Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 releases today, finally giving PS5 owners a chance to explore the new-and-improved New York City, though without a key feature from the first game that served to make follow-up playthroughs a lot more convenient.
James Stevenson, the marketing director for Insomniac, itself the developer of all three PlayStation-exclusive Spider-Man games, recently announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Spider-Man 2 will not feature a new-game plus mode at launch, though it confirmed plans to add it in a future update by the end of 2023. The feature would allow players to start the game over from the beginning while retaining all abilities and collectibles earned from their previous run without the need to unlock them a second time.
New Game Plus was also missing from the first game at launch, with Insomniac patching it in weeks after its release in 2018, although the PS5 remaster of the first game and 2020’s Miles Morales spinoff title both included the feature at launch. This led to some disappointment from fans that it would not feature in their newest title, which boasts a significantly larger map and a whole new set of abilities for both Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Additionally, the game’s full runtime reportedly averages at just over 15 hours, with an estimated 30 hours to achieve everything it has to offer, meaning dedicated players could finish everything in the game just days after its initial launch.
Stevenson also confirmed that the last games’ mission replay feature — which allowed players to revisit main story missions and play through them again — is also coming at a later date, though he did not confirm a release window for the update. Despite these features being absent from the game currently, Insomniac still released a day-one patch for the title which it recommends all users, especially those with a physical copy, to install before launching the game, as it includes major tweaks to performance and bug fixes that will reportedly result in a more polished gameplay experience.
Despite these missing features, Spider-Man 2 promises a variety of accessibility options, including a slow-motion combat toggle, text-to-speech options and the ability to opt out of quick-time events and puzzles, among various others. The game also includes a near-instant fast travel feature, which Insomniac confirmed does not require a loading screen, and customizable web-swinging speed and difficulty sliders to allow for more dynamic traversal options.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 releases today, Oct. 20 exclusively for the PlayStation 5.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
