PlayStation and developer Insomniac Games have released a new story trailer for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Released during a special San Diego Comic Con panel about the game, this trailer features plenty of Peter Parker, Miles Morales, MJ, Kraven, a dose of the Lizard, lots of symbiotic action, and of course, Venom. While the last showing of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 focused on gameplay, today’s is all about the narrative, and it seems to be teasing who our Venom might be.
Check it out for yourself below in the new Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 story trailer:
As you can see, this trailer gives us our first look at Harry Osborn (outside of the floating green liquid we presumably last saw him in), another look at Hunter and the Lizard, and a heaping of Venom, and all of it looks like a great time. The story seems to be a good bit darker than Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, too, especially with Peter Parker struggling to contain the darkness that the symbiote brings out within him.
PlayStation has also released some new details from the game’s narrative director, Jon Paquette:
“At the beginning of our story, our Spider-Men are at the top of their game,” Paquette writes in a PlayStation Blog post. “But both Peter Parker and Miles Morales are struggling with their personal lives. Miles is trying to find time to write his college entrance essay, but he keeps procrastinating and focusing on Spider-Work instead. Meanwhile, Peter is underwater on payments for Aunt May’s house, but he can’t sell, it means too much to him. And just like Miles, Peter tries (and fails) to find balance with so many responsibilities. MJ wants to help Pete with the mortgage, but her job is on the line now that J. Jonah Jameson is back at the Bugle and looking to clean house. Our heroes have arrived at a confluence of crossroads, with uncertain futures, and some tough decisions ahead.” 
As if that wasn’t enough, Kraven arrives soon after, and the Spider-Men and friends must determine why he’s in New York City and who he’s hunting. And on top of that, the Venom symbiote makes its way into town, presenting another set of challenges for the Spider-Men to tackle.
Surprisingly, we get a quick snippet of Martin Li, aka Mister Negative, one of the antagonists of Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Miles isn’t too thrilled to see him either.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 creative director Bryan Intihar says he and Insomniac Games have always thought of the Spider-Men as “acrobatic improvisers,” and that the studio wanted to equip them with new combat abilities to demonstrate this further.
“This includes Pete’s Spider-Arms and Symbiote power, while Miles now brings two forms of bioelectric Venom to every fight,” Intihar writes in the blog post. “And when you start combining these abilities with all-new Spider-Gadgets like the Web Grabber, it can lead to some exciting combos.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, we see Peter and Miles swinging to new parts of the city, like across the East River and into Brooklyn and Queens. Coney Island makes an appearance as well.
“We are really excited for people to try out the Web Slings,” senior game director Ryan Smith writes in the blog. “For us, it was a cool opportunity to bring something people have seen in comics and movies and integrate it in the game. Swinging is the core of our Spider-Man traversal, so we designed the Web Wings to work with swinging and complement it. That way you can weave back and forth between the two to build up speed and height.
“When you use the Web Slings with our wind tunnels, though, that’s one of the ways to go across the city super-fast and really push the speed of traversal, which was one of our goals.”
In the PlayStation Blog post, Paquette says after the team determined it would be telling a Venom story, it knew there’d be a “bit of a tonal shift.”
“The best symbiote stories serve as an allegory: We all have darkness inside of us – but what would happen if we let it take over? With the introduction of the symbiote into our franchise, our heroes are forced to battle darkness, in all its forms. We wanted to see them change, both inside and outside, and feel the effect it has on those around them. And when Venom takes control, they face the real danger that they could lose themselves, and their loved ones, forever.”
Senior art director Jacinda Chew says the game’s Venom is inspired by the comics, but with a “unique take on the white spider icon” and the anatomy of a human. He also uses tendrils that can take on many forms, with all of Venom able to shift between liquid and solid quickly.
Insomniac Games also revealed a new limited edition Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PlayStation 5 bundle, including a custom PS5 console cover design and a matching DualSense controller. It will include a digital copy of the game. Pre-orders begin on July 28, and the PS5 covers and DualSense can be purchased separately. The console and accessories will be released on September 1.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 hits PlayStation 5 on October 20.
For more about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, watch the original reveal trailer and a gameplay trailer from earlier this summer. Read about how the game’s tone is comparable to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back after that, and then read about the game being confirmed to be single-player.
Who do you think Venom is in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2? Let us know in the comments below!
