Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: Map size and 5 other details revealed

There are multiple skill trees

Videogame players are no strangers to skill trees. They allow you to power up your character and unlock new gameplay mechanics as you progress through the game’s story. Whether you find them tedious or not, it’s impossible to deny they are a staple of action-adventure games. Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4 and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales both had skill trees, and they are returning once again for the latest entry in Insomniac’s Spider-Man saga. However, Ryan Smith revealed there’s a twist this time around:

"“We want to make sure that when you do switch between the heroes, there’s a sense of familiarity. They’re both Spider Man, you know how to play the game, but you still have that flexibility in that customisation for upgrading each of them with their skill trees.”"

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will feature not only one or two, but three different skill trees: one for Peter Parker, one for Miles Morales, and one shared between them. Each one will have its own unique set of powers and mechanics.

"“We saw in the gameplay reveal where Miles has the evolved Venom powers, whereas Peter has the Symbiote abilities. And so those, those change a bit of how you play, and you can upgrade those in their respective trees as well.”"

While this gives us a better idea of the game’s scope, it also raises two big questions: What exactly can you unlock in the skill tree shared between both Spider-Men? And if Peter’s skill tree is based around his symbiote powers, what will happen once he frees himself from the black suit and Venom is created? Will Peter lose all of his new symbiote abilities? Unfortunately, Bryan Intihar and Ryan Smith didn’t answer either of these questions, but that can’t stop us from speculating.

Spider claws

Let’s start by analyzing exactly what powers will Peter be able to unlock in his skill tree once he loses the symbiote. Back in 2018, PlayStation released the reveal trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and it may very well contain the answer to our question:

Around the 30-second mark (or in the video’s thumbnail) we can see Peter Parker’s Spider-Man using a new gadget that wasn’t in previous games: a set of four spider claws. Perhaps after Peter discovers how harmful the symbiote is and gets rid of it, he creates the spider claws to substitute some of the powers he lost with it. This could allow for an even greater skill tree that has a wider set of gameplay mechanics to unlock. Not only it would make narrative sense, but it would allow for a greater gameplay variety.

As for Peter’s and Miles’ shared skill tree, perhaps it indicates they will be able to fight together at some point in the game instead of having completely separate missions all the time. In the gameplay reveal we saw both Spider-Men chase the Lizard and Kraven through the streets and rivers of New York. However, the game is single-player only, meaning an I.A. takes over the Spider-Man you are not controlling. This could mean Miles and Peter can help each other in combat, similar to the fighting system in Batman: Arkham Knight. That would explain why there’s a need for a third skill tree that’s shared between the game’s two protagonists.