Is Marvel’s Wolverine open-world, or is Logan kept on a leash instead?

With the incredible Insomniac Games taking on Marvel’s Wolverine, it’s only natural that you are wondering if Logan is getting the same open-world treatment as the Spider-Man games.

Marvel’s Spider-Man, Miles Morales, and Spider-Man 2 all let you pretty much freely swing around New York and clean up crimes, rather than force you into the main story side of things.

Marvel’s Wolverine, however, is taking a bit of a different approach, which you may or may not gel with.

Is Marvel’s Wolverine open-world?

The short answer to this is no, Marvel’s Wolverine is not an open-world game. Instead, Insomniac has confirmed that it is a more linear, story-driven single-player adventure.

Speaking to IGN, game director Mike Daly made it pretty clear that Wolverine was never being built as another sandbox-style superhero game. Daly said the team “did not set out to make an open world game or a sandbox game,” instead aiming for a “linear single-player adventure.”

That means you shouldn’t expect to be dropped into a giant city and be left to roam around between activities like you can in the Spider-Man games. There won’t be districts to clear, crimes popping up every few streets, or a massive open map where Logan can just casually wander around and slash a few reprobates in the process.

Instead, Marvel’s Wolverine appears to be much more focused on crafted missions and cinematic action, recruiting a few other familiar faces in the process. Daly also described the game as a “globe-hopping” adventure, suggesting Logan’s journey will take him across multiple locations rather than locking him to one hub.

While you might feel disheartened by this coming off the back of Spider-Man, it actually makes a lot of sense for Wolverine as a character.

Spider-Man works brilliantly in an open world because web-swinging through New York is what you really want to be doing. Wolverine, on the other hand, doesn’t really have the powers to make that work, while also being more laser-focused than Spidey.