Marvel's Spider-Man: Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered
Insomniac Games · Action, Adventure
Overview
Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered is a PlayStation 5 and PC version of the open-world action-adventure game originally released for PlayStation 4 in 2018. Players control an experienced Peter Parker as he swings through a detailed recreation of Manhattan, fights crime using acrobatic combat, stealth, and web-based abilities, and navigates a story that intertwines his personal life with his responsibilities as Spider-Man. The remaster includes the base game and all three chapters of "The City That Never Sleeps" DLC, with updated character models, ray-traced reflections, improved lighting, performance mode options, and three additional suits.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,998 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
Web-swinging is what players bring up first. 42% of the longer reviews talk about swinging through Manhattan, and a running joke is that fast travel goes unused because getting there is the fun part. The story is next at 37%, with Peter's relationship with Otto Octavius singled out and several reviewers saying the ending made them cry. Players also like the fluid combat, which borrows from the Batman Arkham games and leans on gadgets, along with the detailed New York and the large wardrobe of suits.
Most of the complaints sit inside positive reviews as caveats. Repetitive open-world filler (bases, crimes, pigeons, backpacks) shows up in 19% of the longer reviews. The forced stealth sections as Mary Jane and a powerless Miles draw outright complaints in 9%, and completionists get stuck on Screwball's and Taskmaster's challenges. On PC, 15% of the longer reviews describe crashes, freezes, stutter or bugs, while others report a smooth port that never crashed.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Web-swinging that makes fast travel pointlessHigh
Traversal comes up in 42% of the longer reviews, and it is nearly always praise. Players describe ignoring the main quest for hours to swing between skyscrapers, chaining web-zips and dives, and watching the city at sunset. "Using the fast travel feels like a disservice to how fun the web slinging is," one wrote, and another called it "The only game where you have instant teleportation but never actually want to use it." The phrase "makes you feel like Spider-Man" turns up in dozens of reviews. Under 4% of the longer reviews criticize the swinging, and their points are specific: it feels a little slow to players coming from Spider-Man 2, precise landings for missions and challenges can be fiddly, and one negative review said that at speed "The moment you try to turn left or right, everything falls apart."
A story with real emotional weightHigh
37% of the longer reviews praise the story or writing, and 12% talk about emotional moments or the ending. Players single out the arc between Peter and Otto Octavius, Aunt May, and Yuri Lowenthal's performance as Peter; "One of the most emotional ending's I've ever seen," one reviewer wrote. Some returning players prefer this story to the sequel's: "Spider-Man 2 definitely has better movement and gameplay, but when it comes to story, characters, and writing, the first game clears it pretty easily." A minority (7% of the longer reviews) finds it predictable or bland, as in the negative review that said "The story is so incredibly predictable that it's kind of insulting." Other objections: Mr. Negative takes up too much time before the real villains arrive, Act 3 feels rushed, and, in one positive review's words, "Peter barely has any agency in the story".
A detailed, good-looking New YorkHigh
Graphics and visuals come up in 29% of the longer reviews and the city itself in 27%. Players like the landmarks, the interiors, the day and night lighting, ray-traced reflections and the photo mode; "Just swinging around the skyscrapers and watching the sunrise looks insane," one wrote. Several call it an accurate recreation of New York. The few dissenters describe it as a pretty backdrop with little to interact with beyond crimes and collectibles.
Fast, gadget-driven combatHigh
Combat gets praise in 22% of the longer reviews, usually for its flow: air combos, web gadgets, environmental throws and suit powers layered on an Arkham-style system. "Combat is Arkham with a caffeine problem," as one put it. Players who raise the difficulty say gadget use and dodging start to matter. The pushback (6% of the longer reviews) is that fights repeat, enemies take too many hits, and even the hardest settings feel easy; "why does it take Spider-Man 8 punches to knock out one normal human thug?" one negative review asked.
Suits and unlocksMedium
Suits come up in 11% of the longer reviews, almost always fondly. Players enjoy unlocking movie, comic and original designs, mixing suit powers with any look, and the steady drip of new gadgets and skills. A few wish more suits did something in the story, and a couple dislike that the finale forces the main suit back on.
