An 11-minute preview for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 closed the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase, finally giving players a better look at some of the highly-anticipated superhero sequel’s gameplay. The gameplay comes nearly two years on from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s initial reveal trailer, showing multiple playable characters, new abilities, and new enemies.
Throughout the visually impressive, action-packed sequence, classic Spider-Man villain Kraven has his hunters pursue Dr. Curt Connors, who has transformed into The Lizard, across the city. Both Peter and Miles have to combine their efforts to stop the heavily armed squad from taking in the scientist and can be seen deploying a variety of tactics to do so.
Peter Wields The Venom Symbiote In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
The first time Peter is revealed in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2‘s new gameplay footage, he bursts out of a basement in Queens – which could potentially be the home that he inherited from his late Aunt May – confirming that the game will take place in areas outside of Manhattan as well. The comic-accurate Symbiote suit forms around his red and blue suit, and Peter wears it throughout the rest of the gameplay sequence. It’s unclear whether this is the first time Peter wears the symbiote – but Miles’ reaction when seeing it for the first time later on suggests it might be – or if he can swap between his traditional and symbiote powers similar to the gameplay mechanic seen in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
Peter is noticeably more aggressive with his Venom abilities as Peter doesn’t seem to pull his punches due to the suit’s corruption. At one point Peter can be seen doing a one-handed handstand while unleashing a fast flurry of kicks upon a hunter, slamming him into the wall. The symbiote suit also seems to unleash several tendril attacks much like those of Web of Shadows with tendril blasts taking out multiple enemies at once, a more powerful tendril attack flipping vehicles, tendril spikes appearing from under enemies and launching them into the air, and the ability to even launch Peter higher with them with an enhanced jump ability.
The symbiote is known for being protective of its host, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gives Peter new defensive options when wearing the suit. Given the skill of Kraven’s hunters, some attacks can’t simply be dodged (as per a PlayStation Blog article, which also hints that the L1 button may be the key to these symbiote abilities), and Peter must parry them instead, using the suit’s tendrils to wrap around Peter to shield him from attacks.
Players Will Swap Between Both Peter And Miles In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
The action-packed sequence jumps between Peter in Queens, and Miles in Harlem at one point before the two unite on the East River. The new footage confirms a character-swapping feature as a prompt to press square to instantly switch to Miles appears on-screen. Given how the square button was the primary attack button in both Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, it’s unlikely that this will be the character-swapping button in main gameplay outside of these scripted events like the mechanic seen to switch protagonists in GTA 5, or perhaps the game will prompt this for specific moments in the story before opening up the free-roam to either hero.
It’s clear that both heroes will play a large part in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 after their standalone titles, bringing their unique powers to the game. Peter was more tech-based in his 2018 title, but now has the advantage of his unique symbiote attacks to take on situations with a more brute-force approach. Miles, however, can be seen using his camouflage to avoid being detected by The Lizard, and deploying a new web-line mechanic similar to Batman: Arkham‘s Line Launcher above Kraven’s hunters to get the drop on them, even performing a dual takedown.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s New Gadgets & Powers
Of course, Miles doesn’t entirely rely on stealth and can be seen using new gadgets such as the Web Grabber – which pull enemies together into an isolated spot – and his bio-electric powers (which he may have to stop calling “Venom” powers after the villain of the same name appears later in the game) which appear to have received an upgrade and now glow blue. Miles can be seen chaining his new abilities with the Web Grabber to defeat several foes at once, with the Thunder Burst unleashing an electrifying ground-pound against a group of foes, and the Chain Lightning ability, which has a radius of effect that shocks any nearby enemies.
According to the PlayStation Blog reveal, both Peter and Miles’ abilities come with upgrades found in a variety of skill trees. Given how Peter and Miles have unique skillsets, these can be upgraded in individual skill trees, with a shared one to enhance the heroes’ shared technology and combat techniques in parallel.
Both Miles and Peter receive a huge speed boost thanks to their new web wings, which incorporate gliding more like Prototype‘s than Batman: Arkham‘s into both heroes’ traversal. The heroes can be seen using wind tunnels such as a subway car hanging from a crane to give additional speed. This hasty traversal is made more impressive due to the rendering power on display, likely one of the reasons the game is exclusive to PlayStation 5 and not available on PS4, as the city’s detail can be seen with no-pop-ins even with the increase in speed when soaring over it.
Peter And Miles Are Trying To Save The Lizard From Kraven
The PlayStation Showcase’s footage starts with a cinematic showing Kraven in a jungle environment with his hunters, confirming the voice in the initial reveal trailer is indeed the hunter. Kraven seeks out the perfect hunt, and one of his hunters suggests traveling to New York to take on a more challenging foe, with many characters such as both Spider-Men, Black Cat, Prowler, and Tombstone from the previous games appearing on a map, as well as newer ones such as Wraith – Yuri Watanabe’s now-confirmed vigilante alter-ego – and The Lizard. It’s later revealed that the target the team settles on is Curt Connors’ Lizard, and the Spider-Men must try to stop them.
Dr. Curt Connors was working with Norman Osborn on the treatment of Harry, Osborn’s son. As seen in Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales‘ post-credit scenes, the two used the symbiote to do so. Throughout the new footage, however, Peter states that his friend is “still dying” during Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, with Connors being “the only one who can help“, indicating that the symbiote treatment didn’t work.
It would appear that sometime around this, Connors experimented with lizard DNA in a bid to regrow his arm and transformed himself into The Lizard. It’s unclear, however, if Connors was already a disgraced scientist due to being The Lizard beforehand as an ESU student could be seen in a Lizard costume in Marvel’s Spider-Man, implying the villainous alter ego’s prior existence. That Lizard design was closer to the traditional comics looks and wore a labcoat, whereas this Lizard appears to be much larger (already found to be shedding its skin and eating copious amounts of fish) and more animalistic, suggesting a further mutation.
Connors could be the key to how Peter got the symbiote suit, as Peter does tell Kraven’s hunters to “leave Connors alone“, implying that he knows and is an ally to the doctor already, which could be how he got access to the symbiote when visiting his lab – even if this was when searching for a Lizardified Connors – if he didn’t get it from visiting his friend Harry Osborn. Peter would likely be sympathetic to Connors – at least prior to the hero’s corruption by the symbiote – as an amputee, as his former job working for Otto Octavius at Octavius Industries involved making prosthetics for amputees and those who are losing control of their motor skills like Otto himself was revealed to be.
The difference between the two Spider-Men’s tactics as they try to stop Kraven and The Lizard is significant. The symbiote clearly makes Peter more aggressive in his combat and changes his general attitude to the destruction and civilians around him during this chase as he is almost laser-focused on the target at hand and saving his friend Harry. Yuri Lowenthal delivers a deeper, sharper tone in his delivery as Peter than players are used to, more like the Symbiote Spider-Man of the ’90s animated series. Miles and his friend Ganke (who is watching and supporting the heroes from afar) notice this too, which could lead to a showdown between Miles and Peter as the younger Spider-Man tries to save his mentor from the symbiote’s corruption in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Source: PlayStation/YouTube (1, 2) PlayStation
