I don’t think any of us expected this kind of change when referring to Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered for the PlayStation 5. Improved character models? Yes. Smooth 60 frames per second of Spidey swinging around New York City fighting crime? Absolutely. A new Peter Parker face model? Absolutely not. Then again, what isn’t unusual in this year. If you’re still uninformed, Insomniac Games, the studio behind the critically acclaimed PS4 title, Marvel’s Spider-Man, has revealed a face recast for the main character Peter Parker. If you guessed the internet would be in an uproar about it – you guessed correct.
Actor Ben Jordan has been chosen to replace the original actor John Bubniak. This is by far the most puzzling change that has been revealed thus far. Fans of the original PS4 title had accepted John as Peter Parker with open arms, and easily became attached. However, Insomniac Games has stated the reason behind the recast was to find a better match for Peter Parker/Spider-Man‘s Voice Actor Yuri Lowenthal. Check out an excerpt from the PlayStation Blog below.
But it’s not just the environments; our characters have also gotten a huge upgrade. From higher fidelity skin, eye, and teeth shaders to individually-rendered strands of hair, the new tech and detail brings our characters and their performances to new life.
This does bring us to one of the bigger changes. In order to bring the best performances to players with our next-generation Marvel’s Spider-Man games, we have recast the face of Peter Parker. We loved working with John Bubniak on the original game; however, to get a better match to Peter Parker/Spider-Man actor Yuri Lowenthal’s facial capture, we have cast Ben Jordan to be the face model for Peter Parker on the PS5 console. He looks incredible in-game, and Yuri’s moving performances take on a new life.”
Personally, I don’t see an issue with the recast. Will it be an adjustment? Of course. Regardless, I trust Insomniac Games. This studio has delivered more times than not, and this will be another stepping stone into something great. How do you feel about the changes to Peter Parker? Hate it? Love it? Don’t care? Sound off and let the Nerd Stash crew hear your feedback!