'Spider-Man' PS4 Runtime Hits a Perfect Gaming Sweet Spot Like 'God of War'
We need more story-driven games like this.
The core playtime for the upcoming Spider-Man game on PlayStation 4 has been revealed as roughly the same as God of War, meaning that Marvel’s latest video game adventure his a sweet spot in terms of video game length. Previous games from both franchises were much shorter, but these latest iterations offer more epic, story-driven gaming experiences that’ll stop them from diverting back into another Fortnite match.
On Tuesday, Gamespot noticed that on Twitter, Insomniac Games community director James Stevenson answered a fan that asked about the length of the PS4 Spider-Man game. To all our surprise, he answered:
If an “average play tester” can complete the game in “20 hours on default difficulty,” then the average normal gamer would probably take a little bit longer. These people test games as a job, so they’re probably a bit more efficient than most people.
How Long to Beat estimates that God of War’s campaign is just over 19 hours long. That game’s widely regarded as one of the best single-player gaming experience in recent memory, and completionists can spend more than twice that amount of time accomplishing every task in the game. It’s a meaty experience that tons of gamers loved — and Spider-Man might be even longer.
Stevenson also says that “some spent a lot longer” on various side quests and activities. Chances are high that Spider-Man will feature a core story-based campaign, but Spidey will be able to engage in plenty of side missions and quests that take him all over New York City in a more open-world environment.
In a time when the gaming world is dominated by online gameplay from the likes of Fortnite and Overwatch (even Fallout is pivoting to online multiplayer), more story-driven experiences that invest 20 or more hours is a totally welcome change of pace. Especially when Insomniac games already has plans for monthly DLC:
Last week, Epic Games dumped a huge purple cube into Fortnite, drumming up intrigue without actually creating any legitimate story or investing time into developing any characters. This endless mystery box is the supposed story gamers get fed these days.
Insomniac Games, on the other hand, wants to do something much more interesting with Spider-Man by telling a more traditional story with engaging gameplay, an interesting script, and tons of playtime with everyone’s favorite webslinger.
Spider-Man will be released on Sony PlayStation 4 on September 7, 2018.
