Lonely, tormented and brutal: this isn’t the Wolverine you’d expect

Insomniac’s Wolverine isn’t what you’d expect. This new PlayStation exclusive features a superhero who is less friendly and charming than Spider-Man (also from the studio), but also a far cry from the character we’ve come to know from the films and comics. Marvel’s Wolverine, out on 15 September, is savage, indestructible, violent to the point of being gory, yet fragile when it comes to relationships. Whilst Peter Parker and Miles Morales take great care to avoid lethal blows, Insomniac’s Logan is designed with no inhibitions or censorship. Brace yourselves for dismemberments, lacerations and bloody executions with adamantium claws.

“We chose this approach,” Mike Daly, the game’s Game Director, told *Il Sole 24 Ore*, “because, in our efforts to make the player feel as though they were truly in Wolverine’s shoes, we felt it was essential to let them experience everything those claws can do. We all felt that this was exactly what the character demanded. So far, the public’s reaction has been a mixture of surprise and support. Many Wolverine fans have reacted positively. That said, we knew from the outset that this level of violence isn’t for everyone, so we developed accessibility settings right from the start, including a violence filter, so that players can tone it down to their liking.”

From a narrative and psychological perspective, Insomniac’s Logan is an alienated individual, a biological weapon moulded against his will and scarred by amnesia and trauma. He is aimed at a decidedly more adult audience, yet at the same time is perfectly suited to an action video game. ‘At the start of the game, our Logan is a lost man who is dragged back into action to settle a debt. He already has the adamantium skeleton, but because of his memory loss, he doesn’t know why. He’s old, but he doesn’t know how old he is. Among the key concepts we wanted to convey is the fact that a hard life has made him cynical; throughout the story, you’ll see him endure a great deal of pain, with the aim of making the player empathise with him and respect his resilience. A key source of inspiration for me was the 1982 Wolverine comic book miniseries: one of the main things I took from it was empathy for the character’s vulnerability, both physical and emotional, as he is pushed to the brink of death and faces the stakes involved with the love of his life.”

Another interesting aspect is the choice of characters surrounding Logan. Not the classic X-Men: the Insomniac team has chosen to pair Wolverine with ambiguous and dangerous figures such as Mystique and Sabretooth.

‘Being part of Team X with Mystica and Sabretooth means not being surrounded by people who constantly encourage you to do the right thing or who expect you to be a hero. He doesn’t see himself as a hero, and Team X won’t do anything to steer him in that direction; it’s a journey he has to figure out for himself. The dynamics between the members of Team X are rather volatile, which keeps you constantly on your toes as you watch how each situation with them unfolds. They bring out aspects of Logan’s personality very clearly, helping us to show his inner conflict as he tries to become a better man.”