After years of waiting, Sony and Insomniac Games finally pulled back the curtain on Marvel’s Wolverine during the latest State of Play, giving fans their first extended look at the game in action.

The lengthy gameplay demonstration showcased everything from exploration and traversal to combat, story scenes and even a few larger action sequences. Most importantly, it confirmed that Wolverine is every bit as violent as fans had hoped. There’s a lot of blood, folks. Wolverine is practically bathing in it after just a few minutes.

The demo opened with Logan attempting to rescue a group of mutant students from the Reavers, a bunch of mechanically augmented mercs, immediately throwing players into combat. Wolverine’s claws tear through enemies with brutal efficiency, leaving bodies, blood and severed limbs scattered across the battlefield. At several points, Logan was completely covered in blood, making it clear that Insomniac isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to depicting the character’s savage fighting style.

Combat appears to blend fast-paced melee attacks with environmental interactions. One particularly nasty sequence saw Wolverine kick an enemy into a forklift, impaling them instantly. The showcase also revealed a Berserker mode that allows Logan to unleash devastating attacks and execute enemies in spectacular fashion.

Outside of combat, Wolverine is surprisingly agile. The gameplay featured Logan clambering across environments, making huge leaps, swinging from poles and navigating levels with a fluidity that feels very different from Insomniac’s Spider-Man games while still retaining that same polished sense of movement.

The story side of things received some attention as well. Jean Grey was briefly shown during the demonstration, while Sabretooth appeared during a rapid-fire montage near the end of the presentation. Mystique pops up too. Several locations were also teased, including what appeared to be a glimpse of the Japanese setting that Wolverine fans have long hoped would feature in the game.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was a motorcycle sequence that saw Logan racing through the environment during a heavily scripted action set piece. While brief, it added some welcome variety to the footage and hinted that the game may offer more than just claw-based combat. I hope so. Hell, I hope for some Days Gone style motorcycle riding, but I imagine in reality it’s just a one-off sequence.

The demonstration wrapped up with a montage of additional scenes, enemies and story moments before Sony confirmed that Marvel’s Wolverine will launch on September 15, 2026.

Based on what was shown, Wolverine looks exactly like the sort of blockbuster action game fans would expect from Insomniac Games. Whether it ultimately manages to stand alongside Spider-Man as one of the studio’s best projects remains to be seen, but after years of silence, it’s finally good to see the claws come out.

On a more personal level, I was left…whelmed. I love Wolverine, and everything they showed off was exactly what Wolverine should be. And yet, I’m also not sure it showed off anything that made me say, ” Wow, that’s unique.” Maybe that’s because it followed the typical Sony action-adventure template so closely. I think this will be the kind of game where I’ll only be excited when I actually play it.