Marvel's Spider-Man 2 - Digital Foundry Tech Review - The Next Big Leap For PS5?

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 sees Insomniac deliver its most technologically advanced game yet, increasing graphical density and realism, ramping up ray tracing effects across the board and leveraging the speed of the PlayStation 5's solid-state storage in a way that Marvel's Spider-Man and Miles Morales never could.
Subscribe for more Digital Foundry: bit.ly/DFSubscribe
Join the DF Patreon to support the team more directly and to get access to everything we do via pristine quality downloads... like a 9.5GB 4K60 version of this very video: bit.ly/3jEGjvx
Want some DF-branded tee-shirts, mugs, hoodies or pullovers? Check out our store: bit.ly/2BqRTt0
For commercial enquiries, please contact [e-mail]

[@Filip10101]

This is the definition of what a good optimization can do. Pushing more detail while retaining or even gaining performance. Bravo.

[@RonniSchmidt-mi7pd]

That's the power of playstation 5, you pc and Xbox fanboy are learning now

[@ryanwellington7493]

​@@RonniSchmidt-mi7pdPS5 is the platform with the weakest hardware it's purely down to optimization

[@untamedronin8339]

​@@ryanwellington7493 forgot about the series s?

[@deathtrooper2048]

1008p is not good optimziation.

[@gavinderulo12]

​@@RonniSchmidt-mi7pdbro just stop. Try running path traced cyberpunk on a ps5 lol

[@twocityfoodies8476]

The level of polish Insomniac or really any AAA Sony Studios release is astonishing especially given the state of so many AAA releases this year.

[@jcdenton4110]

Well considering they have 4 support Studios they outsource to, yeah I would imagine so

[@brunoutechkaheeros1182]

ah yes... cuz Days Gone on PS and The Last of Us on PC were greatly polished at launch, right?

[@TheMusic4Soul]

@@jcdenton4110 Every single AAA game in the existence had outsourced work. The question is, how much money are you willing to put into your product to polish it up to a high standard.

[@untamedronin8339]

​@@brunoutechkaheeros1182days gone was an anomaly and last of us released in a pretty good state on console. Don't be salty because second rate PC players are being treated accordingly

[@denzelvilliers]

​@@brunoutechkaheeros1182Days Gone being one few exception doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of Sony First Party ON CONSOLES are some of the best polished games out there. Exceptions are not the Norm. Also, The Last of Us Port for PC wasn't made by a Sony First Party Studio, it was made by Iron Galaxy Studio which is a Third Party. Go there check it out how PC Ports made by Nixxes ( Sony's First Party Studio ) behave.

[@cloudvoid0]

Insomniac and Guerrilla have really mastered the art of pushing their boundaries of technical excellence with each subsequent release. I’m absolutely loving it.

[@ExplosionSocial2024]

Santa Monica et naughty dog aussi ❤

[@NervousNoodles]

Absolutely. Guerrilla went as far as to give their tech out to Hideo Kojima. The engine powering Death Stranding (Decima Engine) is also the same one powering the Horizon games. They’re getting ready to have other studios use it in the future.

[@iker7853]

This is true. I have not yet seen a game that looks better than killzone ps4. That game looks really astonishing!

[@Dale-jr7oj]

Using the same map every game will help with that 😂

[@danieldevito6380]

Guerilla? Forbidden West was almost identical to Zero Dawn, aside from a few mechanics they copied from other games. Zero Dawn was also a better game overall, with a much better DLC.

[@IndianTelephone]

What a monster studio. Just the tech behind this game, it feels like magic.

[@FelixS.]

It looks like a PS3 game in parts, especially the character models look atrocious.

[@92OpiumTR]

Buying Imsoniac was one of the best decisions Sony made. They do not only good games, they push also innovations with the 40 fps mode, vrr modes and raytracing only.

[@V-Jes]

Weird how long it took Sony to buy them considering how they have been doing great PS exclusives since the PS1 days.

[@ArielCleirigh]

Cause Sony buys potencial studios Not like MS buying already Well known Ips

[@Andy.G8]

Microsoft fumbled hard passing up Insomniac after Sunset Overdrive and not choosing to make the Spider-Man game… or another Marvel game.

[@ChrisAzure]

​@Andy.G8 yep and thank God they did fumbled, because at the time they were not as committed as of now days, probably Insomniac would be closed by now

[@Karlach_]

Microsoft lacks vision. It cannot see hidden talent or potential in game companies like Sony does. Microsoft only buys what is already successful instead of thinking of innovation or the long term future. This is why Sony has beaten them in every single generation so far and will continue to do so far into the future.

[@rowanunderwood]

THANK YOU for including the real shots, I don't think folks who aren't outdoors a lot around large bodies of water really realize how non-reflective water can be!

[@HankBaxter]

And there's a growing number of them, it seems.

[@pierre-charlesleonhart8357]

Especially the east river lmao. It’s solid… blue, but browner the closer you get. And if you swam in the ER or Hudson, well… no need for stem cell therapy later in life I guess

[@tm0054]

You only see the perfect reflections when the water is completely still.

[@rowanunderwood]

@@pierre-charlesleonhart8357 I was thinking of lake Superior and the Saint Louis River, very rarely do you get much reflection on these either (and they are mostly pollution free).

[@ArielCleirigh]

Spiderman 2 should be Called first AAAA game.

[@ThatGumYouLiked]

I have to say, this is just a stupendous video. Everything I’d want to see as a mildly tech obsessed gamer - clear comparisons with the previous games, detailed breakdown of options, clear and concise knowledge. Superb work.

[@rahullund6152]

Can u tell me if VRr on or off would make any difference on my 60hz monitor??

[@rahullund6152]

My monitor hardly support vrr and will it reduce any quality if i turn vrr off?

[@holamoco]

​@@rahullund6152VRR does not reduce quality on graphics. If your monitor do support VRR then you should have it on. VRR enhances frame rate or makes it more stable. If your monitor does not support VRR then it doesn't matter if you have VRR on in the game as it will not be enabled anyway.

