Marvel’s Wolverine is a superhero action game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Read our review to see what it does right, what it doesn’t, and our overall thoughts on the game.
Overview
What is Marvel’s Wolverine?
Marvel's Wolverine is a superhero action game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It focuses on Wolverine, the iconic X-Men character, as he teams up with Sabretooth, Mystique, and Nathaniel Essex to stop Bolivar Trask from creating the mutant-killing Sentinel robots. Marvel's Wolverine is a level-based action-adventure game where players control Wolverine to fight against enemy mobs and bosses while exploring new areas.
Marvel's Wolverine features:
⚫︎ An original, Wolverine-centric story inspired by the comics
⚫︎ Visceral, brutal combat surrounding Wolverine's powers
⚫︎ Side content, collectibles, and unlockables that improve Wolverine's gameplay
⚫︎ Characters from across the X-Men universe
⚫︎ Beautiful, photorealistic art style
⚫︎ Level-based gameplay structure
| Digital Storefronts | ||
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 Playstation |
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| $69.99 |
Marvel’s Wolverine Review | Razor Sharp, Pure Adamantium Action
Man Made Him a Weapon, Gaming Kept Him There Too Long
Superheroes are synonymous, if not outright foundational, with the design of action games. No other medium emulates their power fantasy quite that closely. From classic arcade beat-em-ups and fighting games featuring the X-Men to the open world freedom of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, video games are the closest audiences have gotten to feeling like their most of their favorite heroes (at least, until scientists get to work on X-Genes or radioactive spiders).
Wolverine is not like most superheroes. While he usually gets written off as the "short, hairy angry guy with claws" among casual fans, comic readers understand that there’s a complexity to Logan—the immortal struggle between his feral, berserk rage and his deep humanity and empathy—that’s hard to get right in adaptations. Gaming has mostly resigned him to embodying just his savage side, ignoring the heart underneath the adamantium skeleton… until now.
Marvel’s Wolverine is the best adaptation of the character gaming has ever seen. It gets Logan’s berserk rage and brutality right with a perfect mix of technical depth and pureblooded, gory spectacle. That’s the easy part, though. What truly impressed me is just how much Marvel’s Wolverine understands about what makes Logan such a compelling character, and how it finally gives his brutality some actual depth.
Wolverine’s story isn’t perfect by any means, but what it gets right it absolutely nails. Pair that with some absolutely breathtaking cinematography, beautiful environment design, and well-paced gameplay structure, and the game easily becomes Insomniac’s best superhero outing since that first Spider-Man game. Marvel’s Wolverine is the best there is at what it does, and what it does is nonstop action-packed bliss.
A Snikt and A Cut Above the Rest
When I first heard about a triple-A action game based on Wolverine, the one thing I really expected was for that game to be brutal, gory, and deeply fun. It’s what games as a whole got right about the character, from his fighting game iterations to the cult-classic hack-n-slash X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Thankfully, Marvel’s Wolverine approaches Logan’s combat and gameplay in a way that not only builds upon its predecessors, but becomes superlative to them.
Looking at a character like Wolverine, his combat should be self-explanatory. He’s an immortal, angry man with swords in his hands. Sure enough, Insomniac doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel as far as Logan’s combat is concerned. It simply sharpens the edge down to a mirror sheen, with an incredibly brutal and satisfying combat system anchoring the whole game.
True to the game’s ethos of drawing from Wolverine’s entire history, Logan’s abilities are reminiscent of his attacks across his gaming history. Anyone familiar with his aggressive rushdown in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel Tokon or his terrifying tankbusting and crowd control in Rivals will feel right at home with this version of the character.
Of course, spectacle is only half of the equation. The other half, the technical feeling of combat, is similarly excellent and somehow nuanced in its player expression. The multiple unlockable moves give Wolverine a sense of growth and progression, while his special move pool rewards proper timing with some truly game changing abilities. The Adaptation system gives Logan passive buffs that can be specifically attuned to certain attributes, from damage to regeneration to even exploration.
