"Storytelling, character interaction, and writing were some of the biggest strengths of Spider-Man earlier in the year, much to the surprise of a great many people, and that continues to be true in all three episodes of The City That Never Sleeps as well."

And that is perhaps the most surprising thing about this package- that the developments in narrative shown across in the three episodes are quite huge. Huger than you’d expect to see in DLC, in many cases. Some characters begin arcs that seem to be setting up major new strands for the sequel, some who had unfinished business left after the events of the base game come back and wrap up their arcs in satisfactory ways (while still leaving room to return in the future), while other narrative threads that were teased by Spider-Man as setup for the sequel also make exciting progress.

Across all three episodes, the cast of characters is as strong as you would expect it to be. The Heist places focus on Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. Black Cat, whose interactions and banter with Spider-Man are excellent to see, and the way their complicated relationship develops in the short amount of time they spend with each other on-screen is handled very well. Turf Wars introduces Hammerhead as a central new villain, who quickly develops into a formidable new foe- he may not be at the level of someone like Mister Negative, or some of the other major antagonists in the base game, but is a solid addition to the roster of rogues in Insomniac’s Spider-Man universe nonetheless. Silver Lining brings Silver Sable back into the limelight, and her uneasy alliance with Spider-Man and their interactions with each other are easily the highlight of the episode.

Other than them, important characters from the base game, including MJ, Yuri, Miles, and of course, Peter, are also shown plenty of love, and continue to be endearing and excellently written and acted characters. Storytelling, character interaction, and writing were some of the biggest strengths of Spider-Man earlier in the year, much to the surprise of a great many people, and that continues to be true in all three episodes of The City That Never Sleeps as well.

"In terms of the content on offer, The City That Never Sleeps is equally satisfactory. If you were to stick only to the main missions, collectively the three episodes can be roughly 8-10 hours long, but clearing out all the Challenges, Crimes, Bases, and other side activities can easily take that figure up to fifteen hours."

In terms of the content on offer, The City That Never Sleeps is equally satisfactory. If you were to stick only to the main missions, collectively the three episodes can be roughly 7-10 hours long, but clearing out all the Challenges, Crimes, Bases, and other side activities can easily take that figure up to as much as fifteen hours. As far as main content goes, Turf Wars, which is the second episode, hits a bit of slump in terms of mission design, and feels more run-off-the-mill than the other two episodes, but The Heist and Silver Lining both offer some excellent set piece moments, with Silver Lining especially having some missions that are just as good as – if not better than – a lot of the stuff we saw in the base game itself.

Side activities in The City That Never Sleeps are, on face value, reskins of the stuff we saw in the base game, but clearing them out is still a lot of fun. The Challenges, which are now themed around the social-media loving Screwball rather than around Taskmaster, have a nice bit of variation to them, while Hammerhead bases provide more of a challenge, and are often situated in some very interesting locations, especially in Silver Lining. Crimes, on the other hand, are mostly very familiar, and though there’s some variation here as well, they don’t do much that we haven’t seen already, and can end up feeling repetitive. There’s also a about half a dozen new side missions across all three episodes, often taking on the structure of collecting items scattered across the city, and many of them centre around some very interesting narrative threads, which might end up coming back in a big way in the sequel.

The City That Never Sleeps has a few technical issues that seem more prevalent than what we saw in the base game. On a few instances, the game completely froze for a couple of seconds, while other smaller issues popped up as well, such as subtitles that wouldn’t disappear even minutes after the scene in question was over, or interrupted dialog interactions that, unlike the base game, wouldn’t resume later on, or some regular graphical bugs and clipping issues. None of it was too intrusive, and nothing was so major that I was forced to restart the game, but the issues were still noticeable.

"If you liked Spider-Man itself, you’re almost guaranteed to enjoy The City That Never Sleeps. Collectively."

On the whole, if you liked Spider-Man itself, you’re almost guaranteed to enjoy The City That Never Sleeps. Collectively, all three episodes offer plenty of new content to dive into, a lot of which is excellently designed, while the core strengths of the base game – its traversal and its combat – are, obviously, very much on the forefront here as well. Best of all, the story told across all three episodes feels more essential than you would expect, acting as a direct continuation to the base game, rather than as a side-story or something that can be easily missed. Retailing at $25 at the time of writing, The City That Never Feels is well worth the price of entry.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Insomniac’s second DLC for Spider-Man on PS4 and the next chapter in “The City That Never Sleeps” saga releases today with Turf Wars. A new trailer has been released, which showcases some of the hardships that ol’ webhead will have to face. And of course, it’s J. Jonah Jameson bringing us up to speed with his usual over-the-top narration.

