We will be honest: Marvel’s Spider-Man is one of the titles I’ve liked the most in recent years, thanks to a narrative sector
that does more than justice to the adventures of the wall climber, as well as a truly adrenaline-pumping gameplay experience. Four years after its PS4 debut and two years since its PS5 debut, Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man finally lands in the world of PC gaming. It took some time, but Sony has realized the potential that the personal computer market can offer to its first party titles: after Horizon, Days Gone and Death Stranding, even the flagship title of Insomniac has arrived on our desktop. But how does Peter Parker perform on PC?
I’ll start to make it clear, without too many words: Insomniac’s Spider-Man Remastered is also fantastic on a Personal Computer. Of course, if you’re a Spider-Man fan, don’t wait any longer and get your hands on this version of the game. There are several additions that the development team has made over the console version, so in this review we will be talking exclusively about the technical side of the Insomniac Games title. I specify it because to read more about the narration and gameplay you can retrieve the original review of the title on PS4, which you can find at this link.
I was saying, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered resumes the version released for PS5 in 2020, the one present (and exclusive) in the package offered by Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales Deluxe Edition. The game is exactly the same, so don’t expect PC-specific story additions or DLCs. However, there are some small technical goodies that the fans of the Personal Computer world will appreciate, and that we see now in our small review.
The PC version of Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered uses the “updated” models of Peter and the other supporting actors (Peter’s face is different from that of the very first PS4 version), and introduces all the improvements included in the PS5 version, plus some new features: let’s start with ultrawide resolution supports, which untie the game from the classic 16: 9 format. The lucky owners of monitors with wider viewing angles can finally try the various combinations of all the formats present, namely 16:10, 21: 9, 32: 9 and 48: 9. This is an update that will certainly please the most high-end users but that will not affect those who use more common monitors too much. However, it remains an excellent feature that will undoubtedly make the game more “future-proof”.
The big update concerns the introduction of NVIDIA’s proprietary technologies, namely DLSS and DLAA. Let’s start from the first, or the possibility of using NVIDIA’s DLSS 2.0 technology, which makes the PC version immediately and clearly distinguishable from the one present on both consoles of the PlayStation family. When Deep Learning Super Sampling comes into play, the performance in terms of framerate and fluidity improve significantly, giving the player a decidedly more convincing and engaging gaming experience (clearly provided that you have a fairly recent hardware equipment, with video cards of the RTX family).
NVIDIA’s Deep Learning technology is also used for Anti-Aliasing in Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, one of the first triple-A days to take advantage of this innovation. The DLAA allows to reach an indisputably superior visual rendering compared to that seen on consoles without the upscaling component, which returns to the user / user an even more realistic experience. It goes without saying that already only with the presence of DLSS and DLAA we are faced with the best version of Marvel’s Spider-Man currently in circulation, without ifs and buts. And you will tell me: yes, but the PS5 version also has support for haptic feedback and DualSense. Very true. But the PC version also supports the new Sony controller, with all its features. You got it right:all the functions of the DualSense of PlayStation 5 will be available at launch for those who decide to connect the controller to the PC (via USB-C cable. No bluetooth), therefore support for the dynamic effects of the trigger and aprico feedback included, complete with a speaker on the controller. Of course, the game also supports Microsoft (and third-party) controllers, as well as a mouse and keyboard.
Finally, the support for Ray Tracing, already the prerogative of the PlayStation 5 version which, however, is further refined and improved here. But be careful: here the light refraction reflection technology is applied to the reflections of shiny surfaces, i.e. mirrors, skyscraper glass, puddles. All this contributes to giving a higher level of realism for a more than excellent visual rendering. But how does all this goodness behave in terms of performance?Well, I have great news for all PC gamers: Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered comes with several options to best configure the game’s performance by finding the best combination for our hardware. In addition to the usual graphic pre-settings such as low, normal, max and super we have the possibility to intervene directly on various parameters to obtain the best performance. With my hardware, which has a not-so-very-young GPU (2080 Ti) I was able to safely play with all graphics options at maximum, well over 80 frames per second (even with RTX enabled). Sony seems to have learned from the more hasty port of Horizon Zero Dawn, offering us a well-optimized port, within the reach of any modern PC.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered also arrives on personal computers with a bang: the port of PlayStation Studios satisfies the needs of gamers and PC players, while not adding any DLC or expanding the existing game. What Sony has done brings a truly majestic game to all computers, both technically and in terms of gameplay and history, which does not show its four years at all.
Conclusions
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is a title that every lover of the superhero / action genre should have in their library. I want to underline, however, that there are no concrete reasons to make the purchase again from apparently those who have already finished the story of Peter Parker on PlayStation; however, those who have never come close to what is (personally) the best Spider-Man game ever made have every reason to jump right into the PC port.
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