Marvel's Wolverine was always going to be hyper-violent, but I've been wondering for a long time whether that'd mean mission after mission of mindlessly hacking through waves as I once again become desensitized to violence. Thankfully, the extended Wolverine gameplay at the State of Play revealed that, with light stealth elements, Logan will be a bit more mindful about his gruesome executions. Will he hop down and stab the guts out of the left or right enemy first?
I'm pleased to see that enemies don't always know where Wolverine is and what he's up to. The creepy crawly stealth across all three Marvel's Spider-Man games are absolute highlights for me, and it's great that Insomniac is keeping some of this flavor intact with its take on the Canadian Clawsmith while also adapting it to fit his style of combat. Ever the ultimate predator in the room, being sneaky is more about choosing when, where, and how to unleash bursts of extreme violence while taking enemies by surprise than going completely incognito.
Silent but stabby
Wolverine's stealth, as he tears his way through an enemy compound in an attempt to rescue kidnapped mutants, has as much in common with The Last of Us Part 2 as it does Spider-Man. Enemy awareness is flexible, and relying on his quick-claw action he's able to contain situations before they get out of hand and continue his infiltration relatively unnoticed.
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Beginning by prowling a rooftop, he takes out two guards as he leaps down by slicing one apart and then finishing the other before they can react. Then, he's able to activate his animal-like instincts to detect the subtle pulse of a patrolling enemy's nervous system to head them off around a corner, piercing their chest and covering himself in buckets of blood as he does so, then pushing deeper into the compound. It feels like picking off unsuspecting prey and being truly confident in your capability as Wolverine.
Wolverine's guerilla-style stealth is in service to his mission, and not the self-preservation behind sneaking in most games. The short stealth sequence we've seen so far has him creep up on an armed guard watching the compound from a rooftop, but rather than silently slice him up, he tackles him off the edge to use as a landing pad before taking out a final couple of guards. Stealth here is more about leveraging moments of opportunity to efficiently enact violence than it is being a ghost.
Sequences like this perfectly suit Wolverine's style. While he can utilize rage-based powers when he's thrown into the middle of loud combat encounters, fury is just one element of one of the greatest comic book characters of all time. Animal predators are smart too – this whole section of gameplay kicks off with him tracking the abducted mutants – and Wolverine has had an above average human lifespan in which to hone his particular set of skills. He's the best he is at what he does, even if that's not very nice.
We know that Marvel's Wolverine is a "linear single-player adventure" and not an open-world adventure like Spider-Man. That's no problem with me, especially after 007 First Light reminded me how great a tightly structured campaign can be. But, there's still a lot we don't know about Wolverine's overall chapter structure and flow. I'm hoping we'll get lengthier stealth sections like the one we've seen, but I'm feeling confident.
Given Marvel's Spider-Man 2 featured an open world, I feel like its excellent moments of linear level and mission design can be a bit overlooked – those chapters had incredible variety and flow. With Marvel's Wolverine being devoted exclusively to that structure and not having to worry about Logan biking around or whatever, there's a real chance Insomniac Games have the chance to dig deeper into that style of design. Already displaying a great sense of Logan beyond being a mindless slasher, my claws are at the ready.
Marvel's Wolverine is launching as a PS5 exclusive on September 15. Can't wait to get your comic book on? Check out our best Marvel games of all time ranking!
