Developers at Insomniac Games have revealed new images of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, teasing the sequel’s massive map.
Per The New York Times, Insomniac shared a few screenshots of Times Square Plaza, Coney Island, and the Grand Army Plaza in the upcoming game. While Times Square Plaza previously appeared in the first game, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 expands to include more locations outside Manhattan. These include Brooklyn, home to Coney Island and the Grand Army Plaza, as well as Peter Parker’s home borough of Queens. All told, the new additions make Spider-Man 2’s map twice the size of that in the first game.
How Insomniac made New York in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Insomniac faced new challenges while making the sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man, largely due to development primarily taking place during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Josue Benavidez, Spider-Man 2’s design director, revealed that it took “a lot of living in Google Maps” to realize New York City, and then some. Benavidez also reached out Reddit groups for the city’s various neighborhoods and talk to experts at organizations like the Center for Brooklyn History.
Some of New York’s architecture also proved difficult, like its rowhouses and brownstones. In other cases, developers had to add to the landscape to compliment Spider-Man’s abilities. Insomniac varied the layout to add iconic Spider-Man locations to the map, like Brooklyn Visions Academy, and added more trees for players to swing through the streets. Striving to enhance Peter Parker and Miles Morales’ web-swinging, Benavidez notes that “everything is very intentionally placed.”
The team also faced legal difficulties when creating the iconic city in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. The Chrysler Building, which appeared in 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, did not make it into the Miles Morales DLC and won’t feature in the sequel. The reason for this stems from the Chrysler Building’s change in ownership; Insomniac couldn’t come to a copyright agreement with the new owners in time for it to appear in the new game.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 releases on October 20, 2023, exclusively on Sony‘s PlayStation 5.
