Marvel's Spider-Man 2 lead says Miles and Peter succeed because they're relatable: "It's hard to identify with a billionaire"
Oct. 21, 2023Making relatable characters is a matter of helping the masses connect with them on a basic human level
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Speaking to theBBCrecently, creative director of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Bryan Intihar, details some of the character choices made within theInsomniac Gamesstudio around the game’s main characters, Peter Parker and Miles Morales.
In ourMarvel’s Spider-Man 2 reviewour Joe Donnely raved about the game’s story, as did many of the game’s reviewers. In particular people have been heavily invested in the portrayal of the protagonists' backstories, and how the studio chose to represent their innermost feelings throughout the narrative.
Aside from Intihar’s comments around the fact thatlonger isn’t always better for games, he says that in order to help players connect with Peter and Miles on a more intimate level - as you should with any character you embody in a game - it was important for them to demonstrate their battles with grief, the difficulties of growing up, and how they deal with forming (and breaking) relationships.
His conclusion is that the level of connection players feel with Peter and Miles is down to their beingjust normal men.
They’re relatable on a level few other Marvel characters are, because they’re just dudes doing normal dude stuff, only with a few inhuman abilities thrown in to make things a little more exciting.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 review: “Quite simply the best superhero game yet”
It’s not the spidey-moves that make a compelling character, it’s the human angle.
Intihar compares Peter and Miles to some of the franchise’s less relatable characters, saying “I love Tony Stark, but it’s hard to identify with a billionaire, right?”
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It’s true, the majority of the population probably do have trouble stepping into the bespoke and exorbitantly expensive shoes of the one percent. I know I do.
“And look at Thor. Great hero, but it’s hard to identify with a god.” I’m not sure about you, Intihar…
These are fascinating insights into the mind of Insomniac Games' creative director, in any case, and it’s great that he was able to shed some light on what he feels is most important to players when it comes to game characters.
Here’s hoping more game studios take note, and inject their storylines with more relatable happenings in characters' lives.
Katie is a freelance writer covering everything from video games to tabletop RPGs. She is a designer of board games herself and a former Hardware Writer over at PC Gamer.
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