The Marvel Effect: Superhero Fatigue

In the modern age of endless comic book adaptations and movies, no Marvel character has been in the limelight as long as Wolverine. From the rise of Hugh Jackman and his portrayal of the titular man of rage throughout the past two decades on the silver screen to his original appearance back in The Incredible Hulk comic in 1974, we have seen James ‘Logan’ Howlett through every aspect of his existence. There’s just something about witnessing the unquenchable rage of an unkillable purveyor of death that people can’t get enough of, and who can argue – Wolverine was and still is one of the most interesting characters to ever come out of Marvel as a whole, and that’s an impressive feat. But with dozens of adaptations on the silver screen and hundreds of comic book appearances, how many games do we have focused on our favorite clawed menace in the past few decades? Well, that depends. Do you count a game based on one of the worst superhero movies of all time?

I know I do. The X-Men Origins: Wolverine game may have been based on a movie we’d all love to forget, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have one of the most brutal and fun interpretations of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. It was built around a gameplay system very similar to the early God of War trilogy, with a third-person camera and gallons of blood to keep you entertained. It wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but it proved that the violence of Wolverine was perfect for the gaming industry. Sadly, he has been absent from the gaming space for quite a few years since then, mostly appearing in fighting games and other random iterations that have the Marvel name attached to them. Well, bub, I am pleased to admit that not only has the drought ended, but it’s a game well worth the price of admission. Welcome to my review of Marvel’s Wolverine.

The World of Wolverine: Blood, Adamantium, and Old Friends

To say that James ‘Logan’ Howlett is simply a mindless harbinger of death would be a disservice to the horrors he has witnessed in his almost two centuries on earth. That’s a lot of time to take in the world around you, and from a story perspective, Marvel’s Wolverine leans into his journey as a near-immortal being from the moment you are thrown into his shoes. The story starts off with Logan and the remaining members of Team X hunting down Bolivar Trask to stop him from fulfilling his nefarious goals against the mutants of the world, including the usual world-ending threats we’ve come to expect in the Marvel Universe. It’s familiar in a sense, yet new and exciting at the same time.

Throughout the story, you’ll get your feet wet and bump shoulders with a host of iconic Marvel characters from Mystique to Jean Grey, and everyone is treated with as much care as Logan when it comes to their characterization. Each member of Team X and the other mutants you meet on your journey have their own goals and personal motives driving them forward, and the game constantly seesaws back and forth across the line between what’s right and what’s needed for the greater good. Logan’s journey is filled with the types of emotion and connection I’d expect from an RPG, but somehow Marvel’s Wolverine pulls it off near flawlessly. You might be the grim reaper incarnate in every sense once the claws come out, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be substance behind it all from a story perspective.

The funniest part of all is that the game constantly gives you a moment to breathe after the big cinematic set pieces, almost baiting you into believing the story has a happy ending – only to rip it out from under you moments later without a second thought. Most games use these moments to give the player a chance to catch their breath and think about what transpired in the hours before, but Wolverine uses them to further the characters’ relationships and make you realize what’s truly at stake here. Some of my favorite moments were the ones where you get a glimpse at some sense of normalcy and the chance at a normal existence – but as most of us know, life is never that simple; especially when you have a century of memories swirling around in your mind.

The Pitch: A Standalone Story in a Sea of Familiarity

Though many might be disappointed to hear that Marvel’s Wolverine is a standalone story created for the game, I’ll go out and admit that you could’ve fooled me as someone with minimal exposure to the comic books. Not only does it feel like a story pulled straight from a comic, but it constantly references aspects of the Marvel universe that don’t feel like tacky add-ons, but rather real connections that tie everything happening together. The characters feel like they have genuine history together in every scene, and as someone who expected the same mindless Marvel outing we’ve seen a hundred times before with minimal stakes, I was blown away by the way the story began to shift and contort once the stakes were raised. There are even some realizations comic book fans will come to in the first act that further add weight to the idea that this story relies on familiar entities presented in a different light. It might not be a comic book storyline, but it damn sure holds the weight of one. I was hooked from the first scene until the last, more than I’m willing to admit, and it is a masterclass in giving Logan a story worthy of his legend. There are rarely any moments that feel wasted, and Liam McIntyre has more than proved he is the perfect man to take up the mantle of Wolverine in the gaming space.