These systems are, ultimately, elevated by the fact that they’re entirely dependent on player agency. The special move pool is relatively constrained to the four face buttons, which works as a way to keep Wolverine from feeling too overpowered and reward smart, selective moveset building. This is also true for the Adaptation perks, which lets you fine-tune Wolverine’s savage skillset to your playstyle.
Outside of the spectacle and the technical side the game simply feels incredible to play. Managing your Rage Meter, dodging enemy attacks, and selecting the right combo in the moment are paramount to unlocking the peaks of the game’s combat system. This not only incentivizes but outright requires relentless, ruthless aggression, and at points I ended up roaring alongside Logan when the action got too visceral.
Aggression is just one of the things that Wolverine does best, and it's what separates him from Spider-Man’s more acrobatic, and gadget-based approach to combat. I mean, I wouldn't want to see Logan's short, stocky frame gracefully pirouetting across the battlefield anyway. Violent claw strikes, terrifying lunges, and a hard-hitting parry system seamlessly bring the character's berserk rage from the page to the controller, and Wolverine consistently delivers unbeatable action-game catharsis.
Linearity Has Never Felt This Good
Thankfully, Insomniac understands that not every superhero works in an open-world setting. Wolverine’s gameplay structure is significantly more linear compared to Spider-Man or Batman’s own triple A outings, but it works entirely to his favor. Logan barely has powers associated with mobility and, more importantly, is 5’3. Apologies to my fellow short kings out there, but Logan’s just not built to swing or glide across skyscrapers all the time.
Instead, Marvel’s Wolverine takes a mission based approach to its structure. This grants Logan a lot more freedom on where he’s able to go as far as the narrative is concerned, as the story is a full-on globe-trotting adventure. Nonetheless, it helps the game focus squarely on combat encounters and sparse, but ultimately rewarding exploration.
There are branching paths in the linear levels of Marvel’s Wolverine, and while the collectibles are few they ultimately serve a purpose to the overarching narrative or, more importantly, helping Logan look cool. In particular, the whisky bottles you collect help flesh out Logan’s connection to Team X (and hinting at a bit of a problem he has), while the suit materials unlock more of Wolverine’s flashy costumes and upgrade his health bar.
This mission-based structure also does something else particularly well: highlight the game’s insistence on cutting out filler. Slower moments, like resting at Essex’s mansion or investigating certain areas, serve more as a reprieve from the nonstop action as a result. The Nightmare Doors, meanwhile, are small side missions that offer a different type of challenge, be it a roguelite structured enemy gauntlet or a short platforming level. Even these don’t break up the pacing much.
Wolverine’s gameplay structure succeeds because it focuses squarely on Logan and how he functions as a character. Gone are the Mary Jane missions that soured and padded out the Spider-Man games, this is Logan’s adventure through and through. The fact that you can skip ahead through missions on subsequent playthroughs makes the game’s pacing that much more refined.
The Man in Black, Yellow, and Blue
By popular estimation, Wolverine ranks among the top 10, maybe even top 5 most published characters in comic book history. Between the many X-Men runs, solo books, event crossovers, team-ups, and so on, Wolverine has simply appeared in too much stuff. The point here is that Wolverine, narratively, has seen it all.
Logan may be the most malleable character in comics alongside Batman and Spider-Man. He’s teamed up with damn near every team in Marvel comics, he’s wielded the powers of the Ghost Rider, he’s been the Winter Soldier, he’s even been Governor General of Canada. From the narrative failures of Return of Wolverine to the peaks of Madripoor Nights, Weapon X, and Claremont’s solo run, Wolverine’s done it all.
Anyone faced with the task of distilling Logan into a definitive representation will be faced with an uphill battle. Insomniac’s approach, ultimately, was to take bits and pieces of Logan’s history and draw from the best while improving upon the worst. Thankfully, it works exceedingly well for Wolverine. He feels like an amalgamation of his best selves in the comics, from Claremont’s samurai-esque discipline and gruff mentorship to Millar’s terrifyingly ruthless, cold weapon.
