When Insomniac Games revealed Wolverine, fans immediately started imagining the likes of the X-Men appearing in the game, but that is not what the game has shaped up to be. With Mystique and Omega Red already being shown in the latest trailer, it’s a clear image that the game is leaning more into the darker, bloodier corners of Logan’s past.
This is why the X-Men should stay in the shadows, at least for now. Wolverine deserves to stand on its own, as a brutal, personal journey through the man behind the claws, not the superhero behind the mask. By keeping the spotlight firmly on Logan, Insomniac has a chance to tell a story that feels raw and grounded, something that sets it apart from the usual superhero formula.
Wolverine’s strength as a character has always come from his isolation, his moral conflict, and the ghosts of his past. If you bring in the wider X-Men too early could dilute that. Instead, the key should be subtle nods to the characters.
Something as easy as a news headline about mutants with Cyclops there, a familiar name on a mission file, can easily remind players that the larger mutant world exists without pulling the focus from the main character, Wolverine. This would make it so Wolverine could be a standalone character before meeting a new character later down the line, similar to how they did it with Peter Parker and Miles Morales.
This doesn’t say that no X-Men character should be completely missing from the game. Characters who are carefully placed, like Charles Xavier using his powers on Logan in a flashback, an old, worn-out photo of Jean Grey, or Storm played in Wolverine’s camp, would make it feel like players would know where the story is headed.
These small additions of characters as easter-eggs will reward fans playing the game while keeping the focus on Wolverine’s journey throughout the game’s story without turning the game into an ensemble piece.
