With great processing power, comes great responsibility… to deliver a technical showcase on PC!

Marvel’s Spider-Man was a groundbreaking game when it first arrived on PlayStation 4 in 2018, and, after a remaster for PS5 in 2020, finally, that iconic hero is throwing webs and gadgets on a new platform. As PlayStation looks to grow its brand beyond that of a single console, developer Insomniac’s Spider-Man game has made the leap to what is arguably the most powerful platform for video games.

This isn’t the first time that a PlayStation property has made the jump onto PC–see God of War and Horizon: Zero Dawn for recent examples–but there’s a lot riding on this particular port, given that previous PlayStation games have arrived in less than optimal condition in the past. With porting specialist Nixxes at the helm though, there’s an expectation that Sony’s wallcrawling hero will blaze a new trail forward for the brand as it grows beyond the confines of PlayStation hardware.

And the good news is that this game is a complete package that captures all the charm of Spider-Man and reinvigorates it with stunning graphical enhancements. Provided that you’ve got the hardware to run it, that is.

If you missed the game when it first came out, Marvel’s Spider-Man tells the tale of New York’s original web-slinger facing his greatest challenge and deadliest adversaries. An open-world sandbox set in Manhattan, Insomniac’s take on Spider-Man is bold, fresh, and delivers an emotional haymaker right to the gut. While Activision’s Spider-Man games started strong and finished up as licensed movie tie-in stinkers, Insomniac’s direction is a more original take on the source material that respects the past and paves the way for the future.

Insomniac’s Spider-Man is also a ton of fun to play, and with this PC port, you’re getting a definitive version that’s built to take advantage of high-end computers and graphics cards. Some of the biggest upgrades include ray-traced reflections that offers even more city detail when web-swinging around New York; Nvidia’s DLSS and DLAA support that increases graphical performance on systems that can harness them; and additional quality levels and algorithmic options.

Do you want SSAO, texture filtering, LoD quality, shadows, and other technical mumbo-jumbo that makes me wish I studied IT at university so that I’d actually understand these terms better? You got it. Throw in a wide range of display ratios, and you’re all set for this game to earn its place as the title you use to show off your fancy computer.

With all of these features present, you’ve got a game that exceeds the original PS4 and PS5 versions on the visual front. While you still can’t beat the PS5’s unique SSD technology when it comes to loading times, this is a contest that comes down to mere seconds of difference. By comparison, the updated PS5 version offered a trade-off in the graphical department, as the 4K Fidelity mode runs at 30 frames per second to accommodate enhanced lighting effects and ray tracing, while Performance settles for a more dynamic resolution and a stable 60fps. A recently introduced middle-ground option mixes a high frame rate with ray tracing while constantly adjusting the game’s resolution, reflection quality, and other granular details.

The game is also fortunately forgiving when it comes to recommended PC specs. While the best 4K and 60 FPS experience, with all of the visual bells and whistles turned on, is admittedly only within reach of people fortunate enough to own the latest Nvidia and AMD graphics cards–as well as a chunky amount of RAM and CPU power–those of you with more moderate setups will still be able to enjoy the game at a surprisingly high level of fidelity.

For example, a GeForce GTX 1060 paired with an Intel core i5 and 16 GB of RAM is still capable of playing the game at a very smooth 1080p and 60 FPS, provided that you don’t mind knocking the graphics presets down to the medium level of what’s possible. And honestly? This doesn’t look too shabby at all.

If you are looking to get the game settings pumped up to the max though, it’s worth noting that Spider-Man is fairly heavy on CPU resources. This translates into dropped frames in more congested urban environments. However, for the vast majority of the game, it’s still a visual stunner to behold and loaded with a number of options. You’re free to toggle with these settings as you see fit and assess what effect they have on the background around you, but for the most part, you’re going to get a game that’s on par with the PS5 version, and capable of exceeding that mighty Sony hardware in multiple areas.

Think shinier surfaces, incredibly sharp textures, and some of the most reflective puddles that you could ask for in a superhero game. Once you find your own personal sweet spot in terms of PC performance and power, Marvel’s Spider-Man becomes a showcase that you’ll use to flaunt your hardware.

But where the game looks great, it feels superb when you’ve got a PS DualSense controller hooked up to your PC. The PS5 controller has been a breath of next-gen haptic feedback air since it hit the scene in 2020, and on PC, you get full functionality with Marvel’s Spider-Man on par with the console edition. The caveat here is that you need to have the DualSense tethered to your system, but it’s well worth doing so to experience a game that makes excellent use of subtle vibrations, adaptive triggers, and other nuanced features to immerse you in the experience. When your Spider-sense is tingling, you’ll feel the difference.

Beyond that, Marvel’s Spider-Man is just an amazing game to play. While some of its open-world design reeks of sandbox bloat and often takes you off the golden path to pursue upgrade tokens, the core campaign tells a story that eclipses what has been seen on the big screen to date. Combined with gameplay that makes you feel like an agile arachnid-themed hero, fun gadgets to tinker with, and web-swinging through New York City that feels phenomenal, you’ve got a confident package of power, responsibility, and cinematic action that can easily stand with some of the greatest games in its genre.

On top of that, there’s plenty of endgame content in the form of an extra campaign that was originally available as three DLC episodes, dozens of costumes to collect, and a fantastic slice of New York to explore for hidden Easter eggs.

Compared to previous PlayStation game launches, Nixxes has hit it out of the park with Marvel’s Spider-Man. There’s still some work to be done, but with this porting specialist promising tweaks that’ll help fine-tune the more demanding aspects of Spider-Man on PC, optimization will only evolve this title even further as the weeks and months roll on by.


Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered review

A superhero adventure that brings the best of PlayStation to PC, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is spectacular to look at and still amazing to play.

 9
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered was reviewed on PC