[@noboru9068]

1:39 fast loading 4:50 texture detail 6:12 fast portal 8:12 graphics mode 11:54 water RT-reflection 14:00 window RT-reflection 15:06 interior spaces 17:05 strand hair system 17:28 character model detail 17:52 symbiote suit 18:07 cloth simulation 18:38 sand texture looks flat 19:13 sound experience

[@Collier990RHCP]

This is why we need to leave old gen behind. Look at this game. Mind blowing

[@Ghostfacecapalot]

Harry is venom and venom kills Kraven in the middle of the story

[@statesman6379]

Nah...this doesn't beat Ms. Pac-Man.

[@Rukushin]

everybody knows harry is venom and everybody knows venom is the final boss lmao the entire visual design of this game is the black(venom) taking over the red(spider-man) so grats on ur "spoiler" bro it was pretty cringe and worthless @@Ghostfacecapalot

[@nephthysal]

@@GhostfacecapalotLoser

[@nephthysal]

@@Rukushinexactly lol

[@jamesguy926]

Seeing the side-by-side with the real New York made me realise how far graphics have come in some bigger titles; the parity is much closer than I expected. Great work from Insomniac.

[@TheDarksideFNothing]

Right haha Watching on a phone it took me just a second to realize it was real footage.

[@kadosho02]

The team definitely studied atmosphere, light, dark, tones, shapes, and the water lighting, waves, plus fluidity. Everything has so much care put into it

[@speedracer2please]

The need to caption it "Actual New York" made me laugh out loud. We've really made it!

[@invisibledu0313]

and paradoxically it becomes boring

[@squeebplays2158]

The contrast is crazy if you use the animated suit in the first game.

[@IamMarkSmith]

Insomniac continues to impress. They seem to have the best grasp of how to get the best out of the PS5 hardware relative the game world and environments they engineered.

[@rhimil11]

Yeah this makes me excited to see what technically advanced companies like naughty dog and Rockstar do with their new titles

[@kentstopme]

​@@rhimil11Naughty dog💀💀 Nah they fell off Imagine Remaking a PS4 game TLOU P2 (A last gen game) just so they can advertise their live action show they don't care about gamers anymore but casuals watching the show

[@rhimil11]

@@kentstopme I feel you to an extent because I can't get over how Ellie looks in the live action 🥴🥴

[@2genders-tk2ue]

​@@rhimil11or the fact that they wasted a whole episode on a same sex love story because it's the cool thing to do these days....not like they could have used that episode to add to ellie and Joel's connection lol. I can't believe ppl take up for that ridiculous episode.

[@GangStalker17]

Yup really shines a light on how poorly Xbox utilized them as a studio. Sunset Overdrive was ever underrated and under appreciated by Xbox.

[@zvisapir6792]

This is quite amazing. What impressed me the most is not only the quality and fidelity but rather the accurate color grading. The overall color looks much more realistic while still keeping true to the artistic feeling

[@Hypno_BPM]

i do miss that autumn look of the first game

[@snowpuddle9622]

quality? Game crashed twice, npcs are clipping through objects and through main characters in cutscenes. Ambient city sound disappears. Feet are clipping through the ground

[@zvisapir6792]

@@snowpuddle9622 well those are just bugs that shows an unfinished product perhaps. Probably going to be fixed soon.

[@brenohenrique9743]

@@zvisapir6792What about the ridiculously low resolution? Hairs and post processing effects looking like shit and image looks very blurry, this is not good optimization.

[@AkinduDasanayake]

12:43 The comparison to the real NYC is insane! What a testament to how good the game looks

[@apictureoffunction]

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking. The game looks so good that I didn't realize the image on the right was a photo until I saw the label lol, I assumed it was comparing quality vs performance mode

[@taekwoncrawfish9418]

The comparison isn’t even close 😂

[@albanier8426]

and then you also pause at 9:29 and realize how far away we still are from true to life visuals

[@pierreo33]

30fps

[@tranquility6789]

​@@albanier8426that was on performance mode lol

[@dantanguyen]

The pedestrians running across the crosswalks before the lights change is pretty neat, in both games. I don't think I ever sat at an intersection and watched.

[@samodyssey9000]

And also a car was trying to cross after the red signal but gets stuck as other cars start moving from the other side. Amazing detail.

[@mackyj7801]

this is why I still love exclusives and 1st party studios they push the tech. to its max. and focus on pushing one system at a time

[@MrBump2]

This looks phenomal, and glad to see how well everything is running. I cannot wait for the next GDC video on this game like they did for the first one, I really learned a lot back then and I would love to see more.

[@colk41]

Game looks amazing, the ps5 can really put out some great games when they use the full power, plus insomniac is one of the best developers around

[@Ghostfacecapalot]

Harry is venom and venom kills Kraven in the middle of the story

[@imjusttoogoodlmao8281]

this is not true, do not believe it. stop spreading false info lol @@Ghostfacecapalot

[@yassermedrano8597]

And 60fps

[@ConnieCannon-zq2md]

@Ghostfacecapalot I already have the game tell me sum I don’t know bud🥱

[@OsaculnenolajO]

Insomniac has always been insanely talented devs. They were pushing boundaries with Resistance on the PS3. I think with Spiderman they finally found an IP that matches their talents perfectly, and it shows.

[@nighttimestalker]

VRR should be a standard option to allow uncapped frame rates. Makes forward compatibility so much more feasible and easier if a refresh comes out or when next gen drops for console players

[@ardasevmis7583]

Sadly, it will never be the norm. I don’t see many devs actually doing what you said. I agree with you though

[@paul1979uk2000]

True, with upscaling of the resolution and uncapped fps to say 120fps, it would be an auto upgrade for a mid-gen or next gen console, because those will likely have the power to keep the resolution at 4k/120 whereas this gen can't come close to that, and best of all, no patch needed. I'm surprised that most games don't offer that option for future proofing.