The journey itself has you traveling the globe to vistas in Canada, Japan, and even the fictional island of Madripoor; there is rarely a moment to pause and take in the scenery before the story takes you wherever Team X is needed next – believe me, the game gives you plenty to look at in every location. If I’m being honest, the game is simply gorgeous from a technical standpoint. I played on performance mode because I’m an FPS snob, and even then I was constantly impressed with the amount of detail present in every aspect of the game. No two vistas feel the same, and you really do get a mix of every type of setting possible. One moment you might be hanging out in Logan’s cabin tucked away deep within the mountains with a nice glass of whiskey, and before you know it you’ll be exploring the neon-lit streets of Japan hunting your next prey.

The Beauty in Brutality: The Graphics

This level of detail is further reiterated in the character models as well. I know most of the time there’s a certain sense of uncanny valley when it comes to how character models’ faces move and react to emotions in video games, but I rarely had that issue in Wolverine. Logan himself has one of the most defined and chiseled character models I have ever seen, and the details present on his face really do make you feel like you’re staring at a virtual copy of Liam McIntyre, complete with wrinkles and the iconic mutton chops. The best part is that this level of quality is apparent in every main character who appears in the dozens of cutscenes throughout the game.

It didn’t matter if they had a couple of lines or dozens. I could tell what emotion their character was trying to convey from their facial expressions alone, and that’s impressive enough on its own. Troy Baker in particular delivers one of his best performances ever, and I was locked in every time he showed up on my TV. He sells the character so well that I have to commend it for what it is. I am also pleased to announce that there is a photo mode on day one for all you people out there who love to immortalize your moments forever, and I fully plan on playing around with it in my New Game Plus playthrough in the near future.

Every detail, from the hairs on Logan’s arms to the way your character interacts with the world around him, has been refined and fine-tuned in a way any gamer can admire. It presents itself as not only a video game but an artistic foray into a world not so different from our own, and the way the game employs scale toward the last act alone is enough to warrant the price of admission. I legitimately never ran into any issues with performance, and with everything going on – the limbs flying, the environment reacting to your attacks – I am once again impressed with the graphical prowess of the PS5.

If I had to simplify the overall feeling of the game from a graphical and technical standpoint, it simply screams quality. Just like Insomniac’s other titles on the PS5 such as the Spider-Man series, everything not only looks good as a static image but also in motion. Ripping your way through dozens of enemies on screen while blood and body parts fly everywhere is an experience that reminds me of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in the best way possible. If you’re coming into this with the idea that the baseline experience isn’t chock-full of as much violence as a realistic depiction of Wolverine would be, you’re in for a rude awakening. Your adamantium claws are indestructible, and let’s just say you get to see them in all their glory, as if every battle were a showcase of violence. But therein lies an aspect of Wolverine that has been mostly brushed over in the weeks leading up to its release – the accessibility settings.

Accessible for Everyone: Yes, There’s An Option For That Too

Now, usually I wouldn’t waste too much time on accessibility settings because, let’s be honest with each other, most developers don’t put in the effort to make sure they’re present in their games. I am pleased to announce that not only does Marvel’s Wolverine have a metric ton of accessibility settings, but they’re no doubt going to attract the attention of people who would usually stay away from a stylized, hyper-violent interpretation of a Marvel character. You have everything from removing blood and gore entirely to adjusting the game’s overall challenge, including enemy health, damage, and awareness during the stealth sequences. The list honestly goes on, and for the sake of not copying and pasting the dozens of options, I’m just going to link you to Insomniac’s official correspondence here. These accessibility options may seem meaningless to most of us, but they’re going to allow Sony to sell to nearly every demographic that wants to dive into this new adventure with our favorite clawed menace.

