Review: Spider-Man Remastered for PC and Steam Deck

Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018) already got a remaster for PlayStation 5 back in 2020, and now it’s been remastered for PC as well, with spinoff game Miles MoralesTo be available on PC in the latter part of this year. And despite its glossy sheen on two new platforms since its release, it hasn’t aged well. Its celebration of the surveillance state and police is actually quite cringeworthy. Some might think that Spidey will discover and solve systemic corruption. However, Spider-Manit is as simple as the new paint job that this remaster gives us: there are criminals as well as heroes and supervillains.

The greatest perk is perhaps Spider-Man’s arrival on Steam storefronts is that it’s also playable on the Steam Deck. I played it three ways — natively installed, streaming via Steam, and streaming via Moonlight (an app that tends to work better than Steam’s streaming service). Each worked well — even Steam’s streaming option, which hasn’t been as reliable with other games I’ve tried on the Steam Deck since receiving it a month ago.

Spider-Man swings through Manhattan during sunset — The city’s skyline may be low-res on Steam Deck, but the web-swinging still brings it

Most often I opted to play the game’s installed version straight off the Steam Deck, so I could play it in offline mode and not have to worry about maintaining a good connection with my desktop PC for streaming. (The Steam Deck doesn’t have an ethernet jack, so I use a USB-C adapter, but there’s only one USB-C jack on the Steam Deck, and it’s intended for the power cable.) You will be amazed to hear that Spider-ManThis device can drain your battery quickly. I prefer to play while my computer is plugged in. Steam Deck heats up due to the game. The Steam Deck fan must also be turned on to cool it down. With headphones in, however, I hardly noticed the fan’s loud pulsating. I also didn’t experience any crashes or significant lag.

On both Steam Deck and my PC I experienced issues with audio syncing. I’m not talking about a consistent audio delay; that would suggest an issue with my hardware, not the game. The audio problems were intermittent, but not frequent enough to cause any discomfort. For example, at one point, Aunt May asked Peter to do a chore for her — but she asked after Peter had already responded to her request. Otto Octavius was another example. He cried in frustration and then his voice actor screamed a whole second later. This made a serious incident unintentionally hilarious. Nearly every scene had an audio glitch. The game received multiple updates over the course of the advance review period; the update that was released on Aug. 7 included a fix for “audio sync, stutter, and performance issues in cut scenes,” and I haven’t noticed any issues since then.

Spider-Man facing a glitched-out surveillance tower in Marvel’s Spider-Man

Spider-Man stands in the sunset next to a non-glitched surveillance tower

A bug that I only experienced in the desktop edition of the game was the security towers Peter unlocks around Manhattan. On three separate occasions, Peter walked up to one of the towers and it wouldn’t trigger the button prompt for me to decode the signal. To see if it would work, I decided to reload my saved data and not give up. The entire tower became a frightening piece of abstract art after the reload. Every surveillance tower had been similarly damaged when I went further. It was only fixed by a complete restart of the game. Luckily, my entire save file wasn’t corrupted by this bug, given that unlocking these towers is a core progression mechanic.

Other than those small issues, Spider-Man The experience is amazing and the results are spectacular. Swinging through the streets of virtual New York as Spider-Man feels as breathtaking in 2022 as it did in 2018 (and 2020); it’s incredible to visit places I’ve been in real life, re-created in detail here, with just a few fun changes (Fisk Tower in place of the Time Warner building, and so on). On my desktop PC, with all the graphics settings turned up, the city’s skyline sparkles almost as beautifully as the real thing, with sunlight dancing off reflective surfaces and between skyscrapers. The smaller details make a difference, too, like the high-res sweat on Miles’ brow and the tears welling in his eyes during a pivotal scene. (Unfortunately, Miles’ hair doesn’t look as good in this game as it does in Miles Morales(The remastering is ongoing.

