Does a co-op multiplayer Spider-Man game from Insomniac sound like something you’d want to play? Well, sorry, while it was in the works, it’s no longer in production. For a while we heard rumblings a multiplayer Spidey project was happening, but then as part of Sony’s recent step back from their (over) ambitious live service plans, the project was reportedly canceled. And that would usually be that, but the massive Insomniac Games leak from late last year is still yielding new information, including a trailer for that canceled multiplayer project, entitled Spider-Man: The Great Web.
While we won’t embed the Spider-Man: The Great Web trailer here, it seems to show a game that was in the latter stages of development, perhaps even close to launch. The game is also clearly built on the foundation laid down by Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, with similar visuals/combat and that familiar Manhattan skyline we all know so well.
Spider-Man: The Great Web would have been a 5-person PvE co-op game, with players taking on the role of different versions of the webhead. This would include the first Insomniac Spider-verse appearance by Spider-Gwen (aka Ghost-Spider, aka Spider-Woman). It’s unclear if all these spidery heroes getting together would be the result of some sort of multiverse chicanery or if these characters all would have existed within the Insomniac universe, but we do see them traveling through portals, in a mechanic borrowed from Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Villains mostly seem to be recycled from the core Spider-Man games with Venom, Mysterio, Doc Ock, Sandman, Venom, Vulture, Scorpion, Electro, and Rhino making appearances in the trailer.
Here’s how the trailer voiceover (provided by series regular Yuri Lowenthal) sets up the game…
“New York City. Nothing in the whole world I wouldn’t do for this big, beautiful apple. One moment you’re scarfing down a slice from Vinnie’s, the next – you’re stopping a super-villain prison break. Sometimes you can swing it as a lone wolf, but you’re way better off with some friends. I’ve seen the Sinister Six before… but never so methodical, so savage. I don’t think I’m going to be enough this time, guys. But together, we just might be.”
Overall, looks pretty fun, although perhaps better served as an add-on or multiplayer mode for a future Spider-Man game rather than a standalone experience. I would not be at all surprised if Spider-Man 3 reuses a bit of the work that went into Spider-Man: The Great Web and introduces co-op.
Insomniac’s latest, Spider-Man 2, is available now on PS5. What are your thoughts on Spider-Man: The Great Web? Sad you won’t get to web up baddies with buddies?
