Logan’s claws fail to cut deep

Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine has arrived to the most muted reception of the studio's superhero era — a "generally favourable" 78 on Metacritic that, for the makers of the Spider-Man games, reads more like a wound than a win.

Five days before its 15 September launch, the review embargo lifted and the verdict was less a savaging than a shrug. The PS5 exclusive sits at 78 on Metacritic across more than 110 critics and around 80 on OpenCritic — respectable in isolation, but a clear step down for a studio whose three Spider-Man games scored 87, 85 and 90. It's Insomniac's lowest-rated original release since 2016's Song of the Deep.

Critics didn't hate it. They just kept reaching for the same faintly disappointed word: okay. IGN's Simon Cardy led with a 6/10, praising Liam McIntyre's Logan while warning the combat "wears thin well before its conclusion." GameSpot, GamesRadar+ and VGC filed matching 6/10s, with the recurring gripe being variety — Logan's claws-and-parries toolkit is narrower than Spider-Man's, and the level design never lets it evolve across a 15-to-20-hour campaign.

A few sharpened their claws further. Giant Bomb's 5/10 flagged "mediocre storytelling, poor pacing." Polygon branded it "the biggest disappointment of the PS5 era." Skill Up refused outright: "I do not recommend."

Yet plenty enjoyed it — Push Square and Destructoid gave 8/10, Game Informer 8.5, and Hardcore Gamer a perfect 100. The split is stark: mainstream outlets clustered at 6, enthusiast sites near 9.

The sting is context. Sony ships few AAA single-player games a year, and Wolverine was meant to be a banker. A 78 wouldn't trouble most studios — but against Insomniac's own standard, "favourable" feels like a downgrade.