Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will let players freely switch characters in open world

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 developers claim that character switching between Peter and Miles in the open world will involve a simple button press.

Sony’s May 2023 PlayStation Showcase closed with a 10-minute gameplay reveal for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. To the delight of fans, the footage unveiled Peter’s Symbiote suit, a first look at the Lizard, and character switching.

Swapping between the two leads happened during a story mission, though, leading many to wonder how exactly the feature will function in the open-world setting.

Fortunately, Insomniac developers have quelled the concerns of those worried about potentially strict limitations in this regard.

Devs promise character switching is simple in Spider-Man 2

Speaking with Eurogamer, Creative Director Bryan Intihar revealed what players can expect from character swapping in the Marvel’s Spider-Man sequel.

Insomniac will dictate when users can step into the shoes of Peter or Miles during story missions. Intihar explained, “as you saw on that gameplay reveal, which is a segment of the main story, we are pre-determining those based on what we want to do for how the story plays out.”

The same won’t hold true for exploration in the New York-set open world, however. While leisurely playing through the sandbox, players will be able to freely switch between the two Spider-Men. And, according to the Creative Director, the action will require a mere button press.

“You’ll be able to – in the open world – freely switch between them with a simple button press,” Intihar said. He also revealed that certain open-world content will demand the use of one character over another but what that entails is presently unknown.

Seamless character switching for an adventure like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 may seem a given in a world post-Grand Theft Auto 5.

Yet, Gotham Knights proved just last year that swapping heroes in a superhero game isn’t always as simple as players would hope. Users could only access a different character in the Bat-family-starring game after returning to the group’s base of operations and sitting through two loading screens.

Perhaps because it only features two playable heroes, Insomniac’s Spider-Man sequel is evidently going a different route.