[@nighttimestalker]

@@paul1979uk2000 It's such a simple solution tbh.

[@TheScrubmuffin69]

​@paul1979uk2000 they don't want to future proof, they want to "remaster" and re-release

[@alandiegovillalobos]

@@TheScrubmuffin69yeah I would buy a remaster of the remaster of spider-man 1. With better ray tracing, more cars etc. 😅

[@piplup10203854]

The 4k resolution on this looks amazing and I was actually shocked at how well the render distance is handled, it takes looking out to the far edges of the map to actually see objects rendering in and then look at how quickly they render in even at that distance it's actually shocking how far consoles have come along. I still think 500 dollars for a console is a lot of money but when you actually have titles like this then it's completely worth the money. If Sony's lineup had hit after hit of this level it would be a no brainer on the sales for the console. If Sony had more of a welcoming approach to legacy titles and backwards compatibility they would probably have a lot more support. Anyway the game looks incredible. To actually exist in a time period of growing up with Spider-Man and to see where the character has come and the games to match it's just actually shocking (no pun intended) but I am absolutely speechless if I am remembering this is just a video game.

[@tgreg9542]

PS5s start at 399$ sir. And you can get one for less in the used market💯 sell your PS4 and that makes it even less then 399$💯

[@pvtcmyers87]

Absolutely fantastic job with the video. Thank you so much for your detailed review and I’m really looking forward to playing this game. Thank you for all the hard work you put into this.

[@parazels83]

But... Bethesda told me it's impossible to make such graphics in an open world game! 😂😂😂

[@markjacobs1086]

😆 Bethesda is like Fromsoftware, they're good at what they do, but don't expect technical stuff! Very different kinds of development studios can coexist.

[@adityamisra7702]

insomniac is really extraordinary....such a high quality game coming out from time to time....also appreciate that they had each every next gen feature without pushing down resolution to 720p....and all at stable 60fps....

[@HaloinfiniteEternal]

65 to 80 average with Vrr

[@adamhorny2946]

How do they mean then the remark that in perfomence mode it goes down to 108p. ?

[@iseptimus]

@@adamhorny2946 1008p.... 108p would be a postage stamp.

[@Tepnox]

@@adamhorny2946 Well they counted the pixels and it was 1008p on the lowest side. If the upscaling works (as it does for this title) I see no issue with that.

[@adamhorny2946]

@@Tepnox Bro they say 108p in video, not 1008p :D But yea, whn looks good doesnt matter

[@GhostOfSparta305]

I skipped Spider-Man PS4 back in 2018 because Insomnaic (and DF) tried to convince me that 30fps was all I should want. They were wrong. I’m now buying on day 1 now that Insomniac has come to their senses and made 60fps games again. Happy to be an Insomniac customer again!

[@GhostOfSparta305]

@@iluvmyoosikWhat kind of idiot doesn’t realize we’ve had 60fps open world games since 6th Gen PS2?

[@GhostOfSparta305]

@@iluvmyoosikWrong: Rage 2. MGS5. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. That’s because 60fps isn’t about console hardware. It’s purely a design decision that devs choose. Class dismissed.

[@GhostOfSparta305]

@@iluvmyoosikRage 2 is 60fps on PS4 Pro. I’m sorry if maybe you were unable to afford one of those. MGS5’s lead platform was PS4, then scaled down to PS3/360. Still with industry leading graphics. Very different from “cross-Gen” games like Ac4 black flag. So a game isn’t a true “open world” game unless it has as many ppl as GTA? Guess Spider-Man isn’t one either. But by all means, keep making excuses for these corporations that don’t care about you.

[@metroshifter]

Of vourse DF won”t mention one word about the buggy mess i experienced.. Besides that the game does absolutely nothing new, and it_IS_broken! Still fun to play.. A solid 7 out of 10 game.

[@TeaMakerJason]

Wow I really did not expect that level of imprpvement across the board. Things I thought would make a small impact are huge for the presentation! Those 2d walls of sand at a distance are the only standout meh for me.

[@cody3335]

40fps mode which I’m calling “insomniac” mode is where the bar needs to be for all next gen games.

[@markjacobs1086]

I know right, I've been playing a game on PC that has sadly tied game elements to the framerate, so 60 fps was off the table unless I wanted uber difficulty gameplay. 30 fps was too choppy & laggy for me, so I settled on 40 fps with some .ini tweaks for the visuals to get the most out of that 40 fps experience & it holds up so much better than 30 fps did.

[@Spacemonkeymojo]

Awesome review. Watching this review is a way better way to understand the game without getting any spoilers on the story of the game itself. How do people even make video games, this is some seriously awesome work. Insomniac must be full of geniuses.

[@Gloamy17]

Im loving the traversal additions of gliding and water-surfing. Accurate to real-life spiders! Many can glide about with webbing and fishing spiders skate on water 😁

[@Wogle]

Wonderful breakdown John. It really is awe-inspiring seeing how much Insomniac's tech has advanced since 2018's Spider-Man.

[@Ghostfacecapalot]

Harry is venom and venom kills Kraven in the middle of the story

[@erickarias3309]

​@@Ghostfacecapalot🤡

[@Jayjayxxx007]

It would be really cool to have you do a breakdown of the development engine used and how the devs accomplished what they did with the game, like what you did with demon souls remake. Because this even on my phone looks insane and unless insomniac are literal wizards, I’d love to know how they’ve done it.

[@yasminesteinbauer8565]

They're not wizards. They just start using the potential of the hardware.

[@ArielCleirigh]

Secret souce Never reveals like a Magician trick.

[@Nikton1987]

@@ArielCleirighI am pretty sure they will have a talk at GDC about that soon. They had so many already an out building the city, their pipelines and how they optimized loading and streaming on base ps4.

