Marvel’s Wolverine Is Almost Here, and the Latest Previews Are Making the Hype Much Harder to Ignore

Marvel’s Wolverine is only two weeks away, Insomniac has officially finished development, and journalists have now spent around two hours actually playing it. The latest feature trailer goes even deeper into Rage, brutal finishers, suits, Nightmare challenges and Logan’s forgotten past. The early reaction is becoming pretty clear: yes, the claws are vicious, but the surprise might be how much personality Insomniac has managed to put behind them.

Insomniac has spent years making superheroes feel good to control. Spider-Man swings through Manhattan like the city was built specifically for him. Wolverine has a slightly different relationship with his environment.

Mostly, he wants to put claws through it.

Marvel’s Wolverine officially went gold on August 21, meaning the launch build is complete ahead of its September 15 release on PS5. Then, on August 28, Insomniac dropped its most detailed feature trailer yet, narrated by Logan actor Liam McIntyre. It is probably the best three-minute explanation so far of what this game actually wants to be.

The Combat Is Not Spider-Man With Claws

The easiest concern to have about Wolverine was that Insomniac would take Spider-Man’s combat, remove the webs and add considerably more blood.

After the hands-on previews, that comparison is starting to look too simple.

Wolverine is built around aggressive momentum. Logan does not bounce between enemies because he is trying to control a crowd. He gets close because that is exactly where Wolverine wants to be. Claws, kicks, counters, brutal barrages and critical strikes feed a three-level Rage meter, encouraging you to keep attacking rather than back away and reset.

Insomniac has now detailed Special Techniques including Tornado Spin, Knee Breaker and Spiral Strike, with four equipped at once. There are also dozens of Adaptations that can widen parry windows, improve Rage, absorb more incoming fire or make Logan more terrifying during combat.

The Rage meter is especially important. At higher levels, Logan becomes harder to kill and considerably nastier. Tier two can trigger Last Stand, giving him another chance when he should be down. Reach tier three and he enters a much more ferocious state where attacks and critical strikes become more powerful.

It is essentially a system built around asking:

What if getting angrier was character progression?

For Wolverine, that seems scientifically accurate.

Journalists Came for the Gore. Logan Was the Surprise.

The first major hands-on sessions lasted roughly two to two-and-a-half hours, and there is an interesting pattern in the coverage.

Everybody expected the violence.

The surprise was the man underneath it.

The Verge’s Kallie Plagge went into the preview primarily interested in bloody Wolverine combat and came away much more invested in Logan himself. The demo deliberately slows down after violent missions, giving him uncomfortable conversations, old grudges and quieter moments where he looks much less indestructible than his healing factor suggests.

GamesRadar had a similar reaction after two hours, arguing that the game does not feel like a Spider-Man reskin and describing it as distinctly Logan. GameSpot also focused heavily on how closely the game understands Wolverine as a character rather than simply treating him as Marvel’s angry knife man.

IGN’s preview was more measured. The combat was considered satisfying and faithful to Wolverine, but there were questions about whether it will have enough creative variety to stay interesting for the entire game. That is probably the biggest question still hanging over the combat. Spider-Man had gadgets, aerial options, webs and huge traversal possibilities. Logan has a much more focused toolbox.

Whether focused becomes repetitive is something only the full game can answer.

But even the more cautious previews seem to agree on one point:

It feels like Wolverine.

Team X Looks Like a Beautifully Dysfunctional Disaster

The story is not an origin tale. Logan already has his adamantium skeleton when the game begins, but large parts of his past are missing from his memory.

Three years after leaving Team X, Logan is pulled back into a crisis involving mutants being hunted and experimented on by Bolivar Trask. In this version of the Marvel universe, mutants are still relatively few. There is no giant established X-Men organization waiting to solve everything.

So Logan gets Team X.

Which may actually be worse.

The group includes Mystique and Sabretooth, while Jean Grey becomes one of the central figures fighting alongside Logan. Nathaniel Essex also has history with the team, while the wider villain lineup includes Omega Red, Deathstrike, the Reavers and Sentinel technology.

Sabretooth and Logan obviously have what could generously be described as workplace tension.

During the hands-on demo, players get moments where Victor insults Logan, argues with him and joins him in situations where putting the two men in the same room already feels like a bad HR decision.

The quieter interactions may end up being some of the most important scenes in the game. Insomniac is clearly not interested in making ten hours of Logan screaming while everybody nearby becomes several smaller pieces.

At least not only that.

Jean Grey Is More Than Someone Standing Behind Logan

Jean Grey is heavily involved in the story, but Insomniac has confirmed Wolverine is the only playable character.

That immediately got a positive reaction from players who remember the slower character-switching sections in Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. There are no sudden missions where you spend twenty minutes controlling somebody without powers while Wolverine waits somewhere off-screen with six indestructible knives attached to his hands.

