Marvel’s Wolverine had a lot to prove. Wolverine is already one of Marvel’s most recognizable characters, and turning his personality, fighting style, and story into a full game naturally comes with expectations.
For this review, we spent around 18 hours completing the game over the span of three days on The Weapon difficulty, which sits at 4 out of 5 on the difficulty scale and makes combat noticeably more demanding.
After spending around three days with the game and reaching the end, we found there is much more here than simply tearing enemies apart with adamantium claws. The combat may be the main attraction, but boss fights, character relationships, story twists, and varied environments gave us plenty of reasons to keep moving forward.
That doesn’t mean everything landed perfectly. Some character designs took time to accept, clue indicators could be overly helpful, and we encountered a handful of visual glitches.
Still, those issues rarely got in the way of what the game does best.
Brutal Combat That Never Gets Old
Combat is one of the strongest parts of Marvel’s Wolverine.
Every hit feels impactful, and there is real weight behind Logan’s attacks when he starts tearing through groups of enemies. Considering how much of the game revolves around close-range fighting, repetition could have become a problem, but the variety in how you approach encounters helps prevent that.
Instead of relying on the same combo every time, we kept switching between attacks, abilities, counters, and different approaches. You can isolate individual enemies, aggressively work through groups, or lean into Logan’s stronger abilities when things start getting crowded.
The progression system also helps keep the combat interesting. You start with a relatively simple set of techniques, so the game never throws too much at you at once. As you continue through the story, new fighting techniques and more brutal attacks gradually unlock, giving you more options without making the system feel overwhelming.
That progression gave us another reason to keep playing. Techniques that were unavailable during the opening hours slowly became part of our regular fighting style, and by the time tougher encounters arrived, we already had a much larger set of skills to experiment with.
The tougher elite enemies also help keep fights tense. They can take far more punishment than regular enemies and force you to pay closer attention to timing, especially when parrying their attacks.
There were encounters where three or even four of them appeared at once, and suddenly the fight became much more about positioning, patience, and knowing which enemy to deal with first.
Then there’s Rage Mode. Once activated, Logan becomes even more aggressive, leaping between enemies and finishing them in brutal ways.
As long as you keep chaining attacks and taking enemies down, Rage Mode can continue until the area is cleared, turning crowded fights into pure chaos.
Boss Battles Actually Make You Learn
Boss fights take that need for timing and patience much further.
Rather than keeping the same attack pattern throughout an encounter, bosses can change once you reach certain points in their health. A cutscene may interrupt the battle before the enemy returns with new attacks, different patterns, or techniques you haven’t dealt with before.
That means learning the first phase is only part of the fight. We died plenty of times, studied patterns, retried, and adjusted. Some encounters initially felt overwhelming, but once we understood the rhythm behind their attacks, they started becoming much more manageable.
This is also where the parry system becomes especially important.
Successful parries gradually build a progress meter on the boss. Reaching 100% can stagger, dizzy, or knock them down, creating a short but valuable opening where Wolverine can land a much heavier attack.
That changes the way you approach these fights. You are not simply waiting for a chance to attack, you are actively working toward breaking the boss down through well-timed parries.
Mistime them and you can get punished quickly. Get the rhythm right, and you slowly turn the fight in your favor.
Wolverine Has More Going On Than Just Violence
What surprised us most was how invested we eventually became in the story.
The game starts loud, immediately establishing Logan as the violent and aggressive character everyone expects him to be, but things gradually become more personal as his relationships with the people around him develop.
His connections with his teammates became some of the more interesting parts of the narrative, especially because not every relationship moves in the direction you might expect.
The story also revolves around mutants being kidnapped, which eventually connects to a much larger conflict involving the mysterious Helix Engine. What begins as a rescue effort gradually opens into something far more dangerous, giving Logan’s journey bigger stakes without revealing too much.
Some parts of the story are fairly predictable, and there were moments when we already had an idea of what might happen next. But the game still manages to introduce twists that change the direction enough to keep things interesting.
Without spoiling anything, the ending also leaves enough room for Logan’s journey to continue. It feels less like a full stop and more like the beginning of another chapter.
Cutscenes Give the Story Room to Breathe
The cutscenes do more than simply connect one mission to another.
They give Logan’s relationships more room to develop and allow the story to slow down between fights. That balance is important in a game that could easily become nonstop combat from beginning to end.
They also work well during boss encounters, where a cutscene can signal the shift into another phase before the enemy returns with new techniques.
Outside of those battles, quieter scenes help build tension and make the transitions between exploration, combat, and story feel smoother.
