About an hour ago, the embargo lifted for select press outlets to share hands-on preview impressions of Marvel’s Wolverine. I’ve reviewed the coverage and have put together a preview of their previews, but, for your reading pleasure, completely spoiler-free.
I absolutely loved Insomniac’s Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Spider-Man 2 (and I’m not the only one!). Spider-Man 2 was my personal Game of the Year for 2023, and I even Platinum-ed it, something I almost never do (I am not a patient person). So, you can imagine my excitement for Insomniac to take on the reins one of my favorite other Marvel heroes — the gruff, the damaged, the ever-cool Wolverine.
Wolverine Preview Highlights, No Spoilers
I reviewed six hands-on preview coverages that have just released, and here’s my spoiler-free recap.
Character Design and Acting
I’m loving Liam McIntyre’s performance as Logan/Wolverine. There is both strength and pain in his voice. That careful double edge can be heard in this trailer at 0:35 as he says, “I’d like to say I’m not a violent man…” I’m hopeful for what the Australian can do; after all, Hugh Jackman is also from down under and absolutely nailed that role.
Physically, the character certainly looks like Wolverine. While he’s a heftier protagonist than the lithe Spider-Man, he’s still not super bulked out. This is a Wolverine still fairly early in his journey, and perhaps a bit run-down. I don’t love Logan’s face design — he reminds me more of Beast (just not blue) and they may have leaned a little too hard into the “see, he looks kind of like a wolf with his hair, do you get it?” — but time will tell. He’s wearing a mask for a lot of it anyway, so maybe it won’t be a big problem. The point is that he’s a good(ish?) guy with massive claws.
Combat
Wolverine is going for the kill! I was surprised at how much gorier Insomniac’s Wolverine is than Insomniac’s Spider-Man, even though it makes sense. Peter Parker is famously “your friendly neighborhood” Spider-Man, and he usually just knocks bad guys out. Meanwhile, Wolverine has, you know, giant knives on his hands. Blood spurts out from Wolverine’s victims (which the game is clear to tell you not to feel too bad about killing because they’re bio-terrorists); they are definitely super dead. The developers shared that they really leaned in to the action and story to make sure this felt like a unique take, even though it’s not unrelated to their previous super ventures.
While there’s a few instances of sneaking, Wolverine looks most like himself when he’s slicing up enemies. He also earns “rage” build-up during physical fighting which allows him to do bigger move-sets. The combat looks fun and action-packed, but again, time will tell if it’s fun to play. I imagine it will involve a lot of combos and skill-sets that can be leveled up.
Traversal and World
As we highlight in our upcoming Punished Podcast episode on Open World Games, one of the best parts of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games involved just web-slinging through New York City. It’s just plain fun. Spider-Man thus also had a lot of flexibility in his kit; at any moment, he could swing high above enemies.
As expected, Wolverine will be much more bound to the ground. Overall, the game seems like it will be more standard action game fare. However, that doesn’t mean he’s not moving quickly or that players won’t be delighted. Wolverine looks pretty agile, jumping and diving around battles. There will also be some cool-guy motorcycle moments.
Previews have shared that thisWolverine seems to align with storylines in other current X-Men media. Insomniac’s Wolverine takes place in Earth-1048, the same universe as Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. This keeps the door open for more games in this continuity. In terms of level design, previews are very positive. Because the game is much more linear, the environments will likely be tighter and more impressive, similar to this year’s excellent 007 First Light.
Story
I don’t want to share any spoilers about any quests or story-beats, so I’ll just say two things: 1) This continuity of Logan has memory loss, so it should be a cool hook for players to get to know Logan’s world along with him, and 2) The vibes look good overall (even if potentially a little predictable) and well-paced with plenty of time to be emo.
Are There X-Men in Insomniac’s Wolverine?
For better or worse, the X-Men don’t exist (as a structure, at least) in the upcoming Insomniac’s Wolverine. This is not new news, but it’s worth mentioning. Eurogamer shared that Mike Fitzgerald, Head of Technology at Insomniac Games, says it “was a deliberate decision to give Wolverine the full spotlight.” Still, that isn’t to say that there aren’t plenty of familiar mutants. Mystique and Jean Grey both make an appearance; I’m particularly excited for the latter.
After Spider-Man, the X-Men are easily my most beloved superhero franchise. My favorite cartoon growing up was X-Men: The Animated Series (1992 – 1997) and its great follow-up, X-Men: Evolution (2000 – 2003). Later, I loved the gorgeous and exciting 20th Century Fox Bryan Singer-led films (before being devastated at the egregious 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand1). I was always intrigued by chemistry between that continuity’s Jean Grey, played by Famke Janssen, and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.
There is a clear tension for Jean between her steady, “lawful good” relationship with Cyclops versus the playful, chaotic vibes with Wolverine. It was exciting. I liked that Jean was a multidimensional woman trying to balance being a leader, a teacher, a hero, and also just a normal lady with a super normal name. While Jean Grey won’t be playable here, she will definitely have a large part in Wolverine’s story.
However, because this version of Logan has memory loss (again, not new news), it will be very interesting to see how their relationship develops.
Get Your Claws Out
After these previews, I cannot wait to suit up in Wolverine. Wolverine was one of my mains in 2004 on the PlayStation 2 in X-Men Legends. It’s been far too long since I’ve gotten to play as my old friend. Also, I personally kind of prefer a more linear experience at this point. I’m a bit burned out on big open world games, and I can’t wait for this explosive, action-oriented, cinematic story about one of my favorite characters.
Marvel’s Wolverine is developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment; it releases exclusively on the PlayStation 5 on September 15, 2026. MSRP : $69.99 for the Standard Edition (available in physical and digital), $79.99 for the Digital Deluxe Edition.
- I remember hating this movie so much that I looked up the director, something I had never done before, to figure out who had done this to my beloved movies. I think Brett Ratner was genuinely the first film director’s name I knew, and I was so mad at him. ↩︎
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Amanda Tien (she/her or they) loves video games where she can pet dogs, solve mysteries, punch bad guys, play as a cool female character, and/or have a good cry. She began writing with The Punished Backlog in 2020 and became an Editor in 2022. Amanda also does a lot of the site's graphic designs and podcast editing. Amanda's work has been published in Mothership, Unwinnable Monthly, Poets.org, Salt Hill Journal, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. Learn more about her writing, visual art, teaching, graphic design, and marketing consulting at www.amandatien.com.
