Marvel's Wolverine

Marvel's Wolverine features an ensemble cast drawn from the comic book mythology of the character, the wider X-Men mythos, and various adaptations in other media. The game follows James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine (Liam McIntyre), a centuries-old mutant with retractable claws, heightened animalistic instincts and a pronounced healing factor, who is grafted with an indestructible adamantium alloy in his skeleton following intense experimentation.^[2]

The game is set three years after Wolverine's departure from the mutant strike force Team X, as he rejoins the group to investigate the abduction of mutants by billionaire industrialist Bolivar Trask (Jason Spisak) and his cybernetically-enhanced private militia, the Reavers.^[3] Other characters that appear in the game include Jean Grey (Krizia Bajos), Dr. Nathaniel Essex (Troy Baker), Mystique (Nicole Pacent), Omega Red (Raphael Corkhill), Sabretooth (Brett Gipson), Lady Deathstrike (Jolene Kim), Leech (Noga Wind), Sunfire (Jonathan Tanigaki), Ogun, Tyger Tiger (Kelly Hu), the Sentinels and the Hand.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

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An amnesiac and feral Wolverine is discovered by mutant geneticist Dr. Nathaniel Essex. Thirty years later, Team X, a team created by Essex to protect and help mutant-kind consisting of Wolverine, Sabretooth and Mystique, rescues a captive Essex from a remote facility owned by Bolivar Trask, a scientist plotting to wipe out mutantkind. Logan is cornered by former Team X operative-turned-mercenary Omega Red; overwhelmed, he unleashes his feral rage and brutally kills Red.

At the Essex Institute in Canada, the gang meets with Walter, a scientist whose mutant gene is still dormant, to discuss the threat Trask poses. Wolverine then travels to Vancouver under Essex's orders to evacuate a group of reclusive mutants under attack by Trask's Reavers, as he is familiar with their leader Callisto and her partner Caliban. A red-haired mutant telepath shows up to help Logan, but Callisto is nearly killed by Skullbuster. The duo team up to save the mutants before they can be experimented on and take them back to the Institute. The telepath, introducing herself as Jean Grey, agrees to work with Team X.

The Reavers locate the Institute and destroy it, with Wolverine's friend Leech dying in the process. Team X retaliates by storming Trask's campus in Madripoor. Trask unveils the Sentinel, a prototype robot designed for killing mutants. The team defeats it, and Trask is seized and tortured by Essex; a disgusted Wolverine stabs him through the heart to mercy kill him. Mystique impersonates Trask, allowing the team to gain control of his assets. At a party hosted by Mystique's human wife Tyger, Sabretooth berates Wolverine for having abandoned the team before, while the latter bonds with Jean further. The same night, a ninja cult known as the Hand abduct Walter despite Wolverine's intervention.

Wolverine and Jean travel to Tokyo, where former Team X member Shiro resides. Shiro points them towards the Hand, who believe Wolverine is a "Shinigami", a demon who serves their master, the "Beast". They also learn Walter is willingly working with the Hand and their leader Lady Deathstrike to create a "Helix Engine", a machine with the ability to hyper-evolve mutants; the machine turns Walter into a feral ape-like being and proves to be fatal to those who are not mutants when a wounded Deathstrike tries to use it after Wolverine defeats her.

Wolverine and Jean decide to destroy the Engine, but Essex and Sabretooth arrive and steal it; Essex's reaction to the machine reveals that he is not a true mutant. Wolverine and Jean escape and rendezvous back in Madripoor with Tyger, who provides them with clues that Essex has been alive since the 19th century and has been obsessed with mutants and their abilities; seeing them as the next stage of human evolution. Jean and Wolverine discover Reavers sent by Essex tearing apart Madripoor to capture dormant mutants and inspire the locals to rise up against them. Tyger then sends them to a casino where Mystique is revealed to be complicit in Essex's plans. Mystique, disillusioned with Trask but abandoned by Tyger for betraying their friends and sacrificing innocents, disappears after telling Wolverine that he's a fool for caring for others.

Essex, using perfected, smaller versions of Trask's Sentinels, lays further waste to the city to kidnap more mutants, causing Wolverine and Jean to fight their way through a war-torn wasteland. This culminates in Wolverine battling and seemingly killing an evolved Sabretooth, who reveals he felt abandoned when Wolverine, the only mutant like him, left the team. Essex then reveals his true form, the result of self-experimentation with choice mutant genes including those of his own wife to become the supreme mutant. He then deploys a highly advanced gigantic Sentinel equipped with the Engine, intending to evolve mutants worldwide to trigger the collapse of human civilization.

Wolverine learns the truth: his true name is James Logan Howlett, and he and Jean lived together on a farm when Essex approached them to join Team X. Logan refused to join, causing Essex to attempt mind-control, inadvertently summoning the "Beast" who turns out to be Apocalypse. This caused Logan to accidentally kill Jean when she tried to calm him down; Essex then drove him insane by reliving her death over and over until he reverted to a feral state, removed his memories, and molded him into Wolverine to use him. Jean, meanwhile, miraculously resurrected.