Turf Wars sees notorious villain Hammerhead taking on the Maggia family, seeking to wipe out all of its Dons. The police have a tough challenge ahead, especially when Hammerhead’s men come into possession of Sable International’s equipment. Along with new enemies, there are new Strongholds full of them that must be cleared out.

Spider-Man will have three new suits and new items to collect, along with different challenges to complete. An additional activity focused on Screwball, the social-media obsessed villain, also appears to be included, along with a small drone for eavesdropping on citizens. Check it out below.

The City That Never Sleeps saga continues in Spider-Man’s next DLC, Turf Wars. When the Maggia family and crime boss Hammerhead engage in a turf war, it’s up to Spider-Man to set things right. Which really makes you wonder how Peter Parker gets any shut-eye with all the crime that’s been happening in Insomniac’s hit open world title.

Check out the teaser below, which even features Yuri in a spot of trouble. Though we don’t see the three new suits in the teaser, Insomniac did release a bunch of screenshots for the same. Spider-Armor MK1 will be instantly recognizable to fans of the comics and cartoon, as will the Iron Spider Armor, which was featured in Marvel’s Civil War comics.

Along with new suits and a new story, we can probably expect to see some new enemies and bosses (besides the man whose head is a hammer) as well. Spider-Man: Turf Wars launches on November 20th for PlayStation 4. If you haven’t gotten back into the game since beating it, now’s a good time to do so, with New Game Plus mode having been added.

Insomniac have rolled out update 1.10 for Spider-Man, and as you might have expected, the most important thing it does is add support for the upcoming Turf Wars DLC. Naturally, this includes Trophies for the upcoming DLC as well.

The update also makes a few other interesting and important additions. For starters, new frames and stickers have been added to the photo mode, similar to another major patch that went live shortly before the first DLC episode, The Heist, launched. The change that a large number of people will appreciate the most is that the mini-map map and control hints displayed in the HUD can now be hidden. So if you’re looking for complete immersion with a minimal UI, that is something the game will let you do now.

A number of bugs have also been fixed, most of which seem to pertain to issues arising in The Heist. You can check out the full patch notes below. Spider-Man: Turf Wars will be launching on November 20.

Insomniac Games kicked off their post-launch plans for Spider-Man last month, when the first episode of their DLC series The City That Never Sleeps, titled The Heist, launched near the end of last month. The second episode, titled Turf Wars, was planned for a late November release, and now we know when exactly that’s going to be.

In the main menu screen for Spider-Man, a description for the upcoming Turf Wars confirms that the second piece of DLC is launching on November 20 (as spotted first on Reddit). The description also confirms that Hammerhead, who was introduced in The Heist, will be the main antagonist.

If the quality of The Heist is anything to go by, fans definitely have reason to be excited for Turf Wars. Meanwhile, Silver Lining, the third and final chapter in The City That Never Sleeps, releases some time in December. All three episodes can be purchased separately for $9.99, while The City That Never Sleeps can be purchased as a single package for $24.99.

Déraciné

FromSoftware has been working like crazy to diversify its portfolio and Déraciné is perhaps its most off-beat title. As a faerie of sorts, the player moves around a boarding school, influencing the lives of its students. Freezing time and building personal bonds with the students are the core tenets of the game. However, it’s perhaps most intriguing because it’s a PlayStation VR title. What does the story hold and will it contain the same deep world-building that’s defined so many FromSoftware games? Déraciné arrives on November 6^th so it won’t be long before we find out.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead (PC Version)

Though the Xbox One and PS4 versions were delayed into 2019, Overkill’s The Walking Dead is still coming to PC next month. Focusing on four survivors, each with their own unique skills and backstories, the first person shooter lets you play either super-stealthy or guns blazing in scenarios teeming with zombies. Players will need to loot supplies and defend their home camp, ensuring it survives against the onslaught of the undead. Overkill’s The Walking Dead arrives for PC on November 6^th.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy

After a sudden delay, Spyro Reignited Trilogy is set to release on November 13^th for Xbox One and PS4 (no Switch or PC confirmation yet). Featuring remasters for Insomniac’s original games, namely Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! and Spyro: Year of the Dragon, the trilogy promises gorgeous graphics paired with the same awesome platforming. If that weren’t enough, a remastered version of the soundtrack also accompanies the original with the ability to choose between the two.

