In addition, recent leaks concerning Insomniac Games’ upcoming exclusive have been compiled on Reddit.
This highly anticipated title features 60 FPS gameplay and a combat system full of gory scenes. It will be Insomniac’s first new game since Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but Marvel’s Wolverine has since become the target of an online hate campaign after Sony revealed several gameplay clips. The upcoming superhero game has been compared to PS2 titles and criticized for failing to bring anything revolutionary to the genre. The online hate campaign has become so severe that it has even caused concern among the developers at Insomniac.
I think the wild way this algorithm amplifies and forces negativity upon you has me reconsidering my philosophy on telling devs to look or post here.
It’s a relentless onslaught that I cannot believe is good for anyone’s mental health nor representative.
— James Stevenson (@JamesStevenson) August 14, 2026
James Stevenson, Insomniac Games’ director of communications, tweeted that he is considering advising developers to avoid the platform due to the fierce criticism surrounding Marvel’s Wolverine. The communications director emphasized that the relentless barrage of hate directed at Insomniac and Marvel’s Wolverine is detrimental to the developers’ mental health. Stevenson also blamed the algorithm for amplifying negative posts about the upcoming action-adventure game. Despite the anticipation surrounding Marvel’s Wolverine, the game has become the target of negative feedback and crude humor on Twitter. Fans have compared the Sentinel battle in the game to the main boss fight in a Ben 10 game released on PS2. Other hateful posts have similarly targeted the game’s traditional and unchanged gameplay, comparing it to other Insomniac games. Given that the trailers suggest Marvel’s Wolverine does not bring anything revolutionary to Sony’s first-party game formula, these posts may prove to be a cruel prediction. At the same time, however, early reviews have also highlighted that Insomniac’s game will feature solid combat and gameplay systems.
Over the course of a few days, Reddit user u/uniquecartridge went through the leaked Wolverine Zoom discussions and design documents. They compiled the most interesting parts so that they could be read in a clear format rather than getting lost among hours of production meeting recordings or removed links. Think of this as a retrospective compilation, allowing even regular visitors to the InsomniacLeaks subreddit to discover new information.
The original combat system used separate claw buttons, the left and right triggers, with adaptive trigger feedback: a half-press was used for punches and a full press for sweeping attacks. Despite two years of development and satisfactory early quality assurance results, the system was scrapped in favor of the standard light/heavy button configuration. The reasons given were accessibility, responsiveness and game scope. During early playtests, battles against every opponent devolved into mere button-mashing festivals. The developers therefore focused on making combat more engaging, ensuring that even a simple, disposable opponent would make for an interesting fight. According to former director Brian Horton, the player experience comes first and the power fantasy second. They created a prototype of an enemy with cloaking abilities that would have forced players to use Wolverine’s senses during combat. I have no idea if this made it into the final game. Early in development, Logan was almost given a small wrist-mounted crossbow with various types of arrows, as well as a central crafting system and upgrade options. Marvel rejected the idea because it didn’t fit the character. There was also a system that allowed players to pick up and throw enemy weapons, including a great scene where The Hand threw shurikens at Logan and he ripped them out of his own body to throw them back.
As early as development, Insomniac Games mentioned fully destructible buildings, such as tearing down a two-story house in the middle of a fight, but a prototype for this was never created. There was also chain-reaction destruction: cutting down a tree would cause it to fall onto a barrel, which would then explode. Cutting through a wall could reveal an exploding pipe or a BioShock-style water and electricity hazard. A prototype for this was actually created. Based on what has been shown so far, however, all of this has largely been scaled down to smaller destructible objects such as crates and trees. A great deal of effort was put into using visual cues to indicate what can and cannot be destroyed, as well as what can be climbed. During a milestone review in 2021, Sony noted that the sensory and stealth systems seemed rudimentary and asked the team to refine them further. The developers experimented extensively, but based on the trailers, not much appears to have changed. The scent-based “detective” mode and stealth movement through tall grass have attracted significant criticism, as these mechanics are considered overly derivative and lacking in innovation.
Marvel and Sony opposed having too many characters, more than 20, in the game, so a number of supporting characters were cut. Nightcrawler was originally Logan’s ally in Madripoor, but Marvel felt that such a significant character should not be limited to a supporting role in a single zone, so he was replaced by Jubilee. Ultimately, both were omitted. In the latest version, Tyger Tiger filled this role. Jean Grey was intended to be a playable character, with five missions planned for her. The gameplay seemed solid and engaging, reminiscent of Remedy’s Control, featuring telekinesis, levitation, throwing objects and firing psychic blasts at enemies. It looked far more entertaining than the Mary Jane missions in Marvel’s Spider-Man, which forced stealth and ruined the game’s pacing for some players. Sadly, according to Insomniac’s latest statement, these missions have been cut from the game.
The feedback also highlighted sections that seemed more episodic than cohesive. The opening mission underwent several revisions: initially, the X-Team rescued a random mutant, then they rescued Jean Grey, and the current trailers show them rescuing Nathaniel Essex. Over the course of three years, Marvel consistently pushed for further story revisions. In the final meeting documented in the leaked files, in November 2023, Marvel requested revisions to Nathaniel’s motivation and the ending. It’s safe to assume that the story underwent further revisions even after the management shake-up. One thing that remained unchanged from day one, however, was the global scale, with locations such as Madripoor and Tokyo. The planned snowy Russian level was replaced with one set in Canada after the developers expressed concerns about the visual implications of depicting a snowy Russian setting in the context of the ongoing war.
Insomniac developed its own 4D facial scanning system called “Cerebro,” enabling it to scan the actors in-house. David Buckley was the first composer assigned to the project, but left due to scheduling conflicts. Noshir Dalal, Charles Smith in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Bode Akuna in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, was called back and participated in a chemistry test for the role of Logan in February 2022. The animation, rigging and textures for the bear boss fight were taken directly from the bear fight involving Atreus in God of War: Ragnarök, but due to scope constraints this ultimately became just a cutscene. There was talk of including a Wolverine teaser in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, but Bryan Intihar ultimately decided against it. A boss fight against a Proto Sentinel was cut in December 2022, but based on the latest trailer, it appears to have been reintroduced into the game. Logan riding a motorcycle was one of the ideas for which a prototype was created during an internal Game Jam.
Insomniac remains incredibly productive compared to other studios, but Wolverine was originally scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2024. In 2021, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was delayed internally and thus given an additional year of development. A Zoom meeting at the end of 2021 confirms that this also pushed back the Wolverine timeline. In 2023 and 2024, the hack itself apparently threw the schedule into disarray, and then, as part of a management shake-up, the studio’s leadership positions were reorganized. Of particular note is the departure of creative director Brian Horton, who left to direct the ill-fated Perfect Dark reboot.
Source: Tech4gamers, Reddit
