Marvel's Wolverine reviews split as Polygon calls it the biggest PS5-era disappointment

Insomniac Games' Marvel's Wolverine reached the PS5 with a divided critical reception on September 10, 2026. Reviews from Polygon, Kotaku and VGC carry timestamps six seconds apart, at 15:00:14, 15:00:16 and 15:00:20 UTC, consistent with a coordinated embargo lift. Polygon's headline calls the game the biggest disappointment of the PS5 era, and its summary cites shallow action and weak storytelling. VGC's headline says uninspired gameplay leaves Logan feeling declawed despite a strong narrative, and its summary adds that Insomniac's latest is a visual stunner whose gameplay does not measure up. Kotaku's headline takes a different tone, describing an Insomniac Marvel superhero game that is refreshingly straightforward, with the qualifier attached: mostly.

Eurogamer's review, the lead item, opens on a different subject in the portion available. The reviewer argues that a few characters were always a perfect match for video games and uses Batman as the classic example: he beats up bad guys, performs stealth takedowns, and carries a built-in arsenal of gadgets that can be designed around any obstacle. Batman also has a car and a cape for driving or gliding around an open world, along with preternatural detective sensibilities that solve environmental puzzles or point the way forward, in the reviewer's phrasing, by pressing R3 to see where to go next. That is a systems checklist, and the available text stops before saying how Wolverine's version of it holds up.

The reviews disagree about the story. VGC treats the narrative as the game's strength and pairs that judgment with praise for its visuals. Polygon names weak storytelling as a reason the game fails to be memorable. Kotaku's hedge sits between them, endorsing a straightforward approach while leaving the question open.

Gameplay draws sharper and more consistent criticism. VGC calls the gameplay uninspired and says it does not measure up. Polygon calls the action shallow. In the excerpts available here, none of the four reviews names a specific combat system, set piece or boss encounter as a high point. Eurogamer's Batman framework, read against the other three verdicts, sets up an obvious test: whether Logan's own toolkit matches the fit the reviewer describes for Batman.

The source set limits how far any of this can be pushed. Three of the four items are headline-and-summary only, and the Eurogamer entry is a truncated body excerpt with no timestamp attached. None of the excerpts carries a review score, a release date or a sales figure, and none includes comment from Insomniac, Sony or Marvel. The only platform named is the PS5.

The disagreement is the story. Four outlets covered the same Insomniac Marvel game on the same afternoon and split on whether its weakness sits in the combat or in the writing, with only VGC treating the narrative as a clear success. How far that split widens depends on the full reviews, which the supplied excerpts do not contain. Nothing in the material indicates whether Insomniac or Sony has responded to the reception or what the studio has scheduled next.