10 Things to Know Before Playing Marvel's Spider-Man 2

Script written by Ty Richardson

10 Things to Know Before Playing Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re giving you the 10 Things You Need to Know Before Playing “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2”!

Insomniac Games is ready to show us why we bought a PlayStation 5 with the first first-party PS5 exclusive we have seen in quite a while. (That’s right, no more cross-gen!) We probably know your answer, but are you getting “Spider-Man 2” on launch day? What villains are you hoping to see this time around? Let us know down in the comments.

Story

At the time of this video’s production, Insomniac has not shared too many details on what exactly “Spider-Man 2’s” story will be. And frankly, we’d like for it to be as much of a secret as possible. What we do know is that the symbiote will have a big role in the story, which isn’t all that surprising considering director Brian Intihar has stated that the team would like to explore that part of “Spider-Man’s” lore. It’s why they didn’t include it as an unlockable suit in the 2018 game. Interestingly enough, Yuri Lowenthal, who voices Peter Parker, stated that he and the team looked at behaviors of those who suffer from addiction in order to properly convey Peter’s darker side in the game. We can certainly see where the story might be heading, especially when considering which of the more animalistic villains are being featured here. Speaking of which…

Villains Confirmed

One of the biggest reasons we get excited for massive superhero games like “Spider-Man 2” is because of the anticipation behind which villains we might encounter. So far, only three villains have been confirmed, the first being Venom before we got a good look at Kraven the Hunter and Lizard. Other villains confirmed to return include Black Cat, Wraith, Taskmaster, Prowler, and Tombstone. Harry Osborn is also confirmed to be in the game, but his role in the story is unknown. Chances are his turn to becoming the Green Goblin may not occur until the inevitable third game. But Intihar revealed an interesting detail at Summer Games Fest 2023: Eddie Brock is NOT Venom. Could…Harry be Venom?

Dual Protagonists

In case no one broke the bad news to you, no, “Spider-Man 2” will not have co-op. This was a mechanic many believed existed and latched onto back when the game was first announced. Insomniac has opted to keep the game single-player and is giving you the opportunity to play as both Peter and Miles. Whereas the main missions will be more strict in making you play as whoever the story needs you to play as, the rest of the game will let you off the leash more. You will be able to play as both whenever you want, or as Intihar puts it, "You'll be able to - in the open world - freely switch between them with a simple button press."

A New Set of Teeth

At first, we assumed that Peter would play somewhat similarly to how he handled in the 2018 game, but that PlayStation Showcase demo quickly proved us wrong! Of course we were! He’s got the symbiote suit! This is the perfect set of powers for Insomniac’s animators and programmers to play around with! And the team has taken full advantage of the opportunity. Spidey’s attacks seem way more vicious, and it looks like he’ll be given brand new methods to take down Kraven’s grunts with little effort. And he’ll be able to bring groups of them down in a single move.

Less Sting, More Shock

In the 2020 spin-off, Miles obtains his own set of venom powers (literally called “Venom Powers”). But what separated him from Pete was how Miles’s powers were tied more to his mobility, forcing players to utilize dashing a lot more in addition to a few moves to maintain crowd control. This time around, Miles is leaning more into his electrical abilities as the demo showed him chaining lightning across multiple enemies. Insomniac has also confirmed that both Spider-Men will feature their own skill trees as well as share one together. So, spend your points wisely as you progress!

The Third Wheel

One interesting part of “Spider-Man 2” we noticed was Ganke’s bigger presence. In “Miles Morales”, he was simply the geeky best friend who gave some intel every now and again. Now, he’s a main part of the team, the Oracle to the duo’s Batman and Robin. From what we’ve seen so far, Ganke looks like he’ll serve as recon and will be able to take control of Kraven’s drones throughout the game. How big of a part he’ll play in your gameplay remains to be seen.

Stealthy Adjustments

Stealth will expectedly remain somewhat the same, but there are a few tweaks we noticed from the PlayStation Showcase demo. For starters, you will now be able to takedown more than one enemy when the opportunity presents itself. So, if you see two standing right next to each other, you can literally kill two birds with one stone. There is also a bit more freedom in moving around thanks to a new mechanic that allows you to create webbed tightropes at your leisure. You’ll even be able to create a second one while already sitting atop one. The stealthy segments just got a lot more interesting.

A New New York City

Something we quickly noticed in the PlayStation Showcase demo was the change of scenery. We anticipated Insomniac would reuse Manhattan from the 2018 and 2020 game, but with the improved hardware of the PlayStation 5, we can explore two more boroughs of New York City - Queens and Brooklyn. Intihar states that including these two regions has now made the map twice the size of the previous two games. But now, the big question is how can the player effectively traverse these massive areas besides fast travel?

Traversal

Thanks to the PS5’s SSD, the world of “Spider-Man 2” will be able to render faster, thus allowing for faster traversal. And how Insomniac went about improving navigation is a marvel (pardon the pun). Peter and Miles can now launch themselves using structures on various rooftops, allowing them to leap miles across New York City. They can also utilize a gliding ability to further increase their speed and take advantage of wind tunnels to maintain their altitude. You’ll also be able to fluidly glide through tight passages without the need for a button prompt. As for traversal across water, more structures have been added in to give you room for web swinging.

Launch

And this is the one thing we’ve been asking for, but Sony just refuses to budge on it. When is this game coming out? Well, Venom’s voice actor, Tony Todd, apparently spilled the beans back in March 2023, stating “Commercials start dropping in August” after telling a fan the game is releasing, “Looks like September!” On the contrary, Sony has pushed the game back a bit. At Summer Games Fest 2023, it was revealed that “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” will launch on October 20, 2023 for PlayStation 5.