Marvel's Spider-Man 2 (PC)

After Marvel's Spider-Man (PS: 2018; PC: 2022) and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS: 2020; PC: 2022), the third Spider-Man game from Insomniac Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment has been released on PC. This is Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which was released on PS5 on 20 October 2023. It sold over 2.5 million units in 24 hours and has sold over 11 million units as of April 2024 on PlayStation 5. The PC port is the work of Nixxes Software from the Netherlands, who have already ported the two predecessors, the two Horizon games, Ghost of Tsushima and Ratchet & Clank: Rift from PlayStation to PC.

After Marvel's Spider-Man (PS: 2018; PC: 2022) and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS: 2020; PC: 2022), the third Spider-Man game from Insomniac Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment has been released on PC. This is Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which was released on PS5 on 20 October 2023. It sold over 2.5 million units in 24 hours and has sold over 11 million units as of April 2024 on PlayStation 5. The PC port is the work of Nixxes Software from the Netherlands, who have already ported the two predecessors, the two Horizon games, Ghost of Tsushima and Ratchet & Clank: Rift from PlayStation to PC.

Peter Parker and Miles Morales are in the game. Both are playable, and there is also the alien symbiote Venom, which attaches itself to Peter and negatively affects him. Both Spidermans have their own skill tree and a joint one with shared abilities. Parker and Morales have different play styles and have new traversal (such as web wings to move around the city) and combat abilities compared to their predecessors. In addition to the main story, which continues with Parker and/or Morales, there are side missions and collectibles in the open world, as the game world has also been expanded. Marvel's New York (Manhattan) features two new boroughs, Brooklyn and Queens. With a Metascore of 90 and a Userscore of 8.7 from over 9,000 users, it is one of the best rated superhero games of this generation.

The PC port was announced on 18 October 2024, but no further details were announced until the day before release. Prior to this last-minute announcement, there was speculation in the community that the release might be delayed. But that wasn't the case. On Steam, it started with a CCU peak of 28,189. This puts the game behind Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, which was released in August 2022 and reached a CCU peak of 66,436. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, released in November 2020, had a 13,539 CCU peak. However, it looks like the launch may have been a little early, as the Nixxes port struggled with some unexpected technical glitches, including crashes and performance issues. Two hotfixes quickly followed, improving stability, but it will take time to fix the bugs and for the tenor of Steam user reviews to settle. On 6 February, the first patch was released, containing several crash fixes based on feedback from players and the crash reporting system (Workarounds & Troubleshooting). Nixxes: "We are committed to improving your experience and continue to work on regular updates with more bug fixes, improvements and performance optimizations."

By the way: A PlayStation Network account, which was required for recent PC releases of PlayStation games (even single player titles) and which was widely criticised by gamers, especially as the games could not be accessed in some regions where PSN is not available, has been dropped. Instead, Sony Interactive Entertainment has made the PlayStation Network account optional. Players who continue to use a PSN account will be incentivised with in-game bonuses. This change affects Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, God of War: Ragnarök, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us Part II Remastered, which is due out on 3 April 2025.

Compared to recent releases such as Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, God of War: Ragnarök and Horizon: Forbidden West, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 features ray tracing - just like the last two Spider-Man games. The graphical difference is particularly noticeable in the skyscraper-filled city of Marvel's New York, especially in the ray-traced reflections, but also in the shadows due to ray-traced interiors, shadows and ambient occlusion. Also supported is Nvidia's DLSS Ray Reconstruction, which provides more detailed ray traced reflections, better defined ray traced shadows and less ghosting in ray traced interiors.

The PC version supports Nvidia DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.1 upscaling and frame generation. Intel XeSS upscaling is available too. Apart from ray tracing, the other graphics options are also exemplary. 16:9, 16:10, 21:9, 32:9 and 48:9 formats are supported - as well as triple-monitor setups using Nvidia Surround or AMD Eyefinity. The game can be controlled using a PlayStation DualSense controller over a wired USB connection, or via mouse and keyboard.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was released for PC on 30 January 2025.

Conclusion

One of the best superhero games out there is now available on the PC, but Nixxes still has a few rough edges that need smoothing out.

Features

• World-class superhero action-adventure
• Improved ray tracing
• Many graphics options and PC adjustments