Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Does Not Have the Infamous Boat People From the First Game

The highly-anticipated Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has finally been released and is a major upgrade to Marvel’s Spider-Man with its immersive storyline, better graphics and visuals as well as updated gameplay mechanics. However, the one change that has shocked players is the absence of the infamous and to some extent, terrifying ‘boat people.’

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 brings back popular characters and villains apart from the two Spidey but the ‘boat people’ are sadly no more in the game. Although the popular NPCs are seen in the game, they are not the same as they were in past titles.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Removes the Infamous Boat People

Marvel’s Spider-Man titles have featured several Easter eggs and character interactions paying homage to the creators of Spider-Man, references to popular villains, and Spidey’s gadgets such as Web Wings and Spider-Signal. However, the ‘boat people’ missing from the newly released sequel Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has left fans distraught.

An X/Twitter user Octorious shared before and after pictures of these characters, showing that Insomniac has left behind the popular sight. These boat people were created using low poly models similar to PS1 Spider-Man games to save resources and were always confined to their boats. They are now no more in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and although Insomniac hasn’t completely removed these NPCs, the characters now look like normal people.

For those unaware, ‘boat people’ are a group of NPCs that captured the attention of players who reached the boundaries of New York City in Marvel’s Spider-Man. When players used the game’s photo mode to zoom in and view the people driving boats around NYC, they could see people with Minecraft-like appearances with squished and distorted faces.

Spider-Man Remastered Vs Marvel's Spider-Man 2: 👀

What an upgrade! 😅🤯#SpiderMan2PS5 #SpiderMan2

— Octorious (@OctoriousYT) October 17, 2023

These NPCs soon became so popular among fans that Insomniac decided to keep them in Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered version and attached a note to one of the characters on the boat asking players if they had missed them. However, Insomniac has now done away with these infamous characters and they look like normal people now.

The ‘boat people’ were initially not meant to be seen by the players as they existed beyond the map’s walls in the game. There were also no easy ways for players to get to boats in previous titles, but with the addition of web wings and new web-swinging features in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, it is now easier than ever to reach anywhere.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has expanded the playable map with the addition of Queens and Brooklyn and players now need to cross the East River to Brooklyn and Queens as part of the game’s story and visit the hometowns of Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Players can go on boats while they swim and swing around the bridge and although some fans might not like the popular NPCs anymore, the overstay of the characters wouldn’t have been a good thing.

Insomniac has strived to get stunning visuals in the game and since players can also spend some time now grinding on the water, it makes sense that the developers wanted high-quality NPCs on the boats just like others around the city. Nonetheless, It is quite sad to see an internet meme being removed, since the developers intentionally kept it in the remastered version.

Additionally, those looking to come across the infamous ‘boat people’ will now have to settle for normal NPCs. Fans have expressed that it is hard seeing these low-poly characters go and some asked them back, but since players can now go out in the water, it is only fair that the NPCs were upgraded.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is now available for PlayStation 5 and has received amazing reception from fans and critics with an average Metascore of 91.

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