[@krono5el]

that should be on the disc like the original Splinter Cell that had dev diaries and behind the scenes development videos. it felt so futuristic and i thought that was going to be the norm in gaming but it wasnt : P

[@VariantAEC]

​@@krono5el Back on PS2 and PS3. Insomniac Games did that too with their games featuring developer interviews and a playground for gamers to tweak and see experimental effects cut before release.

[@PAXperMortem]

Really looking forward to the additional analysis videos you guys are gonna release on this game! I'm interested in finding out if performance mode also affects stuff like traffic and crowd density.

[@GotCamel]

I can’t freakin wait for this game. Insomniac is definitely Developer of the Century. They’ve had nothing but bangers with no bugs or issues and if there were any they’d take care of them in record time. This quality of work is what all Developers should aim for.

[@orhansnake9824]

Naughty Dog and Santa Monica are much much better and always been! Developer of the century? WTF 🤦🏻‍♂️🤣

[@audie-cashstack-uk4881]

Get Mario wonder it’s a BETTER game

[@supercoldchimken]

@@orhansnake9824 Until last of us pc port and lou pt2 released lmaooo

[@invalidusername201]

@@orhansnake9824 that woke atrocity known as tlou2 ruined naughty dogs rep

[@user-kq4gn2bu6c]

Wolverine should be good to

[@distinctbutter9075]

The progress in game visuals is freaking incredible! Spider-man looked amazing on base ps4, but here goes spider-man 2, making it look like an ancient relic. It's awesome, and I'm so excited for Friday when I can dedicate my whole weekend to this insane adventure!

[@GameslordXY]

Ancient Relics are awesome 😂

[@Sam-fq5qu]

Just watching a 20 minutes clip of this game felt so much better than actually playing some games out there

[@dannyCoolSwag]

Your crazy bro what 😂

[@Karlach_]

@@dannyCoolSwag*you're

[@ArielCleirigh]

Cof, cof redFail , starFail, Farza 8.

[@RandomGamingMoments925]

3:14 Starfield: Wait, that's illegal

[@BrOhad]

I'd love to see your take on Insomniac's strange geometry shimmering. If you look closely at a character when they're in a cutscene this is very noticable, and especially when they're very close to the camera. I know there's a way of rendering geometry that's less precise which leads to a similar effect and saves performance so I wonder if they are using that.

[@Hyper.773]

I believe it's a combination of IGTI and DRS working together Upscaling can have some minor visual artifacts as a downside, but I don't think it's too bad. The bridge was probably the most noticable when viewed at a farther distance. Either way, you still have to be looking closely, and it's not big, so it doesn't matter much to me

[@gaminghedgehog6384]

This makes me excited for what other developers can achieve with this console. I wonder how ND’s next game will look like. And how Rockstar Games will handle PS5

[@luizarthurbrito]

At this rate, gta 6 is lauching only for the ps6 😂😂

[@jonathan6665]

​@@luizarthurbritono it will still launch for ps4 in 2030 😂😂😢

[@goncaloduarte4683]

​@@luizarthurbritoif I'm not mistaken, Take2 said that they are expecting a huge flux of money next year (or something along these lines), so GTA 6 is coming next year.

[@chriscollins3225]

Lets DEFINITELY bring up Mark Cerny Presentation because its on Full Display with Marvel's Spiderman 2 especially in comparison to " The World's Most Powerful Console " Xbox Series X playing Starfield ?!

[@Battleneter]

I never thought the original game looked very good, looks better now.

[@mayen67]

Judging by other current gen games this is up there with the best looking ones. I think the initial disappointment was because people still didn't realise that the visual improvement this gen is not as drastic as prior gens.

[@Ch0ntrol]

For me this generation is all about 60 fps and faster loading times

[@20419943002]

which is funny because the leap in processing power is massive. It's just the these consoles, while powerful, aren't strong enough for new rendering tech like full ray tracing/path tracing that is what's necessary to take visuals to the next level. They are good enough for much higher resolutions, texture quality, and frame rates though, and that actually does make a significant difference if you are playing on a 55+ inch 4k TV

[@J0rdan912]

The disappointment is because many games can't even utilize (especially PC) current gen capabilities and barely different from early PS4 and Xbox One games, while still having problems even with upscaled 4K and/or solid 60 fps. When you can't pull out drastic visual improvements, focus on resolution, framerate, details, artistic touch. Often we barely have any from that list.

[@gwellz]

I swear we say that every generation. 😅 Will never have the same jump form PS1 to PS2 for 3D games again

[@anony88]

It has pros and cons with Cyberpunk 2077 (latest 2.0) in my opinion. I think Night City is more detailed in terms of 3d models(store fronts, interiors, random tiny details), but I'm not entirely sure which one has better lighting. They both have their own take on realism and ray tracing, and they're both appropriate to their proper environments/settings.. I wouldnt want Cyberpunk lighting for a spiderman game and vice versa. They're pretty neck and neck. Cyberpunk probably has the edge if you factor in mods.

[@Mospen]

Fantastic video John and Digital Foundry! This speaks volumes for the game and technology in use here. I can't wait to play it! Keep up the great work everyone!!!

[@LZ_TUSK]

Really enjoyed this tech review John. This game presentation both visually and performance ! insomniac are terrific for delivering this type of game. Can’t wait to play it ❤

[@walleehakusho]

Insomniac puts most triple A developers into shame

[@mechamojureg2166]

Im always impressed about what insominiac is able to achieve. Obviously u expect some improvements but all of these across the board without many compromises in a game that has an even bigger scale than their previous work is fenomenal. I know that each engine and each company works differently but when one of them struggles to deliver a consistent performance it always baffles me. If one company can extract this much out of a console 3 years past its launch, then im sure the rest could do it as well. This is no console wars comment but i truly believe that the Xbox series X can deliver WAY MORE than what starfield did.

[@stevesmith9032]

Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t Xbox games still playable on Xbox one? If so then I’d say that that’s what’s holding them back from using the potential of the Xbox series x. This is PS5 only so isn’t hamstrung by having to be playable on last gen’s tech.

