Wolverine Dev Changed Things To Avoid Logan Appearing To Be A “Sadist”

One of the major takeaways from the new trailer for Marvel's Wolverine at the State of Play event recently was that the PS5 game is a brutal, gory affair.

Creative director Marcus Smith told Variety that Wolverine is a "mature game," but if you want to dial back the gore, there will be an option for you. He also said developer Insomniac had to change certain animations during development to avoid having Logan come across as a "sadist" when it comes to violence.

"We understand that some people are squeamish when it comes to blood, and we do have an accessibility option to turn it off and do low-gore paths," he explained.

Game director Mike Daly, meanwhile, said there was "really no turning away from the violence" and the studio needed it in the game "in order to really live up to the character" and make a game that does Wolverine justice.

The result is an "unapologetic embrace of the character and their violent nature," he said.

Smith went on to say that Logan does not relish in the violence he inflicts upon his enemies. Instead, his violence is about "efficiency," Smith said.

"What he’s doing is the quickest way to get to what he needs to do, right? So when you’re cutting through unequivocally bad guys, it feels pretty good to just be doing it," he said. "But there were times during development when somebody would do an animation where you just went, 'Ah, that looks a little bit too much, like he’s enjoying it.' He’s not a sadist here or anything."

Wolverine launches on September 15 for PS5. We recently got a closer look at the game during the PlayStation State of Play broadcast--check out the new footage above.