Insomniac’s take on the friendly neighbourhood web-slinger gets our spidey senses tingling, and could signal a new era for Marvel games.
[toggler title=”TL;DR” ]Spider-Man is said to be the ‘most ambitious Marvel game’ to date and has all the hallmarks of laying down the foundations for other Marvel games to build upon. The game will be entirely separate from the MCU, and is also said to signal a ‘new era for Marvel games.’ [/toggler]
[dropcap size=small]D[/dropcap]uring Sony’s E3 conference the reveal that Insomniac Games (of Ratchet and Clank fame) were bringing the web-slinging, spandex-wearing, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man to life in his very own video-game sent everyone watching into overdrive.
The prospect of the new game is pretty exciting in and of itself, but what is even more exciting is what Peter Parker’s new venture into the video-game world could mean for the future of Marvel games.
Everything we’ve learnt about Insomniac’s Spider-Man so far may very well signal the beginning of a brand new shared Marvel Game Universe that’s similar in a nature to the current MCU.
The first clue comes from the fact that Spider-Man is set to be a big open-world adventure where we can freely sling our way around New York City, in what has been dubbed Insomniac’s ‘biggest project,’ and Marvel’s ‘most ambitious game to date.’
The expansive world of the game could easily lend itself to other Marvel titles since it’s set in a superhero hub of sorts – not unlike the way in which the LEGO Marvel’s Avengers game had every Marvel figure roaming around the city. The ambitiousness of the title also gives it all the hallmarks of laying down an established foundation for other games to build upon.
Secondly, Spider-Man will not be in any way linked to the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming film due in 2017. Instead, Insomniac has created ‘their own Spider-Man Universe’ that’s separate from the MCU, but is still respectful of the comic book character and all of its traditions. The fact that the game is a separate entity entirely from the MCU adds more credibility to the idea that the title is establishing a Marvel Game Universe of its own.
And last but certainly not least, creative director of Marvel games Bill Rosemann spoke about the game during PlayStation’s coverage of the title, and if we were uncertain before, Rosemann’s statement is pretty clear cut:
I think Spider-Man represents a new beginning – a new era for Marvel games. This is going to be the most ambitious game yet that we’ve done, and we wanted to wait until we had the perfect partnership…that happened when Insomniac and Sony came together.
With Rosemann’s own words and all the evidence we’ve gathered it seems increasingly likely that we’ll be seeing a brand new Marvel Game Universe, with Spider-Man paving the way for other big Marvel hero game titles to follow. Are you excited? We know we are!
Insomniac’s Spider-Man is set to be a PS4 exclusive, but no release date has been announced.
