11 Games to Play While Waiting for Marvel’s Wolverine

The long wait is almost over. Insomniac Games’ R-rated take on everyone’s favorite grumpy mutant launches on September 15. Brutal and rage-driven, Marvel’s Wolverine is shaping up to be one of the best PS5 exclusives of the year, if not all time. Unfortunately, the wait leaves a gap that needs filling, and if you’ve already brushed up on everything you need to know about the game after reading through our Marvel’s Wolverine overview, you can kill time by playing through these games that get you ready for it. It’s only natural that a game built on precise, aggressive, combo-heavy combat requires you to keep up.

Every game on this list lives on your sticks and triggers, which means they are a quiet test of whether your controller is still pulling its weight. A stick that drifts or a trigger that feels mushy will cost you here, and it will cost you in Marvel’s Wolverine too.

If you have been meaning to sort your pad before launch, these are the games that will tell you whether it is time to upgrade.

Tier 1: The Marvel Warm-Ups

1. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 – Insomniac Games

If you only have time to play one game before Marvel’s Wolverine, make it this one. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is Insomniac’s most recent Marvel game, made by the same studio building Logan’s outing, so it is the closest look you will get at the combat rhythm, the traversal, and the cinematic set-piece style it will almost certainly share. The fast, flowing, dodge-and-strike combat is the exact muscle memory you want warmed up.

It is also one of the best DualSense showcases on the console, which makes it a fine test of your controller. The haptics and adaptive triggers do a lot of work here, and if you are running back buttons, ClickSticks let you dodge and web-swing without ever taking a thumb off the sticks, the same habit that will keep you alive in Logan’s tougher fights.

2. MARVEL Tokon: Fighting Souls – Arc System Works

MARVEL Tokon: Fighting Souls launched on August 6 for PS5 and PC, and Logan is on the roster as part of the Unbreakable X-Men team alongside Storm, Magik, and Danger. It is a 4v4 tag fighter from Arc System Works, the studio behind Guilty Gear, so the combat is stylish, precise, and exactly the kind of thing that sharpens your inputs. There is even a free Wolverine Battle Reborn Suit tied to Insomniac’s game.

Fighting games live and die on clean, fast inputs, which makes this the ultimate argument for clicky face buttons and a stick that does exactly what you tell it.

If your pad has any drift at all, a precision fighter like this will drag it into the light immediately.

3. Marvel Rivals – NetEase Games

If you would rather scratch the Marvel itch with something fast and multiplayer, Marvel Rivals is the current live-service hit, a hero shooter stuffed with the roster you love. It is not a Wolverine warm-up in the combat sense, but it keeps you in the universe, and your reflexes competitive between now and launch. It also runs at high frame rates, which makes it a natural fit for a controller built for speed. Digital triggers give you a faster draw, and TMR sticks keep your aim honest.

If you want the wider list of games that benefit from that setup, our best 120 FPS PS5 games guide has you covered.

4. Marvel’s Midnight Suns – Firaxis Games

For something completely different, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is the card-based tactical RPG from Firaxis, the XCOM studio, wrapped in a surprisingly dark, character-driven Marvel story. It is widely considered underrated, and if you want a change of pace from all the melee on this list, it is a genuinely great palate cleanser that still keeps you in the Marvel world.

It is the lightest controller pick here, since it is a slower, more thoughtful game rather than a twitchy one, but it plays perfectly comfortably on a pad.

Tier 2: The Wolverine-Feel Picks

5. God of War Ragnarok – Santa Monica Studio

God of War Ragnarok is the closest big-budget analogue to what Insomniac is going for. Kratos’s axe and blades land with real, brutal weight, and the combat has the same mix of heavy melee and cinematic savagery Wolverine is promising. If you want to feel the closest thing to Logan’s combat before launch, this is it.

The adaptive triggers add genuine heft to every swing, and this is a combo game at heart, so ClickSticks earn their keep by letting you weave abilities in without lifting a thumb off the sticks.

6. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Saber Interactive

Wolverine is, at its core, a power fantasy about being an unstoppable force wading into a crowd and coming out the other side. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 delivers exactly that, with brutal melee weapons, endless hordes of enemies, and visceral carnage that leaves the screen a mess. It is pure catharsis, and it is perfect prep for Logan’s crowd-shredding combat.

The mix of gunplay and melee makes it a great all-rounder for your controller too. Digital triggers give you faster response and TMR sticks keep your movement precise when the melee chaos kicks off and the screen fills up.