The Meat and Bones: Dismemberment As An Art

Alright, so now that we’ve talked about the boring stuff, let’s dive into what I think is the main selling point of this entire game – chopping enemies to bits with your adamantium claws. Now, I will admit I wasn’t too sold on the gameplay systems at first. The combos and abilities you have access to in the initial hours are simplistic at best and downright repetitious at worst. On the same note, I will wholeheartedly concede that there was just something about the gameplay that made brutalizing your enemies fun even from a baseline perspective, and honestly that says a lot about what you should come to expect when you load in. Wolverine’s whole party trick is, after all, the fact that he has claws that are nearly indestructible and slice through human bodies like butter, and I think they nailed that aspect of it.

The game employs the standard mix of light and heavy attacks that you can combo with a parry system that’s just simple enough to work once things get hectic. You can also dodge and close the distance on enemies with the touch of a button, and it became very obvious from the first fight that Insomniac was fully intent on committing to the same style of combat systems they used in all three of the Spider-Man entries released years before. Was it weird the first time to press Triangle and watch Logan fly across the screen and impale a poor, underpaid, and overworked henchman? Of course. Does it improve the combat and make you feel like the Wolverine? Abso-fucking-lutely. And the best part is that once you unlock some of the more expressive abilities and warm your hands up a bit, the game becomes less about spamming the same button over and over again and instead becomes an intricate symphony of blood and limbs that you are the conductor of. Still not sold? Believe me. It gets better.

Channeling the Rage: Combo Breaker

When I think of Wolverine, I imagine a man so deep in the horrors of his fractured memories that the only way he knows how to escape them is through his unbridled rage – and this game fully embraces that concept in brutal fashion. As you’re weaving your combos in and out while fighting the sometimes dozens of enemies surrounding you from every side, with the environment exploding around you thanks to a beautifully designed object destruction system, you’ll notice a bar located under your health that progressively fills as you dish out damage. It doesn’t matter if it’s a parry, an ability, or just some basic combos. As long as you can keep your combo rolling and avoid damage, eventually you’ll hit the phase we all know Logan so well for – the enraged buff.

During this time, you’re able to leap toward enemies with a push of both triggers and brutalize them in the most blood-soaked way possible. Quick cinematic views of your adamantium claws piercing through the chest, the head, or maybe even both are likely to be witnessed during this time, and I have to give kudos to the animators for making it look as disgustingly beautiful as possible. And the kicker is that the violence doesn’t just end after the first execution. During some of the more difficult challenge runs, I was able to string together nearly a dozen executions in a row simply because I was riding the hot hand. It allows for not only skill expression in avoiding the dozens of bullets, arrows, and melee hits coming your way, but also a reward for mastering the systems in place.

Now, like I said, I’ll concede that the gameplay takes a while to warm up to the point of being a nearly perfect interpretation of what playing as Wolverine should feel like. It’s brutal, it’s hectic once some of the more interesting baseline enemies are introduced, and the roster of abilities you have at your disposal once you gain some levels is nearly perfect for mixing and matching how destructive you want to be. The one aspect that threw me off more than a few times is some of the bosses. They aren’t necessarily weak by any means, and some of them truthfully feel like an even match for Logan, but they are very basic in the simplest terms besides a few in the later sections of the game. Most can be defeated by simply parrying their attacks, and there are few that truly require more than your standard gameplay rotation. Does this mean I hated any of them? Absolutely not – but if you’re going into it with the idea that the actual fights will be extremely challenging or nail-biting, I’m sorry to say you might be disappointed in some of them. On the same note, this is the same formula the Spider-Man series employed, and clearly Insomniac has subscribed to the idea that if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

If there’s one thing that ties the gameplay of the boss fights together, it’s the cinematic feel present in every encounter. Nearly every boss fight is filled to the brim with climactic moments that feel seamless as you’re experiencing them, and you even get a fair bit of Quick Time Events for some of the more static moments during cutscenes that serve as natural transitions between the fight’s different phases. Now, I know many might absolutely despise the idea of having Quick Time Events in a modern game, but it appears Insomniac has even thought their way out of that. Hidden deep within the accessibility settings is an option that turns off Quick Time Events entirely and autocompletes them for you, so if you’re a designated QTE hater, you have options – and you can enjoy the cutscenes instead of engaging with a button press.

