Marvel’s Wolverine splits critics and PS5 players

Marvel’s Wolverine came out on PS5 on September 15, and four days later Insomniac Games’ new game still means something different depending on where you look. Critics landed on a respectable average, PlayStation Store buyers are handing out five stars almost across the board, and Metacritic users sit somewhere far less generous. Those three numbers don’t measure the same thing, which is exactly why the gap is worth a closer look. Here is what each of them says, what people actually criticize, and what the studio has already fixed since launch.

At a glance

A 77 Metascore against 4.84 stars for Marvel’s Wolverine

Start with the critics. As of September 19, Metacritic’s page for Marvel’s Wolverine shows a Metascore of 77 across 128 reviews, labeled “Generally Favorable”. Seventy percent of those reviews are positive and the remaining thirty percent are mixed. According to the critic summary on the page, the praise goes to visceral combat and impressive visuals, while the reservations focus on a story that lacks the ambition to make it a must-play.

Buyers tell a very different story. On launch day, games.gg recorded a 4.84 out of 5 rating on the PlayStation Store, from more than 6,400 user reviews. Converted to a 100-point scale, that lands around 97, about twenty points above the critics.

What stands out is that the two groups aren’t grading the same thing. As games.gg puts it, buyers are mostly asking whether Marvel’s Wolverine delivers a satisfying Wolverine experience, and for most of them the answer is yes. Critics are measuring the game against everything the action-adventure genre already offers, and that’s where it drops points.

Metacritic user scores complicate the “players love it” story

That said, the idea of a united player base doesn’t hold up for long. On the same Metacritic page, users give the game a 6.8 out of 10 from 3,894 ratings, labeled “Mixed or Average”. Sixty-two percent of those ratings are positive, but twenty-nine percent are negative, mostly pointing at difficulty balance and the quality of the writing.

So “players” aren’t one group. PlayStation buyers rating the game in its first hours are thrilled, while Metacritic users end up closer to the critics, and in some cases harsher.

One detail matters here, and games.gg flags it itself: rating a game on the PlayStation Store requires buying it, not finishing it. A launch-day score mostly reflects the excitement of the purchase, and it can still move once people get deeper into the campaign. That 4.84 is best read as a snapshot of launch week.

Update 1.001.004 and Insomniac’s first round of fixes

The studio moved quickly. On launch day, update 1.001.004 fixed a first batch of issues, listed by MP1st: English voice-over failing to play when the console was set to another language, Jean Grey dropping off during a mission in Japan, and Logan being unable to slide under a prison door in Telambang.

Insomniac Games also posted on X that it is “incredibly proud” of what the team created, and that it is “actively engaged” with its community and “gathering feedback to further refine the player experience.” The statement stays general and doesn’t promise any specific change. Still, it confirms the studio is watching the feedback closely, which leaves room for adjustments on the sore points, difficulty first among them.

Should you trust critics or players on Marvel’s Wolverine?

It depends on what you want from it. If your main goal is to play as Logan in a big, cinematic blockbuster with brutal fights and polished set pieces, the enthusiasm of PlayStation buyers is probably the most useful signal for you. That’s the experience they say they found.

If you’re hoping for a game that pushes the genre forward, with an ambitious story and real mechanical depth, the reservations from critics and Metacritic users deserve your attention. They all point the same way, toward a story and a difficulty balance that fall short of the rest of the package.

There’s also a middle path. Nothing forces you to decide during launch week: the first patches are already landing, and PlayStation Store ratings will mean more once they include people who have seen the ending. Waiting a few weeks costs you very little, and it gives you a much clearer picture of what the game really is once the launch excitement has settled.

In practice, these numbers will keep moving over the coming weeks. PlayStation Store ratings will settle as people finish the game, and Insomniac’s next patches will show whether the studio really goes after difficulty and pacing. Until then, Marvel’s Wolverine is one of those games where it pays to check more than one source before making up your mind.