Marvel‘s Wolverine may not have a release date or even a release window yet, but there are still plenty of juicy details floating around about the upcoming action-adventure game.
Developer Insomniac Games is known for Marvel’s Spider-Man, as well as its sequels, Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. These games are all fantastic, gripping, and faithful realizations of the Spider-Man fantasy, and show that the studio has plenty of experience when it comes to crafting thoughtful adaptations of comic book greats. This suggests that Wolverine is in good hands and could turn out to join our lists of the best single-player games and the best story games when it eventually releases.
Like Marvel’s Spider-Man, we’re expecting Marvel’s Wolverine to be an action-oriented, story-driven game with plenty of satisfying punch-ups and engrossing cutscenes. However, as creative director Brian Horton put it, Wolverine is set to have a more “mature tone.” Given that James ‘Logan’ Howlett, the titular Wolverine, is known for his gritty adventures and dark demeanor, it makes sense that Insomniac would be aiming in this direction. Read on for more details as well as an in-depth analysis of the teaser trailer.
Marvel’s Wolverine: cut to the chase
- What is it? A Wolverine game from the makers of Marvel’s Spider-Man
- When does it come out? TBC
- What can I play it on? PS5
- Who is making it? Insomniac Games
Marvel’s Wolverine platforms and release window
We don’t have a release date or even a release window for Marvel’s Wolverine so far. However, it’s clear that the game will be a timed PlayStation exclusive, in much the same vein as the Marvel’s Spider-Man games. While it’s been confirmed that Wolverine will be coming to the PS5, there’s yet no indication that there will be a release for PS4 – a prospect that seems increasingly unlikely as the years roll by.
It’s not impossible, however, that the game might eventually be released on PC; after all, Sony exclusives have a track record of eventually arriving on the platform. Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales are both available on PC, with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 likely to follow sometime this year. This suggests that Wolverine could wind up on PC sometime, too, but likely a while after its initial launch on PS5.
Marvel’s Wolverine trailer
Marvel’s Wolverine was announced during Sony’s PlayStation Showcase in September 2021, with a brief teaser trailer giving us our first look at Insomniac’s take on Logan.
The teaser trailer shows a ruined dive bar, with injured men lying on the floor, before cutting to a back view of a man in a cowboy hat and checkered shirt drinking – his knuckles and surrounding area covered in blood. In the background, we see one of the injured men getting up and pulling out a knife. Sensing the assailant, the man at the bar – our hero – clenches his fist, revealing the iconic metallic claws.
The trailer may not give us a look at when it comes to combat or at Logan himself, but it does set the tone of Marvel’s Wolverine. At first glance, it appears to be a more bloody, mature alternative to Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man series. You can check out the trailer below:
So far, the reveal trailer is the only preview we currently have access to. In the meantime, we recommend keeping your eyes on PlayStation’s official YouTube channel for any future updates.
Marvel’s Wolverine story and setting
Though we don’t yet have any concrete details as to what to expect from Marvel’s Wolverine, the reveal trailer does offer several Easter eggs which provide some interesting hints.
Firstly, the trailer’s setting seems to drop a big clue about when and where Marvel’s Wolverine is set. Logan is drinking in the Princess Bar, located in Madripoor (which you may recognize from Marvel TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), which we can see from the bar sign and the Madripoor tourist poster.
In Marvel Comics Presents Volume 1 #1 (1988), Wolverine visits the Princess Bar while hunting down a crime lord called Roche. After wiping the bar floor with Roche’s enforcers – who are trying to get protection money off the bar’s owner O’Donnell – Wolverine becomes a regular of the bar, under the name “Patch”, and even co-owned it for a time. The bar was essentially Logan’s home away from home during a period when the X-Men were inactive. Is Insomniac Games hinting that this is the time when Marvel’s Wolverine is set to take place? Will we see Logan taking on the criminal underworld? Both seem like distinct possibilities.
