Last night, a bloody new gameplay trailer for Wolverine was revealed during PlayStation's latest State of Play. Now, Insomniac Games' creative director Marcus Smith and Wolverine director Mike Daly have revealed more about what fans can expect while speaking to Variety.
In the trailer, there's a character who looks a lot like Deadpool. While they've since been identified as a member of The Hand, it's impossible to ignore how similar the sword-wielding assassin looks to the Merc With a Mouth.
Asked about that, Smith said, "You are not the only one who has seen that character in that shot and thought that. Luckily, when you’re playing the game, there’s a lot of setup before any of that, and there will not be that confusion. Not Deadpool, but we were trying to build the ultimate Wolverine experience."
When it came to deciding which X-Men characters to include in Wolverine, Smith confirmed that the mutant team's absence from this world was a big part of how Insomniac approached the game's supporting cast.
"It’s our own unique take on the world, and as such, we are putting it in modern times, but the X-Men do not exist. The X-Men are not in our game, and where we do start is Logan has been around for a while," Smith explained. "He’s been part of a team called Team X. They’re a group of mutants who go all around the world and save other mutants who are in danger."
"In our world, mutants aren’t really that well known throughout the world, so they’re mostly in hiding because they’re pretty vulnerable."
While it would be possible for a Wolverine game to take place in a world where the X-Men exist (the hero has had plenty of adventures without his teammates), the likes of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Storm showing up would only lead to demands for Insomniac to make a game featuring the team. By focusing solely on Logan, the developer can keep the spotlight on the clawed mutant.
Talk later turned to the level of violence in Wolverine, with it now confirmed that there will be a "low-gore" option for anyone who isn't a fan of blood. The gameplay trailer showed Logan being beaten to a pulp—with his Adamantium skeleton exposed at points—but it turns out he can die in the game.
Daly said, "We knew we needed to bring his healing factor into play in a way that was important to gameplay and affected your decision making, and obviously that’s a tricky challenge. Logan’s healing factor has manifested in a lot of different ways over the years, and where we ended up was our Logan can die."
"He dies when his heart stops, and his healing factor can no longer activate, and that’s represented by his health bar. It’s a simple system that players easily understand," he continued. "Now that being said, Logan’s healing is — his body’s energy is able to regenerate at an incredible rate when it’s dedicated to these healing surges. So outside of combat, he can heal very quickly and get up totally fresh."
In Wolverine, players become a living weapon. As he searches for answers about his past, Wolverine will do whatever it takes—unleashing brutal claw combat, violent rage, and relentless determination—to cut through the mystery of the man he used to be.
Developed in collaboration with Marvel Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment, Marvel’s Wolverine is coming to the PS5 on September 15. A first look at the pre-order bonuses included with the Digital Deluxe Edition have also been revealed: