Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is shaping up to be a hit. As a follow-up from Insomniac’s 2018 outing, the sequel continues the story of Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they thwip their way through New York City while taking on new threats, including Kraven the Hunter. If you’ve already smashed your way through the game, or if you wanna occupy your time with something else before moving on to this one, here are nine games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 if you’re looking for something similar.
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Sucker Punch’s inFAMOUS was the quintessential superhero game before good superhero games became a thing. All three games put out so far are solid, though you’d probably have the most fun going for Second Son, which is the latest installment in the series.
inFAMOUS: Second Son follows the story of Delsin Rowe, a punkish upstart with superpowers who’s forced to make difficult decisions that affect his personal life and those around him. What’s so compelling about Second Son in particular is Seattle being the backdrop for the game as a truly immersive open-world for you to explore. Seattle doesn’t show up in video games all that often, but Second Son’s version of it feels quite close to real life, and being able to fly and zip around the city while fighting crime certainly doesn’t hurt either.
Just Cause 4
Speaking of zipping around large open-worlds, we’d be remiss not to at least mention Just Cause 4 if you’re looking for a truly freeing open-world experience similar to what you get in Spider-Man 2. Granted, the world of Just Cause 4 is much vaster than that of Spider-Man 2’s NYC, but the point of it all is how good traversal feels in this game.
Narrative clumsiness aside, Rico’s ability to just zip around the world with his grappling hook and paraglider offers players a real sense of freedom that you rarely find in other titles. Even if you might not necessarily be a fan of the third-person combat or the side quests, it’s clear that Avalanche Studios put most of their resources towards making the traversal feel good, and it shows.
Attack on Titan
Okay, stay with me on this one. Go on a journey with me. The Attack on Titan games were the best Spider-Man games around before Insomniac hit us all with Marvel’s Spider-Man. I mean, just think about it — the Scouts zip around the Wall with their omni-directional mobility gear, all while hooking into giant Titans and slashing them to bits.
The mobility in Attack on Titan feels incredibly smooth and satisfying, forcing you to jump, hook, and release as you soar into the air. There’s a rhythm to the movement in this game, and it feels very similar to the web-slinging in Spider-Man 2.
Even if you’re not familiar with Attack on Titan, these games are actually a great way to get you acquainted with the excellent story and its characters. And even if you end up not really being a fan of the story, the gameplay is just excellent.
Sunset Overdrive
An oldie but a goodie. Sunset Overdrive was a launch title for the Xbox One, and while it’s largely faded into obscurity at this point, let’s not forget how much fun this was when it first came out.
Set in a beautiful, vibrant city aptly named Sunset City, players are forced to survive in an anarchistic world that’s been taken over by mutants after a popular energy drink gets contaminated.
If I had to describe this game in just one word, it would be “chaotic”. The combat is overblown and frenetic, the traversal is fun and fast-paced, allowing you to skate around on rails, vault, and wall-run over the place. The action never stops in Sunset Overdrive, and it’s excellent one to check out if you loved the fast-paced traversal of Spider-Man 2.
Grand Theft Auto V
No one does an open-world quite like Rockstar, and if what drew you to Spider-Man 2 in the first place was how well-realized NYC was in that game, then you may want to give Grand Theft Auto V a go if you haven’t already.
GTA V is set in the fictional city of Los Santos, which is definitely, absolutely not based on real life Los Angeles. While you can’t really just fly around Los Santos like you would in Spider-Man 2, the point is to be immersed in Los Santos, whether it’s just going for a bike ride along the beach or sailing down the coast in your fancy yacht before hopping into a private jet and flying past the skyline.
If you can’t get enough of NYC specifically, you may want to give GTA IV a go, which is set in Liberty City, but GTA V is an easy recommendation for anyone who wants a more modern take on metropolitan settings.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3
Let’s pivot for a bit and go back down the superhero route. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is an excellent superhero game, and if you were in the mood for a proper superhero ensemble experience, then we can’t recommend Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 enough.
Yes, Thanos is still the big bad in this one. And yes, we’re still going on a hunt for the Infinity Stones, which may feel a bit tiresome if you’re already suffering from MCU fatigue. That said, the huge cast of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 makes up for all of that. With characters like Spidey himself, Ms. Marvel, Deadpool, Ghost Rider, and more to choose from, you’re getting a really fun and solid action game out of this one.
Batman: Arkham Knight
Before Marvel’s Spider-Man came along, Rocksteady’s Arkham series was heralded as the best superhero games we’d ever seen, and they very might well still be. All three Arkham games are solid as hell, putting you in the shoes of Batman as you prowl around Gotham City, solving crimes, and beating up the bad guys.
It’s not a stretch to say that Spider-Man’s combat was largely inspired by the punch and counter style of Arkham’s gameplay, but that’s not really a bad thing. If a system works well, why not copy it and improve upon it? Aside from the deliciously crunchy combat, the Arkham games also present players with a very immersive rendition of Gotham City.
Arkham Knights is often beat down as the worst game in the trilogy, but in our opinion, it’s one that kind of grows on you after a while. It serves as a powerful finale for Batman’s arc, and also offers the most well-realized version of Gotham City in the series.
Gotham Knights
If you’re looking for something just a bit more RPG-centric, you may want to give Gotham Knights a go as well. It serves as a spiritual successor to the Arkham games, and also introduces new playable characters in the form of Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin. So yeah, if you’ve always been really into the Batman ethos, this should sound very exciting to you.
The open-world is just as well-realized as Arkham Knights’, and being able to play as any character you want really helps to make the overall experience feel more unique to you. The only potential downside to Gotham Knights is the RPG aspect of it, where you’re kinda forced to level up by knocking out quests and other side activities. This can be fun in a grindy way, but may also turn players away if you aren’t looking for that sort of game.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Finally, we have a complete genre shift, but again, stay with me here. Marvel’s Midnight Suns might be one of the most underrated and overlooked games of 2022, and that is a crime. If you want more Spidey goodness, yes, Spider-Man’s in this game as well, and as part of a huge ensemble cast that really endears itself to you.
Unlike Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Midnight Suns feels a lot more detached from the MCU, and instead focuses on lesser known and more edgy characters like Blade, Nico Minoru, and Magik. Gameplay-wise, you can expect lots of tactical thinking and strategy as you’re forced to really consider each of your characters’ positioning on the field; all while deciding which moves to use in which order to efficiently clear a stage.
The good news is that Midnight Suns is a lot more forgiving than the likes of XCOM, and it’s a joy to play through even for genre newbies.
And those are our picks for games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 if you’re looking for something similar. Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more tips and information on the game.
Published: Oct 17, 2023 12:00 pm