Insomniac was recently the victim of a ransomware attack, which revealed many things about their future projects, including the upcoming Wolverine game.
A massive amount of data leaked, over 1 terabyte to be exact, which also included personal information pertaining to Insomniac’s employees, which we won’t be discussing here out of respect for their privacy.
We also won’t be including any of the leaked materials that we’ll be discussing in this post. Usually we would give it the benefit of doubt considering how some companies are rumored to leak their own projects to drum up hype, but it’s been made excessively clear that this isn’t the case, as this breach showed way more than any company would be willing to.
Keep in mind this post may feature spoilers for Marvel’s Wolverine.
Parkour
Much like Spider-Man, Wolverine can climb buildings and parkour around. Wolverine obviously can’t web zip like Spider-Man does, so his environments tend to be more dense.
We know that certain parts of the game take place in the fictional island of Madripoor, which is inspired by Southeast Asian trading hubs. The island is stacked with buildings, making it so Wolverine can jump across the rooftops as his main method of traversal.
More open areas like Shinjuku will feature ziplines and other methods of traversal so Wolverine can quickly move around with his somewhat limited vertical mobility.
We also get a glimpse of some forest environments, in which Wolverine can jump from tree to tree during his stealth sections. It seems that Wolverine’s gameplay will favor jumping from point to point as a quick form of travel, as he can’t swing around freely like Spider-Man.
Secret souls-like?
Wolverine’s gameplay seems to have a slight hint of the modern souls-like control scheme that Ubisoft’s games have adopted, with his left and right attacks assigned to L2 and R2.
L1 and R1 are reserved respectively for leaping, a classic staple of Wolverine’s moveset, and blocking, which can parry attacks when timed properly.
It’s possible that Insomniac is moving away from the Arkham combat formula found in the Spider-Man games, and the distinction between left and right attacks seem to give Insomniac more freedom when it comes to building combos.
It’s also worth noting that Wolverine can choose to retract his claws. At the moment it’s unknown if this gives players access to a different moveset or possibly non-lethal attacks.
Gore
Fans of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine game may remember how gory it was, with the introduction featuring Wolverine decapitating a soldier by pushing him through spinning helicopter blades.
We can happily report that Marvel’s Wolverine is equally as gory. Wolverine gets constantly stabbed (more than three times during the game’s introduction), and his enemies get covered in claw marks and have their outfits destroyed.
Wolverine also has some pretty brutal executions, especially pertaining to the bigger enemies, who get stabbed relentlessly. You can certainly put your worries to rest if you didn’t think the game would be violent, as every attack is accompanied by a hearty dosage of blood.
Dismemberment seems to be locked behind parrying, which can be performed by timing a block correctly, so you won’t see limbs flying around unless you master that system. It also seems that enemies will react to having certain body parts missing, like we previously saw in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
Concept art
The game’s concept art hints at a lot of the villains we’ll see in the future, like Sabretooth and Mystique. What’s interesting is that there are some much, much deeper cuts in there too, like Omega Red and Mister Sinister.
Lady Deathstrike/Deathstryke, who you may remember from the second live-action X-Men movie is also set to make an appearance, most likely as the leader of the ninja clan that Wolverine fight against. Other minor characters like Callisto, Sunfire, and Leech are also set to show up, as they are featured both in the main story and side quests.
Wolverine’s biggest enemies, the Sentinels, are also present in the game. Proto Sentinels will be the human-sized grunts Wolverine will face, while the massive versions will serve as bosses.
PC Port
Much like every other game, Marvel’s Wolverine is being developed on PC. This would normally be a pretty redundant statement, if it wasn’t for the fact that the game’s PC build was included in the major leak.
The unfinished compiled PC version of the game is what has gotten us so much footage this far, but there also exists a version that can be played on jailbroken PS5 consoles.
It goes without saying that it’s a crime to download any of these versions, and that it really isn’t encouraged, as the game was leaked by a ransomware, which could still be present in the files circulating around.
Sony is also sending DMCA notices to those who have downloaded the game’s PC build, which could get those who played it in legal trouble.
Crafting
Wolverine has the ability to craft throwing knives, smoke bombs, and medkits by collecting resources.
