As the first major first-party title coming from PlayStation Studios in the wake of the company’s announced discontinuation of physical media, Insomniac Games’ “Wolverine” was always going to be in the firing line.
However, the backlash has quickly grown wild in the wake of a preview embargo lifting on Thursday, with a bunch of gameplay footage going online, along with a new trailer that premiered Friday night at D23.
Social media platforms, X in particular, are being flooded by variations on the same complaint – that the gameplay is old-school and rote and something “out of the PS2/PS3 era” and starting larger arguments over the merits of the simplicity of story-based games vs. games with a gameplay so in-depth and a learning curve so steep it’s almost a part-time job.
One clip that has gained a lot of traction highlights just how out of hand the discourse has gotten. It shows Logan running forward for 15 seconds while someone holds a DualSense in front of the screen, pushing the stick up, and captions it “Wolverine’s gameplay feels like that”.
The comment has also been heavily debated and mocked, with points that it’s clearly a 17-second video clip from a tutorial mission and that the controller in question isn’t even turned on. Many of the responses also indicate that the real reason for the complaints has more to do with anger at Sony than with the game itself.
One group who is definitely feeling it is developer Insomniac Games, with Insomniac’s Director of Community and Marketing James Stevenson posting on X:
“I think the wild way this algorithm amplifies and forces negativity upon you has me reconsidering my philosophy on telling devs to look or post here. It’s a relentless onslaught that I cannot believe is good for anyone’s mental health nor representative.”
Insomniac has been put through many trials in recent years, from the hack to clips comparing the new game to “Ben 10”. Yet it has also been one of the few studios who has consistently managed to debut titles this generation, and some positivity managed to make its way back to Stevenson, who shortly after posted:
“Can’t wait for people to experience the whole globetrotting adventure. How full circle to have started making these games and be so inspired by the MCU, to now have Kevin Feige introduce a new sizzle from our game on stage.”
Despite all the online negativity, it doesn’t appear to be impacting sales with the title currently the third most pre-ordered game in the US, behind only GTA 6 and “NBA 2K27”.
“Marvel’s Wolverine” launches September 15 exclusively on PS5.
Source: PushSquare
