4 years later, the most ambitious superhero game ever just reached its full potential

In 2018, Sony and Insomniac Games released Marvel’s Spider-Man, which launched to immediate success, eventually surpassing 33 million copies sold worldwide. Now, four years later, the remastered edition is available on PC for the first time, courtesy of Nixxes, following in the footsteps of Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, and God of War. Much like its PlayStation release, Spider-Man is off to a tremendous start on PC, peaking at over 66,000 concurrent players since its release on August 12. While this game was already stunning and impressive on PlayStation, the PC edition is now the best way to play, maximizing performance while also being playable on the go via Steam Deck.

The superior way to play

Even on PS4 and PS4 Pro, Marvel’s Spider-Man was a sight to behold thanks to its gorgeous art style that effectively blends realism with a stylized approach. While character proportions are lifelike, the color palette has exaggerated a touch. This gives it a unique visual identity, enhanced even further by Insomniac’s lighting, which makes everything pop from the screen. On PC, its visuals are much more impressive thanks to its performance, allowing the game to reach its full potential.

The PS4 Pro version runs at 30 frames per second with dynamic resolution averaging around 1584p. On PS5, it supports 60 frames per second but the resolution can dip as low as 1080p when aiming for the best frame rate, which isn’t ideal.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered for PC, on the other hand, offers a plethora of options, supporting 4K visuals with Ray Tracing at 60 frames per second. Granted, you’ll need some powerful gear to run the game at the best settings, but the fact that it’s an option is heartening. Plus, there’s no shortage of settings to tinker with to make the most out of its visuals and performance on whatever kind of PC you have.

This makes it extremely versatile, and even if you don’t have the most up-to-date PC, you can still enjoy the game on older hardware so long as you have at least a GTX 950, an Intel Core i3-4160, and 8GB of RAM.

A spectacular handheld experience

The Steam Deck has already revolutionized handheld gaming, offering console-like experiences on the go. That rings true with Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, which is available on Valve’s handheld device alongside the recent PC Steam release.

Sure, the game won’t run as well as it might on a powerful PC, but having the option to take this bad boy on the go is well worth the visual downgrade. And frankly, the game performs much better than you might expect on Steam Deck anyway, consistently averaging around 40 frames per second at around 1280p, looking fantastic on the small screen. Even the game’s load times are faster on Steam Deck than the PS4 version, which is impressive.

Given its performance, you’ll likely be blown away while playing Marvel’s Spider-Man on Steam Deck, especially if you’re someone who’s used to the Nintendo Switch, a system that barely runs some of the games it has to offer.

This is easily the best handheld superhero video game experience ever made.

The beauty of the Steam release is that you can easily swap between Steam Deck and PC, with the ability to pick up right where you left off thanks to cloud saves. This means you can play Marvel’s Spider-Man at home on a powerful PC and then take it with you on Steam Deck, practically seamlessly.

Sure, PC gaming can be overwhelming, but on Steam Deck, you don’t need to worry about buying parts or making sure the device supports Marvel’s Spider-Man. Simply download the game, and play — without any of the headaches that sometimes come with PC gaming.

Even if you’ve already played Marvel’s Spider-Man before, it’s still recommended to pick up a copy on PC, especially if you have an up-to-date rig, and even more so if you own a Steam Deck. This release makes us excited for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which will come to PC later in 2022.