[@ross3695_basedhax]

wtf were Bethesda thinking using a PS2 era engine for space

[@mechamojureg2166]

@@stevesmith9032 some are but theres a lot of them who are just séries X S and PC

[@tbunreall]

The power of an infinite budget

[@ArielCleirigh]

series x could but thanks to series potato it never will.

[@deny_s]

The technique to render individual interiors in each and every building is mind blowing! Overall the rendering of such a large scale urban environnement is off the charts! So much details, that it's hard to stay focused. This could be the most visually impressive game ever, even more then Forbidden West !

[@xxsemb]

Its just some shader work, this has been possible for many many years.

[@deny_s]

give examples then... the closest thing to such interiors technique is the Matrix Awakens Demo, now this Spider Man technique is much superior.@@xxsemb

[@jasgill7121]

@@xxsembfalse it uses real path tracing

[@xxsemb]

you misunderstand - they may be using path tracing for reflections etc but the interiors can and have been done for many years without that using just some shader work @@jasgill7121 using path tracing when not needed on a limited gpu especially for ray/path tracing would be a stupid move and I doubt they are stupid.

[@Lightlink22]

I'm not used to a developer respecting their customers enough to release a game that works day 1 with minimal bugs and technical issues. Insomniac the GOAT's.

[@johnsilver6316]

Pretty much almost every PlayStation exclusive is very much bug free from day one. There’s a few occasional folks that have bugs but the numbers aren’t even as high as the majority of other games that have come out the past 4 years from other studios. But to be fair these studios are only calibrating and optimizing for only one console in comparison to multiple platforms. That’s another benefit of having a high quality studio focusing on one console.

[@AusOpening]

Truly the GOAT, naughty dog as great as they are lost that crown a long time ago

[@Karlach_]

@@AusOpeningTLOU2 made me lose all respect for Naughty Dog's story department. Everything else about the game is amazing tho.

[@johnsilver6316]

@@AusOpening doesn’t matter if you didn’t agree with the story, the last of us 2 still outsold every other hated game out there. And don’t get me started on their game engine which performed amazing on an outdated console. Naughty dog like it or not is still the top studio from Sony alongside insomniac and gorilla games. And I can guarantee once their next game drops people are going to change their whole tone. Like they always do.

[@AusOpening]

@@johnsilver6316 I actually haven’t played tlou2 😅 just the first one and uncharted series. I’m specifically pointing out what naughty dog is now rather to what there were, and how insomniac’s output is insane where’s naughty dog is trynna focus on multiplayer and remasters of the same game. Even if you’re fan you gotta be objective about these things man

[@nightowl3582]

Insomniac is a beast. I can only imagine what a new Resistance game would be like if Sony greenlit that.

[@pse2020]

Yes plz we need that. taking all this tech and have it in a singelplayer linear game omg the visualls would be insane

[@jr.a8301]

or even remaster the original trilogy in a collection. the chimera would look insane

[@TheAxb2010]

With diminishing returns being a major factor for a while now, probably even the driver behind pixel manipulation via machine learning, it's impressive what they have achieved here. To integrate ray tracing into the tech as a staying component and then push out all other visual elements while keeping performance up to spec and including 3 different performance modes to cover all bases... I don't have a PS5 to evaluate this vs. other titles but having played CP2077 on my now slightly aged PC, I truly admire what they achieved here. Where so many games just keep the doors locked and make the windows opaque, they went the extra mile, in a game where the character allows for such scrutiny of the in game environment. I can only imagine the horrors we would be seeing if characters in other games could get to places like Spider-Man can.

[@buraksondurak4663]

Why are so many Microsoft PC/Xbox fanboys here?! Go watch vids about your first party games😅 Why are you laughing about PS5 1008p Resolution but waiting to play the game on pc on a 1080p monitor?!🤣 Don’t forget that without PlayStation these games would never be released. Btw don’t reply with minecrafts sales figures, i‘m not living in year 2000 anymore🤣

[@Khasim92]

I appreciate using the Raimi Spider-Man font for the custom texts in the video, you can tell John is a fan of Spidey. Great video as always, though I am bummed about them spoiling the mechanic that was never shown or mentioned before (the chase sequence early on)

[@illegalfoodz8402]

Iconic font.

[@electric_boogaloo496]

Raimi triology is the definitive movie take on Spider-Man IMHO. So many memorable characters and meme worthy moments. There was a ton of cheese but in an endearing way.

[@darthv72]

Man... that opening Sandman battle reminds me of the epic Colossus of Rhodes battle at the beginning of God of War 2. What a way to get you right into the game.

[@user-gk9hw1rd2e]

Seriously good review man, I've always watched all DF reviews but never left a comment before. This one is just soooo perfect that I had to leave one. Thank you guys so so much for all your hard work.

[@lio220]

The quality of the video is really good, thank you. Improvements are massive, congrats to all devs

[@VonZuben]

Really glad you included the comparison with Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. There was definitely this feeling when going through many of the game's portals that you were going through a tunnel rather than a door. Not that portals will be a big element of Spider-Man 2 but it's still interesting to hear that Insomniac improved on it!

[@razvanzamfir1545]

It's obviously too early to say where these portals will lead to besides the one example, but that area appeared to be relatively lightly populated graphically speaking, at least compared to R&C. If all use cases stay the same, I wouldn't be surprised that both areas are loaded in memory, with one staying invisible/in the background until you pass through the portal.

[@XPuntar]

@@razvanzamfir1545 Potential of this is actually amazing here. .. Just imagine a game with different dimensions, where each can have quite different "rules & gameply dynamics" Like in esoteric there is a "domain" segmentation: Physical, Astral, Spiritual

[@deargear9833]

55

[@kieran.grant_]

Speaking of those portals: Am I tripping, or is Dr. Strange going to be a part of this game?