Voice acting, music and presentationMedium
Performances come up in 10% of the longer reviews and the music in about 5%. Yuri Lowenthal's Peter gets the most praise ("Yuri is now THE VOICE for Spider-Man to me," one wrote), and reviewers also mention the supporting cast, the score, J. Jonah Jameson's podcast rants and cutscenes that flow straight into play. A small group finds the quips and repeated voice lines grating over a long playthrough.
Mods and handheld playLow
Mods come up in 3% of the longer reviews, for suit packs, the original Peter face, faster swinging and skipping the stealth sections. Steam Deck and other handhelds come up in 2%. Most of those owners are happy, with one writing "For deck users out there, this is probably the best compatibility i seen on a game for deck", while a few report choppy frame rates.
Where players are split
PC port: smooth for many, crash-prone for someMedium
15% of the longer reviews describe crashes, freezes, stutter, frame drops or bugs. The reports include crashes to desktop every hour or two, freezes while the city streams in, slowdowns over long sessions that players put down to memory or VRAM, a few PCs shutting down entirely ("the game will probably make your pc completely shut off frequently," one wrote), enemies stuck inside walls that block crimes, soft-locked missions and occasional lost saves. A few players say lowering settings, turning off ray tracing or frame generation, or changing GPU drivers helped. Against that, 7.5% of the longer reviews say it runs well or never crashed, on machines from budget laptops to high-end rigs: "I ran this on an RTX 4070 Super at the absolute highest settings, and the port is flawless." Some land in between, like the player who called it "a great game when it's not crashing."
The DLC episodesMedium
The three included episodes come up in 18% of the longer reviews. Players like that they are bundled at no extra cost, and the Black Cat episode gets the warmest words ("Oh and the 1st DLC is a chef's kiss"). Criticism goes to the second and third episodes: tougher enemies that absorb more damage and carry miniguns and rockets, more district crimes to clear, and Screwball's challenges. "Great base game, DLC 2 & 3 are absolute dumpster fires," one reviewer wrote, though others who mention the DLC call it fun.
Whether it is worth full priceMedium
Price or sales come up in 13% of the longer reviews. Many of these reviewers bought it discounted and say it was worth it. About 4% say outright to wait for a sale or that it is not worth full price, as in "Is it worth the full price of $59.99? Absolutely not." The reasons they give are the main story's length, the padding and the game's age. A handful say it is worth every penny regardless.
How it compares with Arkham and Spider-Man 2Medium
Batman Arkham comes up in 12% of the longer reviews and Spider-Man 2 in 10%. The Arkham comparison runs both ways: several reviewers rate this game as good as the Arkham games or better at traversal, while others find the combat shallower, as in "basically just a worse version of Batman Arkham city/knight." Returning players comparing it with Spider-Man 2 tend to prefer this game's story, gadgets and pacing, while granting that the sequel moves and fights better.
Peter's remastered faceLow
About 1% of the longer reviews bring up the new face model. Critics say Peter now looks too young ("Why did they change the face model for Peter, he looks hideous"), and some install a mod to restore the original; others prefer it, like the player who wrote "The new peter actually looks like Peter Parker."
What frustrates players
Repetitive side content and paddingMedium
Repetition is the most frequent complaint here, in 19% of the longer reviews, positive and negative alike. The targets are enemy bases with wave after wave of thugs, district crimes that repeat the same few scenarios, and collectible chores such as pigeons, pollution clouds and research stations. "You're supposed to be Spider-Man, yet you're swinging around catching birds? Eh?" one player wrote, and a negative review summed up the bases as "Clear the base 50 times." Completionists feel it most: one described the end of a 100% run as "mindlessly grinding the same handful of crimes 20 times per district", and some note that crimes are slow to spawn when you need the last few. Players who stick to the story and a few side activities say the filler is easy to skip.
