Spider-Man Takes The Non-Lethal Route In His Forthcoming PS4 Game

The forthcoming Spider-Man game for PlayStation 4 looks like a lot of fun, based on what we saw from the new gameplay trailer. But one thing you may have noticed is that while Spidey's attacks are intuitive and resourceful, they're not lethal. That means he pretty much won't kill someone by webbing them enough to suffocate them or something like that.

Of course, we've come to expect that from our favorite web-slinger over the years, but creative director Bryan Intihar wanted to make that certainly clear while speaking with Kotaku earlier today, that he will never take the killing route, even if the situation looks like that's the best way to go.

One moment you may note during the trailer, which can be seen above, involves Spidey in a rooftop fight. There's one particular moment where he's kicking a thug's butt dangerously close to the edge of a roof, like you're about to knock him off. In any other game, there may be a satisfaction to this. But watch carefully – at the last possible second, Spidey grabs him with his webbing, flinging him around and slamming him back on the rooftop surface. We're not sure if this is an automatic tactic or something that the player does as part of the combo, but it's interesting.

These are done through contingency animations, according to Intihar. "It's certain scenarios we've put him in, certain abilities he'll do during combat to prevent people from dying," he said. "So whether it's about deciding where stuff gets placed or how it unfolds, Spider-Man's not gonna be killing people. That's not the game we want to make."

Civilians will also be saved over the course of the game, since, of course, Spidey's not the sort of guy that lets them get hurt. This is also brought up in the trailer, as Spidey goes out of his way to set up protective webbing on certain objects to keep them from hurting people.

"We don't want you to feel like you're beating up guys just for the sake of beating up guys," he explained. "We do have scenarios where there aren't civilians around, but we also want to push the feeling of being a hero in New York City. Spider-Man is its protector. Whether someone's calling him a menace or not, he feels responsible for it."

Spider-Man will release in 2018 for PlayStation 4.