Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had a fantastic gameplay reveal with lots of details to unpack, so it’s time we use our spidey senses to detect every secret hidden in it.
Insomniac Games certainly made an impression thanks to 12 minutes of footage from their latest Spider-Man game being released. New gameplay mechanics were shown, and iconic characters from Marvel comics made an appearance. Best of all, we finally got our first look at Peter Parker wearing the symbiote suit, and it’s just as terrifying as you would imagine.
There are many interesting things to highlight from the gameplay video and the blog post on PlayStation’s official site, so it’s time we break it all down to get a better idea of what players can expect from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
In case you missed it, here’s the gameplay video that was shown at PlayStation’s Showcase:
Are you ready? Great, because we’ll kick things off by talking about Spider-Man’s newest and greatest threat yet.
Kraven’s plan and inmates escaping the Raft
The showcase started with a clip of Kraven killing another hunter, and claiming he can’t find a worthy opponent that’s able to equal his abilities. One of Kraven’s henchmen tells him that perhaps is time to look for a new playground, and proceeds to show him a tablet displaying a map of New York with the location of many super-powered individuals marked.
On the screen, there is a text that reads “Raft Inmates Database”, followed by a list of characters that fans of Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4 are sure to recognize:
- Vulture
- Rhino
- Doctor Octopus
- Electro
- Kingpin
Interestingly enough, there’s no mention of either Scorpion or Martin Li (aka Mr. Negative). They were members of the Sinister Six in the original game, and they were both presumed to be arrested after Spider-Man defeated them in battle. Hoverer, players never got to see them being cuffed. The fact that they aren’t on the list could also add to the idea they were never imprisoned in the first place, or that they served time but managed to escape. Another detail that supports this theory is the location of Tombstone and Shocker on New York’s map.
Tombstone and Shocker were villains that also made an appearance in Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4 with smaller roles to play. Ultimately they were both defeated by the wall-crawler himself and players saw officers arrest them in the final scene of their respective missions. However, the map shows Tombstone’s location being on Manhattan Island and Shocker’s being somewhere over on Queens, implying they are both free again. And before you say that those locations are random and don’t matter at all, just take a look at where the map positions the Kingpin. His image appears exactly over the Raft, and his name is under the list of the Raft’s inmates. He is really still imprisoned, while Tombstone and Shocker aren’t.
This means there are some clear security issues in the Raft and inmates are managing to escape. Let’s not forget Martin Li took control of the Raft’s guards with his powers and freed the Shocker in Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to think he used his powers again to free himself and escaped alongside Shocker, Tombstone, and Scorpion. Either that or the prison is still rebuilding its security systems after Doctor Octopus attacked it and inmates are managing to exploit this to find a way out from it. Whatever the case, it’s clear Spidey’s efforts to keep the city safe were in vain, as some prisoners are already free again.
New explorable areas confirmed
The map of New York we see in Kraven’s tablet also confirms that players will be able to explore two new boroughs of New York, which are Brooklyn and Queens. This is further supported by the fact we see Spider-Man fight outside Dr. Connor’s house, and Insomniac Games themselves confirmed this scene takes place in the East River of Queens. It remains to be seen if Staten Island or The Bronx will also make an appearance, but it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to assume that could be the case.
Yuri Watanabe’s death?
We know Kraven is looking to hunt super-powered individuals in New York and both Spider-Men are trying to stop him because that’s what heroes do. However, it appears Kraven’s downfall is personal for Peter, as we repeatedly hear him say things like “He’s gonna wish he never came to New York!” and “I’ve warned you about going after Connors. Now this is on you!”. Peter is angry, and not just because he’s wearing the symbiote.
In fact, he could have started using the black suit because he was already defeated by Kraven and failed to stop his hunt without it. That’s backed up by the fact we hear one of Kraven’s henchmen say “Your new strength will not save you, Spider”, meaning they already fought Spidey without the symbiote, and now they’re doing it again after Peter got his hands on it. So what exactly happened the first time they went face to face? What could’ve been so tragic it led to Peter wanting to take Kraven down once and for all and even going as far as using the symbiote to do so?
Well, the obvious answer would be to assume Kraven killed someone important in Peter’s life, so let’s check on all the different options of who it could have been. Miles Morales is safe, as we see him fight alongside Peter in the gameplay reveal. Harry Osborn is also alive, even if he’s still sick (something that was revealed at the end of the first game). This can be confirmed thanks to one of Peter’s dialogs that says “Can’t lose Connors. Harry’s dying and he’s the only one who could help”. Aunt May unfortunately died in Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4, and that only leaves us with two options: Mary Jane, and Yuri Watanabe (Spidey’s cop friend from the first game).
In the map of super-powered individuals that Kraven sees as potential victims, we see an image of Wraith and, wouldn’t you know it, that’s the anti-hero persona that Yuri adopts after deciding that being a police officer isn’t enough to save the city. She was a big part of Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4, and players spent a lot of time watching her relationship with Peter slowly evolve over time. Killing her would not only be a devastating blow for Peter forcing him to seek revenge, but it will also mean he would have the perfect reason to wear the symbiote.
Think about it. If Peter already lost someone he loves because he failed to stop Kraven, he wouldn’t want to risk that happening again. Kraven’s after Doctor Connors and without him Harry could meet his end. So in order to prevent another loved one from dying, Peter could make the decision to use the symbiote and its powers to stop Kraven’s hunt once and for all.
Insomniac already confirmed Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would be darker than previous entries in the saga, and what better way to prove it than by killing one of Peter’s closest friends? This theory could also apply to Black Cat as well, as we also see she is one of Kraven’s potential targets. Whatever the case may be, it’s clear Kraven’s hunt will have big and personal implications for the wall crawler’s life.
New combat options
The button to select gadgets was moved from L1 to R1, and now R1 will be used to select a special attack that goes according to which Spider-Men you are using. If you are playing as Peter, all of his R1 attacks involve the symbiote suit in one way or another. In the gameplay reveal we got to see 3 out of those 4 moves, and it seems they will need to be recharged over time.
Miles Morales, on the contrary, will make use of his electric powers when you press the R1 button. This difference in combat styles between the two playable characters will be exciting and something players will definitely look forward to. It seems Peter’s combat will be more destructive thanks to the symbiote, while Miles’ will expand on what was introduced in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Unique traversal methods
Finally, the gameplay reveal gave us a look at a brand new traversal method: Gliding. Just like we previously speculated in our post about how could Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 improve over the original game, the web slingers will make use of their underarm webbing in order to glide across the city at great speeds. This is thanks to the PS5’s power, and its ability to load the city faster than the PS4.
As we also speculated, Spider-Men can perch their web on moving vehicles and use this impulse to slide through any surface. This is confirmed when Miles slides through the water of one of New York’s rivers by perching his web to a boat. While it remains to be seen if that gameplay mechanic will also be available in the open world and not only in a quick-time event, it’s nice to know this feature will be present in some capacity in the game.
Overall the gameplay video for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PS5 had many surprises and exciting reveals. With the game set to release in Fall 2023, it won’t be long before Insomniac and PlayStation have to give us an official release date. Meanwhile, stick around Bam Smack Pow for everything Spider-Man related, and let us know in the comments if you enjoyed the gameplay reveal as much as we did.