Another possible Easter egg is the Radio Lowtown 104.8 poster. Lowtown is a district in Madipoor, so Madipoor as a setting seems pretty likely. It’s also possible that the number 104.8 could be a reference to Marvel Earth-1048, the universe in which Marvel’s Spider-Man is set. This seems to suggest that Insomniac’s Spider-Man games and Wolverine take place in the same universe, meaning we could see potential crossovers in the future. This could be huge, allowing Insomniac to build an answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that isn’t bogged down in endless sequels and story bloat.
The radio station isn’t the only number that appears to reference a specific comic book. The license plate on the bar reads “HLK 181”, which seems to reference The Incredible Hulk #18 – in which Wolverine makes an appearance. Does that mean we could see Hulk in Marvel’s Wolverine? Again, we certainly hope so.
Marvel’s Wolverine news
A “full-size” game with a “mature tone”
According to Marvel’s Wolverine‘s creative director, Brian Horton, James ‘Logan’ Howlett’s standalone adventure on PS5 will be a full-size game with a “mature tone”. Horton confirmed this in response to a fan on Twitter asking whether Wolverine on PS5 will be “big or a [smaller] ‘Miles Morales‘ size game”.
Directed by Spider-Man: Miles Morales creative leads
In a PlayStation Blog post, Insomniac Games revealed that Marvel’s Wolverine is being directed by Brian Horton (creative director) and Cameron Christian (game director), who led the creative efforts on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Respecting the DNA with a fresh take
Insomniac Games has said that, while it intends to honor the “DNA” of what makes Wolverine popular, the studio will be putting a fresh spin on Logan.
“In the vein of our Spider-Man games, our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular, but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit,” Insomniac Games wrote in a PlayStation blog post. According to the developer, despite being in early development, Marvel’s Wolverine boasts an “emotional narrative and cutting-edge gameplay”. We hope the pun was intended.
Marvel’s Wolverine: what we want to see
Embracing Wolverine’s dark side
While Marvel’s Spider-Man, Miles Morales, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are critically acclaimed, they’re all pretty family-friendly affairs. This isn’t a criticism – after all, Spider-Man himself is, famously, a ‘friendly neighborhood Spidey’, known for his youthful antics and cheeky quips. A more light-hearted tone suits the character. However, Wolverine isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. His backstory and characterization are, comparatively speaking, pretty dark. Wolverine stories are full of angst, betrayal, and, more often than not, bloody violence.
We’re hoping that Insomniac explores this side of Logan in the Wolverine game, offering a more mature experience than Spider-Man did. We’re not asking for gratuitous violence, but we do think a different tone is necessary. If you want to dig into Wolverine’s backstory (depending on when this game is set), you can’t shy away from the darker moments of Logan’s past. Also, our hero would hardly be able to slash up enemies with his iconic claws without spilling at least a bit of blood. Without a bit of darkness, you’ll only scratch the surface of his story – pun intended.
The appearance of other Marvel heroes…
We don’t want them hogging the spotlight, but it would be nice to see Insomniac’s take on some other Marvel heroes popping up in Wolverine as side characters. The specifics would really depend on the story Insomniac wants to tell, but we’re hoping to see some of the X-Men make cameos, including Jean Grey, Professor X, or maybe even Rogue.
…and infamous villains
We currently don’t know who will serve as the main adversary in Marvel’s Wolverine, but there are plenty of infamous villains to choose from – and we imagine some could appear as smaller roles. We’re hoping we could see Logan battling Sabertooth, Lady Deathstrike, or even Silver Samurai. Or, perhaps, we’ll see him battling to bring down the Weapon X program that saw him subjected to the painful experiments that gave him his famous adamantium skeleton in the first place.
A Marvel Game Universe
Insomniac has done a great job of creating standalone products which have allowed us to meet all sorts of heroes and villains from across Marvel comics. However, now that the studio is stepping away from Spider-Man, it has a chance to flesh out a shared continuity that could offer many of the perks that the Marvel Cinematic Universe boasts, without the bloat. It’s a tempting idea, and we’d love to see what the skilled storytellers at Insomniac would come up with if they decided to go down this route.
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