Marvel's Wolverine is live today, September 15, 2026, exclusively on PlayStation 5. If you pre-loaded, you already know the base install is 79.36 GB — the day-one patch brings the total to roughly 81.4 GB. That extra 2 GB is not a bug-fix dump: according to Insomniac's official launch feature breakdown, it is the delivery vehicle for Photo Mode and part of the accessibility suite. Here is what the patch actually contains, and the settings screen worth visiting before the opening cutscene.

Patch v01.001.001: Photo Mode and the Disc Caveat

The day-one update is version v01.001.001, and Insomniac splits the launch feature set into two buckets. New Game Plus, Mission Replay, and Nightmare Challenges are part of the game itself. Photo Mode is not — it arrives via the day-one update. On a disc copy, Insomniac's own footnote applies: an internet connection and a PlayStation account are required before it unlocks. If you are buying physically today, budget that download on top of the 79.36 GB base.

The preload window opened September 8 at midnight local time, so most digital buyers are already patched.

New Game Plus: Logan's Nightmare Cabin

NG+ lives inside a hub called Logan's Nightmare Cabin, and Insomniac built four systems into it:

  • Mission Replay. Interact with the bed in the cabin to replay any completed mission, gear and level intact. You can farm specific encounters or re-fight bosses with late-game builds.
  • Nightmare Challenges. Scored combat gauntlets set in remixed campaign locations. Layouts and enemy compositions are altered, and scoring rewards speed, parry frequency, and damage taken.
  • Exclusive Techniques and raised Level Caps. NG+ unlocks Techniques that do not exist in the first playthrough and raises Logan's cap. If you are planning a completionist run, the second loop is where the buildcraft opens up.
  • Photo Mode integration. Because both arrive in the same patch, NG+ becomes the natural showcase — remixed arenas and higher-level enemy variants make for better screenshots than the tutorial chapters.

For context, Insomniac's last PS5 exclusive, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, took roughly five months to add NG+. Shipping it day one here suggests the studio expects replayability to matter from week one.

Difficulty: Five Presets, Fully Customizable

The game ships with five difficulty presets — The Man, The Hunter, The Mutant, The Weapon, and The Best There Is — running from a combat-light story mode up to an expert tier. The more interesting layer sits beneath them. Challenge Level, Enemy Health, Enemy Damage, and Enemy Stealth Awareness can each be adjusted independently, which means a "harder to kill, hits softer" run is possible, or the reverse. If you want the hardest preset's parry timing without the one-shot punishment, that is the combination to build.

If you are coming from our day-one survival guide, the advice there was to start on the default preset and learn the parry window first. The customization menu lets you raise damage taken without touching health pools — arguably the better teaching difficulty, because you are punished for mistakes but fights do not drag.

Accessibility: The Settings Worth 10 Minutes

The PS Store listing advertises 35 accessibility features; Insomniac's own documentation lists over 100. The ones that change the experience most:

  • Global Game Speed. Slows the entire world, from 100% down to 30%. Useful for learning parry timing without real-time pressure.
  • High Contrast and Colour Alternatives. Converts the world to high-contrast silhouettes with enemy-highlight coloring, which makes attack tells easier to read.
  • Audio Description. Narrates cinematics and on-screen text in English.
  • Strong Haptic Signals. Amplifies controller vibration cues for parry windows and incoming attacks. Switch vibration from Experiential to Functional if you want it reserved for gameplay-relevant cues.
  • Violence and Language Toggles. Separate switches for dynamic blood, dismemberment, and English-only adult language filters — worth setting before a shared-screen session.

The full list is reachable from the main menu before you start a new game, so you do not need a save first.

The Practical Checklist

  1. Download the patch before launch if you pre-loaded. Total install: ~81.4 GB.
  2. Spend 5–10 minutes in Accessibility before starting. Set your violence toggles, game speed, and haptic mode.
  3. Pick a difficulty preset, then decide whether to tune the four sub-settings independently.
  4. Play the campaign knowing NG+ and Mission Replay are waiting — you do not need to obsess over build optimization on run one.

For the mechanics underneath all of this, our combat system breakdown covers parry, Rage, and Adaptation in full.