It’s about bloody time. After skipping the recent State of Play showcase, Sony and Marvel Entertainment have finally announced a release date for Marvel’s Wolverine, the upcoming Insomniac Games title that centers on everyone’s favorite adamantium-fueled mutant. The game will be released exclusively for PlayStation 5 on Sep. 15.
Previously, the game was slated for a “fall 2026” release, but the game’s new September date will see Logan squeak into summer season.
Insomniac Games had been strangely mum about Wolverine‘s release date, leading some to speculate that the studio was hoping to avoid Grand Theft Auto 6‘s nuclear blast zone when that game launches on Nov. 19. Gaming industry insiders keep suggesting that, internally, Sony basically considers GTA 6 a PS5 exclusive despite Rockstar’s planned multiplatform release. Whatever the case, there’s a healthy gap between Wolverine‘s and GTA 6‘s release date — so fans won’t have to figure out how to juggle both games at once.
Originally announced in 2021, the highly-anticipated Wolverine marks a departure for Insomniac as a studio. In comparison to franchises like Ratchet and Clank — or even our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man — Wolverine is shaping up to be a way more violent and gory experience. Insomniac has developed specialized blood tech for the game, and that’s evident given what we’ve seen in trailers thus far. Blood won’t just spatter, soak, and pool as it does in most games: In Wolverine, it’ll even get between Logan’s teeth. It’s all gruesome enough that Insomniac had to assess whether the game was “going too far.” Based on all the enemies getting ripped to shreds in the trailers, it seems that the video game version of Wolverine will retain the mature edge that has defined generations of comic books and movies.
In this rendition, Insomniac is characterizing Wolverine as an unreliable narrator. Logan has huge gaps in his memory, and his lack of recall is one of the reasons he’s so damn angry in the game. But Insomniac aims to give Wolverine some nuance here as well. Beyond his penchant for cutting people into ribbons, this Wolverine is also defined by a deep sense of kindness. All of this complexity will be conveyed via Liam McIntyre, an Australian actor whose performance was motion-capped by Insomniac Games to help produce a more realistic depiction of the character.
