A few months ago, we wouldn’t have thought that we’d be seeing the release of another new Spider-Man game alongside the launch of the PS5, a little over a two years after the first game came out- but it’s happening. Roughly a month from now (depending on where you are in the world), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be swinging its way onto PS4 and PS5, and there’s a lot to speak about here. With the game’s launch looming large, in this feature, we’ll be going over a few key details you should know about it.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
SETUP
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is set in Manhattan in the middle of winter about a year after the events of the first game, and as its name suggests, it puts you in the shoes of Miles. Having been training with Peter and also donned the persona of Spider-Man over the last year, Miles soon comes up against his first true challenge in the form of a gang war that threatens to tear New York apart. Meanwhile, outside of his suit, Miles will also be supporting his mother’s campaign for City Council.
ROXXON AND UNDERGROUND
So who exactly are going to be the big bads in Miles Morales? As recently revealed, the main threat that will be kicking off the game’s story is a conflict between the villainous Roxxon Corporation and a high-tech criminal army known as the Underground led by engineering genius The Tinkerer. The Tinkerer has often proven to be an interesting Spider-Man villain over the years, so it should be interesting to see how Insomniac integrate her into their own Spidey universe.
ABILITIES
As you might imagine, Miles’ Spider-Man is going to be a little different from Peter’s Spider-Man, most significantly in what abilities both of them use in combat. For example, Miles will be able to use invisibility abilities during combat, which should add some interesting options for players to play around with, especially during stealth.
MORE DIFFERENCES
There will be a few more things to differentiate Miles’ Spidey from Peter’s Spidey. The developers have also said that the character has his own set of mechanics, animations, and movements to set him apart from Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. Meanwhile, there will be new gadgets as well, of course. One of those that we know about is the Gravity Well, which will “pull enemies together to knock them down and disarm them”.
SUITS
Having dozens of suits to unlock and don, each with their own unique combat abilities, was one of the things people loved most about Marvel’s Spider-Man, and thankfully, there will be plenty of that going around in Mils Morales as well. Insomniac haven’t confirmed exactly how many suits players can expect to see in the game, but we do know there will be quite a few. Some have been revealed already, such as Miles’ main, default suit, of course, as well as the T.R.A.C.K. Suit (which is also pre-order bonus). Given the games’ scope, it’s unlikely that it will have as many suits as the 2018 game did, but there should still be quite a few.
Oh, and speaking of its scope…
SCOPE
One thing that Insomniac have made abundantly clear is that this isn’t Spider-Man 2. Miles Morales is a standalone sequel that is smaller in size and scope than Marvel’s Spider-Man. Think of it along the same lines as standalone releases such as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider– Miles Morales is going to be a self-sufficient, full-featured game, but it won’t be as long or expansive as a full numbered sequel.
RAY-TRACING
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales may be a cross-gen game, but Insomniac are still leveraging the PS5’s significantly more powerful hardware to deliver a smoother, better-looking experience. One of the most significant improvements they’re making to the visuals is ray-tracing, which should add completely new depth and realism to things such as shadows, lighting, and reflections in the game’s world.
PERFORMANCE MODE
Given the fact that its fluid traversal and combat are probably Spider-Man’s greatest strengths, it’s a game that would benefit significantly from running at higher frame rates- which is going to be possible on the PS5. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will run in 4K with HDR, but it will also have a Performance Mode, that will allow you to run the game at a smooth 60 frames per second.
UPGRADE AND CROSS-SAVES
Like a surprising number of upcoming Sony first party titles, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a cross-gen release, coming to both PS4 and PS5. Thankfully, Sony have confirmed that the game supports free next-gen upgrades, which means that if you can it for the PS4, you can upgrade to its PS5 version whenever you want at no additional costs. Meanwhile, Insomniac Games have also confirmed that the game will feature cross-gen save transfer as well.
DUALSENSE
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will be making use of the DualSense’s new features in interesting ways. Insomniac have mentioned that adaptive triggers will be used with things such as shooting Spidey’s webs, and how the game’s use of haptic feedback have been far more interesting.
NEXT-GEN FEATURES
Many people will, of course, be making the decision to play Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales on the PS4 instead of the PS5, but if you’re not one of those people, you’ll be able to see the game leverage the PS5’s hardware in other ways as well. We’ve already spoken about resolution, frame rate, ray-tracing, and the DualSense. On top of all that, Miles Morales will, as you’d expect, make use of the PS5’s SSD as well, resulting in significantly shorter loading times. The game will also feature spatial 3D audio.
ULTIMATE EDITION
When Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales launches on November 12 (or November 19, depending on where you live), on the PS5, you’ll be able to purchase either the Standard Edition or the Ultimate Edition. The Standard Edition will retail for $50, while the Ultimate Edition will cost $70. With the latter, in addition to the base game itself, you will also get Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. So far, it doesn’t look like Sony and Insomniac are planning on a standalone release for that, so if you want it, you’re going to have to get the Ultimate Edition.
SIZE
Games’ file sizes are getting larger and larger by the day, and it doesn’t seem like that’s going to stop anytime soon. The file size for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PS5 has been revealed as well, and it’s not exactly small. The standard edition will require 50 GB of free storage on your PS5, which, honestly, isn’t too bad. But the Ultimate Edition (which also includes the remaster) will require a whopping 105 GB of free space.