The story leads us through a tour of Logan’s greatest battle sites like Japan and Madripoor, while most of his important friends and foes are at full display here. They’ve even managed to implement the infamous "hot claws" from the horrendous Return of Wolverine as a mechanic in this game. Most things are better than that book, but reintegrating its worst idea into a fun gameplay mechanic is a sizzlingly good touch.
This gets wrapped together neatly with Logan’s deeply nuanced and layered character. Logan feels like such a cohesively three-dimensional character in this game, perfectly fitting his complex characterization across decades of comic book history. He can go from ruthless mercenary to loving father figure to an uncontrollable beast in the span of a few missions, and it feels entirely natural and consistently engaging.
Beneath Logan’s adamantium skeleton is a heart of gold, and the strongest parts of this story come when he gets to let his humanity shine. Whether he’s affectionately playing along with young mutants and providing them guidance, engaging in charming banter with friends at the Princess Bar, or visibly struggling with his role as a weapon and mercenary, Logan is a deeply empathetic and compelling character. It makes his pain and loss that much more moving, while giving his berserker rage the narrative weight it deserves.
Something Sinister This Way Comes
Marvel’s Wolverine sees Logan as a reluctant member of Team X, a mutant strike force consisting of himself, Mystique, and Sabertooth. Nathaniel Essex, a mutant with psychic abilities, leads the team against anti-mutant scientist Bolivar Trask and the creation of the Sentinels. As tragedy continues to ensue for mutants under Essex’s care, Logan and Jean Grey are taken across the world to stop Trask, investigate a mysterious mutant weapon, and encounter more foes like The Hand along the way.
Stripping away the Marvel lore, this narrative is a straightforward action game plot with enough spectacle and thematic depth to keep the game satisfying. It’s nothing incredibly profound, I doubt that was ever the point, but there were enough cool moments, moving story beats, and sharply written conversations to keep me invested. It does, ultimately, take a stumble towards the end that makes things quite confusing and even frustrating.
Insomniac has always taken creative liberties with their superhero games. Personally, I’ve never been one to take comic accuracy as the end-all-be-all of a good adaptation. Marvel’s Wolverine is, for the most part, a mixed bag on this front. There are a lot of interesting changes and reinterpretations that work really well in the context of the story, and some that feel incredibly baffling and out of place.
For instance, Essex isn’t quite the flamboyant villain he is in the comics, but the role he plays in the narrative is both excellent and crucial in helping the story feel impactful. Sabertooth’s rivalry with Logan feels ripped straight out of the comics, while Mystique’s diametric contrast to Wolverine makes their interactions shine even as the story starts to lose its scope.
The biggest surprise, on this end, is Jean Grey. Wolverine’s deuteragonist is about as malleable as Logan himself, with recent adaptations like Spider-Man: Brand New Day giving entirely new takes on her that still work. Making her relationship with Wolverine the emotional crux of the narrative is a brave gamble, especially given the relative distaste fans have for them as a pair (this fan included). Somehow, it works.
It’s a testament to the strength of the writing that Jean and Logan didn’t make my eyes roll into the back of my head every time they spoke. Enough liberties were taken to where their dynamic made sense, felt mature, and was well-written in the context of the story. Even if it meant changing some key parts of their established canon, the Jean and Logan pairing works surprisingly well and creates some genuinely moving moments. While it's certainly a low bar, Jean and Logan work together better in this game than anything else I've seen them in.
Ultimately, all of this gets ruined towards the third act. Without spoiling too much, there are some ridiculous character moments towards the tail end, which leads a few of them towards the more convoluted, fantastical end of the Marvel universe. Frankly, they feel like blatant and unnatural sequel-teasing. They betray the relatively grounded tone of the game thus far, and some of these conclusions don’t feel earned due to a lack of compelling build-up.
Jean and Logan’s relationship is perhaps the biggest victim of the third act shark jumping, making their otherwise natural chemistry feel retroactively forced. While it works to set up an eventual X-Men game, it still feels like an unsatisfying way to conclude an otherwise razor sharp love letter to Wolverine. I can’t imagine what a non-Marvel fan would make of it, but a grounded story suddenly turning wacky in the last few hours is a problem for any narrative.