A Bottle for Every Occasion: The Collectibles

So, we’ve talked about the story and the gameplay, and even how pretty Logan’s arm hair looks and his chiseled chest, but there is one aspect worth mentioning, and that’s the Nightmare Doors and the other collectibles. In short, the game prioritizes collectibles in a way that feels both natural and honestly pretty rewarding from a gameplay standpoint. Since the game is mostly linear with branching paths that all lead to the same goal, exploring the maps isn’t as much of a chore as it is in other games. The two main collectibles you’re going to be looking for on your journey are the material crates, which provide the currency used to craft new suits, and the whiskey bottles, which unlock new sets of claws for you to wield and gore your enemies with.

This ties into one of the best aspects of the game, which is the sheer number of cosmetics you have access to by the time you finish the main story. I found myself wandering off the beaten path not only to take a moment to absorb all the beauty of the world, but also to see what suit I could afford next. I won’t spoil any of the suits for the sake of how cool they are to unlock, but rest assured you can cosplay as Logan from pretty much every storyline he’s ever been a part of in the Marvel Universe. The same sense of bliss follows into the claws themselves. You have a varied number of claws, from the baseline chrome of his standard adamantium look to the more primal bone claws and everything in between. I’ve never been the type that has any interest in collectibles, but Wolverine employs them in a way that feels rewarding while letting you suit him up as much or as little as you’d like. So yes. I happily played dress-up with Logan and made him look as feral as possible in the cutscenes, and I imagine most of you will too.

Nightmare Doors: A Glance Into Wolverine’s Past

And the final aspect of the game I want to talk about is the Nightmare Doors scattered around each mission. Marvel’s Wolverine uses the Nightmare Doors as a dual-threat aspect of both the gameplay and the story. From a baseline perspective, they serve as challenge rooms where your goals can vary from surviving waves of enemies to navigating fractured planes of the world in time trials. Once you find a Nightmare Door out in the world, entering it transports you to Logan’s cabin, where you’re able to replay missions and look back at any of the past Nightmare Doors you’ve cleared. Once you complete the challenge, whatever it may be, you’ll be rewarded with Adaptation points that grant special passives, such as gaining rage at a faster rate or dealing more damage to enemies that have more health than you. These passives alone make the Nightmare Doors more than worth the challenge they present, but I think the real reason they’re worth the effort is how they tie into the story.

Like I talked about above in the story section, Logan has always been presented as a fractured man. His past is mostly a mystery, and most of his mainline stories focus on the idea that he is nothing more than a shell of what he used to be. The Nightmare Doors are used as a way to tie together the missing pieces of his past and unlock some of the memories buried deep within his mind. I don’t want to spoil anything past that, so for now you’ll just have to take my word for it – dive in, discover what has formed Logan into the man presented on the screen, and decide for yourself whether his rage is nothing more than his nature or something more complex hidden deep beneath the surface. At the very least, make sure to complete the final one unlocked after the credits roll. This final memory ties the whole narrative together and plants a seed that any fan will enjoy. It’s heartfelt and serene in a game focused on excruciating amounts of violence, perfectly acted, and it leans into the mysterious persona of Logan in ways fans could only dream of.

Closing Thoughts: A Nearly Perfect Wolverine Game

Marvel’s Wolverine is the best iteration of the titular clawed menace we’ve seen in nearly two decades. The story leans into the brutal violence and rage we’ve come to expect, while giving us a Logan who is more than just a harbinger of death. It isn’t a flawless game, but it’s an unforgettable one for all the right reasons. Whether you came for the claws or the man behind them, Marvel’s Wolverine delivers.

Wolverine was reviewed on PlayStation 5. We’d like to thank PlayStation for providing us a review code for purpose of this review.