Feature: Marvel’s Wolverine: Inside Insomniac’s Blood and Destruction Tech on PS5 and PS5 Pro
Insomniac Games is taking a radically different technical approach for Marvel’s Wolverine compared to its Spider-Man franchise, centered on the character’s aggressive, destructive nature.
Where Spider-Man emphasized light, agile traversal barely touching the ground, Wolverine represents what Insomniac’s Mike Fitzgerald describes as “a berserker cannonball”—a character designed to “run through things and cause damage.” This fundamental character philosophy has driven nearly every technical decision in the game’s development.
The shift impacts multiple technical systems across the engine, including character model design, blood simulation, foliage destruction, and streaming architecture. These changes reflect Wolverine’s brutish combat style and the need to render extensive environmental destruction as the character tears through levels. The technical adjustments ensure the game can handle the visual and performance demands of constant material destruction while maintaining smooth gameplay.
The game is in development for PS5 and PS5 Pro, with Insomniac leveraging the hardware capabilities of both systems to support the enhanced destruction and performance requirements Wolverine’s gameplay demands.