Jean instead operates alongside Logan, using telekinesis while the story digs into their relationship and shared history.

GameSpot also notes that the game takes place on Earth-1048, the same universe as Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. That does not mean Peter Parker is suddenly going to swing into Madripoor, but it does mean Wolverine is officially part of the same growing Marvel game universe.

For now, Insomniac appears smart enough to let this remain Logan’s story.

Madripoor Might Be Where the Game Really Breathes

Wolverine is not open world, and after the hands-on previews that decision makes more sense.

Insomniac is building a linear, story-driven action game with larger areas where Logan can slow down, explore and take detours. One of those areas is Lowtown in Madripoor, which several journalists singled out as a highlight.

Logan can wander the streets, investigate hidden areas and use Enhanced Senses to follow smells, overhear conversations and detect useful objects. Whisky bottles scattered around the world unlock fragments of his forgotten memories, while material crates feed into crafting and customization.

The Princess Bar is where the game becomes unexpectedly social. Logan can spend time with Jean, Mystique and Sabretooth instead of immediately stabbing something. The hands-on demo even includes a game of Never Have I Ever with Mystique, while exploring the rooms reveals little character details and pieces of Marvel history.

One room contains an IOU from Remy LeBeau, better known as Gambit.

Naturally, fans noticed.

These slower sequences were among IGN and The Verge’s favourite moments because they give the violence contrast. Wolverine becomes more interesting when you see him trying to exist around people between fights.

He is extremely good at dismembering armed mercenaries.

Small talk appears more difficult.

The Latest Trailer Is Packed With Fan Service

Insomniac clearly knows exactly who has been staring at Wolverine panels, movies and cartoons for decades.

There are costumes inspired by Weapon X, Old Man Logan, Ultimate Wolverine and Patch, plus civilian outfits including Logan’s classic tank top and leather jacket. Some masks and hats can be toggled on or off, while claws themselves can be customized with bone, curved, notched, reflective and other designs.

You can even press L2 + R2 outside combat just to pop the claws.

Completely unnecessary.

Absolutely essential.

The latest trailer also recreates one of the most famous Wolverine memes ever made. Inside Logan’s Nightmare Cabin, he can be seen lying on a bed looking sadly at a framed photograph, directly referencing the classic scene from X-Men: The Animated Series that has been turned into reaction images for years.

Reddit noticed immediately.

One of the top reactions to the trailer was:

“They really did the Wolverine lying in bed meme.”

Another simply called it:

“Peak fan service.”

Honestly, they are not wrong.

New Game Plus Is Already There on Day One

The August 28 reveal also answered several practical questions before launch.

New Game Plus is available immediately, with exclusive Techniques and higher level caps. Mission Replay lets you revisit story sections, Nightmare Challenges provide score-based combat encounters, and Photo Mode arrives through the day-one update.

The Nightmare system itself sounds much stranger than a normal challenge menu. Logan can discover Nightmare Doors around the world that lead into combat and traversal challenges built from fragments of his damaged memories.

There are also more than 100 new, returning or improved accessibility options, including global game speed settings, high-contrast modes and audio description.

And yes, the gore can be adjusted.

The default game is unapologetically violent, with dynamic blood and dismemberment, but players can reduce those effects if Wolverine removing somebody’s arm before dinner is not really the evening they had planned.

The Fan Reaction Is Excited, but There Is Still One Big Concern

The latest feature trailer produced a much warmer response than some of Wolverine’s earlier footage. The r/PS5 discussion passed a thousand upvotes, with one of its most popular comments simply saying:

“This game looks great.”

Other players praised New Game Plus being available at launch, the costumes, Rage system and ridiculous amount of Wolverine history being packed into the game.

But there is still skepticism around combat depth.

Some players worry that without Spider-Man’s aerial fighting, gadgets and environmental freedom, Logan’s moveset could eventually feel narrow. That concern lines up surprisingly well with the more cautious press previews.

It is probably the single biggest thing Insomniac still has to prove.

Not whether Wolverine feels good for two hours.

Whether he still feels good after twenty.

Everything else is lining up remarkably well.

The game has gone gold. The physical edition contains a complete playable build on the disc, with the launch update recommended for extra polish rather than required to make the game work. The latest trailer has confirmed New Game Plus, Mission Replay, Nightmare challenges and an enormous customization system. Journalists have actually played it, and even the more skeptical previews seem impressed by how completely Insomniac understands Logan.

There are still no final review scores, and that matters. Two impressive hours do not guarantee an impressive full game.

But with September 15 getting very close, Marvel’s Wolverine has moved beyond looking like another promising PlayStation trailer.

People have finally had the controller in their hands.

The claws, apparently, feel right.

Marvel’s Wolverine launches September 15, 2026 exclusively on PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro.