Key Highlights:
- Insomniac Games says Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be in the same general range as the first game for overall playtime.
- Senior Game Director Ryan Smith says the studio does not want to make an 80 to 100-hour game simply because the sequel has a larger world.
- Insomniac is instead focusing on making missions more memorable, deeper and more closely connected to the story.
Insomniac Games says Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will offer roughly the same overall playtime as the original Marvel’s Spider-Man despite featuring a substantially larger open world.
Senior Game Director Ryan Smith discussed the sequel’s length during a recent VG247 interview, explaining that Spider-Man 2 is in the same general range as the first game for total playtime.
Engaging with side content could extend the total playtime to approximately 34 hours, providing players with more value for their money. Ryan Smith also elaborated on this aspect, stating:
“We don’t want this to be an 80-100 hour game, that’s not where we want to be.”
Instead, the studio is concentrating on making individual missions feel more substantial and more closely connected to the wider story.
Smith explained that Insomniac has tried to make moments such as the Lizard encounter more ambitious, deeper and more story-integrated rather than extending the game through sheer volume of content.
That approach means the sequel’s larger map should not automatically translate into a much longer campaign.
Insomniac has already confirmed that Brooklyn and Queens join Manhattan in Spider-Man 2, giving Peter Parker and Miles Morales a city nearly twice the size of the one explored in the first game. GLN recently looked at how Insomniac expanded Marvel’s New York and adapted its new neighbourhoods around traversal.
The first Marvel’s Spider-Man takes roughly 17 hours for players concentrating primarily on the main story according to HowLongToBeat estimates, although completion times vary considerably depending on side missions, collectibles and individual play style.
That figure should not be treated as a confirmed 17-hour runtime for Spider-Man 2. Smith has only compared the sequel’s overall playtime with the first game rather than providing a specific number of hours.
This is because Spider-Man 2 adds substantially more than a larger map. Peter and Miles can be switched during open-world exploration, each has individual abilities and story content, and Insomniac has expanded side activities throughout the city.
From what I see, Smith’s comments suggest Insomniac is treating the larger world as a way to broaden what happens during the game rather than simply increasing the amount of time required to finish it.
The studio appears to be prioritising density over duration, with optional content and exploration available for players who want to spend longer in New York without turning the main experience into an open-world marathon.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 launches exclusively for PlayStation 5 on October 20, 2023.
Later update: The released game broadly matched Insomniac’s pre-launch description. A typical main-story playthrough takes around 18 to 20 hours, while players completing most side activities generally spend considerably longer in the game.
