2023 looks to be another good year for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The summer will belong to Miles Morales with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse hitting theaters in June and then come fall, Morales will be sharing the spotlight with Peter Parker on PS5s everywhere.
To cap off its PlayStation Showcase that streamed on Wednesday, Sony showed the first gameplay footage of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 with venomous combat and web-slinging chases on full display. A sequel to both Marvel’s Spider-Man from 2018 and the 2020 spin-off Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the new game is set to hit shelves this fall (no specific date revealed yet) with the ability to play as both the original web head and his Brooklyn protege. The game is once again developed by Insomniac and looks to further expand Sony’s in-game Spider-Verse with more classic villains creeping into New York City.
After giving a first-look at how Kraven the Hunter will be prowling into the game, the 10-minute gameplay trailer sees Peter Parker fighting-off the buff villain’s new militia bad guys in the black symbiote suit with Venom-esque tentacle attacks and enraged voice acting to boot. It’s impressive to see but not entirely surprising, given that Sony already revealed Venom would be in the game when it first revealed Spider-Man 2 during the 2021 PlayStation Showcase. Still, the combat looks as fluid and fun as it did in the previous two games and seeing the gooey tentacles used as battering rams and shields from attacks.
As for Miles’s gameplay, you’ll be able to do a touch of ceiling-based stealth work before jumping into combat with his trademark electric powers, but now with new web placement that make encounters feel more like a sandbox than before. You can also glide between web slings for better speed in a chase or a quicker journey to a way point, further aided by Miles’s tech geek buddy Ganke Lee who also shows up in voice over and robotic eagle form. It’s not clear as to whether or not you can jump freely between Peter and Miles outside of missions, but the story seems to have both web heads as dual protagonists.
The highlight of the trailer is the chase for Kraven (and The Lizard, apparently) on the New York East River. It’s truly exciting to see Miles hop between jet skis punching-out bad guys while Peter effortlessly slides past missiles and obstacles. The seaside setting of the chase implies that the map in Spider-Man 2 will be bigger for more expansive gameplay. With the first Spider-Man game having one of the best stories of any Spider-Man property, Spider-Man 2 has a lot to live up to. As far as the gaming part, Insomniac looks like they have another home run on their hands.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is set to launch in Fall 2023 exclusively on PlayStation 5.
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