Marvel’s Wolverine Review Scores: Why Insomniac’s Biggest Bet Landed Below Spider-Man

Insomniac has spent a decade building a reputation where a Metacritic embargo lift feels like a formality. Spider-Man landed at 87. Miles Morales hit 85. Spider-Man 2 cleared 90. Marvel’s Wolverine just broke that streak, and the gap is wide enough that Sony’s biggest fall exclusive is now a genuine talking point instead of a guaranteed slam dunk.

Reviews went live on September 10, five days ahead of the September 15 PlayStation 5 launch. As of this week, Marvel’s Wolverine sits around 78 on Metacritic and 78 on OpenCritic, with roughly three in four critics recommending it. Solid numbers on their own. Next to Insomniac’s own résumé, they read like a step down.

A wide spread, not a consensus

What stands out in the Wolverine reviews isn’t the average. It’s the spread. A handful of outlets gave it perfect or near-perfect scores. IGN, GameSpot and Eurogamer all landed at 6/10. That kind of split rarely happens on a polished, big-budget PlayStation exclusive, and it suggests critics are grading the game against very different expectations.

That table only tells half the story, since a straight average hides just how differently reviewers reacted to the same combat system and the same fifteen-hour campaign.

What critics agree on

Almost every review, positive or negative, praises the same three things. Liam McIntyre’s motion-captured performance as Logan gives the character a weariness that previous Wolverine games never bothered chasing. The facial animation and lighting are frequently singled out as some of the best work on PS5 to date, particularly running on PS5 Pro. And the combat, when it clicks, delivers the kind of brutal, claw-heavy spectacle that trailers promised for two years, with takedowns that reviewers describe as genuinely nasty in the best sense.

Troy Baker’s supporting turn as Mister Sinister also gets consistent praise, and several critics flagged his casting as a hint that Insomniac is quietly building toward a wider X-Men corner of its Marvel universe.

Where the disappointment comes from

The lower scores share a common complaint, and it isn’t really about Wolverine himself. It’s about structure. Unlike the open, swing-anywhere design of the Spider-Man games, Marvel’s Wolverine is a linear, narrative-driven action adventure, closer to a modern God of War than a superhero playground. Several reviewers who went in expecting Insomniac’s usual traversal-heavy sandbox came away feeling boxed in by corridor-style levels and a smaller moveset than the marketing implied.

GamesRadar+ put the criticism plainly in its own headline, framing the game as missing the crucial spark that separates a good adaptation from a defining one. The story is the other soft spot. Reviewers who scored the game lowest generally agreed the hunt for Bolivar Trask and the mutant-trafficking plot never builds the tension it needs, even with Canada, Japan and Madripoor all serving as backdrops.

A rough road to launch made this louder

Marvel’s Wolverine has not had an easy year of hype. Early gameplay reveals drew criticism over character design, and the backlash grew loud enough in 2026 that an Insomniac developer addressed it publicly. The game’s director also pushed back on fan complaints, arguing that some players will find fault no matter what ships. That history means the review scores are landing inside an already tense conversation rather than a neutral one, and it’s part of why a 78 feels heavier than it might for a less scrutinized release.

The timing adds more weight than usual. PlayStation has underproduced first-party exclusives this generation, Bungie’s Marathon has struggled to hold players, and Sony’s decision to wind down physical media drew its own wave of backlash earlier this year. Marvel’s Wolverine was supposed to be a clean, uncomplicated win heading into the holidays. Instead it is Insomniac’s lowest-rated original game in a decade, a stretch that goes back to Song of the Deep in 2016.

None of that makes Wolverine a bad game. A 78 with a 73 percent critic recommendation rate is still a passing grade by most studios’ standards, just not by the one Insomniac built for itself. The real test starts September 15, when players outside the review cycle get their hands on Logan and decide whether a tighter, bloodier, more linear Insomniac game is a worthwhile trade for the open-world freedom Spider-Man made the studio’s signature.

Do the mixed reviews change your plans for launch day, or is this still a day-one buy for you?