With Marvel’s Wolverine, Insomniac Games steps away from the Spider-Man formula entirely to focus on a completely different kind of Marvel character, one defined less by heroics and more by pain, memory, and violence.

Rather than leaning on the usual superhero setup, the game takes a more personal route by putting the spotlight on the man underneath the claws. Our review of Marvel’s Wolverine breaks down how that approach plays out across the story, combat, exploration, progression, accessibility, and visuals, along with a look at how the game represents Malaysia through one of its fictional cities, before wrapping up with a final verdict on how everything comes together.

Marvel’s Wolverine at a Glance

The game does not spend much time turning Logan into a typical superhero. Instead, it tells a more personal story that focuses on the memories that continue to haunt him. It jumps between different points in his life, including his past with Team X, slowly revealing what happened to him and the people around him.

One of the strongest parts of the story is how it balances two sides of Logan. In combat, he is violent and shows little hesitation when tearing through enemies, but outside of combat, a quieter and more vulnerable side of him comes through, especially in slower chapters. These moments give the story room to breathe and make Logan feel more like an actual person instead of just an angry guy with claws. The pacing follows a simple structure of exploration, combat, and quieter cutscenes, but the way it shifts between these moods keeps the story from feeling repetitive.

Combat and Stealth

Combat in Marvel’s Wolverine is fast, aggressive, and brutal. Logan relies on claw attacks, kicks, parries, dodges, and a lunge move to close the distance on enemies quickly. It feels heavier than Spider-Man’s combat, with blood, dismemberment, and strong finishing animations making most hits feel satisfying. The Rage system encourages constant attacking, though parries and dodges are still needed against tougher enemies, so players cannot simply button mash their way through fights. Parry timing is fairly easy by default, but it can be made harder through the options menu.

Compared to Spider-Man, the combat is more straightforward with less room for creative combos, though new Techniques and enemy types are introduced regularly throughout the story, which helps keep fights from feeling repetitive. New enemy factions like the Reavers and the Hand also bring variety, especially when familiar enemies return with new threats mixed in.

Boss fights, on the other hand, are fairly standard. Larger bosses usually involve hitting weak points and dodging big attacks before ending in a cinematic sequence, while human-sized bosses like Lady Deathstrike rely more on agility and well-timed dodges and parries. There is also no style ranking system, so there is little incentive to mix up combos creatively since playing efficiently works just as well. Two motorcycle chase sequences are also included, adding some variety to the usual on-foot combat.

Wolverine further rounds out its combat with a good number of finishing moves, and watching Logan take enemies down rarely gets old thanks to the variety of animations. Allies like Jean or Sabretooth can occasionally join in for different finishers when nearby. Stealth itself is simple, but it stays satisfying mainly because of the variety in takedown animations, even after doing it repeatedly.

Unlike Marvel’s Spider-Man, this is not an open world game. The campaign is mostly linear, though some larger areas, like ones set in Japan, open up a bit more for exploring side paths. Exploration rewards include whisky bottles for upgrade points and hidden Nightmare Doors that offer extra challenges and pieces of Logan’s backstory. Traversal is also more capable than expected, letting Logan sprint, leap across rooftops, lunge across gaps, and climb using his claws, giving his movement a good sense of weight.

That said, most of what you find while exploring boils down to whisky bottles, upgrade chests, and Nightmare Doors, and many empty-looking areas do not actually contain anything, which can make exploring feel a bit unrewarding at times. There are also no puzzles anywhere in the game, so players looking for that kind of variety will not find it here.

Nightmare Doors themselves appear throughout the game and are usually easy to spot along the main path. Inside them, players can also replay past missions to pick up anything missed for full completion, though this means backtracking is not possible outside of replaying a mission, which can take some time.

The main attraction inside these doors are Trials, which come in three types: Combat challenges that ask players to complete specific objectives, Traversal challenges that test speed through parkour, and Gauntlet challenges where players fight through waves of enemies while picking passive powers along the way. Faster completions give better rewards, including Adaptations and exclusive costume pieces.

Traversal challenges stand out as the most engaging since they test movement skills directly, while Combat and Gauntlet challenges become too easy once more Techniques and Adaptations are unlocked, even on higher difficulties.

What Makes Marvel’s Wolverine Different

Instead of collecting new weapons, progression mainly comes from unlocking Techniques that expand Logan’s moveset, along with Special Techniques that can be customized up to four at a time. Adaptations work as passive perks that improve things like Rage generation, parry timing, and stealth, and most upgrades noticeably affect how the game plays rather than just increasing numbers.

However, Adaptations are capped at Level 10, and reaching that cap early, which can happen around 70% through the story, makes further exploration feel less rewarding for players who are not interested in New Game+. Material Crates are also collected throughout the game and used to unlock Gear and costumes, with Gear providing small boosts to Logan’s max health up to a 200% cap. Once that cap is reached, Material Crates mainly go toward unlocking costumes instead.

On top of these systems, Marvel’s Wolverine includes more than 100 accessibility features, covering combat, controls, visuals, audio, and general gameplay. Options include adjustable game speed, high contrast visuals, audio descriptions, screen reader support, subtitle customization, aim and lock-on assistance, adjustable enemy health, combat difficulty options, camera adjustments, simplified controls, and navigation and traversal assistance, among many others. There are also toggles for blood and dismemberment, which stand out as a useful option for players who want a less violent experience while still enjoying the game.

The game looks strong overall, even if it is not a massive leap forward from Insomniac’s earlier titles. Character models and facial animations are detailed, and the darker environments give Wolverine its own distinct atmosphere compared to Spider-Man. Animation is one of the strongest parts of the presentation, giving Logan’s movement and attacks a real sense of weight and impact, helped along by blood, dismemberment, and detailed finishers. Logan’s costume can also get damaged during fights, adding another layer of detail alongside his visible injuries and healing factor.

On standard PS5, Fidelity Mode runs at a steady 30 FPS, while Performance Mode offers 60 FPS with a smoother feel during combat without a noticeable drop in visual quality. Part of that presentation also comes through in the game’s world building, particularly in how strongly Malaysia is represented in the fictional city of Madripoor. Some characters in the city speak Malay instead of English, and familiar foods like satay and laksa can be found throughout. Signs and businesses in the area also mix Malay, Chinese, and Indian influences, giving Madripoor a feel that leans much closer to Southeast Asia rather than a generic, made-up Asian setting.

Verdict

Marvel’s Wolverine delivers exactly the kind of Wolverine experience many fans were hoping for. The combat is fast, brutal, and stays satisfying thanks to new Techniques, enemies, finishers, and stealth takedowns introduced throughout the campaign. The story also gives Logan enough quiet, personal moments to make him feel like more than just an angry mutant with claws.

That said, the game is not without its flaws. Exploration rarely rewards curiosity, boss fights are fairly standard, and progression can hit its cap earlier than expected for players who explore and complete challenges consistently. There is also little incentive to master creative combos if players are looking for more of a challenge. Even with these issues, Marvel’s Wolverine stands out as an enjoyable linear action game backed by strong animation, solid presentation, stable performance, and one of the more complete accessibility packages seen in a big single-player release.