I’m taking Insomniac’s Wolverine patch as a sign: This is as bad as it’s going to get

I’m calling it here—this is as bad as it’s gonna get. Insomniac’s Wolverine has been getting slapped around a fair bit because it’s perhaps the summit, the zenith—of ‘how much handholding can you put in a game before we all get sick of it’.

And listen, I’ve actually defended yellow paint on this site before. I am in agreement with most developers that a little guidance is good. Players do need environments that guide them, they do need the occasional bit of direction, and while they’re smarter than Insomniac’s given them credit for? They are also kind of dumb sometimes.

But they aren’t this dumb. I’ve seen clips of Wolverine that look ripped straight out of parody videos—Logan does not need a scent trail, red flashing lights, and a snow trail so cleanly placed it might as well have been left by Saint Nicholas himself.

Game design trends like this tend to operate like a pendulum swing. It’s happening in MMOs at the moment—the seasonal, frictionless structure is growing less popular than the desire for them to waste our time and test our patience again. Similarly, here. We’re seeing the top of the arc before it all comes back to earth again.

Insomniac walking back some of its handholding, and actively looking into ways to do so further? I take it as a sign, not just for Insomniac’s offering, but all blockbuster games, including those on our beloved PC. In five years, I shall be writing about an unassailably complicated game and yearning for the days of scent trails once more—thus the cycle shall continue.