Spider-Man PS4 Will Get Prequel Tie-In Novel Before Release

TheGamer

By Patrick Sklar

Published Apr 18, 2018

Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover is a prequel to the upcoming PS4 game, set to hit bookshelves just a few weeks before launch.

Titan Books, along with Marvel and Insomniac Games, will be publishing a pair of tie-in books for the upcoming PS4-exclusive Spider-Man video game. The first of these books will be a prequel novel titled 'Hostile Takeover,' which leads directly into the main story of the game. The second, Spider-Man: The Art Of The Game, will of course be a concept art book.

So far, little is known about the book, but we do know which characters will be making appearances, thanks to Polygon's exclusive on the announcement. We can also gather, based on who is appearing in the book, some elements of the game itself.

The book will feature frequent members of the Spider-Man supporting cast - notably Mary Jane Watson (who is confirmed to be a playable character in the upcoming game), and J. Jonah Jameson, who we did not yet know would be in the game - according to the timeline, Peter Parker hasn't worked for Jameson or the Daily Bugle for a few years at the game's outset.

There will of course be a few villains in the book. Spidey classic Shocker makes an appearance (and we recently found out his armor got a serious visual upgrade for the game), along with Kingpin (who we expect is the primary antagonist of the book - in the game's trailers, we see him being locked up as the story begins). Oddly, the list of super villains in the book includes the Blood Spider, an ally of the Taskmaster. We knew that Taskmaster would appear in the game, mostly giving out skill-testing sidequests for Spidey to conquer, but he might have a significant crew with him, as well.

Lastly, the book is set to include at least one other hero - Echo, a frequent collaborator of Daredevil's. Does this mean we're likely to see even more Marvel crossover in the game? Time will tell.

The art book, no doubt, will be of interest to the game's fans. We've already seen some dramatic visual changes to Spidey's iconic suit, and it'd be very interesting to see what iterations the design team went with before they got to the "big white spider" look.

Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover will hit bookshelves on August 21st, and Spider-Man: The Art Of The Game will show up a few weeks later on September 11th. The game itself, Marvel's Spider-Man, will launch exclusively for the PlayStation 4 on September 7th, 2018.