If there’s one thing that Insomniac Games has reinforced with Marvel’s Wolverine, it’s that this is a story about James “Logan” Howlett. It’s why there aren’t any other playable characters, even if controlling Jean Grey and Sabertooth would be fun, and why the X-Men don’t exist (which also reinforces how dangerous life is for mutants).
Of course, the biggest difference from Marvel’s Spider-Man is that this isn’t an open world. Logan may explore more open locations for secrets while conversing with other characters between missions, but the focus is on a linear action-adventure.
When asked why the team opted for this approach, senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed explained to GamesRadar, “We’re telling a Logan story. He’s so different from Spider-Man in so many different ways. One of the ways is that Logan is not somebody who stays in the same spot for a while. He’s not somebody who has a friendly neighborhood. He’s not settling down in one location. He’s a loner guy in a lot of ways.”
This approach also affected other aspects that the team is well-versed in, including traversal. As head of technology Mike Fitzgerald noted, “It took us a while to say ‘traversal is not an important part of Wolverine as a character. As we talk about those key things, it’s about his claws, his healing factor, his rage and anger, his past and dealing with that. These are some of the core things. The game doesn’t have to be everything and have everything. At the same time, you don’t want to be frustrating or slow.”
Which makes sense because anyone who’s seen the movies or read the comics can attest to Logan’s speed, especially when pouncing on enemies. However, it’s interesting to note all the other ways that they captured his traits.
“Some of it’s subtle, though, in fun ways,” Fitzgerald said. “Like, he can climb trees. I mean, he’s a wolverine with claws that you go up. But if you walk out on the branch, the branch bends, because he’s a very heavy guy. That’s a whole system we had to build […] But Spider-Man walks out on stuff and doesn’t affect those things at all. He’s very light and nimble. As soon as we put it so the branch was bending under the weight and the leaves were all moving the right way, it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, this feels like this character and not that other character,’ even because of that subtle bit.”
Marvel’s Wolverine launches on September 15th for PS5, and thus far, it’s looked mighty impressive. The fact that it’s running at 60 FPS on a base PS5 at launch, that too with ray tracing, in Performance Mode is a big reason, but Insomniac has also put in the work to improve its foliage tech. Head here for all the details (and why Logan’s suit magically regenerates alongside his wounds).