Logan reawakens, traverses the ruins of Madripoor, and reunites with Jean to take down Essex. They pursue the Sentinel to Tokyo, where Shiro comes out of retirement to fight alongside them. In the final battle, Jean and Wolverine destroy all of Essex's Sentinels. Essex is seemingly killed but manages to trigger Wolverine's feral state and bring him under Apocalypse's control. Left with no other option, Jean honors Wolverine's request to purge his mind completely, removing Apocalypse's influence but also his memories of her, Team X, and his past.

Now simply calling himself "Logan", Wolverine sets off to rediscover his lost past and find a new purpose. Jean elects to stay with Callisto, who intends to rebuild Madripoor as a haven for mutants. Sabretooth, still alive, tracks down Apocalypse and accepts his offer to take Wolverine's place. Apocalypse then proclaims that they will find the rest of his Horsemen. In a secret ending, it shows that Wolverine and Jean had began their romance 75 years prior.

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During the development of Marvel's Spider-Man (2018), developer Insomniac Games, Marvel Games and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment discussed prospects for future games based on Marvel Comics properties beyond Spider-Man, with the team at Insomniac continually suggesting their desire to work on a game featuring Wolverine. The development team were drawn to the character through the similar moral compass he shares with Spider-Man, notably the fact that "both heroes feel deeply compelled to defend people who are less able to do so". Insomniac eventually elected to pitch this idea to both Marvel and Sony as their next licensed property following their successful collaboration with the two parties on developing Marvel's Spider-Man.^[12]

Marvel's Wolverine was officially announced alongside Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (2023) by Insomniac Games, during the PlayStation Showcase event in September 2021. The developers confirmed shortly thereafter that the standalone game shares continuity with the Marvel's Spider-Man games.^[13][2] Brian Horton and Cameron Christian were announced as the game's creative and game directors, respectively, reprising their roles from Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020),^[2] with Horton describing the game as "full size, mature tone" in contrast to Miles Morales.^[14] Mary Kenney served as the game's writer with Spec Ops: The Line (2012) writer Walt Williams.^[15][16] Motion capture preparation had begun by April 2022,^[17] when lead animator Mike Yosh posted a photo of a motion capture soundstage on Twitter. In June 2023, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021) co-writer Nick Folkman revealed on Twitter that he had been simultaneously involved as a writer on both Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and Marvel's Wolverine, and that he would be completely focused on the latter now that his work on the former game had been completed.^[18] Marvel's Spider-Man 2 creative director Bryan Intihar reconfirmed the game's shared continuity to the studio's Spider-Man games in October 2023, saying "they're all Earth-1048".^[19]

Sweet Baby Inc. announced in 2021 they will be working as a story consultation.^[20] In September 2024, Insomniac Games's core technology director Mike Fitzgerald confirmed that Marvel's Wolverine would support enhancements made by the PlayStation 5 Pro as they were being implemented into their existing games for the console.^[21] Over the summer, Brian Horton left his role as creative director on the game to join The Initiative at Xbox Game Studios, briefly assuming the role of creative director on the Perfect Dark reboot prior to its cancellation and the studio's simultaneous closure in July 2025.^[22] Marcus Smith took over Horton's role, while Mike Daly replaced Christian as game director. The duo previously collaborated on Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021).^[23] The game's cover art, which was revealed during a September 2025 State of Play, was designed in collaboration with comic artist Jock.^[5]

2023 Rhysida hack

In December 2023, Insomniac Games was targeted in a ransomware attack that compromised various development documents and personal employee information. Among the surfaced materials, early in-game images and concept art featuring other characters were leaked online.^[24] The hackers, Rhysida, threatened to publish all procured images and resources obtained from the hack within seven days and they held an auction for the data with a starting price at 50 bitcoin (then-equivalent to US$2 million). Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) stated that they intended to investigate but did not anticipate the incident to affect other divisions of SIE or Sony as a whole.^[25] After Rhysida's deadline, company information, including employee data, model dumps and pre-production slates for various games in development, were published online. These materials included various production assets related to Marvel's Wolverine, such as vertical gameplay slices, animation and model tests, concept art, finalized plot and character details, as well as personal information concerning in-house staff and contract workers involved in the game's development, including the unintended reveal of the game's voice cast.^[26][27]

In the hours following the leak, early playable builds of the game were similarly circulated online and made accessible by dataminers. SIE responded by issuing DMCA takedown notices through internet service providers against those who attempted to download the files.^[28] Insomniac Games issued a statement addressing the hack three days later, stating that the events took an "extremely distressing" emotional toll on the development teams involved in their upcoming projects, but that the data breach would not impact their development plans, including production on Marvel's Wolverine. They also thanked their fans and the wider gaming community for "the outpouring of compassion and unwavering support", affirming to share more details regarding the game when the timing was right.^[29] The events of the hack and its consequences for the developer were met with widespread sympathy throughout the video game industry.^[30]

