Thanks to a new glitch in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, gamers can now play as Venom in the PlayStation 5 sequel beyond what was intended.
Insomniac's super-powered epic is finally in stores, letting fans take in the PlayStation studio's unique vision of the iconic Spider-Man Symbiote story.
The game's take on the classic Marvel Comics tale of Kraven the Hunter, Venom, and Peter Parker's black suit has earned rave reviews, as it introduces the world to some eye-popping twists on established Marvel lore.
One of the biggest departures from the canon came in the form of Harry Osborn donning the Symbiote for the very first time, transforming into the terrifying Venom.
Play As Venom in Spider-Man 2
Fans online have begun circulating videos of a glitch allowing them to play as Venom in Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
In the course of the sequel's main story, gamers are given brief control of the all-powerful Symbiote, even getting to take on (and eventually kill) Kraven the Hunter in Times Square. But this newly discovered exploit lets the player explore the open world as the character for the first time.
Posted by TikTok-user SpectrexGaming, to free roam as the villain, gamers have to be playing as the Venom in the "Don't Be Scared" mission.
While in Times Square, before taking on Kraven, start climbing the building to the left of the stage covered in malfunctioning screens, hugging the billboard midway up, and turning left.
Seeing as Venom does not natively have a Climb ability like Miles or Peter, to get up over the building, gamers will have to continually use Dash up and over the wall.
Once over the building dive toward the ground, take a left, and continue a couple of blocks. Soon enough Venom will be fully playable in the open world.
See the full how-to video below:
This exploit has proven to yield some pretty hilarious results. Fans have been seen doing all sorts of Spider-Man 2's activities as the character, including visiting Coney Island.
The glitch even lets gamers interact with various elements of the map like doing the "Wakanda Forever" salute Miles can do in front of the Wakandan Embassy.
And yes, Venom can also go for a bike ride, even if his hands do not touch the handlebars.
Dreaming of a Venom Game After Spider-Man 2
While this exploit is exciting for fans who have been itching to run around New York as the hulking Venom, it is hardly a fully-featured solution to play as the character.
This was a technical mishap that will almost surely be patched out by Insomniac and PlayStation in the coming weeks.
Spider-Man 2 was meant to be played as Peter Parker and Miles Morales, with a brief respite of Venom thrown in there for extra flavor.
However, just because Insomniac did not intend for Venom to be playable beyond his Times Square mission in Spider-Man 2, does not mean gamers will never get the chance to more fully take control of the iconic Symbiote.
Following the release of the web-slinging sequel, senior narrative director Jon Paquette hinted that a full-on Venom-centric spin-off could be on the way.
In a conversation with Insider, Paquette said they were trying to tell "one of the best Venom stories [ever]" with Spider-Man 2, and would "listen to the fans" when it came to any potential spin-offs sprouting from that:
"So, here's what we're doing. We're focused on 'Spider-Man 2,' and what we're gonna do is we're gonna wait to see how the fans react. We're gonna listen to the fans and we're gonna ask ourselves, 'Okay, what do the fans really want?'"
While nowhere near a confirmation a Venom game could be coming, it does at least indicate Insomniac is open to the idea should fans want it.
For now, the Spider-Man 2 developers are going to take a long-needed break, with much of the Insomniac team already moving over to the studio's next super-powered epic, Wolverine.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is available now on PlayStation 5.
