Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is still spectacular, if imperfect, on PC

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has arrived on PC, marking the latest PlayStation Studios title to become available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. As a massive fan of Insomniac Games’ 2023 sequel, I was excited to dive back into the latest saga in the story of Peter Parker and Miles Morales. While I still prefer the overall experience on PS5, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is another solid PC port for PlayStation Studios.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 opens with a major set piece that sees both of the masked heroes fighting Sandman in the skies of New York City. This sequence already serves as an excellent introduction to this story, but is now a technical showpiece for how good the game can look on a high-end PC. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 features settings for ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS, and AMD FSR, which can be cranked up to create some truly beautiful images.

The game also has Ultra wide support, which made for some awe-inspiring visuals as I swung through the city or looked out at the skyline from a rooftop. Of course, your mileage will vary greatly depending on your PC specs. The PS5 is a mighty piece of hardware, so you’ll need to do more than just hit the minimum spec requirements to outdo the performance on Sony’s console.

Having Spider-Man 2 also afforded me some convenient luxuries that I just didn’t have when initially playing the game on PS5. On PC I’m able to use the much more comfortable Xbox Series X controller, which is fully supported during button prompts. The game is also portable thanks to its Steam Deck compatibility, though there are significant visual concessions when playing on Valve’s handheld PC.

While I largely enjoyed my time diving back into the world of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, the experience wasn’t without its hiccups. There were moments, particularly cutscenes, during my playthrough where textures would pop in late, or a model would have a weird discolored effect on it. This didn’t happen often, but it was noticeable when it did.

When you boil it down, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a fantastic game, and being able to play a fantastic game in more places is always a good thing. As I gushed in my review back in 2023, it’s a triumph of a video game that improves virtually everything over its predecessors without crumbling under its own weight.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_