Photorealism Ain’t for Everyone, Bub
Insomniac’s photorealistic style for their superhero games have often been divisive among fans and players. You either love it or hate it, and I’ve historically felt mixed about their approach. Bringing the vibrant, colorful world of comics to life is an unenviable task across all mediums, and not even the genre’s biggest players get the visuals right most of the time. While I love how environments looked in Insomniac’s previous superhero outings, their character designs have often felt a tad overdesigned.
My personal distaste for Peter’s Advanced Suit and Miles’ terrible Evolved Suit made me fear that Wolverine would look similarly goofy and overdesigned. Thankfully, Marvel’s Wolverine excels with translating these character designs into the "real world," mostly remaining grounded in the context of the narrative.
Wolverine looks fantastic both in and out of the costume, with his character design feeling like the closest we’ve ever gotten to a comic-accurate, real life Wolverine. I love Hugh Jackman too, but I’m thrilled that this game has finally delivered a realistic, height accurate Wolverine in a suit that perfectly echoes his classic costume. Even then, the unlockable costumes still look great and translate neatly to the photorealistic style.
The rest of the cast looks great, but your mileage may vary. Sabretooth and Mystique look pretty much the same as their comic counterparts, Essex (and whatever subsequent forms he may or may not have) looks appropriately sickly and ominous, and even Jean gets some subtle nods to classic costumes outside of her usual civilian attire. A very likely point of contention are the face models; if Insomniac’s photorealistic approach to faces (and character design as a whole) bother you, this won’t change your mind.
Wolverine's levels and environments can be absolutely gorgeous, and the atmosphere for each locale is wonderfully conveyed through lighting and color. There is the slight issue of the white paint directional markers, which can slightly break the immersion. I mean, why does a 200 year old with heightened senses need white paint to tell him where to go? Nonetheless, from Shinjuku’s cold, neon blues, Madripoor’s tropical warmth, and the feral greys of going into maximum Rage, Marvel’s Wolverine uses color expertly.
The animations are also top notch, conveying Wolverine’s brutality and violence with the weight and heavy fluidity it needs. Moves look and feel impactful, combos look distinct and consistently stylish, while the amount of enemies on the screen never make the action feel cluttered or overwhelming. Meanwhile, Logan’s injuries embody the body horror and gore of his comic appearances, with his adamantium skeleton often shining through wounds and slashes.
Is Marvel’s Wolverine Worth It?
The PS5 Gets Its Second Exclusive, and It’s Excellent For Fans and Newcomers Alike
Marvel’s Wolverine ultimately succeeds by using its reverence for the source material as a foundation for mechanically tight, satisfying action and wonderful character writing. The result is a precise display of why Wolverine has persisted as a pop culture staple for nearly 5 decades, with excellent pacing and beautiful presentation tying it together even as the story falters. The real star of the show is the gameplay, with Wolverine’s berserk combat perfectly capturing his power fantasy while letting players fine tune it to their liking. It’s an excellent introduction to the character for newcomers, a fun romp for diehards, and a great action game altogether.
FAQ
Do I need to read or watch anything related to Wolverine before playing?
No, this is a new and standalone story that takes place in the Insomniac universe, but makes no reference to their other Marvel games. At most, a brief familiarity with general Marvel lore and Wolverine's history will be more than enough.
Game8 Reviews
90/100 is just flat‑out delusional. What game did you review? You do realize that even if you fail QTEs, the game completes them for you, right? The handholding in this game makes Mixtape look like a challenge. A true game made for game journalists.
Ken Mori Jacinto is a SHILL, history will have its final say.
9 for value, but the game is super short? Somehow the same value rating as blood of the dawnwalker with 50+hours? Yea no one should take this review seriously.
Way to lenient with this game. 90? Really? Looks mid at best. Going to stop coming to this site with this BS.