On September 24, 2025, during the State of Play, Sony announced that Marvel's Wolverine is set for release on PlayStation 5 in late 2026.^[4] On February 24, 2026, Insomniac confirmed the release date as September 15, 2026.^[31][32] Marvel's Wolverine was nominated for Most Anticipated Game at the Game Awards 2025.^[33] As part of a cross-promotion with Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, the default Wolverine costume from Marvel Tōkon appears in Marvel's Wolverine, and vice-versa.^[34]

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Marvel's Wolverine received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[35] OpenCritic determined that 69% of critics recommended the game.^[36]

Scott Duwe's verdict on Destructoid was "Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash. Another well-made narrative-driven superhero story from Insomniac Games shines as an awesome adventure for a very different iconic Marvel character. Its sometimes-repetitive combat cadence aside, Marvel's Wolverine is an epic AAA action-packed adventure chock full of fun, intrigue, and exciting Marvel universe references."^[37]

Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell said "Wolverine's characterisation is a bright spot in this otherwise underwhelming, old-school romp that reminds us how far action games have come."^[38]

Matt Miller's concluded his review on Game Informer with "Insomniac’s latest action opus is beautiful to look at and listen to, and it plays like a dream. Whether you’re a fan of the wily mutant lead or you simply gravitate to taut, tightly animated combat like what you’d find in God of War or Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Wolverine is an intense and unrelenting ride. It may not hit a lot of notes, but like Logan himself, it nails the vitals where it counts."^[39]

Tamoor Hussain from GameSpot praised the game for its solid combat, appealing visual style with cinematic flair and compelling story with good character performances while criticizing it for the gameplay not doing much beyond the basics and lack of weight, flow and challenge for the combat.^[40]

"Marvel's Wolverine is a surprisingly average game let down by basic combat, a messy story, and the whelming feeling it could have all been a lot better. It's an enjoyable enough experience but one that lacks the depth, nuance and variety you'd expect." was Leon Hurley's consensus on GamesRadar+.^[41]

Shawn McDowell said that "Wolverine is a game with momentary sparks of fun, but its mostly-good combat getting constantly dragged down by mediocre storytelling, poor pacing, and an underwhelming amount of player agency left me very bored far too often." on his Giant Bomb review.^[42]

On his review for Hardcore Gamer, Kevin Dunsmore's pros were a deeply engrossing emotional story, consistent and focused levels and activities, and deep and brutal visceral gameplay, while his cons were camera issues during intense battles and very easy to get hit by enemies off-camera.^[43]

The verdict for Simon Cardy on IGN was "Marvel's Wolverine's slick and satisfying combat wears thin well before its conclusion, so much so that even its strong character work can't quite save it from being anything more than okay."^[44]

A strong linear and focused experience, fast-paced and gory combat, brutal takedowns and team combos, nice variety of locations, excellent vocal performances and outstanding visuals at times were the pros while relatively uninteresting narrative, some badly presented story elements and restrictive invisible walls were the cons on Liam Croft's review on Push Square.^[45]

Donovan Erskine on Shacknews's pros were satisfying melee-based combat, cinematic setpieces, impressive story performances, modular difficulty settings and snappy loading and scene transitions while his cons were story doesn't reach its potential, gameplay gets repetitive and not much compelling content outside of combat.^[46]

"Sporting a level of polish that could put the sheen on Wolverine's adamantium death-dealers to shame, Sony and Insomniac's latest is another exceedingly pretty, single-player, story-driven epic that doesn't skimp on the production values. Supported by visceral, varied, and extremely violent melee combat, this set-piece-packed, cinema-rivaling spectacle puts you behind the claws – and mutton chops – of the fan-favorite superhero like never before. Soaking its stunning environments in buckets of blood never gets old, but the fighting mechanics do suffer from a lack of meaningful depth, while the lengthy, linear-to-a-fault campaign could benefit from more engaging optional activities and opportunities to explore." was the verdict for Matt Cabral on TechRadar.^[47]

Keith Stuart from The Guardian said "Logan is well realised by Liam McIntyre and some exquisite character art, but there are lapses in narrative and emotional arcs and some of the combat feels like a chore."^[48]

Video Games Chronicle's Jordan Middler summed up the review by saying "Marvel's Wolverine is fine, but it fails to capture the spirit of the legendary character in the same way Insomniac did with Spider-Man. It's a game out of time, full of dated quest design and combat that excels in spectacle but not much else. Best-in-class visuals pull up the overall package, but this isn't the definitive Wolverine game I'd hoped for."^[49]

The ransomware attack on Insomniac Games in December 2023 revealed that the studio was producing several new Marvel video games, all in various stages of development. Marvel's Wolverine is planned as the first in a trilogy focused on the X-Men, similar to the Marvel's Spider-Man series. The hack also confirmed a new licensing deal between Insomniac Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Marvel. Under this agreement, Insomniac would work with Marvel to produce X-Men video games. The deal includes restrictions: while X-Men characters can appear in other Marvel games, Marvel cannot announce any new X-Men games from other publishers for consoles, PC, or cloud streaming during the agreement. Other first-party platforms, like Xbox and Nintendo, cannot use X-Men-affiliated characters or elements as competitive advantages against PlayStation consoles for multiplatform Marvel games.^[50][51]