[@razvanzamfir1545]

@@kieran.grant_ could also be the villain from the last movie. Even the goblin had some portal ability in the animated series if i recall

[@joshread3740]

Holy cow. This may be the one of the best we will get on PS5. They're definitely stetching the limits of this console's RT capabilities.

[@GraveUypo]

ikr. RT that is actually not a gimmick is borderline a miracle anywhere, let alone on consoles.

[@AusOpening]

the fact that they were able to have ray tracing at that level of detail is a miracle in itself given the total disregard AMD put into developing RT in their GPUs, Insomniac truly lives up to their name.

[@ewjiml]

@@AusOpeningRatchet and Clank was the first truly next-gen looking game on PS5. Gee, I wonder which developers did that…..

[@gangstagummybear3432]

I would hold out for Guerilla Games and Naughty dog, neither of them have had a full fledged next gen, built from the ground up game this generation.

[@joshread3740]

@@gangstagummybear3432 I am definitely looking forward to that, but of all the studios that have made cross gen games, Insomniac was the only one able to do ray-tracing, despite also coming out by far the earliest of the three studios' cross gen titles.

[@verygoodfreelancer]

i’m amazed how much better spiderman 1 looks than 2, all the beautiful saturated blues and orange are totally gone in the sequel.

[@overwatch761]

Hats of to Insomniac - they are in a league of their own at this stage - they ARE THE ONLY developer who have truly taken seamless advantage of the many technologies available in this current generation. All other devs who are stuck in the past and not moving forward - take note!

[@davemeredith6964]

SM2 , looks phenomenal,detail wise. Substantial jump over the previous work..which was still good.

[@Ghostfacecapalot]

Harry is venom and venom kills Kraven in the middle of the story

[@vishnuvarma2826]

This is actually the first game(exclusive) to use the PS5 hardware EFFICIENTLY and EFFECTIVELY , it's a triumph ! Good job Insomniac ❤ and great review DF 😎

[@Karlach_]

Horizon Forbidden West utilized the PS5 hardware brilliantly and looks and runs amazing because of it. I would also argue that Rift Apart and Ragnarök did as well.

[@vishnuvarma2826]

@@Karlach_ well i don't know if u know that Horizon forbidden west ... Ragnarok are not next gen games as they were released on PS4 as well.With Rift apart well it's developed by insomniac and the scope of the game is small compared to Spiderman and other AAA games. 😁 great games though

[@Karlach_]

@@vishnuvarma2826 They were released on the PS5 at the same exact time with optimizations for the PS5. They simply downgraded graphics and framerate for the PS4 after the PS5 versions were finished. That makes them PS5 games, not PS4 games.

[@Kryptonic83]

great video, so hyped for this. I hope this has LFC to keep VRR active below 48fps. I think they had it in Ratchet and Miles so should be good.

[@TheNerd]

Great Video and stunning visuals: Just as a side note: water has a low roughness, not a high roughness. Stone = high roughess // Water, Mirrors etc. = low roughess (at least the material values). The surface is rough in comparison, but I highly doubt, that the Plane / BVH has millions of polygons.

[@BeckerFlag]

Credit to John for talking about sound in these modern games. Would be nice if the other DF editors did this and not make it all about graphics. Heck DF should be looking at all aspects of gaming technology. Like physics systems or AI(many times the lack of it). Technology is more than just how much ray tracing a game has in it.

[@geminijinxies7258]

I totally agree but ray tracing is still a buzz word so it gets most of the attention.

[@robinv1485]

I really do wish they talked more about this as there are big issues with sound on games currently. Atmos even on PC is almost nonexistent, on PS5 it's emulated for headphones and has huge issues depending on the game (TLoU is great). Even normal surround has issues, FF16 has atrocious sound when you select surround which is a shame when it sounds so good in stereo. Even outside of games in a general sense. Apple hdmi outputs still can't output atmos even in the newest hardware, but they are advertising games and for the vision pro "a cinema like experience". I also wish we streamlined the process for speaker setups, most people don't want to buy a 2k AVR cause they don't need half the features, and external processors need amps and are similar priced, this is just unfeasible to get people to have these systems. That's why most people like soundbars, they sound like sht, but they are easy to setup. If you use headphones or stereo, it's smooth sailing and you have a good experience. But for us that have HT sound it's really screwed up. When it works it's even better than movies, when it doesn't it's atrociously bad, miles worse than 2.1 systems.

[@bruceleckenby]

Literally just thought "I wonder if the DF video will be out before the game is" seconds before the notification for the video popped on my phone!

[@stuartzimmermann4180]

Fantastic video . I can tell you was so excited to do this one as you loved the 2018 one .

[@XiLock_Alotx]

Oh, I’m gonna have a field day with all the performance options. LG C2 is ready

[@VC777]

I'm right behind you with my g2

[@KurtQuad]

How does insomniac keep on going with such amazing quality?

[@VariantAEC]

Very little sleep.

[@mannyperry4170]

Theses graphics and the last guardian destroy path tracing on PC i mean laugh at it

[@dune11111]

The last guardian is incredible graphically doesn't get enough credit imo

[@rahulpandey9472]

No it doesn't, but what you have here is still impressive.

[@TheSadMusician]

Even though SM2 looks better in terms of quality, the color grading is so much more memorable in the first SM

[@techsamurai11]

John - just something to keep in mind for future analysis . @11:55 swinging by the bridge - the performance mode looks more stable in motion to me than the fidelity mode. I could be wrong but I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it. I feel 30fps might be exhibiting the same effect as turning your head in other games - the traversal speed may be too fast for 30fps which is crazy.

[@StewartR333]

The buildings and streets filling up with sand, and at that scale, as that battle went on... is really something special. Well done to Insomniac 👏

[@Karlach_]

I was admiring the layer of sand covering Spider-Man's outfit. Great details.

[@kraenk12]

Thanks for the spoiler assH

[@gregor_89]

Great video, but it is really annoying when the new studf is shown on the left side of the screen and the old on the right, when it should be the other way around i.e. the old on the left and the new on the right.