7. Sifu – Sloclap

Sifu is a masterclass in feeling powerful through precision. Its hand-to-hand combat is punishing and exact, built on tight parries and a revenge story that keeps you swinging, and mastering it gives you that same unstoppable-force feeling Wolverine is chasing. It is one of the best pure melee games of recent years.

Because it is so timing-dependent, it is also one of the most honest tests of your hardware. A drifting stick will get you killed here, which is exactly why TMR sticks and their low dead zones matter.

If that sounds familiar, it is the same argument we made for Phantom Blade Zero, another skill-combat game that gives you no margin for a lazy input.

8. Devil May Cry 5 – Capcom

If Wolverine’s rage-tier flurries are the flashy heart of his combat, Devil May Cry 5 is the best place to practice that mindset. It is stylish, combo-driven character-action with a sky-high skill ceiling, and Nero’s grappling hook in particular previews the kind of pull-yourself-into-the-fight aggression Logan’s claws are built around.

This is combo territory, so it rewards a controller set up for fast, layered inputs. Digital triggers speed up your attacks, and ClickSticks let you fire off techniques mid-combo. It’s the same setup we recommend in our best Steam games on a custom DualSense guide, where DMC5 also earns a spot.

9. Batman: Arkham Knight – Rocksteady Studios

No list about superhero melee is complete without the game that perfected it. Batman: Arkham Knight is the gold standard for freeflow combat, where the whole loop is reading the fight, timing your counters, and flowing from one takedown to the next without breaking rhythm. It’s the same timing discipline you’ll need for Marvel’s Wolverine.

Freeflow combat is all about hitting counters and gadgets at the right moment without fumbling, which is where ClickSticks shine, letting you trigger a counter or a gadget while both thumbs stay on the sticks.

10. Black Myth: Wukong – Game Science

Black Myth: Wukong is a kinetic, boss-focused action game that punishes you the moment you get passive, which makes it superb preparation for Wolverine’s inventive, aggressive boss fights. Its combat rewards constant pressure and quick reactions, and its bosses will keep your reflexes as sharp as anything on this list.

Those frame-tight boss encounters are where a good controller quietly earns its money. TMR sticks give you clean, drift-free movement and digital triggers shave time off every reaction, which is the difference between dodging an attack and eating it.

Tier 3: Play as Logan Himself

If you want to actually be Wolverine before September 15, a few older games still let you. The only caveat is that these are older titles, and most are no longer sold on modern storefronts, so you may need existing hardware or a copy you already own to revisit them.

11. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Raven Software

Ask fans for the last genuinely great Wolverine game and most will name this one. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a brutal, gory hack-and-slash that let Logan tear enemies apart with a savagery few licensed games dared, with Hugh Jackman lending his likeness and voice. It is the reason people have waited so long for Insomniac’s take, and revisiting it is the best way to understand why this launch is such a big deal.

It is a product of its era, so temper expectations on the finer controls, but the sheer aggression holds up. Consider it the spiritual predecessor to everything Insomniac is about to do.

If you want a couple of deeper cuts, X2: Wolverine’s Revenge from 2003 has Mark Hamill voicing Logan through a Weapon X facility plot, and the 1994 platformer Wolverine: Adamantium Rage wins the award for a title that accidentally predicted Insomniac’s rage system by three decades. Neither is easy to track down today, but both are fun trivia for the wait.

The One Upgrade Every Game on This List Rewards

Every single game here, from the freeflow counters of Batman: Arkham Knight to the frame-tight parries of Sifu to the combo flurries of Devil May Cry 5, rewards precise inputs and punishes a controller that cannot keep up. And Marvel’s Wolverine is going to ask exactly the same of you on September 15.

If your sticks have started to drift or your triggers feel soft, these games will expose it, and Logan’s combat will punish it. The good news is that it is a quick fix. You can send your current pad in for a TMR stick upgrade that never drifts, or sort an existing fault through our stick drift repair service. If you would rather start fresh, you can build one to your own spec, TMR sticks, digital triggers, and rear inputs included, in the custom PS5 controller builder, or grab the ready-made TCP Pro with the lot already fitted.

Sony will happily sell you a themed Wolverine DualSense when the time comes, and it will look fantastic, but it will drift like any other.

Whatever you play while you wait, the best controller for Marvel’s Wolverine is the one built to survive it. Sharpen your claws and your controller before September 15.