The result is a better balance between Wolverine’s brutality and the people and conflicts surrounding him.
Character Designs Might Take Some Getting Used To
Character design was one of the things that distracted us most during the opening hours.
Logan, particularly his face, looks noticeably different from the Wolverine many players may be familiar with. He is usually portrayed with naturally furrowed brows that give him an intense, permanently angry expression.
Here, his face often looks much softer. At times, Logan almost has a sad puppy-like expression instead of the intimidating look we expected. It sounds like a small detail, but because his facial expression is such a recognizable part of the character, we noticed it immediately.
Jean Grey also took some adjusting to. Her appearance makes her look noticeably older than we expected, which initially made her pairing with Logan feel unusual to us.
Then there’s Lady Deathstrike.
We honestly laughed the first time we saw her because her design gave us an unexpected “auntie” vibe rather than the intimidating appearance we had in mind.
After around three days with the game, however, those first impressions started to fade. Logan looked normal to us, Jean became familiar, and the characters simply became this game’s versions of themselves.
Still, if the development team is listening, we think the characters could benefit from feeling more immediately recognizable.
Challenge Missions Change the Pace
Marvel’s Wolverine also includes optional challenges that provide a useful break from the main campaign.
Some require you to complete objectives within a time limit, while others focus on specific combat actions. They can be surprisingly difficult, and we had to retry several of them.
These challenges also encourage you to experiment with mechanics you might not normally use as much during regular encounters.
Because they connect back into progression, they feel more worthwhile than simple side activities.
Pathfinding Helps, but Clue Indicators Can Be Too Helpful
Marvel’s Wolverine is mostly linear, but some levels open up into larger or less obvious spaces where it can be easy to lose track of the intended route.
That’s where the game’s pathfinding assistance usually helps. It only appears during certain moments rather than constantly guiding you, and in larger areas it can keep things moving without making exploration feel too directed.
That said, there were also times when the pathfinding appeared even though the next objective was already very close or as simple as heading toward a nearby closed door. In those moments, the guidance felt a little unnecessary.
Investigation sections are a different story. Large circular indicators sometimes appear around areas where clues can be found, and these can make the search too obvious. Instead of encouraging you to properly examine the surroundings, they immediately narrow down where you need to look.
A subtler hint system would have worked better, giving players a general direction without revealing the entire search area.
Level Design Keeps the Journey Visually Fresh
One thing we appreciated about Marvel’s Wolverine is how often the environments change throughout the game.
You are not stuck exploring the same type of area for long periods of time. The game moves through different locations and settings, which helps each part of the journey feel distinct instead of making the campaign feel visually repetitive.
There are also several gameplay sequences that take advantage of those changing environments. Some moments put Logan on a motorcycle charging toward enemies, while others place him in much larger set pieces, including an airplane sequence and other action-heavy scenarios that break away from the usual on-foot exploration and combat.
That variety helps the game feel more cinematic without making every level follow the same formula.
There are also plenty of moments where the environment itself becomes the highlight. We often stopped just to look around or take screenshots because some areas are genuinely scenic, with detailed backgrounds, strong atmosphere, and views that feel made for photo mode.
Not every location has the same level of detail or impact, but the constant shift between different areas, action sequences, and scenic environments keeps the overall journey visually interesting.
A Few Glitches Show Their Claws Too
Our playthrough wasn’t completely free from technical issues, but the problems we ran into were fairly minor.
One particular glitch happened during a tree descent sequence. Logan jumps onto a tree trunk and uses his claws to slow himself down as he slides toward the ground. In our case, he got stuck at the bottom while the claw scratching animation kept looping, even though he had already reached the ground.
We also noticed a strange hair physics issue during some cutscenes. For example, when the camera was close on Jean, her hair would occasionally snap or settle too quickly. It was brief, but noticeable, like the animation had momentarily snapped in place.
None of these issues blocked progress. They were just little wrinkles that stood out when they happened, but rare enough that they never became a real distraction.
The Most Important Part Works
Marvel’s Wolverine isn’t flawless.
Enemy variety could be better. Some character designs take getting used to. Certain indicators make things a bit too easy, and a few rough edges remain. But the core experience holds everything together.
The combat has enough depth to stay fun, boss fights feel earned, Rage Mode is pure chaos in the best way, and the story gives Logan something to care about beyond the next fight.
Most importantly, the game understands what players want from Wolverine. It gives you the aggression, the claws, the violence, but also asks you to learn, to pay attention, to care. For us, despite its rough edges, those claws definitely delivered.
