“Survival has made monsters of us all.”— Nathaniel Essex

We all know the following to be real, and we know it at an almost molecular level: Don’t believe everything you read or see on the internet. This rings especially true when it comes to video game discourse, and also the horrors of artificial general intelligence, but the latter is a whole other discussion. I’m tired, man.

I’ve been playing PlayStation’s latest first-party PS5 exclusive, the Insomniac-developed Wolverine , and I’ve been having…fun? It’s almost sacrilege to admit that you’ve been enjoying a video game in the year 2026, given how vitriolic general discussion tends to be around new releases and the industry as a whole. Wolverine has seen its share of barbed criticism, no doubt, since its September 15 release date, which is par for the course.

Some of the criticism, I’d say, is probably deserved, at least the constructive variety. The game’s overall design feels conspicuously outdated; Wolverine wears its linearity on its sleeve and doesn’t even begin to hint at an open world beyond its mapped-out battlegrounds and walk-and-talk hallways. Gamers who cut their teeth on more ambitious superhero games, like the brooding Arkham titles, the dark fighter Injustice: Gods Among Us and even Insomniac’s own Spider-Man hits, will probably find Wolverine claustrophobic and limiting, if not frustratingly by-the-books.

Given the type of game Wolverine actually is—arguably a modern throwback to the ubiquitous ‘90s-era arcade brawler, as the Washington Post’s Gene Park so eloquently articulated —there is a striking overabundance of tedious cutscenes to wade through. The writing during these bits leaves much to be desired, and it ends up feeling like Insomniac never truly realized the genre of its own game. That, or the pressure to make this a AAA Sony experience eventually won out, because PlayStation’s current stubborn position seems to be narrative first, no matter what, even when the narrative isn’t all that great.

I suppose I’d have less trouble with the cutscenes if the story was generally compelling, but unfortunately, I could never bring myself to fully engage, minus watching Nature Girl talk to rats in the walls. Ghost of Yotei has Wolverine beat by a mile in this regard, as do both mainline God of War offerings, and probably most of PlayStation’s first-party titles, going back to Uncharted and The Last of Us . Maybe not Sons of Sparta , though.

The story is delivered without much urgency or notable emotional stakes, which is surprising, because Logan is literally and figuratively dealing with serious trauma. He’s visiting both a real and an ethereal cabin in the woods to tackle painful memories, and these serve as their own individual gaming challenges where you can earn rankings and listen to recovered, subconscious glimpses into the past. That said, see Hellblade for how to more authentically tackle mental illness.

The last thing I’ll neurotically complain about is the graphical performance. I’ve been playing Wolverine via the Performance Pro mode on my PS5 Pro, and while the moment-to-moment gameplay appears to stay at a consistent 60fps, the in-game menus feel strangely laggy, and I encountered more than my fair share of glaring pop-in and various other graphical glitches along the way.

On the contrary, Wolverine’s Fidelity Mode targets 30fps with advanced ray-tracing, and it definitely looks a lot better and more filmic, but going back to 30 frames feels borderline unbearable. It’s difficult to admit that even the now-$900 PS5 Pro is starting to show its age, and the lack of horsepower has me dying to play Wolverine on my RTX 5090. As with Ghost of Yotei , it’s a shame the game is locked inside an already outdated console ecosystem, though it’s perfectly and serviceably playable, of course. Just not ideal.

So yes, Wolverine is a relatively short, linear experience, filled with weird old stuff like QTEs ( Shenmue , anyone?), however…not all the weird old stuff is bad, actually. One of the weird old quirks about this game is that it harkens straight back to ‘90s arcade beat 'em ups. If you’re of a certain age, you’ll probably remember stone-cold multiplayer classics like The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time from Konami, Rare’s Battletoads , all the Double Dragon titles, and of course, 6-player juggernaut (see what I did there?) X-Men: The Arcade Game , which you can play right now by way of the Marvel Maximum Collection, by the way.

At the end of the day, Wolverine is the spiritual great-grandchild of all these quarter-munchers, in that you’re essentially moving from room to room, destroying copy-and-paste enemies in the most gruesome ways possible, and then you do it again and again, forever and ever. There’s a mindless, button-mashy quality to the whole experience, and it’s what makes this game really fun. It feels nostalgic in a comfort food sort of way, like I’m playing a Wolverine arcade cabinet at a noisy Gameworks in the year 1997. It’s likely why the cutscenes feel as if they’re largely getting in the way; just let me slice my way through infinite waves of generic bad guys, man. Because it rules .

The responsive combat is violently kinetic, and I think Insomniac has nailed the essence of this popular Marvel character. We’re talking Mortal Kombat levels of gore here, replete with impaling, beheading and luscious dismemberment. Blood is constantly splattering everywhere . Hopefully without landing myself on some kind of government watchlist, I find the carnage absolutely enthralling, and it makes me yearn for another Shaolin Monks .

So while Wolverine’s forced AAA storyline comes across as somewhat forced and dull, its chaotic combat more than makes up for it, in my opinion. Without spoiling anything, I’ll say the Sentinel boss fight is awesome , and so was a certain motorcycle segment. It’s that core awesome feeling I keep coming back to when I see all the online vitriol. Video games are meant to be fun, and while Wolverine is far from perfect (every piece of art is), it inarguably ignites that childlike wonder in me.

Nothing and no one are exempt from criticism, but lately, I’ve been feeling like some gamers have been losing the plot. Making things is hard, and tearing them down is easy. So, even though Wolverine has its flaws, I’m genuinely glad it exists. I’m glad humans took the time to make something that brings me joy, and I want to spend more time in the future appreciating the beautiful, flawed things that my species creates.

Even if, to some extent, survival is continually making monsters of us all, we can still seek the quiet magic inside creation, and each other for that matter, and the notion that we live in a deeply imperfect world where people still take the time to cobble together experiences that elicit curiosity and awe and discussion.

Disclosure: PlayStation provided a review code for coverage purposes .