Ahead of their panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2023, Insomniac Games has revealed a new look at Venom and more details about the villain in the upcoming game.

Speaking with EW, senior creative director Bryan Intihar, senior narrative director Jon Paquette and senior art director Jacinda Chew said:

“It’s really interesting when you start thinking about what makes him different than Spider-Man. The symbiote is often known as an allegory for the darkness that the host is fighting against. So what makes him an anti-Spider-Man?

We wanted to try something very different, and I don’t think you can get much more different from Doc Ock than you do Venom. It’s about power, it’s about strength, it’s about being slighted, it’s about Peter being involved much more in the creation of Venom. I think that’s what attracted us.

One of the things that is great about Spider-Man as a character is he’s always got to make sacrifices,” Paquette adds. “The symbiote provides a lot of grist for that mill, so to speak.”

About Venom, they said:

“One of the challenges we had throughout production was, how much does [Venom] talk? I remember we did some concepts early on [of] does Venom have lips? Does he laugh? Does he smile? Does he frown? It’s a fine line between making this creature scary and intimidating, but then also, I guess, relatable.

For us, Venom is the host plus the symbiote. You don’t get Venom without both of them being bonded together. What Tony represents is that bond. I think, if anything, casting Tony made us feel more confident in the visual design of the character.”

In other related news, last month, Geoff Keighley hosted the Game Awards 10-Year Concert in Los Angeles, a one-night event featuring live video game music from the last decade. The concert played music from many games, including the first public performance of the main theme from the upcoming Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

The track, ‘Greater Together’, made its debut during the live event, but you can now listen to the song via Spotify.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will launch for the PS5 on 20 October 2023.