Fans of New York’s Friendly Neighborhood have this month — yesterday to be more specific — to remember when Insomniac Games released the much anticipated game Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. It is the sequel to both the 2018 PlayStation 4 exclusive and the 2020 spin-off game Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, with the latter being a launch title for the PlayStation 5. As Insomniac helped mark the anniversary on Sunday, let’s take a quick look back at how Spider-Man 2 got to its anticipated launch, and how the game has settled with fans ever since.
A Dual Reveal
The reveal for the Insomniac Spider-Man sequel went all the way back as early as September 2021, around the time the original game in the series turned three years old. The reveal trailer opened up with both the Peter Parker Spider-Man and the new Miles Morales Spider-Man fight new adversaries on the NY streets, while the voice of a classic Spider-Man villain narrates. At the end, both Spider-Men turn to face an obscured alley to find yet another villain known as Venom, soon make a bit of a jump scare to surprise the viewers. Fans had to wait until 2023 to await the new sequel.
Yet, this was not the only comic book superhero video game that Insomniac was working on. On the same day as Spider-Man 2 was announced, The devs released another reveal trailer — this time for another Marvel hero who wears yellow spandex and armed with adamantium claws. Alright, he doesn’t actually wear the iconic suit in his reveal trailer, but while getting a drink at a bar, Wolverine does draw out his signature claws. His reveal trailer is shorter than Spider-Man’s, yet with no confirmed release year. Wolverine’s game is a separate story for another time as his anticipated game’s release still to this day, remains TBD.
Fast Forward To 2023
Right as the months got closer to its eventual 2023 release, Insomniac also uploaded the gameplay reveal for Spider-Man 2 on May 24. This one opened with a cinematic involving the Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter besting a man who attempted to hunt him down. Then cut to NYC where the Peter Parker Spider-Man demonstrated the game’s combat, utilizing the symbiote suit while doing so. Players also witnessed how they can switch between Peter and Miles in the game with a press of a button. Among new gameplay mechanics showcased was the ability to glide in the air in between the New York skyscrapers. The gameplay reveal ended with the Fall 2023 release window. By then, fans only had a matter of months to go.
Stepping forward to the Summer Game Fest in June 2023, fans finally were given Spider-Man 2’s release date: October 20, 2023 as reported by IGN. Insomniac and Sony offered two early suits that came with some color variants for pre-orders, as well as a Digital Deluxe Edition that included the pre-order content and 10 additional suits split evenly between Peter and Miles. The game’s Collector’s Edition offered not only the Digital Deluxe Edition content, but also a special Steelbook case and a 19-inch statue of Venom engaged in battle with both Spider-Men. After SGF wrapped up, the sequel was only a few months away…
The Launch Day Verdict
October 20 finally arrived and Spidey fans webbed up the PS5 exclusive. In our review, Spider-Man 2 was deemed to have a decent story overall (even if a bit shorter in length than expected) and boasting “a quality webslinging experience that everyone should have…” Read our full review here for further details.
Above all, Spider-Man 2 has for the past year, gained universal acclaim. The sequel nabbed a score of 90 on Metacritic and an 8.8 overall rating from fans. All the praise did make it look like not only did the game have a potentially bright future ahead, but that a universally acclaimed Insomniac Spider-Man trilogy was two-thirds of the way in the making. But what developments has happened in the past year after launch… and does the game still hold up?
Post-launch Developments
The next several months following the sequel’s release saw various game updates and new content, such as new suits designed by celebrities as well as a New Game+ mode. Granted, such updates happened in 2024, while a major disturbance hit Insomniac during Holiday 2023. Said disturbance was a big ransomware attack that Insomniac fell victim to.
Hackers stole nearly 2TB of data from Insomniac back in December 2023, which contained not only sensitive employee info, but also plans for upcoming games and game content stretching as far into the future as the mid-2030s. Even plans for the in-development Wolverine game was part of the hack/leaks (via GamesIndustry.biz). Things regarding Insomniac and Spider-Man 2 would slowly start getting worse from here.
It’s been speculated on whether or not the hack/leaks may have played a part when regarding plans for highly-demanded DLC. This Reddit thread holds such discussions that the leaks might have changed Insomniac’s plans for Spider-Man 2 including DLC. Layoffs have also been mentioned taking place following the cyberattack.
The Near Future
Even as time has gotten to recently with the marking of the one-year anniversary, Spider-Man 2’s future seems to be uncertain to a degree. Insomniac recently announced that Spider-Man 2 is getting ported to PC via Steam, come January 30, 2025. This PC port follows the Sony trend of releasing PC ports of their franchises 1-2 years after exclusivity on PS4/PS5, with God of War: Ragnarok being an example. While this news should’ve brought more excitement for PC players, it also came with further confirmation that no story DLC is planned to happen for Spider-Man 2 (reported by Destructoid). Unless a new announcement is made to change the DLC situation, it seems that fans may have a future Spider-Man 3 to wait for in order for Peter and Mile’s webslinging story to continue.
Final Thoughts
As the one-year anniversary of Spider-Man 2 draws soon to a close, we come back to the question regarding if Spider-Man 2 still holds up as it did at launch. Looking at a r/PS5 Reddit thread by user jherin1, fans still hold solid regard for the game. The story though, sticks out as the biggest point of contention. While the game is still generally received as an improvement to the 2018 predecessor in almost every way, the story may be more flawed than previously thought. Among the biggest gripes over Spider-Man 2’s story is that it was rushed and lacking in some areas, with some fans going as far to state preference to Spider-Man (2018)’s story in comparison. In short, fans generally believe that the sequel is an improvement over its predecessor in all but story.
Currently moving forward to Halloween and the upcoming Holiday season, it may some time to see when a Spider-Man 3 could release. Same can be said about when will Marvel’s Wolverine get its gameplay and release date revealed. Though considering the five-year gap between the first and second Insomniac Spider-Man game in the main series, it could potentially be around the same time gap before the next main installment gets released.
What do you think? One year later does Spider-Man 2 still deserve the praise it received? Let us know below!