A lot has come to light about Marvel’s Wolverine, from Logan’s mission to his various skills when fighting against the Reavers. We’ve seen Jean Grey enter the fray, providing assistance and causing plenty of her own damage, and some of the high-octane set pieces that Insomniac Games is known for. But almost everyone’s first reaction was to the visceral amount of gore.
Yes, the initial gameplay trailer highlighted the sheer brutality that Wolverine is capable of. But this was on another level, especially when it came to the realistic damage that Logan could take. Fortunately, ever since the “inception of the project,” Insomniac never wavered.
“We knew that the number one most important thing was to bring the Wolverine fantasy to life. Not just that, but make it the ultimate Wolverine fantasy,” said game director Mike Daly to IGN. “And when you look at the aspects of the character and all the stories he’s been through in his history, it was clear that violence was a key part of that. So that was never really in question, and it was kind of baked into how we made decisions from the very beginning. So we knew that we were going to have to bring that out in gameplay, put it in your hands as a player, make it a part of the story.
“But at the same time, Insomniac Games, we want to have a grounded world with believable things that happen. So we didn’t want to go over the top. We really wanted to hit the bullseye on what is the best representation of Wolverine, what delivers fan expectations, and what’s going to keep the claw combat action satisfying over the whole course of the playthrough.”
The result is an “unapologetically violent” experience. “We knew it would have to accomplish that in order to accomplish our ultimate mission. And because of that, the gameplay retains satisfaction.”
For those who feel that it’s too much – and undoubtedly to appear to a wider audience – there will be an option to turn off the gore. “Now all that being said, we know that it’s not for everyone. And because we knew this was going to be a big part of the game from the beginning, we also implemented an accessibility feature to turn off gore. It’s clearly integrated into the game in a lot of different ways, and so it’s a nuanced feature that is very selective about what we show, what we censor, turning off blood and things like that, just in order to make it more palatable to people who don’t really want to have that part of the experience.”
Launching on September 15th, Marvel’s Wolverine is certainly an interesting take on the classic anti-hero. Though it’s an all-new story, it actually picks up three years after Logan left his team, as he scours the globe, saving mutants from the Reavers.
Along the way, he fights alongside the likes of Jean Grey and, surprisingly, Sabretooth, his on-again, off-again nemesis from the comics. Rather than battling Wolverine, he’ll actually help out in a “competitive” manner, potentially stealing kills and bantering back and forth. Daly teased other allies to team with, but we’ll have to wait to find out.
