It’s been a big week for fans of Marvel’s Wolverine, starting with the announcement of sharp-looking PS5 hardware and accessories. Now, with just over a month away until its September 15 launch, Insomniac is sharing a deep dive on the game’s story, combat, and exploration thanks to an extensive hands-on session with the game.
Our two-hour session kicked off with the game’s opening mission in the wilds of Telambang, where Wolverine has reunited with Team X to carry out a critical mission infiltrating the facility of anti-mutant industrialist Bolivar Trask. After slicing our way to a daring rescue, we jumped ahead in the game to a bombastic boss fight and a taste of Madripoor’s Lowtown. Between brutal barrages, stealthy scouting, and a range of rage-filled takedowns, we got to cut to the bone of the game’s story, flesh out Wolverine’s allies and foes, and uncover a piece of his buried past.
Taking on Trask
From the game’s opening moments flashing back to a feral, mangy-haired, and memory-wiped Wolverine, every sequence tested the balance between his rage and humanity. The first mission reunites him with Team X, a mutant task force formed by Nathaniel Essex to help protect mutants. Wolverine had stepped away from the group, something that has rankled his teammates, a wry Mystique and ever-savage Sabretooth.
Their mission takes them from the hidden facility of billionaire Bolivar Trask to the seedy backstreets of Madripoor, presenting Wolverine with the grim reality of what mutants in this world are facing. With mutants largely unknown by society, Trask has been spending his billions abducting, studying, and cruelly disposing of mutants with little regard for his victims in a quest to maintain human superiority. As the nefarious reality of the facility’s purpose becomes clearer, the horror Wolverine feels quickly pools into an unbridled rage. That rage drives him forward through throngs of Reaver enemies and a run in with Omega Red to eventually free Essex, who has been held captive by Trask.
Essex is the one who found Wolverine years before in that feral state, and formed Team X to protect mutants and build a world where mutants can be open. Between Essex and Trask, Wolverine is faced with the lengths some will go to protect the future of their kind, and will challenge him to face what kind of person he wants to be in this future.
Sink your claws in
Between storylines and set pieces, my biggest takeaway from my time with Marvel’s Wolverine was that it feels dang good to sink those claws in. Wolverine doesn’t just attack enemies, he catapults himself at them, targeting and launching himself from across the room to stun or barrage. Every combat encounter becomes a furious flurry, where my adrenaline feels directly tied to Wolverine’s increasing rage.
While a simple parry and barrage can get the job done, Wolverine can unlock a number of Special Techniques, skills that can be upgraded and mapped