Highlights
- Collectibles in the "Spider-Man" series have been highly praised for their personal and engaging nature, such as Peter Parker's backpacks and Miles Morales' sound samples.
- The upcoming "Spider-Man 2" game with its dual protagonist system poses a challenge for creating collectibles that feel personal since players can switch between Miles and Peter.
- To overcome this challenge, "Spider-Man 2" could introduce collectibles that reference the shared adventures of both Spider-Men, allowing for a close personal connection and unique voicelines depending on the player's character.
Collectibles are a staple of the open-world genre. Whether it's an action-adventure or RPG, every open-world game has at least a handful of different items that players are encouraged to collect, from new pieces of gear to artifacts that expand the game's lore to flowers that can be used to unlock new cosmetic options. Insomniac's Spider-Man series is no different, with both Marvel's Spider-Man and Miles Morales containing a slew of unique collectibles each. But while the collectibles in Insomniac's past two Spider-Man games have been heavily praised, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 may be forced to switch things up a little.
Though both Insomniac Spider-Man games have plenty of praiseworthy features, their open-worlds are some of the most impressive components. Paired with a phenomenal traversal system that really captures that adrenaline rush of web-swinging through a bustling city, Marvel's Spider-Man and Miles Morales' open-worlds are littered with engaging things to do, and their collectibles are easily some of the biggest highlights. But Marvel's Spider-Man 2 might not be able to just reiterate the same formula for its own collectibles, with its dual protagonist system potentially getting in the way.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Can't Just Reuse its Predecessors' Collectibles
Insomniac's first outing with the Wall-Crawler delivered some of the most engaging collectibles ever put in an open-world video game. While collectibles can often feel like an afterthought in most open-world games, offering very little to the player-experience aside from getting them closer to the platinum trophy, Marvel's Spider-Man's collectibles stand out by being the complete opposite. Set eight years into Peter Parker's career as the Web-Head, Marvel's Spider-Man has a lot of ground to cover from the get-go, and it does this through its Backpack collectibles.
Across New York City, players will find a plethora of backpacks, all of which have been left there by Peter Parker at some point during his 8-year-long Spider-Man career. Finding a backpack will reveal a collectible that fills in the gaps of this particular Spider-Man universe, relating to some important moment in Peter Parker's life, such as the first time he fought an iconic villain. While players inspect the item, Yuri Lowenthal's Peter Parker will give a brief anecdotal account of the event, making the collectible feel personal and engaging.
Though it didn't have backpacks, Spider-Man: Miles Morales still had its own set of personal collectibles. Throughout the game, players can engage in a side activity that sees Miles collect a range of sound samples from across the city. This side mission not only grounds the character of Miles Morales and connects him closely with New York City, but also explores his complex relationship with his father and uncle. The final sound clip may have become a bit of a meme, but the collectibles themselves are just as personal as Peter's backpacks.
But Marvel's Spider-Man 2 might not be able to follow in its predecessors' footsteps when it comes to collectibles. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 features a dual protagonist system, letting players swap between Miles Morales and Peter Parker while exploring the even more expansive open-world of New York City. With players being able to control both Spider-Men, it makes it much harder to create collectibles that feel personal. For instance, if players found a collectible closely connected with Peter Parker, but they were playing as Miles at the time, the collectible might not resonate quite as much.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 might need to take a completely new approach to collectibles. But while the easiest option is to probably deliver a slew of more generalized collectibles, it would be much more engaging to keep that personal approach of past games, but put a new spin on it. For example, Marvel's Spider-Man 2's collectibles could reference the two Spider-Men's shared adventures, giving both characters a close personal connection to each one, and possibly even delivering a unique voiceline depending on who the player is controlling at the time of its discovery.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches on October 20, exclusively for PlayStation 5.