[@hcokiddtony]

Love these tech reviews. You guys are the best at this.

[@maineman5757]

It's like Insomniac did what Nintendo did with BOTW. Take the same map and make a new game around it instead of starting completely from scratch.

[@hsvfanjan17]

John your visual presentation and storytelling stands out as usual, superb showcasing of Spider Man 2's technology!

[@ErenTheWarcriminal]

It really makes you feel like the swagger of a young teenage 40fps raytracing mode

[@Official_RetroMania]

It makes you feel like Spidy 10/10 IGN

[@Masterchief12455]

Black teenager *

[@Kdkjdjewerdnxa]

The swagger of a young black Symbiote / human hybrid

[@Official_RetroMania]

@@Kdkjdjewerdnxa I always cringe when I hear the word "swagger" it sound like something a old geezer would say to look "hip and cool" in front of the younger Z gen group.

[@BigCheeseEvie]

Very true

[@stansmith7445]

Mode without ray tracing and higher resolution for performance mode would be nice

[@ali_isaweeb5056]

Praying it comes with their new game plus update 🙏🏼

[@Lokim23]

The problem is capturing that inconsistent buffer fps as a creator if you ran vrr + fidelity 40 fps. So if its constantly going from 40 to 60 its going to look inconsistent if you capture at 60 fps, or a bit wonky at 40 fps. Honestly wish it would of been 60 fps across the board esp if you lowered to 1080 and the higher you go, then it would decrease.

[@danb7601]

This is actually insane, maybe the best overall visual detail i have ever seen in an open world game

[@ryandempsey1300]

The game is absolutely amazing.. Has carnage been confirmed for DLC

[@r0main.895]

I’d say for me it’s cyberpunk on pc with ultra settings but it’s just because of the way the city behave

[@sinzumoneyy]

Ummm RDR2??

[@r0main.895]

@@sinzumoneyy waiting for the next gen update

[@r0main.895]

@@sinzumoneyy because the game is so absurdly beautiful it’s not even fun, let’s just add 60fps on next gen and its game over

[@willuigi64]

This looks miles ;) better than the first game in terms of it's graphical presentation. Even the Remaster. Not a completely transformational change but massively iterative. Super excited to play this game and unravel the gameplay, tech, set-pieces and story.

[@devilmikey00]

Seeing that they are letting you get so many different ways to tailor your experience is awesome. Going to check out the 40hz uncapped VRR mode and check out how that feels.

[@Mc_Jordan2000]

Don't know if you tried it yet but it feels like the 40fps vrr mode on spiderman 1 and miles but now u get much more visual fidelity in spiderman 2.

[@Mc_Jordan2000]

You can tell they tried to keep the frame rate targets as close to the same as possible whilst optimising and that has enabled them to push the visual fidelity even further

[@majkronyk4816]

It's amazing how many little things they managed to deliver, while making sure it all fit together. Thanks for video. Insomniac and Guerrilla are my favorite game developers.

[@Punisher6791]

Damn this game looks good. Insomniac is raising the bar once again. Cant wait to see what they do with the wolverine game.

[@steveafanador6441]

They went all out with this one. Looks awesome. Can't wait to try it 👍👍

[@Ghostfacecapalot]

Harry is venom and venom kills Kraven in the middle of the story

[@castjet9898]

There should be a talk about the animations, the way the characters animate during game is more smooth and it feels like there’s more dynamic aspects to it.

[@baldo55me]

Hey digitalfoundry why didnt you covered the bugs in the game and completely ignored them?

[@yogainstructor4437]

They ignore how much wrong this game has. Spider-Man is constantly clipping into thing in cutscenes and gameplay, reflections are low poly, the sand clouds are like ps3 level. Game bugs out hella

[@GaminylGames]

I've totally blacked myself out from watching any footage or trailers since the announcement trailer but ended up watching this. I am absolutely blown away what the heck

[@ItsAkile]

Jesus, Insomniac's Team really is insane expanding on Ray Tracing this much while remaining resonally sharp on resolution. I remember when even PC game devepers didn't dear add RT reflection to big bodies of water as an option, now we have a PS5 doing it all at 40+ FPS on AMD Hardware. Again, that's insanely impressive. Cant wait when I have the time to dive-in, I know its gonna be a challenge waiting for the PC Version..Also hopefully they can address the low-res textures I noticed since early demos, maybe the bigger BVH footprint is at fault here but I can't truly complain whats on display here. Great recap John, spoilers I'd say are minium to not triggering if anyone is interested.

[@RonniSchmidt-mi7pd]

You are brainwashed by Nvidia.

[@HaloinfiniteEternal]

65fps to 80fps average with Vrr

[@paul1979uk2000]

With smart implementation, ray tracing can work well even on modest hardware, we are seeing that with this game, and being as there is no choice to switch it off will save developers a lot of time in not needing baked lighting, it also suggests that when the PC version is released, it might not have a baked lighting option and be ray tracing only, as adding baked lighting would be a lot of work and in all honesty, out of all the ray tracing games I've tried on PC, the first Spider-Man game was the most impression of results for the performance it takes that it ran well even on a modest gpu. Most of the time, I'm not a fan of ray tracing and usually switch it off because the performance hit for visual result is just too high, but when done well, I don't have a problem using it, this game is a prime example of how to do ray tracing right without needed to spend an arm and leg to afford to buy the hardware lol.

[@ItsAkile]

Yeah, RT is not always the best option but when in the right hands like in this case you don't get much trade-off so its a win-win. If they can Add RTGI for a modest cost to say around 1080p40fps before reconstructed I'd be happy. perhaps a upgrade path for PS5 Pro to be honest, I could see it be a PC feature if insomniac already played around with the idea and its already there in the tools waiting for Nixxie to implement it to DXR@@paul1979uk2000

[@ItsAkile]

crazy they have this much headroom still @@HaloinfiniteEternal

[@kiekeyz]

Insomniac just CANNOT MISS dawg. I can't imagine what they'll do with Wolverine. Holy Crap

[@deroistewart2548]

Damn! They at 100k now. I wonder how he’ll feel now but it’s so great to see him express so much genuine happiness and appreciation

[@ChrisMeisterYT]

Great work 👏 nothing is up to standards untill digital foundry says so! Cannot wait for this.