Fallout 76

When Bethesda first announced Fallout 76, we were expecting any number of things. An online FPS/RPG with social elements and games-as-a-service content was not one of them. Impressions from the beta have ranged from enthusiastic to somewhat worried but we honestly won’t know how good Fallout 76 is until it releases. Will it bomb? Or should we learn to stop worrying and just love the always-online gameplay? We’ll find out on November 14^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Hitman 2

Those craving a solid stealth experience needn’t worry as Agent 47 is back in town. Hitman 2 promises a full game with six locations, different story missions, Contracts and different targets to hunt post-launch. Of course, the same challenges and variety of gameplay remain but IO Interactive is adding some intriguing new content. Ghost Mode lets you compete against another player, fighting to assassinate targets faster than them while the original Hitman’s locations and missions will be available and updated in the sequel. Releasing on November 14^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, Hitman 2 should be yet another excellent outing with our favourite assassin.

Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!

It’s Pokemon! Well, it’s sort of Pokemon. The original 151 creatures are here, battles with trainers and Gym Leaders still apply and Pokemon can be captured and trained. However, Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! take several cues from the mobile Pokemon GO series, incorporating Joy-Con controls for capturing Pokemon. You can forego motion controls altogether and sure it’s weird, but this is still a proper Pokemon game. We’ll find out how fun it is when it launches on November 16^th for Nintendo Switch.

Battlefield 5

The next iteration of Battlefield saw its own delay by roughly a month for additional polish. We’ve gotten a better look at the various War Stories contained within, the schedule for Tides of War and even how the game’s economy will work. While Firestorm won’t be available till March 2019, Battlefield 5 should still have a host of interesting mechanics to exploit like fortifications and Companies on top of the new maps and modes. It’s out on November 20^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Darksiders 3

The much-awaited sequel in the cult classic franchise is nearly upon us. Gunfire Games’ Darksiders 3 takes place in a seamlessly linked open world while returning to the hack and slash action that defined the first game. Playing as Fury, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, there will be whips, acrobatics, magic and different forms to take advantage of. How the quest to defeat the Seven Deadly Sins plays out remains to be seen but it should be a marked improvement over Darksiders 2. Darksiders 3 releases on November 27^th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Tetris Effect

You’ve played Tetris, sure, but have you played Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s version of Tetris? Tetris Effect arrives for PS4 and PlayStation VR on November 9^th, bringing a more musical-based rhythm to the puzzle experience. While we doubt players will still be seeing Tetris blocks falling after the game is over, Tetris Effect should provide a surreal yet visually resplendent experience for fans of the series.

Spider-Man DLC 2: Turf Wars

Turf Wars is the second chapter for The City That Never Sleeps, the DLC saga for Insomniac’s Spider-Man. While there isn’t a whole lot known at this point, it will bring new story missions, new suits (hopefully with suit powers this time) and some new enemies. Will famed villain Hammerhead make an appearance? Time will tell but for now, stay tuned for the DLC’s launch in November if you want even more Spider-Man.

Honourable mentions

Here are a few honourable mentions outside of our top ten that may be of interest.

• Underworld Ascendant
• Kursk
• Ride 3
• Artifact
• Farming Simulator 19
• The Quiet Man
• Football Manager 2019

Insomniac’s Spider-Man will be released on September 7th for the PlayStation 4, but even if you burn through the 20-hour story in a weekend, there’s more on the way. The previously revealed DLC “The City That Never Sleeps” has received some new details, namely that Chapter 1: The Heist will be out on October 23rd.

The Heist centres on Felicia Hardy, otherwise known as Black Cat. Though she has somewhat of a presence in the base game, Hardy will be fully revealed in the DLC chapter. Along with a new faction of foes and three more suits, players will have new missions to complete. And to keep things rolling, Insomniac has dated the other two chapters for The City That Never Sleeps.

Chapter 2: Turf Wars is out in November, while Chapter 3: Silver Lining arrives in December. You can expect new missions, suits and challenges in those as well. Each DLC chapter retails for $9.99 separately, but you can pick up a bundle containing all three for $24.99.

For now, we’re eagerly anticipating reviews for Spider-Man, which go live on September 4th.