STACK #263 September 2026

FEATURE GAMING

WOLVIE! WOLVIE! WOLVIE! OI! OI! OI!

After Hugh Jackman, star of Marvel’s Wolverine Liam McIntyre is the second Aussie actor to play Logan. We asked Reiner-Reed what he was like to work with... “Liam is a fantastic actor to work with. His dedication to delivering a believable Wolverine is felt every time he’s on the mocap stage or in the VO booth. What I love about his delivery is he’s able to get the rage and anger you expect from Wolverine, but also subtle emotional moments which are important when we have a character who isn’t always the best at voicing his emotions.”

GENRE: Action adventure MULTIPLAYER: No

FORMAT:

Weapon X hits our screens this month in PS5 exclusive Marvel’s Wolverine .We had a chat with Jess Reiner-Reed, the game’s senior project director at Insomniac, to learn more about the much-anticipated game. Words Amy Flower S ince debuting in Marvel Comics back in 1974, we’ve borne witness to several takes on Wolverine. Insomniac worked closely with Marvel to nail down their game ready version. “We worked with the team at Marvel games us a chance to include some shared Marvel references that fans will spot, but there’s no crossover in our game between characters. “ Marvel’s Wolverine focuses on telling CLAW AND ORDER!

to regen. This didn’t feel like Logan. Instead, Logan is someone who would stay in the battle, and we wanted to incorporate that feeling of running towards danger even when your health is dire into our gameplay loop. “During combat, Logan will increase his Rage tiers by taking out enemies aggressively or performing certain attacks, the higher the Rage tier the more lethal moves you have access too. Through Rage tiers you also have access to Last Stand, which is when Logan’s heart has nearly stopped in battle from too much damage, and you have a chance to use your healing factor to get back into the fight.” With so many potential ideas to include, the Insomniac team remained focused on the big prize. “Game development is all about iteration,” says Reiner-Reed. “We experiment, prototype, conduct playtests. Ultimately, when looking at all the ideas for Marvel’s Wolverine , we kept focusing on the North Star – ‘What’s going to give the player the ultimate Wolverine experience?’ There are always so many ideas, but part of our responsibility is making sure we pick the right ones for Logan and our adventure.” Reiner-Reed is confident that they nailed it. “I’m so happy with everything we did get into the game, the environments and characters look gorgeous, combat is fun, storytelling and cinematics are top-notch, and the game runs at a

Logan’s story, in a world where mutants are often in the shadows. In past Spider-Man games, superheroes are often appreciated and get high-fives on the street, but in Marvel’s Wolverine , Logan and other mutants are often seen as outcasts – or worse - and are under attack and in danger of capture.”

closely to craft our Wolverine adventure,” confirms Reiner-Reed. “Right from the start, we knew we had to get claw combat right. When you pick up the controller you want to feel the power of having

adamantium claws. It was also important to stay true to character by representing his mutant powers through gameplay, including his enhanced animalistic senses and healing abilities.”

It may be the same universe, but it’s set to be a much wider one to explore. “Logan is not a guy who stays put in one place for very long,” says Reiner-Reed with a smile. “In Marvel’s Wolverine Logan’s on a mission that will

Naturally, keeping a certain look was crucial. “There are also a few visual aspects that were important to keep intact. Logan is canonically short, so we planned that aspect from the beginning – making sure that when lining up all our characters Logan is visibly shorter,” reveals Reiner-Reed. “Logan’s body hair was also the subject of multiple conversations across departments. Logan is a hairy guy, and we wanted to make sure that part of his character was well represented in-game.” Fans of Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man games will be happy to hear that Marvel’s Wolverine is set in the same universe. But don’t necessarily expect to hang out with Spidey. “ Marvel’s Wolverine takes place in our Insomniac Marvel universe of 1048, the same as our Marvel’s Spider-Man titles,” Reiner-Reed tells us. “Being in the same universe gives

take him around the world to discovers the mysteries of his past. During this adventure he’ll head to various locales including a remote snowy area in Canada, the streets of Shinjuku, and two canonical Marvel locations – the jungles of Telambang and Lowtown in Madripoor.” We wondered whether the team faced any challenges creating the combat when Logan is so robust and hard to kill... “During development we did try different options to utilise

Logan’s mutant healing factor during combat,” admits Reiner-Reed. “There were earlier versions of his healing factor that incentivised the player to retreat/ hide and wait for health

smooth 60fps on a base PS5. There isn’t anything that keeps me up at night wishing we got it in.”

• Marvel’s Wolverine is out Sep 15

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