October 2023 saw the much-anticipated release of the third video game in Insomniac studio’s series, ironically named Spiderman 2. Impressively, it lived up to the hype, with countless reviews praising it’s compelling story, expanded map, and satisfying gameplay following it’s release. As with my previous blog posts talking about video games such as Mass Effect, Horizon: Forbidden West and Bloodborne, I want to explore an aspect of the game that few people seem to be talking about; it’s depiction of disability.

Please note there will be spoilers for the main story and side quests ahead, so if you want to avoid spoilers save this article and come back later!

As I sat down to write this, I realised that disability and chronic illness have already had a significant impact on the series so far. In Spiderman, it is Dr Connor’s limb loss that inspires his research into the reptilian ability to re-grow body parts, resulting in his transformation into classic comic book villain “the Lizard”. Dr Octavius takes unnecessary risks when developing robotic limbs and becomes super-villain Doc Oc, all because of his concerns surrounding his degenerative neurological disorder. This trope is a little tired within comic book settings, but it remained impressive how seamlessly disability fit into the story without it feeling like tokenistic representation designed purely to look inclusive.

In Spiderman: Mile Morales, the entire plot revolves around a corporation putting profits over people’s health, but it’s worth noting that deaf artist Hailey also made quite the impression on players despite her relatively small role in the story.

In Spiderman 2, however, things are taken to a whole new level.

It’s a small detail, but while swinging around New York City, I frequently encountered wheelchair users among the characters populating the city streets. While interactions with these characters was limited, and there were no powered wheelchair users that I could spot, it was still a significant improvement on the usual lack of diversity among background characters in games, and added an element of realism that you wouldn’t expect from a game about people bitten by radioactive spiders.

As for actual characters, there are several disabled people to interact with throughout the game. In fact, Spiderman 2 opens in a classroom where a sign language interpreter translates for deaf student Hailey, and throughout the game several characters also communicate with her using sign language. Hailey’s use of assistive text-to-speech technology is also put on display when Miles communicates with her via phone while swinging through the city. I had seen both of the above praised before I picked up the game, but what came as a complete surprise was getting to play as Hailey in her very own side quest.

During Hailey’s mission, the usually vivid sound design of the game was quietened and muffled, with speech becoming incomprehensible. The captions also disappeared, giving some small sense of the isolation that comes with being unable to communicate with most of the people around you. Instead, to play the quest you must rely on the haptic feedback vibrations of the controller, emojis that appear above people’s heads when you try to interact with them, and other visual cues in the environment. While this quest is a bit ham-fisted in trying to demonstrate what being deaf must be like, it is certainly unique and innovative. Sadly, I’m not sure how well this experience translates for players who can’t rely on visual cues, or how well even the substantial accessibility settings can convey this experience to those players.

Later in the game comes another side quest of interest, where either Peter or Miles can investigate reports of a “monster” being loose in someone’s back garden. The report has been submitted by Alma, a blind woman with a severe dog allergy. Since her allergies haven’t been triggered, she assures a skeptical Spiderman that this wasn’t just a case of her being spooked by something she couldn’t see, and as it transpires it is indeed a monster of sorts. Following the trail of chaos from her back garden leads Spiderman to a robot dog that belonged to an enemy faction, but enthusiastically defected when it’s owner mistreated it. After subduing F1D0 (yes, it’s called Fido), it is programmed to become an allergen-friendly guide dog for Alma, something which she is absolutely delighted with when you return to her at the end of the mission.

As for the main story, there are almost too many sick and disabled characters to count. Sandman experiences something along the lines of a mental breakdown brought on by trauma and amnesia, only this breakdown results in several impromptu beach breaks for New York citizens. Dr Connors appears again, this time with the cause of his arm loss being revealed, but to my surprise instead of this scene being there simply to satisfy the audience’s curiosity it was actually relevant to the plot. Similarly, antagonist Kraven is revealed to have a terminal and completely invisible illness approximately half way through the game, and it is this condition which forms the primary motivations for his actions. Then, of course, we have Peter’s best friend, Harry Osborn.

Harry’s rare genetic illness threatened to kill him, motivating his father to place him in a form of metabolic stasis while a cure is developed. In the early game this miracle cure appears to be working well. We see Harry using a mobility aid and riding a bike as his symptoms fluctuate, in a nuanced depiction of chronic illness rarely seen in media, but inevitably the cure turns out to be worse than the disease, a fact which dominates the final act. The big difference between Harry’s story and that of Dr Connors or Dr Octavius is that it is not his own reckless actions which result in villainy, but the actions of an over-bearing if understandably distraught father who lost his wife to the same disease. Anyone remotely familiar with the comics or films can accurately predict where this will lead for future installments, something hinted at heavily at the completion of the game.

Insomniac studios have set a brilliant example of how to represent disabled people in video games, as well as providing a pretty solid example of the types of settings that should be included to make a game accessible to disabled players. Spiderman 2 is by far my favourite game of the series to date and not just for how well it depicts disability; the music is perfect, the characters are delightful, and the spiders don’t trigger my arachnophobia.