Author: Game Infliction

2020’s Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity gave us an expanded look on a time in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s history only whispered about in a few flashback cutscenes. The new Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment seems to be following this trend by taking us even further back in time to the founding of Hyrule and the imprisoning of Ganondorf, of which only fragments were shown in Tears of the Kingdom. Just as Tears expanded on everything Breath of the Wild had to offer, Age of Imprisonment seems to be equally upping the stakes, both in taking advantage of the Switch 2’s increased horsepower and showing off some new and welcome features to the hack ‘n slash spinoff series.

The demo I played (which is now also available to attendees of the Tokyo Game Show) comprised a 10-minute chunk of an early mission that also sought to capitalize on Tears of the Kingdom’s new discoveries: exploring The Depths. Given that this creepy underground area effectively doubled the size of Hyrule, I’m excited to see where these types of missions can lead, and what horrors we’ll find lurking in the dark (I can’t be the only one hoping we get some acknowledgement of the creepy giant statues). This iteration of Hyrule Warriors seemed to run a lot smoother on the Switch 2 and I couldn’t spot any dips in the framerate while wading into combat, but being in an early enclosed area it’s hard to say if Nintendo’s new console was truly being put through its paces.

I began the mission as Zelda, still adjusting to being thrown backwards in time during the events of Tears of the Kingdom, with the ancient Zonai beings Rauru and Minera escorting her toward sacred sites of power hidden away in the Depths. After equipping myself with a few Zonai devices to use in battle, it wasn’t long before I was mowing through enemies in true Dynasty Warriors “musou” style. This time around, Zelda has put down the sheikah slate in favor of a lightsaber, mixing in more straightforward sword slashes with the ability to shoot light arrows from afar, or recall her sword as it dances around to cut swaths through enemies. It’s a great way to make her less of a technical fighter and more of an easy to pick up all-rounder stand-in for Link (who couldn’t make it on account of the whole time travel thing).

Even though I was only able to play as three different characters during the demo, I have to hand it to Mineru for stealing the show. Her ability to pull out random complex Zonai death contraptions was something I never got tired of. Whether it was driving a giant spiky four-wheeler of destruction through enemies, or simply hopping onto a giant tire to ride side-saddle instead of running, Mineru has so far proven to be the Green Lantern of this universe with her ability to pull out the wildest creations out of nowhere. Many of her crazier constructs – like summoning a spinning paddle to whack giant orbs into enemies like a bowling ball – had me itching to go back to Tears of the Kingdom to see if I could recreate these death traps myself.

Though only Mineru got to summon complex machines, each character was able to gather singular Zonai devices to be used in battle as consumable items, and deployed in a few ways. At first I was whipping out my flame emitter to mow down groups of little Frox enemies, but later I was able to set one down to continuously burn a Construct Captain while I flanked from the side with more direct attacks, making it an effective 1-2 punch combo. All devices will drain your battery, making their deployment a tactical choice unless you’ve stockpiled battery rechargers. I was only able to mess around with a few, but with different characters using devices in various manners, there’s a lot of room to find great times to deploy them – especially on boss fights.

Along with deploying devices, holding R also allows you to activate special unique skills in combat that cover wide areas and blast through the opposition with some bombastic attacks. Each character I got to play had two different abilities, and I was also able to map them alongside Zonai devices for easy use. While they can be used to mow through hordes of grunts, they really shine when facing tougher bosses and captains that stand between you and your objectives. Even the most generic of construct captains can employ strong unblockable attacks that can cover a wide area and do heavy damage, signified by a glowing aura that spreads out from them. Koei Tecmo has seemingly taken a page from another of its action series, Nioh, in presenting the best way to stop an unblockable strike is to overpower it with one of your own. Being able to anticipate, react, and shut down a deadly foe with a trick of my own was immensely satisfying and rewarding (and at least this early on, I was given a pretty generous reaction time before their attack would unleash).

I also appreciate the steps Age of Imprisonment has taken to make your allies feel more tangible, as they are now able to assist you in battle with bigger attacks when you’re running out of skills to deploy. In one instance, a boss readied its charge attack, while both of Zelda’s skills were still on cooldown. Suddenly I was given the option to swap to Rauru waiting on the other side of the arena, and I was able to deploy his unique skill to intercept the boss and save Zelda in a moment that felt truly cinematic.

An even bigger upgrade to making more use of your allies is a new ability – a sync strike that can be triggered when you and your ally have dealt enough damage to fill a meter. This lit up their portraits on the side, and also helpfully showed when I was in range of a character to perform the strike with by highlighting the ground to the person in range. Not only are these moves as dramatic as they are powerful, but they’re also unique to the two characters you sync up, opening up the floor for a lot of possibilities and tactics. Pairing up Zelda and Rauru allowed me to shoot out twin beams of light that I could aim independently with each control stick to focus on two bosses at once, while having Zelda synch up with Mineru for a strike let her ride on the back of the Zonai’s mech to wade into battle alternating powerful slams and magic explosions. Given the nature of some of these attacks, I’m really hoping that co-op play will allow each player to direct their own attacks during these sync strikes, though nothing has been confirmed yet.

