Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s creator, Insomniac, has now responded definitively to the persistent rumors that the game would have a co-op mode.
The second installment will have both Peter Parker and Miles Morales’ interpretations of Spider-Man, as was revealed in the game’s reveal video back in 2021.
They could be seen battling alongside in that teaser, which caused many to wonder if this signaled the inclusion of a co-op option for the first time in the superhero franchise.
Before joining forces in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Peter and Miles had their own stand-alone experiences in Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequel Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
These games allowed people to become more familiar with the various gameplay elements for each hero while also showcasing their skillset diversity.
Miles employed more of his special bio-electrical “Venom” abilities and camouflage for better stealth gaming, while Peter used more gadgets.
They both have the same fundamental abilities, such as wall-crawling, web-swinging, greater agility, and spider senses.
Players have hypothesized that Insomniac may include a co-op feature for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 by pre-establishing their gameplay mechanics.
However, Insomniac Games revealed that Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 would be “an epic single-player experience” just like its predecessors in response to a Twitter user.
As a result, although the game is anticipated to continue following Miles and Peter’s adventures, it will presumably function similarly to Marvel’s Spider-Man, which alternated between Peter, Mary Jane, and a Miles without superpowers for some of its campaign’s tasks.
As an alternative, Insomniac might use a character-switching system akin to Grand Theft Auto 5’s narrative mode, which cycled between its protagonists but had distinct goals for each of them, offering open-world gameplay as both Peter and Miles.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s official press release on the PlayStation Blog claimed that the game will “continue the journey of both Peter Parker and Miles Morales in their most epic single-player adventure yet,” which is virtually word-for-word what Insomniac said, referring to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 as an “epic single-player adventure.”
Players were nevertheless quite certain that the co-op multiplayer feature would be included in Insomniac’s upcoming game despite this.
When Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered was released for the PC, data miners discovered many files that revealed a cut co-op option.
This gave fans confidence that this feature might be brought back for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
These documents made special reference to two-player cooperative gaming and displayed “Winner” messages designating Miles or Peter as “Superior,” implying that gamers would be vying to become the better superhero in a series of tasks or quests.
Additionally, there were job postings for Insomniac that mentioned multiplayer capabilities; however, because the project name was never made clear, it is still possible that they were for a completely different project.
Although the lack of multiplayer in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 may upset some, it makes sense for Insomniac to stay with the single-player, narrative-driven format that has been successful for them thus far with the critically acclaimed franchise.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be released in the fall of 2023, but Sony, Insomniac, and Marvel have been strangely silent about information for the planned sequel.