Reviews

11:35 Marvel's Wolverine reviewed as a good, uneven game: as of Nov 8, 2026 it holds a Metascore of 75 from 149 critic reviews and an OpenCritic Top Critic Average of 76, with 62% of critics recommending it. IGN's Simon Cardy put it in one sentence that most reviews echo: "Marvel's Wolverine is okay, just a step or two below Insomniac's other superhero efforts", a campaign "largely carried by its story" while its combat "wears thin well before the conclusion". Scores run from Hardcore Gamer's 5 out of 5 and Game Informer's 8.5 down to Giant Bomb's 2.5 out of 5. Players on Metacritic are cooler still, at 6.7. Sales were a different story; see Sales.

Quick facts

Sources: Metacritic and OpenCritic, read Nov 8, 2026.

The scores

Scores are as listed on OpenCritic on Nov 8, 2026, and in each outlet's review.

What did reviewers praise?

2:33 The story, and above all Jean Grey. Even IGN's 6/10 review says the campaign "tends to shine" when "things are taken down to a whisper", calls the actress playing Jean "fantastic" and says she "anchors a lot of the emotional weight" of the story. Liam McIntyre's Logan was praised nearly everywhere; IGN describes "a sharp, surprising hidden depth housed in a bulky, blunt instrument of a body". The people behind the voices are on Voice Cast.

0:27 GamingBolt went furthest, calling it "one of the most tightly knit narratives Insomniac has ever told", emotionally charged but grounded, and, later in the review, "about as close to the definitive Wolverine experience as you could hope for". Unlike IGN, it also praised the boss roster as "spectacular".

The violence was the other common win. IGN calls the animation "outstanding" and the finishers an "impressive variety of gory outcomes"; GamingBolt credits DualSense feedback for making every hit feel heavier. How the systems work is on Combat and Rage.

What did reviewers criticize?

4:29 Three things came up again and again.

Repetition. In IGN's words: "halfway through Wolverine's 15-hour string of missions, I felt like I'd had my fill", because combat lacked "a stronger sense of progression" when "you're asked to cut down hundreds of enemies at a near relentless pace". The arenas, IGN adds, are mostly flat areas of melee grunts with a few platforms for ranged enemies.

0:26 Hand-holding. Skill Up, whose review passed 3.9 million views, opens by saying "I do not recommend Marvel's Wolverine because it is a bad game", and blames "a design philosophy that assumes the player is extremely stupid": Logan saying his objective aloud after every fight and a glowing "scent line", which Skill Up compares to open-world GPS, in a linear game with one exit. Insomniac later added switches for those trails; see Patches and Updates.

8:44 Few bosses. IGN found them "surprisingly few" and mostly similar: an early fight with Omega Red is "lovely payback", but the Sentinel fight "essentially boils down to whacking a metal arm for 15 minutes". Skill Up calls the Sentinel "easily the worst boss in the game". GamingBolt disagreed and liked both. Each fight is on Bosses.

0:17 Giant Bomb's video review gives the bottom of the range: two and a half out of five stars, "smack dab in the middle" of its scale, for what the reviewer calls "a mediocre game", and the panel's long discussion keeps returning to how boring the combat became.

What does a 6 mean to IGN?

12:14 Cardy explains his score in the discussion after the review: he picks the word first, and "the game is okay, so it gets a six". He "couldn't quite stretch to a good", but "okay" is not "bad"; he "wouldn't tell people to rush out day one", though "later in the year if it's in a sale, you might have some fun". Since the Digital Deluxe Edition is on sale as of Nov 8, 2026 (Editions and Price), that later is now.

How does it compare with Insomniac's Spider-Man games?

It is the lowest-rated Marvel game Insomniac has made. Press comparisons put Marvel's Spider-Man (2018) at 87 and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 at 90 on Metacritic, and Push Square called Wolverine one of the lowest-rated first-party Sony games of the generation.

We think the gap is mostly structure. Every review that compared them pointed to the same thing: Spider-Man's swinging made even its filler fun, while Wolverine's levels, in IGN's words, are "far less interactive". The full list of Insomniac's Marvel games is on Insomniac Marvel Games in Order.

What did IGN's own team think?

8:05 On IGN's Beyond podcast the week the reviews went up, two hosts who had finished it agreed the reception was fair. One said he "might have been slightly higher" than Cardy's six, but that "you kind of have to dig around a little bit to find overwhelmingly positive things to say about it", calling it a game with "large chunks" that are "really, really good" which "just doesn't come together perfectly" after half a decade of waiting.

How did Insomniac and the cast respond?

5:41 On the eve of launch, Liam McIntyre told BBC News he was "great" about the reviews: "everyone's going to have their opinions", but reading them he thought, "am I crazy? This is such an astoundingly good character piece." He added that "everyone has their opinion about how the game plays". After launch, game director Mike Daly told Game Informer why the scent trails existed: "if Logan could smell or hear something relevant, the player could see it too", and the studio first made the trails fainter and then added switches for them in the weeks after launch.

What do players think?

Players rate it lower than critics: 6.7 from 5,962 user ratings on Metacritic as of Nov 8, 2026, against the critics' 75. The most watched review on YouTube points the same way: Skill Up's "I do not recommend" video had about 3.9 million views on Nov 8, 2026.

Our verdict

We think Marvel's Wolverine deserves its 75, and that it will be remembered better than it was reviewed. The things critics liked (Logan and Jean, the performances, the animation) are the hard things to make; the things they disliked (scent trails, flat arenas, few bosses) are design choices a sequel can change, and Insomniac has already patched the most hated one. In our view it is a 7 out of 10 for a player who comes for the character and a 6 for one who comes for the combat. We think the best way to play is to buy it on sale, play on a harder difficulty (Difficulty Settings and Accessibility) with the scent trails off, and stop after the story, since the platinum adds little. Where the series goes next is on Predictions.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marvel's Wolverine's Metacritic score?

75 from 149 critics, with a user score of 6.7, as of Nov 8, 2026. It was 77 to 78 in launch week.

What did IGN give Marvel's Wolverine?

6 out of 10. Simon Cardy called it "okay, just a step or two below Insomniac's other superhero efforts".

What did GameSpot give it?

6 out of 10, in Tamoor Hussain's review.

Is Marvel's Wolverine worth it?

Critics say yes for the story and no for the combat alone. Most suggest buying it on sale.

Is it better than Spider-Man 2?

Critics thought not: Spider-Man 2 scored 90 on Metacritic against Wolverine's 75.

What is the best review score?

Hardcore Gamer gave it 5 out of 5; Game Informer gave it 8.5 out of 10 and its "Must Play" label.

Sources

• Metacritic, read Nov 8, 2026: Marvel's Wolverine
• OpenCritic, read Nov 8, 2026: Marvel's Wolverine
• Game Informer, Sep 10, 2026: Marvel's Wolverine review, Relentless Momentum
• VGC, Sep 10, 2026: Marvel's Wolverine review
• Game Informer, Nov 3, 2026: Afterwords, Marvel's Wolverine
• IGN, Sep 10, 2026: Marvel's Wolverine review
• GamingBolt, Sep 10, 2026: Marvel's Wolverine review, the final verdict
• Skill Up, Sep 10, 2026: I do not recommend Marvel's Wolverine
• Giant Bomb, Sep 10, 2026: A Disappointing Follow-Up, Marvel's Wolverine Review
• GameSpot, Sep 10, 2026: Wolverine Only Aims As High As Its Stout Hero
• IGN, Sep 2026: Marvel's Wolverine Just Doesn't Cut It, Beyond Clips
• BBC News, Sep 14, 2026: Liam McIntyre on the reviews