Because the fast travel system “completely destroyed” gameplay, Insomniac considered removing or limiting this feature.
One of the technical highlights of “Marvel's Spider-Man 2” is undoubtedly the innovative fast travel system. With almost no loading time at all, players can go anywhere in the city.
Design Director Josue Benavidez explained how challenging the implementation was at the Game Developer Conference 2024: “We have been working on this new fast travel. This was one of my favorite new features.”
While the feature is impressive, it jeopardized the intended gaming experience. The development team feared that players would constantly just travel from A to B instead of exploring the surroundings.
And it completely destroyed our game. Because the card was completely face up, you could go anywhere.
Josue Benavidez on the fast travel system
Insomniac therefore thought about removing the fast travel function or only unlocking it once the player has completed the story.
The gameplay had to be changed
But Benavidez decided otherwise: “I finally decided that fast travel wasn’t wrong. The game was wrong.”
The team therefore completely restructured the process in the open game world. The design director compared the challenge involved to delivering a cake. Simply going to a bakery and delivering a cake is boring. But if the player only knows roughly where the cake is, he might come across a café and other places.
Despite the changes, the developers decided not to offer the Fast Travel system from the start. First you have to complete a certain number of side missions in a district of your choice.
Another big challenge: Peter and Miles can fly using the wing suit. This means that many encounters can be avoided, which is why further incentives for exploring were necessary. For example, Insomniac introduced a district progression system to link activities within an area.
“Marvel's Spider-Man 2” has been available exclusively for PS5 since October 2023. As far as sales go, Sony already has them Ten million mark broken through.
More news about Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
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