The throwing knives and smoke bombs make sense, but at the moment fans are puzzled on why Wolverine would need a medkit, which we now have an answer for.
The game employs a healing system similar to Bloodborne, in which lost health can be regained by attacking enemies, promoting an aggressive playstyle. Wolverine does have a small amount of regenerating health at all times, but enemies will most likely deal good chunks of damage to the player to balance this system out.
We do get a glimpse of some glowing red arrows that certain enemies throw at Wolverine which he needs to remove by hand, so it could be that those arrows also temporarily stop his healing factor from working.
Detective mode
By now it’s pretty obvious that Insomniac’s games are deeply inspired by the blueprint left by the Arkham series. If Spider-Man’s combat didn’t tip you off, then perhaps the “detective mode” in Wolverine will.
Wolverine can use his highly developed sense of smell to find hidden passages or piece past events together, much like Batman does with his detective mode.
It’s a little farfetched that Wolverine can essentially reconstruct a scene just by sniffing around, but that’s the least absurd thing in a game featuring an animal man with a metal skeleton.
Jean Grey
Insomniac has spoken at length about how they always have trouble trying to increase gameplay variety in their games. The Mary Jane and Miles Morales sections in the Spider-Man games were meant to give players a break from swinging around, but they ended up being universally hated.
This time, players will take a break from Wolverine to play as Jean Grey. Jean Grey actually has her own moveset, and doesn’t seem to be forced into stealth, which is already much nicer to know. She’ll also be a major part of the story, being playable in 5 of the game’s 15 missions.
We only got a brief glimpse of it, but her gameplay consists of throwing energy blasts and manipulating objects to hit enemies. Her playstyle doesn’t seem as frenetic as Wolverine’s, who is constantly jumping around from enemy to enemy, and instead seems to rely more on smart positioning and ranged attacks.
Jean Grey’s sections also start the bridge towards the X-Men game that Insomniac has plans for, as we detail further in the plot section.
Vehicle combat
Wolverine and his motorcycle are inseparable in every canon that features the character, and Insomniac’s universe wouldn’t be different.
The leak includes an extremely rudimentary driving test, in which we can see Wolverine fighting ninjas while riding his motorcycle.
It’s unknown if this will actually make it into the game, as what was shown was still in an incredibly early stage, with Wolverine barely connecting to the motorcycle properly.
Collectables
Much like Spider-Man, Wolverine’s collectables will tie directly into his suits and powers.
The planned collectables for Wolverine are lore items and salvage, which will give you access to new outfits. Wolverine also has different combat abilities, which are probably equippable through ability slots like in the Spider-Man games.
Insomniac is still looking for more ideas pertaining to these systems, so it looks like the collectables are still largely unfinished, and we’ll see more in the final release.
Plot (Massive Spoilers)
Possibly the most damaging part of the leaks was a massive text document pertaining to the game’s plot and characters.
In this canon, Logan escapes the Weapon X facility and meets up with Jean Grey, who is on the run from Team X, a group of mutant mercenaries that Logan was a part of.
Jean and Logan slowly develop a romantic relationship throughout the game, which is threatened by Logan’s violent past.
Logan is amnesiac for most of the game, but Mister Sinister knows everything about him, and eventually reveals that Logan was the one who killed Jean Grey’s parents.
Logan is given the choice of erasing Jean’s memories or killing Mister Sinister, and decides that Jean needs to know the truth.
Logan grows old in isolation after not being able to face Jean Grey, who is left to take care of Neverland’s mutants, sort of placing her as Professor Xavier in this canon. The ending has Jean finding ancient scrolls that detail Apocalypse is coming, which ties into the planned X-Men game.
Insomniac could eventually change the game’s plot, but it’s unlikely considering how a lot of assets have already been finished. Retooling the game’s plot at this point definitely doesn’t seem feasible unless a big delay occurs.
For now, that’s everything we know about Marvel’s Wolverine. Many of the things discussed here are subject to change, although it seems highly unlikely.
Marvel’s Wolverine is set to release in late 2026 for the PlayStation 5. Insomniac claims they will continue development despite the leaks, which is comforting to know, at the very least.