Even though my time with the demo was criminally short, I’m already looking forward to seeing how more of its characters fight in sync – especially the tiny korok musketeer and enigmatic looking Zonai construct that looks very similar to a notably absent hero. Luckily I’ll only have just over a month to wait until Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment arrives on November 6th.

It only took four years of waiting, but Insomniac finally followed up on their original Wolverine teaser with a proper gameplay trailer during Sony’s State of Play event. Finally, we get to hear Liam McIntyre’s Logan and see the beloved X-Man in action. And boy, is there ever some action in this new footage.

While we wait one final year until the game finally drops on the PS5, let’s break down the big Marvel Easter eggs and cameos in this trailer. From major villains like Omega Red and Mystique to a new take on one of Wolverine’s most iconic costumes, here’s what truly stood out.

The Costumes

If Insomniac’s Spider-Man games are any indication, fans can probably expect a wide array of costumes in Wolverine, many taken directly from the X-Men comics and movies of years past. But also like Spider-Man, there’s sure to be a main costume – the default look Logan will be sporting throughout much of the game. Thanks to the new trailer, we finally know what that costume will be.

Wolverine’s primary costume looks to be very heavily inspired by the John Cassaday-designed suit that debuted back in 2004’s Astonishing X-Men. It’s an updated take on the classic blue and yellow costume from the ‘70s and ‘90s X-books. It’s not at all surprising to see Insomniac go that route. The Astonishing costume became Wolverine’s default look for a full ten years (until he was temporarily killed off in 2014’s Death of Wolverine). It’s a beloved costume for a reason, as it combines the best of Wolverine’s classic look with more modern sensibilities. And where Insomniac embellished its Spider-Man design with some extra white elements to make the character their own, they seem content to stick closer to the source material in this case.

It’s worth pointing out that this is also the costume Marvel Studios relied on when it came time to finally put Hugh Jackman in the yellow and blue spandex. We see a lot of similarities between Insomniac’s Wolverine design and the one from Deadpool & Wolverine. In both cases, this isn’t form-fitting spandex, but a slightly more tactical and rugged take on the Astonishing suit. The big difference is that Insomniac is going that extra mile in terms of comic book accuracy. This Wolverine has shoulder pads with no sleeves, whereas Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine never rocked that exact look in the movie.

The trailer makes it clear that Logan won’t always be dressed in his X-Men uniform, however. Given the circles he runs in, there are some places where it doesn’t pay to dress like a primary colored superhero.

We see two different civilian outfits in the trailer. One is the familiar red plaid shirt, jeans, and cowboy hat look from the original teaser. We see Logan wearing this more low-key outfit when he enters the Princess Bar in Madripoor. It’s a pretty classic take on Wolverine’s civilian attire, one that hearkens back to major Uncanny X-Men artists like John Byrne.

The other outfit sees Logan donning a brown bomber jacket. This appears to be a nod to X-Men: The Animated Series. In that show, if we didn’t see Logan in his standard yellow costume, he was probably rocking the brown jacket.

But, again, we suspect there will be no shortage of alternate costume options in the game, including unlockable suits, preorder bonuses, and DLC costumes. If anyone in the Marvel Universe has a closet deep enough to rival that of Peter Parker, it’s Wolverine.

Some costumes are pretty much a given. There’s no way we don’t get a more traditional blue and yellow costume, as well as some version of Wolverine’s equally iconic brown costume from the ‘80s. The same goes for his black and gray X-Force costume. We’ll definitely get a Weapon X Wolverine, complete with VR helmet and black Speedo. Wolverine’s blue and red costume from the Age of Apocalypse crossover seems like another safe bet. And, of course, there are all the obligatory suits from Fox movies like the original X-Men trilogy, Days of Future Past, and Logan.

But even that barely scratches the surface of what’s out there. Could we see Logan’s Patch disguise, given that some of the game takes place in Madripoor? What about his House of X costume? His black leather New X-Men costume? His Team X costume? The game really has the opportunity to dig deep and mine Wolverine’s extensive back catalog for all its worth. Be sure to let us know in the comments which costume you most want to see in the game.

The Locations

Wolverine is nothing if not a globe-trotting hero, with his solo adventures frequently taking him away from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and to international locations like Canada, Japan, and Madripoor. It appears that all three countries will be featured in the game, and we have to assume Logan’s travels won’t end there. If we don’t get a section of the game allowing Wolverine to wreak havoc on dinosaurs in the Savage Land, we’ll be sorely disappointed.

The trailer shows us several scenes set in Madripoor, a seedy island nation that’s basically Marvel’s version of Singapore. Madripoor also made its MCU debut in 2021’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, though, sadly, Wolverine was nowhere to be found there. Madripoor is where Logan usually goes to chill out, get drunk, gamble, and get into other kinds of mischief. The game seems poised to offer plenty of mischief, and we get confirmation that Logan will be visiting his favorite watering hole, the Princess Bar.