[@kostasbousbouras2654]

91 on metacritic, the game is incredible as we hoped and wanted to be. Insomniac did the job again.

[@charlesbronson1959]

Just wait for actual user reviews

[@itsalwaysdarkestbeforethes1198]

User reviews are worthless lol - god of war ragnorok a 8? Tlou 2 a 5.8?? 7.9 for Elden ring??? LOL

[@LiamAndTheLime]

it so nice to be able to not have to worry about FPS or ray tracing. Looking forward to seeing how it plays, already looks beautiful.

[@tanujchauhan6388]

16:23-16:30 If you remember the pre-rendered installation time video of spiderman 3 PC version, In which spiderman crawls up a side of a building in the black suit, that video was not a good representation of the actual product and I was very disappointed after installation and my first playthrough. I was a kid, and I did not understand the technical limitations of that time. I dreamed at that time of a game that could imitate that level of quality, and today I was plesently reminded of that moment.

[@SeaToSkyImages]

Awesome video, John. A super enjoyable watch. Insomniac Games can really finesse the PS5's power. SM2 looks absolutely incredible.

[@FEWGEE1]

Another technical masterpiece from Insomniac. An absolute visual treat.

[@RanielEber]

a technical masterpiece on 400 dollar hardware maybe, this doesnt come close to the technical power of a Cyberpunk or Alan wake 2 which use actual real time pathtracing

[@FEWGEE1]

​@@RanielEberthat's like comparing apples to oranges. No correlation.

[@RanielEber]

@@FEWGEE1 Visual tech is visual tech, the methods are the same, the name is different. Why would i not compare one big city open world game to another big city open world game?

[@tovenaar5924]

With that logic let's compare the real world with the technical power of cyberpunk and Alan wake 2. My point is there are never ending ways to bend arguments toward you're personal dick-measuring contest that no one cares about. There is no reason to not respect and admire the results insomniac achieved with this game.

[@vollkerball1]

@@RanielEber Yeah after 2 years cybepunk was actually playable.

[@holden4620]

So is it better to do fidelity 120hz uncapped or smoothed vrr? I get that he recomended the 40fps but was that with VRR or not ?

[@mhjmstultiens]

Gameplay might not evolve much between games, but on a technical level this is mind blowing. I'd call this proper next-gen. Will definitely play this, even if it's just to gawk at my OLED screen.

[@ReachTea]

I'm so glad you showed a real life shot of choppy water, water in games is always just ultra reflective which is not the case the more displaced it becomes

[@icedcapplord710]

We've come a long way from Spider-Man's suit looking like a red gimp suit with no web patterns and Venom having isoceles triangle mouth syndrome

[@cyclops8238]

"SURF THE WEB" "SURF THE WEB"

[@icedcapplord710]

@@cyclops8238 "SPIDER-WUSSSSS, COME OUT AND PLAYYYYY"

[@DeejayJeanP]

After I played Spiderman and Miles Morales on the PS5 in a 4K screen I expected it to take a huge amount of power to run the same way in a PC because of optimization but Holy sh was I impressed. Didn't even hear the fans on my old 3080ti at 4k maxed. Impressive. Microsoft should learn from this.

[@cazmoken8181]

The 3080ti is a top of line monster GPU it would be a disaster if it couldnt run those games, the fact that we are even comparing it to the ps5 is a testament to the insane capablities of the console.

[@mightymorphingpo]

@@cazmoken8181PS4/PS5 look see😮 marvel Spider-Man original February 7 2024

[@BeersYourFriend]

Wow! John, I'm always impressed with every game you cover. The captured 4K footage is always excellent, the comparison shots, frame time graphs, and with such close attention to detail,= is frankly on another level. The video editing is stellar, with transitions and music that blends well together. Especially, when shifting gears in vibes, where music climbs, lowers, or straight up changes in intensity, depending on the topic. A very cinematic experience, and handled well. It's great to see that there are still reviewers who know the importance of being professional, without witty jokes that never land, nor do they make a lick of sense. In every instance throughout this review, you make it crystal clear about the topic being covered. When something needs to be pointed out, you show us with a slight pause, giving the audience time to see exactly what you're talking about. Whereas, most other outlets just keep reading from a script, that was reviewed by someone else. Only the actual reviewer should be speaking, or else it has no authenticity behind it. It still shocks me that to this day, that this is a thing. What really strikes me the most, compared to other video game reviews, is the lack of 4K video. I don't know why, but even the most recognizable outlets like to keep sending out 1080p, with the occasional 4K review every now and then. Not sure if its a paid thing or what, but I believe that if you are going out of your way to make a good review, you want to present it right. 4K footage should be the absolute standard now. I just can't enjoy a review in 1080p anymore. It's a day and night difference seeing a game in 4K, that is so important, and that helps sell games. If it's because it takes too long to upload, then you need to learn to be patient. It's totally worth having all content presented in 4K. All-in-all, this review is just perfect. When you deliver a game review this good, there is no need for a game score, because what you see is exactly what you get. Didn't think I'd pick this one up, but it looks too gorgeous to pass up. Not sure how Insomniac added in ray-tracing as a default option, while still looking this good. Wow! It just goes to show that with the right developers, who can focus on one console, nothing is impossible. Next-gen gaming is just getting started. Again, awesome review, John! Keep on, keepin on! Cheers! 🍻

[@allansolano5587]

Wow just wow im gonna be using the performance mode for sure because no 120hz or vrr hahaha but damn insomniac should make a master class to the devs this days on how to optimize their games for next gen because this is amazing