Forced stealth as Mary Jane and MilesMedium
The stealth sections without Spider-Man come up in 17% of the longer reviews, and 9% complain about them outright. "You play as Spider-Man and that is fun but you also play as other people and that isn't," one wrote, and another said "everytime you start to have too much fun, the game makes you do a stealth mission with Mary Jane." The objections are to pacing and to losing your powers: slow, linear sneaking where getting spotted means instant failure, dropped in right after you have been swinging around the city, and a few resent replaying it in New Game+. Some also dislike MJ as a character. A minority defends the sections as short or as a change of pace, such as the player who found "the stealth parts with MJ and Miles were surprisingly enjoyable", and a few praise the Rhino section with Miles. Some players remove them with a mod.
Screwball and Taskmaster challengesMedium
Challenge complaints come up in 5% of the longer reviews, almost all from players going for 100%. Screwball's photo-scoring challenges and her non-stop chatter in the DLC draw the angriest words ("I can tell they did NO playtesting on the screwball missions whatsoever"; "I can't even say how dumb the photobomb point mechanic is"), and Taskmaster's drone races come up after them. At least two reviewers say a Screwball story mission in the DLC blocked their progress.
Late-game enemies that undercut the power fantasyLow
A small group objects to the enemy mix from Act 3 onward and in the DLC: jetpack troopers shooting Spider-Man out of the air, rockets and sniper fire from across the block, minigun brutes and shields that resist webs. "Whoever had the idea that every late game enemy needed to be immune to being webbed in a game called spider-man needs to be fired," one wrote.
Short, simple boss fightsLow
About 2% of the longer reviews criticize the bosses as brief, scripted or easy, with quick-time events doing much of the work. "Boss fights are essentially 'dodge until it's your turn to attack once' and repeat," one player wrote. Others single out the Vulture and Electro fight or the final battle with Doc Ock as highlights.
Puzzles and minigamesLow
The circuit and chemistry puzzles come up in about 4% of the longer reviews, often as filler; one negative review called them "the same minigame over and over and over". A few players point out that the game lets you skip them.
Keyboard and mouse controlsLow
About 2% of the longer reviews recommend a controller, some strongly ("IMHO, unplayable with mouse & keyboard. Great game with controller"), citing combos that twist your fingers and an unclear tutorial. Others say "the mouse and keyboard controls are awesome". A few controller players report two-button finishers that do not register.
3. The player conversation
Thousands of reviews are one-line verdicts like "peak" or "absolute cinema", jokes about web-shooting, or nostalgia for the PS2 Spider-Man games. The longer ones usually go on about swinging and the story, then list a few caveats about MJ, repetition, Screwball or crashes. Negative reviews are a small minority, and they fall into three groups: technical problems, boredom with the open-world structure, and dislike of the writing or the sections without Spider-Man.
Who raises what follows how far players get. Negative reviews from people who stopped within two hours are mostly about the game failing to run, crashing at launch or stuttering. Complaints about repetition and the MJ sections come from players deep into the campaign, and nearly all of the Screwball and Taskmaster complaints come from players who have put many hours in, chasing 100% and the DLC.
Many reviewers are first-time players who never had it on PlayStation, PS4 and PS5 owners replaying it for mods and higher frame rates, or people who say they bought it in a Steam sale or after seeing the film Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The recommendation rate held steady through 2026: every week with 90 or more reviews recommended the game at between 90% and 98%.
4. What the developers could do
- Fix PC stability first. Crashes, freezes, stutter and bugs come up in 15% of the longer reviews, including reports of whole-PC shutdowns, slowdowns over long sessions and lost saves.
- Add an option to skip or shorten the MJ and Miles stealth sections. 9% of the longer reviews complain about them, players already use mods to remove them, and a few resent replaying them in New Game+.
- Trim and vary the open-world filler. Fewer waves per base, more scenario variety in district crimes and faster crime spawns for completionists would answer the repetition complaints in 19% of the longer reviews.
- Rework Screwball's and Taskmaster's challenge scoring. Completionists call the photobomb scoring and drone races untested and say one Screwball story mission in the DLC blocked their progress.
- Rebalance late-game and DLC enemies. Players blame jetpack troopers, long-range rockets and sniper fire, and web-immune minigun brutes for turning fluid combat into constant dodging.
- Fix input reliability. Two-button finishers that fail to register on some controllers and confusing keyboard defaults push players toward a controller or away from the game.
- Offer the original Peter face model as an option. A small group dislikes the remastered face and restores the old one with mods.