Portions of the game will also be set in Japan, a country Wolverine has had deep ties to ever since his very first solo comic book series in 1982. Japan is where Wolverine fell in love with the fair lady Mariko Yashida, battled her cruel father Lord Shingen, and befriended the plucky ninja Yukio. It remains to be seen how much, if at all, the game will delve into those characters and their ties to Logan, but we’re definitely expecting to see the game explore his samurai side.

Several scenes in the trailer are also clearly taking place in the Canadian wilderness. No big surprise there. Wolverine was born in Canada, after all, and he always seems to get drawn back north for one reason or another. Sometimes, he just goes to be alone and enjoy the great outdoors for a while. Other times, he’s dealing with pesky organizations like Weapon X or Department H. If we had to guess, we’d say the game is probably dealing with the deep-seated rivalry between Wolverine and Weapon X, the agency that coated his bones in unbreakable metal so many years ago.

Interestingly, this globetrotting approach seems to indicate a change in formula compared to the Spider-Man games. Marvel’s Wolverine won’t be set in a single city like New York, but several different regions, both urban and rural. The trailer footage makes it look as though there’s less of a focus on open-world traversal. It makes sense, as Wolverine doesn’t really have the ability to dart around open areas with the same speed and grace as Spidey. Compared to Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequels, Marvel’s Wolverine may be geared toward smaller, more linear levels. But we’ll find out for sure when Insomniac shows off more of the game in Spring 2026.

The Villains

Despite the fact that he’s not above stabbing, slicing, and killing anyone who gets in his way, Wolverine has built up one of the largest and most recognizable rogues galleries in the Marvel Universe. It takes a special kind of villain to square off with someone as dangerous as James “Logan” Howlett and return for another round. And if there’s any takeaway from the new trailer, it’s that we’re going to see several of those villains over the course of the game.

One shot shows Wolverine battling Omega Red, a Russian mutant with energy-draining tentacles. Omega Red is particularly dangerous, not just because of his enhanced strength and durability, but because he can emit “Death Spores” that can kill ordinary humans at the drop of a hat. His tentacles are forged from carbonadium, essentially an adamantium knockoff that’s nearly as good as the real deal. However, that same carbonadium also poisons his body, forcing Omega Red to drain the lifeforce of others like a vampire.

Wolverine and Omega Red’s rivalry goes back to Logan’s pre-X-Men days, when he was a member of the strike force known as Team X. Both men are examples of the ongoing quest to create better and stronger super-soldiers, and there’s no love lost between them.

We also see the shape-shifting Mystique in the trailer. Mystique is not only an expert martial artist, she can impersonate just about anybody. She can’t fool Logan’s enhanced senses, however.

It remains to be seen just how antagonistic a role Mystique is playing in the game. While frequently an enemy of the X-Men, Mystique isn’t a villain so much as extremely self-serving. She’ll do whatever she has to protect herself and her family. She and Wolverine have frequently been at odds over the years. Because Raven, like Logan, is functionally immortal, they’ve been butting heads since the early 20th Century. We imagine the game will dig deeper into that long, sordid shared history between them.

Late in the trailer, we also glimpse a Sentinel activating itself and rising up to battle Wolverine. The Sentinels are enormous robots expressly designed for one purpose – hunting and killing mutants. One Sentinel can easily take on several X-Men at a time, and they rarely hunt alone. Even Wolverine’s adamantium claws are hard-pressed to make scrap metal out of Sentinels.

We wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the game deliver an extended battle between Wolverine and a Sentinel akin to the one in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine game. The entire reason Logan is in Canada may even involve infiltrating a Sentinel factory. It’s also possible we’ll see smaller Sentinel variants, so Wolverine has more enemies to slash outside of the boss battles.

Finally, the trailer shows several scenes of Wolverine chopping up cybernetic soldiers. We’d guess these are meant to be Reavers, cybernetically enhanced mercenaries who have frequently targeted Logan in the comics. Just as Insomniac’s Spider-Man games feature multiple factions of enemies like the Inner Demons and Kraven’s mercenaries, we imagine the Reavers are one faction Wolverine will repeatedly battle over the course of the game.

They surely won’t be the only enemy faction in the game. Other options include Weapon X soldiers, Hand ninjas, and Hydra agents. We also highly doubt Omega Red and Mystique are the only major villains in the game. Can Insomniac make a Wolverine game without including Sabretooth? What about Silver Samurai and Lady Deathstrike? Logan has a lot of enemies, and we’re hoping to get the chance to stab them all when the game finally releases in Fall 2026.

What villains do you most want to fight in Marvel’s Wolverine? Vote in our poll and let us know in the comments below:

For more, check out everything Sony announced at the State of Play event.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.

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Humble Choice September 2025 Lineup