Man the 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, although the open world makes up for such shortcomings with other strengths. Marvel's Wolverineon the other hand, it doesn't have that compulsion towards the open world format, which is a good thing.
It's worth noting that Insomniac Games isn't an “open world studio” in the same way that Ubisoft and Rockstar are. The next largest IP company, Ratchet and Clankit features more linear adventures that could actually shape the structure Wolverinein a certain sense.
Marvel's Wolverine does a great job of getting rid of the open world
In an interview with IGN Marvel's Wolverine Director Mike Daly described the game as having a “comic-book-paced” style of gameplay, and that it was rooted in a more linear, mission-based format: “I can say that we didn't set out to make an open-world game or a sandbox game. What we really wanted was a high-octane, high-intrigue, linear single-player adventure, and the missions reflect that in their structure.”
With Wolverine, this works on multiple levels, something Daly and his team seem well aware of. Peter and Miles are young and optimistic despite their trauma and serve their communities as “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Men”. Of course, these characters often leave New York, sometimes to other countries, other times to other planets, galaxies and dimensions. But they generally stick to their roots in New York, and that's where they tend to return. Wolverine has a less consistent status quo.
Although we don't know how much yet Marvel's Wolverine deviates 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 major 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 was all over the world, fighting in several different wars and taking part in a number of historical events. They also usually suffer from memory loss and identity confusion. All of this means that Wolverine isn't tied to a single location, so he doesn't fit a traditional open-world structure.
Marvel's Wolverine Director Mike Daly described the game as having a “comic book-style pace” and rooted in a more linear, mission-based format.
It's also important to remember Wolverine's abilities. He has a healing factor, preternaturally sharp senses, and iconic, adamantium claws, but that's pretty much it. He's definitely stronger and more capable than the average human, but not to an extreme degree – Wolverine's ability comes from his toughness and determination rather than a crude scaling of strength. For Marvel's Wolverine to stay true to his character, he can't give him, say, the ability to jump 50 feet in a single jump like Spider-Man or the Hulk. This severely limits his traversal options, which in turn makes him less mechanically interesting as an open-world avatar.
Finally we have Marvel's Wolverine a story that is ostensibly about investigating the abductions of various mutant children. It's already been established that it will be a globe-trotting adventure that lends itself to this kind of mutant rescue plot. Marvel's Mutants are fundamentally different from other Marvel groups, as they are united by their strange biological differences rather than geography. In other words, stories about recruiting or rescuing mutants make good use of having many different locations, leading to the expansive nature of mutations in this fictional world.
It will also be quite interesting to see how Insomniac adopts a more linear mission-based structure after so long. Even Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart has a kind Mass Effecta similar structure where you can revisit different planets and explore wide-open areas, making it feel like you're in a semi-open world at times. Given the ruthless and energetic nature of Wolverine's character and the high-stakes plot of mutants from different corners of the world, this move towards a more deliberate, carefully crafted structure is not only appropriate, but exciting from the player's perspective. There's been no shortage of open-world extravaganzas in recent years; Marvel's Wolverine it may actually stand out more by being a carefully controlled action-narrative experience.
- Released
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September 15, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and gore, drug references, intense violence, partial nudity, strong language, in-game purchases
- Publishers
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Sony Interactive Entertainment
