New challenges lie ahead for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s co-leads beyond their web-swinging upgrades.
Speaking to Marvel.com, Insomniac Games Senior Creative Director Bryan Intihar and Marvel Games VP and Creative Director Bill Rosemann revealed what’s happened to Peter Parker and Miles Morales since their respective games and why their stories continue to resonate with fans. “They have good days and bad days and strengths and weaknesses and real problems that we can all identify with and have struggles that we’ve all had in our lives,” Intihar said, listing story campaign examples like Miles trying to write a college essay and Peter continuing his relationship with Mary-Jane Watson while living in Aunt May’s home. “And then not only that, Peter now has his best friend coming back into his life with Harry, and he has his best friend who he grew up with, but then he has Miles. What’s that like?” he continued.
Additionally, Roseman labeled every version of a Spider-Man story, “no matter how old the different Spider-Mans are, it’s always a coming of age story at its heart.” For characters like Peter and Miles — the latter of whom underwent an alternate coming-of-age journey in this year’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — Roseman pointed out that everyone reaches “moments in our lives when we have to leave the nest for whatever reason, and at that moment, we have to make decisions by ourselves. What we have from here, from the first game to this game, is—as they’re all getting a bit older—the choices that they have to make are escalated.” He also teased how these decisions will impact the game’s characters, emphasizing, “they’re all at a moment where they’re making some really key choices and decisions, and that’s just in their civilian life!”
A recent Spider-Man 2 TV spot provided a glimpse into its heroes’ arcs, paralleling Peter and Miles’ inner conflicts with a dual high-stakes fight against a rampaging Venom. Joining Venom (voiced by Tony Todd) as the game’s adversaries include Kraven the Hunter and the Lizard, both of whom were featured in Marvel Spider-Man 2’s PlayStation Showcase in May. These gameplay segments showed off the duo’s new abilities — ranging from the use of web-wings and symbiote suit powers — while also spotlighting how aggressive Peter’s behavior has gotten under the symbiote’s influence.
Along with its new spider-powers and story, Marvel Spider-Man 2 boasts a larger map than the previous game, allowing both Spider-Men to swing through Queens and Brooklyn on top of Manhattan. The PlayStation game also features a unique “open world switching” mechanic, allowing gamers to “swap between Peter and Miles quite quickly” wherever they are in New York.
Developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 releases on PlayStation 5 on October 20.
Source: Marvel.com