Miles’ eyes well up with tears during a pivotal moment in Marvel’s Spider-Man

Otto Octavius looks over the city skyline, wearing his goggles, which reflect the lit-up building in front of him

Even though there were a few issues, I was able to remaster the program. Spider-ManSteam Deck makes this the easiest way to play. Other than main story missions Spider-Man It is a huge collect-athon. There are markers everywhere that denote side missions and collectibles. Also, there are strongholds for enemies associated with Marvel villains. I fell deep into the collection rabbit hole, deferring on crime-busting in favor of collecting all of Peter Parker’s backpacks around the city. This is the ideal way to spend time on the sofa, watching television, or chatting with your roommates while you do the in-game missions. It may be odd to imagine swinging around Manhattan via the Steam Deck’s low-res screen — if you’re doing story missions, the desktop version will make those cutscenes shine — but in between the high-drama episodes of Peter’s life, clearing out the superheroic to-do list feels just as satisfying on a handheld.

Insomniac Games may clean up a few unpolished areas of Marvel’s Spider-ManOn PC. But there’s one big part of this game that won’t change – and it might take newcomers by surprise. Allow me to quote my former colleague Tom Ley, who wrote a blog post at Deadspin back in 2018 titled “They Turned Spider-Man Into A Damn Cop And It Sucks” –

Spider-Man doesn’t just help the cops by catching armed robbers and putting deranged super villains in jail, he helps them maintain a high-tech, citywide surveillance network. […]Anyone who played open-world RPGs in the past decade will know this game mechanic. Towers are used to reveal portions of the game map so players can collect additional missions. But it isn’t strictly a game mechanic, it’s also a narrative choice, and one that comes with some pretty obvious real-life parallels. A dystopian but sensible plot line in video games is that the NYPD purchases cutting-edge software and equipment from a suspicious tech company to monitor citizens. It’s also literally something that happened in the real New York City.

When Ley wrote this post, he’d only played the game for a few hours, so he didn’t know how much of a thematic throughline this aspect of Spider-ManIt would. It’s not just a side mission or a throwaway gag (although there are plenty of gags in which Peter pretends to be a hardscrabble police veteran who calls himself “Spider-Cop”). Spider-Man works with the police throughout the entire game, and the cops’ widespread surveillance of the city is presented as a useful resource. Spider-Man isn’t a do-gooder kid from Queens helping out his community so much as a willing tool of the state. This was weird in 2018, and critics pointed it out at the time — then four more years went by with even more public scrutiny and criticism of police forces in America. The year 2022 will be the biggest. Marvel’s Spider-ManIt feels more alienated than any American version.

Peter is also being called on the telephone by people. You can find the Phone! This is 2018 Anyway.

Miles Morales (left) and Mary Jane Watson (right) talk to their buddy Spider-Man (center)

Even though the paint job is a significant upgrade, Marvel’s Spider-Man can’t help but show its age. It brings back memories of Brooklyn Nine-Nine — cute, funny, and ultimately propagating a series of comfortable lies about the NYPD. It’s why, as I play, I’ve spent so much more time on my Steam Deck doing chores around the city, rather than advancing the main story. I’ve been visiting every single one of Harry Osborn’s research stations, which give Peter the chance to use both his superpowers and his scientific know-how to clean up chemical spills and right environmental wrongs.

More than once, I’ve wished the entire game could be as satisfying as those research stations. But these little side quests don’t advance the plot, and they offer barely anything in the way of story tidbits or character development. They don’t even put a strain on my graphics card. But they do offer a glimpse at what could have been — a version of Spider-Man who helps out where and when he can, not using the power of a massive surveillance state, but rather his own eyes, ears, wits, and web-shooters. It’s a lot easier to maintain this illusion on the Steam Deck, only halfway paying attention to the plot as I swing through Central Park and rescue a homeless man’s pet pigeons. Spider-Man shouldn’t be too big. He’s a friendly neighborhood type, after all.

Marvel’s Spider-Man August 12th, 2009 Windows PC. Review of the game on PC was done using an Insomniac Games pre-release code. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions from products sold via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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