Interview with Insomniac Game's Ryan Smith 'This is the New York I always imagined'

After 2018’s hit PlayStation game Marvel’s Spider-Man, developers Insomniac Games faced a big question: ‘How do we make a third Spider-Man game that’s different from before?’

You make it bigger and better, and that’s exactly what they did.

READ MORE: Review | Spider-Man 2 (PS5)

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a significantly bigger game than the last, with new areas to explore and new bad guys for Spider-Man to fight — although this time there’s two of them.

I caught up with its director, Ryan Smith, in the lead-up to the game’s release.

“It’s nearly nearly twice as big. And I think that it’s really fun because we’re building Marvel’s New York, right? And so it gave us a chance to put in new landmarks that people recognise and have in their imagination,” Smith said.

“One of the most gratifying things is when people go like, ‘this is the New York I always imagined’,” he said.

Smith says players can expect dozens of new gameplay features and all new enemies.

“I think, really looking at this as both a sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man for 2018 as well as Miles Morales. Again, both of our heroes expand their abilities over the course of the game, but they also have that sort of shared element,” Smith said.

“We have new features like the web line, whereas a player you can create your own opportunities and there are new villains… It gives you a chance to really have some bombastic boss battles.”

Anti-hero Venom is at the front of the villain pack this time around, with Kraven the Hunter and Lizard also making an appearance in the game.

“The whole (Insomniac Games) team puts their whole hearts into the game and we’re across the board just so excited to have it out there and have people be surprised and delighted by what we build and hope that everyone really enjoys it,” Smith said.

Accessibility is a huge thing to consider in an IP as big as Spider-Man, and Smith says they wanted to be sure as many people as possible were able to pick up a controller.

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