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Spider-Man is one of the most beloved superhero characters in the world. With record-breaking box office success on every film, through to award-winning praise with every video game featuring Peter Parker, there is no shortage of critical fun to be had. Marvel’s Spider-Man is no different. The game released to roaring success in 2018. Touted as one of video gaming’s best comic-book adaptations yet, it quickly joined the ranks associated with Batman Arkham Asylum and Deadpool. Since then, fans have had the privilege of enjoying an incredible spin-off, and a remastered release on Sony’s PlayStation 5… which is exactly why Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC release, ultimately, feels like a disappointment. 

For those who truly are not in the know, Marvel’s Spider-Man can be described as an open world action adventure title. It features light role-playing elements, and many puzzle segments with advanced platforming sequences. Web-swinging is a breeze, and totally manages to capture the minds of anyone playing, whether casual or otherwise. Players truly do feel like Spider-Man swinging through Manhattan. Similarly, its plot is wonderfully original and features fan-favourite characters from both ends of the moral spectrum. To this end, the game features battles against foes who can, arguably, be described as the most accurate and detailed versions of the Sinister Six in any medium outside of the comics. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered also includes the three major downloadable content packs released for the non-remastered version, at no extra cost, and all additional suits that have been released in the years since; which can also be unlocked without much effort. 

At its core, Marvel’s Spider-Man is an amazing title. It features glorious open-world web slinging, a combat system based heavily off the system made famous by the Arkham games, and features a truly relatable story about an underappreciated local superhero dealing with life, love, and laugh- okay, that last one is a joke. The point is the game is an exceptional title, and will forever forever be regarded as “essential gaming”. Even so, there are moments whereby the title begins to show its age. These come by way of a large open environment that rarely reacts to gameplay, as well as interesting, albeit tedious, side-missions without much purpose to the main narrative. These aspects do not pull away from the title’s as a whole, but are merely points to note for a game that is, for all intents and purposes, four years old at this point in time.

The age of the original release aside, when Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered was released, the world rejoiced. Peter Parker’s antics could finally be experienced in ultra high-definition 4K and high dynamic range. Gameplay was [and still is] a treat, and loading is pretty much non-existent on PlayStation 5. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC release finally brings all of this to the rightful heirs of the gaming throne, the PC Master Race, but also comes with the glaring question of: who is this game really for? 

PC ports often come with a set of additional features. In the case of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC, these features include an unlocked framerate, ultra-widescreen support, higher resolution shadows, increased fidelity in ray traced reflections, and last but not least, support for both Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR 2.0

Of all the features, the latter are the most important. Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR 2.0 are excellent methods of upscaling games on medium-end hardware, without a major loss in framerates. Thanks to new technologies, gamers can technically push ultra high-definition resolutions using dedicated cores and deep learning neural networks. While this means games do not render 4K (or 1080p, or even 2K) natively, the resulting image is just as sharp and crisp as if it were rendered natively. The fact Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC features both Nvidia’s and AMD’s implementations is wonderful; as it allows gamers with older graphics cards (particularly Nvidia’s 10 and 16 cards) to take advantage of FSR, while gamers with top-of-the-range cards can easily run the more superior DLSS technology, all to the same effect. 

While admittedly not as fast as its current-generation console counterpart, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC features astounding loading times, and overall gameplay runs exceptionally well. The graphical settings range from Very Low (for the required spec), to Very High (for gamers who have enthusiast builds), but most gamers with rigs only a few years old will be able to get away with a mixture of Medium to High settings. Thanks to Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR 2.0, the game looks wonderful, regardless. For our testing, the title was played on a recommended-spec build featuring: Rysen 7 1700x, GTX 1060 8GB, 32GB RAM, Samsung 980 Pro NVMe 1TB.

Of course, there is one glaring electrified spider in the room: Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC is nothing more than the PC version of a four-year old game, once remastered two years prior. Even so, it arrives on PC as a full-priced release in 2022, without giving players the option of also enjoying what is arguably the best content released yet: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. While it is regarded as a standalone spin-off title, Miles Morales released on the PlayStation 5 in 2020, alongside Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. Players who went the extra mile and bought the deluxe edition, were given Spider-Man Remastered for free. While it may sound petty, it needs to be said that Sony have already committed to a 2022 PC release for the wall-crawling spin-off, yet it cannot be pre-purchased anywhere, and the now-remastered base game is listed for a full $70 USD (regional equivalents notwithstanding) on both Steam and The Epic Games Store

It goes without saying how gross it feels for long-standing fans of Spider-Man to be given all this choice of platform, with the knowledge that Miles Morales is not a part of the release, but will likely be listed at full price when it eventually hits digital PC marketplaces. In lieu of this revelation also comes the understanding of how Sony might offer both Miles Morales and Spider-Man Remastered PC in a bundle, for what will likely cost the same as the current Ultimate Edition bundle on PlayStation 5. The answer to the question, of who Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC is for, then becomes abundantly clear: hardcore fans who will be more than willing to pay the premium for the same game they already own on console. 

Questionable ethics around video game pricing aside, the game still deserves every single ounce of love pointed its way. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC is truly a wonderful game (despite showing its age in certain gameplay segments). It is exceptional in its execution as a PC port, and developers Nixxes have outdone themselves once again. The PC release includes all content released for Marvel’s Spider-Man since its initial release, and it even comes with a few additional features to make it worthwhile for gamers who do not have a PlayStation 5 or simply prefer gaming on PC. Ultimately, however, it might be best to wait it out and get the game bundled with Miles Morales (assuming this will happen). The game is so good, but given how it is a full-priced two-year-old rerelease of a four-year-old game, simply serves to disappoint; therefore justifying the verdict as nothing more than ‘average’ for PC players.


Verdict:

AVERAGE

PROSCONS
Peak open-world gameplayMiles Morales where?
Intuitive, fast-paced actionFull-priced two-year-old re-release of a four-year-old game
Best version of a Spidey game yet

Title reviewed on Microsoft Windows (via Steam) with code supplied by PlayStation Studios.

Learn more about our review methodology here.


Junior Editor at Vamers. From Superman to Ironman; Bill Rizer to Sam Fisher and everything in-between, Edward loves it all. He is a Bachelor of Arts student and English Major specialising in Language and Literature. He is an avid writer and casual social networker with a flare for all things tech related.