Marvel fans eager for more action from the world of Spider-Man PS4 after finishing the DLC will have been aware that Insomniac Games were working on a sequel, but to the surprise of many, a new story in the world of Peter Parker is coming sooner than expected, and not through the eyes of Peter Parker. For Sony and PlayStation Studios, it’s a major move and one that seems extremely smart, taking their best-selling exclusive of all time and putting it day and date on PS5.
Excited to find out more about Spider-Man: Miles Morales? Here’s all you need to know about the Insomniac sequel.
You’ll be playing as Miles Morales
Of course, first things first, the most obvious difference with this Spider-Man game is that you won’t be playing as the previous title’s protagonist Peter Parker, and instead as the younger Miles Morales, a now protege of Peter who is still coming to grips with his powers. Taking advice and support from Peter who will presumably have a ‘man in the chair’ role, not only will you have different abilities and powers to get to grips with, but Miles’ swinging style and movement will be a bit more fluent and sporadic than the practised Spider-Man of before.
It takes place in New York
Operating out of Miles’ hometown of Harlem, this Spider-Man sequel will also take place in New York as the first game did, but things are different. For starters, with the power of the new hardware on the PS5, loading times will be better, allowing players to almost instantaneously fast-travel across New York, and increased graphic fidelity will bring the streets of Manhatten to life even more so than on the PS4. Ray tracing and ray traced reflections are terms often thrown around from a visual standpoint, and you can see from the brief glimpse of gameplay that we got how beautiful the lighting and reflective materials looked in Insomniac’s comic vision of Manhattan.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales also takes place in the winter season, with snow lining paths and decorations aplenty. This will surely affect the overall vibe of the game, and likely the narrative, too.
- Did you know? – The Porting Process – The PS5’s hardware will allow for Insomniac Games to realise a more fast-paced, impressive, graphically defined, living and breathing vision of New York, but it also presents a new challenge for the development team getting to grips with the new hardware. Luckily, according to press releases from Sony, the PS5’s architecture is built on foundations similar to the PS4, but for different video game platforms and teams working on ports, there are unique hurdles to overcome. That’s why you have developers that specialise in different platforms and consoles, such as Abstraction games, who have knowledge in multiple systems.
It’s a smaller game experience
As many expected with Miles Morales, it’s going to a smaller, interim experience that bridges the game between PS4’s Spider-Man, and what we can only assume will be Spider-Man 2 down the line. This has been a successful strategy for many different developers, and allows fans to get a taste of the worlds they love sooner than usual. Some prime examples of this framework include Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Infamous: First Light, and The Last of Us: Left Behind.
While it will be shorter than your fully-fledged blockbuster release, this doesn’t mean it’s going to be any lesser of a game, however. In fact, for many picking up the PS5 when it releases, it will be the perfect way to showcase how the console has grown over the PS4, allowing wall-crawling and web-slinging to be even better on modern hardware. Additionally, many have recently voiced their support for shorter AAA game experiences, such as former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden, who stated that the current model is ‘just not sustainable’, and would like to see some 15-hour experiences.
It’s coming out this year
Perhaps one of the most exciting and important pieces of news surrounding the new Spider-Man game from Insomniac is that you won’t have to wait very long to play it. Launching this holiday season, Miles Morales will likely be the first game that anticipant fans boot up on the new PlayStation hardware. We don’t yet know the official launch date of Miles Morales or the PS5, and the chances are that it could be a day one launch title. At the very least it will be shortly after.
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