Everything About the Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Gameplay Reveal

The May 2023 PlayStation Showcase has come and gone with new IPs, sequels and reboots (such as Bungie’s Marathon, a pleasant surprise). However, everyone watching it live came for one thing: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2… and it delivered big time as the last game shown in the showcase. Finally, with new information after two years of nothing, here’s what we learned from the gameplay reveal.

New villains

Who isn't trying to kill Spider-Man?

The initial announcement confirmed Kraven and Venom, but the trailer has also revealed that the Lizard will also be part of the main cast. I also saw that Yuri Watanabe will be Wraith, judging by the little tablet thing one of Kraven’s henchmen gives him. More villains could be involved in the game, so we just have to wait and see.

Peter will have the Black Suit

Embrace the darkness

This was a given, considering Venom is in the game, and it looks amazing (pardon the pun). It very much reminds me of the 90's Spider-Man: The Animated Series in both style and how Yuri Lowenthal acts, giving Pete a gruff voice and an angrier demeanour. And, would you look at that, he uses a lot of tentacles in his combat, like in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. Hopefully, this isn't just a flat combat upgrade and will involve giving Peter some new puzzle-solving abilities.

Character switching

Spider-Men

You’ll be playing as both Peter and Miles in the game, both with their own abilities and skill trees. Given the power of the PlayStation 5 and what Insomniac Games can do, considering what they pulled off with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and all that dimension-hopping, it’s likely it’ll only take a second in real-time.

New traversal options

Like the speed of light, they arrive just in time

Web wings, featured in the first Marvel’s Spider-Man as a collectible, have been fully realised for both Miles and Peter’s use in the game, allowing them to glide through the city in addition to their web-slinging. It also looks like you can go through rings to give you a speed boost. We can also slingshot ourselves using two poles, like in the Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 videogames.

New gadgets and abilities

New toys, new powers, same old butt-kicking

Mostly shown in Miles’ section of the trailer, we get to see a new gadget in the form of a webline you can walk along, the ability to stealth takedown two enemies at once, and new Venom Strike attacks that can defeat multiple baddies at once. It also looks like they changed the control scheme so that you’ll have eight abilities ready to use at any time just by hitting one of the bumpers and a face button.

Queens

Be there or be square!

In addition to Manhattan, it was shown that Queens is an available area to explore. It looks like it will feature a lot of low buildings and houses, which makes the use of Point Launches much more important.

With marketing most likely ramping up, more information about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be coming out in the near future, so stay tuned for more.