Insomniac Games released a big update for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Thursday, adding promised features like New Game Plus, mission replay, time of day options, new spider-suits for Miles and Peter, and additional accessibility options. But the developer also included an unintended new feature in Spider-Man 2, one that players are being warned not to use.
PlayStation 5 owners quickly discovered that version 1.002.000 of Spider-Man 2 includes a developer-only debug menu that players can access with a few button presses. That menu lets players quickly skip around the game’s chapters, turn on cheats, and view performance details, like frame rate and dynamic resolution settings.
It also reportedly gives players insight into possible DLC for Spider-Man 2. People have discovered a menu that shows chapters related to new missions that appear to feature Spider-Man’s longtime nemesis, the Beetle. Those details were previously datamined and indicated that the Beetle might be the Janice Lincoln version, daughter of Tombstone, who made her Marvel Comics debut in 2010.
Insomniac Games acknowledged the unintended inclusion of the debug menu in Spider-Man 2’s new patch, writing on X that it plans to hotfix the issue. It also cautioned players against using it, saying that doing so could interfere with game saves.
⚠️ We’re aware the latest game update may have inadvertently allowed access to a development game menu. There’s a hotfix on the way.
Please note that using this menu could corrupt your saves and trophy progress.
There is no risk associated with playing the game as intended.
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) March 7, 2024
The slipup is an unfortunate oversight in what is otherwise a major and long-awaited update for fans of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. It’s also another dose of bad news for the PlayStation-owned studio, which was recently hit with layoffs amid cutbacks at Sony Interactive Entertainment and was the victim of a major data breach in December, which had a devastating impact on employees and spoiled the studio’s upcoming plans.
For players content to return to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, untempted by the great power of a debug menu meant only for developers, there’s a lot to chew on in the latest update. You can read Insomniac’s full patch notes at the studio’s website.
