In 2018, the video game studio Insomniac Games made waves in the gaming scene and the Spider-Man universe with their adaptation of “Marvel’s Spider-Man” for the PlayStation 4. 

The end of the game and subsequent DLC expansions promised that this would not be the last we’d see of this iteration of Peter Parker or the characters surrounding him. 

While not a full sequel, the PlayStation 5 launch title “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” delivers on that promise and continues to set the stage for what is to come in this franchise. The titular star of this follow-up is the second Spider-Man, the half-African-American half-Puerto-Rican Miles Morales, whose rising popularity knows no bounds. When Peter Parker goes on an international working trip with Mary Jane, Miles is left as New York’s only Spider-Man, defending Harlem from a new threat that is both dangerous and deeply personal. 

My experience with this title was fresh off the heels of my first playthrough of the 2018 original. The gameplay was familiar, but also made fresh by additional new abilities that Miles has and the other Spider-Man doesn’t. The twist of bioelectricity and semi-invisibility adds an entire new fun and exciting gameplay style. The aesthetic of the menus, the music and even the scenery, to some extent, also tailored to Miles’s personal sense of style and taste in music. The open map of the game is nearly identical to its predecessor, with a handful of architectural changes, but this is impossible to get around, as the landscape of New York City is not too prone to change. I expect that the next full entry in this series will essentially also have an exact copy of the New York from the first game as well. 

Playing through the story takes up considerably less time than the original game (reflected in the launch edition’s $50 price tag), but it is no less full of heart and emotion, rivaling and at times besting the impact of the previous game’s storytelling. If you are still unable to get your hands on the PlayStation 5, this experience is also available on the previous generation. Full of collectibles, cool costumes, beautiful scenery and graphics, and an iconic Spider-Man story, this game is a must-have for PlayStation owners.