With Wolverine set to elevate superhero gaming in 2026, here's the four features I want the most, and four I'm desperate to avoid

With three very enjoyable Spider-Man games under their belt, there's few studios I'd trust more to get Marvel's Wolverine right than Insomniac. But they've never made a perfect superhero game. I still wake up in a cold sweat each and every night, screaming about those awful Mary Jane stealth sections. While Wolverine has put in some great appearances across games like Marvel's Midnight Suns and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, it's been tough to get the sharp-clawed hero right in the past.

Insomniac Games' bread and butter has always been about giving us access to power fantasies even before releasing Marvel's Spider-Man. Each Ratchet & Clank introduced bigger, badder, beefier weapons for its cute hero, and even Spyro the Dragon felt fresh at the time with his dragon-based powers including pointy horns and flame breath. Since tackling Spidey, each subsequent game from the studio has only gotten better at superheroics, which is why the first-party exclusive Marvel's Wolverine isn't just one of the biggest new PS5 games of the year, but is one of my most anticipated new releases of 2026 across the board. With that in mind, here's four things I want – and four things I resolutely don't – from Wolverine's new game.

What I'd love to see from Marvel's Wolverine

4. Combat that varies up the endless clawing

Wolverine is rated M for mature, but based on the violence in the reveal trailer, he's trying to earn a more thematically-appropriate X. Wolverine's claws tear through torsos, merrily lop off limbs, and are buried in a human skull so graphically that even Jason Voorhees would tell him to ease up a little. I'd be lying if I claimed a somewhat unpleasant part of me wasn't gleefully looking forward to slicing chumps into extra bloody ribbons. …What?

But keeping combat interesting for a whole campaign is tricky, even with two fistfuls of knives. This action-heavy slasher will likely keep things fresh by having you buy new moves from a skill tree if the Spider-Man games are any indication (yawn), but hopefully it'll also have fighting options unique to each location. We see Wolverine walk into a bar in the trailer, and I'll be livid if that's not setting up slamming someone's head through the jukebox. Extra points if it then starts playing the X-Men animated series theme. Tokyo and Canada are confirmed, which means samurai swords and maple syrup bottles you can squeeze into enemies eyes should be too. The former is even straight from the comics.

3. Multiple playable mutants

With Mystique and Omega Red confirmed, and surely more surprise mutants to come, how about sections where we play as one of them? Mystique can transform her appearance to perfectly mimic anyone else, which basically makes her a walking Hitman level. A token stealth section would actually feel pretty novel if you had to constantly avoid running into yourself. Omega Red can release death spores that kill humans instantly. How about a minigame where you blow on the controller to send those spores off to your victims? Hmmm. Let's stick that last idea on the 'maybe' pile.

2. Amazing chase set-pieces with that motorbike

At one point in the trailer Wolverine uses his motorbike to leap onto the back of a moving truck. Yes yes yes! I want on-road fights atop vehicles that are laughing at the speed limit. I want that bike to be a constant launch pad to send me giddily soaring towards enemies in need of a good slicing. I want fools constantly trying to push Logan off his wheels and getting the ol' adamantium spikes in their tires for their trouble, if not their screaming faces. About time a studio with a mega-budget remade Road Rash properly.

1. A story with a fresh take on Wolverine

One of the things I like most about the Spider-Man games are when they play around with the classic story beats, like making Venom a different character to Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 2. According to Sony's website, 'Wolverine is on the hunt to uncover the secrets of a dark past that keeps eluding him'. I've got every finger crossed that said 'dark past' is not simply the time William Stryker gave his skeleton a metallic makeover, because that's been covered to death by comics, cartoons, and one particularly awful movie (which, bizarrely, also gave us the only good Wolverine game so far). Give us a new origin, or at least a new dark past to discover, even if it turns out to just be the time he and Cyclops got too into a game of strip poker.

What I'm begging Marvel's Wolverine to avoid

4. Make us play as anyone without powers

I'm still in disbelief that Mary Jane's aforementioned boring stealth sections returned for Spider-Man 2. I do not want a Wolverine game that misguidedly tries to add variety by having us play a level as Wolverine's boring mate. Luckily, if Insomniac Games is determined to have multiple playable characters again, I'd much rather they bring more mutants into the fold, as I mentioned above.

3. Use that motorbike for long boring commutes

When I saw Wolverine riding a motorbike in the trailer, I wept. Maybe I've got PTSD from Metroid Prime 4, but the last thing I want is another game that mistakes a long motorbike ride for compelling gameplay. Faking scale by making me endure a long commute to where the action is will only give me lots of time to think of nasty things to call your game, Insomniac. Such as "Wolverine? More like Wolvermean – to the concept of respecting the player's time, that is!" OK, that wasn't great, but that's why you shouldn't give me a long dull drive to think of something better. While the Spider-Man games feature huge open worlds, it's a highlight thanks to the expressivity of webslinging. Let's take a break and allow Wolverine to enjoy some smaller, denser environments.

2. Tell the story through endless walk-and-talk scenes

Hands up everyone who bought Spider-Man 2 so they could endure an unskippable night at the funfair with Peter Parker and pals. Now put your hands down before I slap you with them. I am so tired of the walk-and-talk sequence, sometimes broken up with tedious minigames if you're lucky, as a method of storytelling. They're an overdone way to disguise – and needlessly lengthen! – what are essentially cutscenes. Wolverine is all about action. I hope if anyone suggests a stroll to Logan, he rightly buries his claws in their kneecaps. Oh don't look at me like that. That's not even close to the most violent thing he does in the trailer.

1. Tell a story that keeps endlessly setting up threads for later games

Spider-Man 2 had a really nasty case of this. I endured a tedious side quest because I thought it was building up to a boss battle with Carnage. Nope! It ends with Cletus Cassady saying the word 'carnage' basically to camera before disappearing. Likewise with Chameleon. Likewise with Silk. I don't mind a post-credits tease, but I didn't pay seventy pounds to watch a trailer for Spider-Man 3!

A Wolverine game with a whole new universe of mutants to introduce could potentially indulge far too much of this. I don't want a cutscene of Logan saying "maybe I'll check out this so-called 'Mutant school' some other time" or texting Toad to apologetically cancel their boss fight because he's busy with a long boring motorbike ride to the Tokyo level.

What do you want or don't want to see from Insomniac's Wolverine game? Let us know in the comments! A level where Wolverine gets a copy of the abysmal X-Men Destiny for his birthday and vows revenge? Now there's an idea…