Let's just get this out of the way: Insomniac is definitely making a VR Spider-Man game. No, nothing like that has been announced, and I'm not trying to start any rumors here, but come on. That's obviously going to happen, right?
The PS VR2 is in desperate need of some exclusives, and Sony loves leaning on its first party franchises, hence Horizon Call of the Mountain being a PS VR2 launch title. Sony also loves acquiring studios with expertise it can use to bolster projects across the company. It bought Bungie last year to help shepherd its live-service games, but it bought Insomniac in 2019, just one day after the launch of Insomniac's VR masterpiece, Stormland. Insomniac has made four phenomenal VR games and it's always working on multiple games at the same time. I think I've made my point, Spider-Man VR is coming.
Here’s Where The Aveng🎃ers Were In Spider-Man 2: Shut U🤪p
The Avengers not feat🐻uring in Spider-Man 2 is comic book-accurate, and makes the game better. Not every piece of media needs to be an IP tease.
With that out of the way, let's talk about what Insomniac's Spider-Man VR should look like. There's actually been tons of VR games inspired by Spider-Man's unique traversal abilities already, and some of them are pretty damn good. Some, like the Windlands series, borrow web swinging and do their own thing with it, while others, like BattleGlide, are basically just Spider-Man sims. There's also the actual Spider-Man VR game, Spider-Man: Homecoming, but we don't need to talk about that cereal box-ass disaster of a ‘game’.
The point is, we already know web swinging works well in VR, so what should Insomniac do with it? One thing I’d like to see the studio expand upon in VR is Spidey’s rogues’ gallery of larger-than-life threats. Other than a skyscraper-sized Sandman at the beginning of Sp🌱ider-Man 2, all of the threats in Insomniac’s three Spider-Man games have been humans, or aliens/robots/mutants that are slightly bigger than humans, or Kingpin, who’s in between as a human who is also slightly bigger than other humans.
The first-person perspective of VR creates a great opportunity for cinematic boss battles with giant enemies, like Mysterio’s elementals in Far From Home. This may mean tapping into the supernatural more to bring monsters like Shuma-Gorath into the Gameverse (I’m sorry, that’s what it’s called), but there’s enough 🐠connection to Doctor Strange already to make that work. Other candidates include Giganto, Fin Fang Foom, Droom, or even a♒ Celestial. I’ve already written that it’s time for Insomniac to get weird with Spider-Man, and this would be a great place to start.
There’s also a great opportunity to experiment with first-person combat in VR in a Spider-Man game. Web swinging is a no-brainer, it’s practically a gimme, but fighting like Spider-Man in virtual reality would be a much more challenging endeavor. VR combat is largely limited to shooting guns and swinging swords, so webbing up foes, attacking them with gadgets, web-zipping around, and performing acrobatics would bring a whole new dimension to VR. It could be totally nauseating, but if anyone can make it work, it’s Insomniac. Disney already has a Spider-Man ride where you fight via motion control, so the founda🀅tions may already be built.
It would be easy to construct cinematic sequences with a locked camera and lots of quick-time events to create an engrossing VR experience, but I would hope that Insomniac would maintain the sense of freedom and exploration that make its Spider-Man games such a joy to play. It would also need to put story and character front and center just as all of Insomniac&rsq🧸uo;s Spider games have, but in a way that doesn’t turn what would be cutscenes in the flat games into stand-and-listens in VR. Of course, it could always make a full game of MJ stealth missions - there’s plenty of VR games like that. I’ll play Insomniac’s Mary Jane VR if I have to. Heck, I’d play Insomniac’s Aunt May VR. Though on second thought, maybe the V should stand for Venom…