For Marvel fans, particularly X-Men fanatics like me, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine is one of the most anticipated new releases of 2026. The PS5 exclusive is set to release on September 15th, and we got an up-close and personal look at the game’s combat mechanics during the recent State of Play. Insomniac has already built a reputation for itself on its Marvel’s Spider-Man games, and fans may be wondering how much this new foray into Marvel territory will differ from those games. In a recent interview, Insomniac shed a little light on one key difference.
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After 5 years, we’re finally narrowing in on the release date for Marvel’s Wolverine. The recent trailer confirmed Jean Grey will be making an appearance alongside Logan and showed the gory reality of combat with adamantium claws. But alongside the big State of Play trailer, Insomniac sat down with IGN for an interview about the upcoming release. And one key comment highlights a big difference between Wolverine and the prior Spider-Man games, one that could potentially disappoint some fans. Though Marvel’s Spider-Man offered an open-world sandbox version of New York City, Marvel’s Wolverine will be much more linear in nature.
Insomniac Confirms Marvel’s Wolverine Leaves Open-World Exploration Behind for Linear Storytelling
Of course, the gameplay trailer’s sheer amount of bloody violence already showed one difference for Logan’s adventure compared to that of Peter and Miles. The nature of Wolverine’s style of combat means there’s plenty of blood and guts, and Insomniac hasn’t shied away from that. By contrast, battle scenes in Marvel’s Spider-Man feel almost tame. But according to Insomniac, the way you explore the world in Marvel’s Wolverine will be another key difference.
Spider-Man is, of course, rooted in place. He’s your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, linked closely with New York City. By contrast, Logan is a wanderer. His healing means he’s led a long life, and that life has taken him all over the world. So, Insomniac didn’t feel like setting up a similar sandbox-style exploration of an open-world map would be the right fit for Logan’s story.
“We did not set out to make an open world game or a sandbox game,” Insomniac’s Mike Daly told IGN. Instead, the game is created with “a comic book-style pacing, dense story, that’s like a rollercoaster.” Rather than exploring a sandbox world at our leisure, players will be guided from place to place by missions and plot points. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have choices to make, but they’ll be much more about the how of a situation than the where.
The lack of open-world gameplay doesn’t mean that you won’t get some opportunities to engage with the environment, though. As players progress through the story, there will be plenty of different environments to explore. According to Daly, those areas will “change the pacing and the shape of how you navigate space and how you explore.” So even if we don’t always choose when to enter a particular area, the places we encounter will offer unique ways to make use of Wolverine’s skills and abilities, leveraging the environment for stealth, exploration, and more.
To me, this return to a more linear-style single-player game very much feels in line with early superhero games. That could be a good thing. As much as open worlds are fun, a comic book game like Marvel’s Wolverine is really about stepping into a story. And a linear narrative that unfolds in a bit more of a pre-determined way could be the best way to deliver that story experience in a way that feels authentic. Logan is a man who often has a clear sense of purpose, and it makes sense he’d move from lead to lead without a lot of roaming in between.
We’ll find out just how Insomniac brings Logan’s story to life when Marvel’s Wolverine releases for PS5 on September 15th.
What do you think about Insomniac returning to a more linear style of gameplay for Marvel’s Wolverine?
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