u/stace_m8

So, long story short I finally upgraded to a PS5, and did a replay of the original Spiderman + Miles Morales, before finally tackling the second game. This post isn't really about my thoughts (though I have a lot, I will say my order of favourite to least is Miles' game, the first game, then this newest second game). I know from reading here and elsewhere there's a lot of issues people have of the 2nd game, and I had issues too, so while it's fresh in my mind... Here's how I would rewrite the second game:

First, *leave Kraven for DLC*. No Kraven in the main game at all (except for maybe background references). I'll expand on that later...

I think the whole game needed to be dedicated to Venom/Harry. So, the game largely follows the same path, Harry comes back, we learn about their friendship, maybe more Peter moments instead of Spiderman moments, we take more time to build that relationship, because why do we care that much about Harry when we've only known him for a few hours? We spend more time seeing the way Pete & MJ's relationship has progressed, Miles and his school work/friends. Just give us time to get back into the relationships and the world. How did the whole Symkaria thing affect them outside of MJ not selling any books? Even Yuri, she pops up hours into the game as Wraith but Peter never talks about it again until she reappears. There are lots of relationship focused plot points in this game that kinda came out of nowhere, let them build more naturally.

We can still introduce the symbiote story somewhat the same. Harry reveals he has this exosuit helping him with his illness, now if it were me I'd change how Peter responded cause that was all kinds of mess to me. I don't care if that was your long lost mother, someone shows up with black tentacles coming out of them you don't think Spiderman with his long history of weird supervillain stuff isn't at least questioning it? I know it's his friend but that to me was wild. I mean, if you wanted to keep Pete blindly supporting the exo suit thing, at least have a bigger pay off later on. We know Pete feels bad about Aunt May, letting people down, maybe feeling slower than Miles or feeling tired, this could be another thing that comes back in his symbiote dark Peter moment. And could provide more friction between Peter and Miles when Miles maybe isn't so accepting of Harry's new powers

Anyway, Harry somehow gives/loses the symbiote to Peter, maybe an escaped villain ambushes him but we don't know why they're there (set up for Kraven letting them loose maybe?) Or maybe when Harry rushes in to save Tombstone and keepa making things worse Peter gets badly burned/injured and he saves him through guilt. Then as many people suggest let it take some more time building up to the darker takeover of the symbiote. Let it happen more naturally and slower because playing the game in larger sittings it all happened quite quick for me. Act 1 is all about Harry and Miles' relationship with Peter, and Peter questioning his life. We can still do the idea of the foundation with Harry, Pete possibly retiring way back at the beginning of the game, and have that be a factor in his growing distance from Miles. Act 2 is all about Peter with the suit, his slow change. It would be cool to have him be unplayable for a while after the tunnel freak out and Miles ultimately having to beat him (Peter vs Miles boss fight? Yes please). And of course, Act 3 is...

*Eddie Brock* as Venom. So, from dialogue in Act 1 of the game we know MJ is now working for JJJ at the Bugle, and the reporters are all stressed and under deadlines to make front page news, or they're getting fired. If we must do MJ sections (which I don't actually hate, but insanely OP taser gun is just nuts to me), then maybe we can follow MJ at work, maybe we meet her co-worker Eddie. He seems shy, anxious and dishevelled. He's also struggling with working under JJJ, the same JJJ who is constantly spewing bad stuff about who? OH yeah, only Spiderman himself. Maybe the Symbiote takes a little trip in MJs bag to the office or something, weakened by Peter/Miles at the end of Act 2. MJ isn't a strong enough host, not desperate or damaged enough, and THAT'S where it finds Eddie. Venom reappears, both Spidermen are completely unprepared (leading to a longer Venom POV section maybe?). Eddie can still have a vendetta against Spiderman and MJ, they're happier, stronger, maybe that's why Venom chooses Spiderman, because Eddie knows he's stronger than him. And of course, you can have that classic Spiderman approach (and what is a heavy theme of this game), giving people second chances, Peter wanting to help Eddie as best he can. Not because he's his friend but because that's what he DOES. We still get Peter having to choose to destroy the symbiote and therefore killing Harry because that's the right thing to do. We also still get to meet Dr. Connors who helps out with Harry and gives Spiderman info about the symbiote, but maybe no Lizard just yet.. again setting up for a Kraven DLC.

In the background, we see more of a build up to MJ and Peter arguing, so that if/when MJ gets infected by the Symbiote her saying all of the negative stuff about Peter to him would make more sense, as it kind of just appears in the game. We can still see Harry getting sicker and sicker without the Symbiote. Heck, Peter can still work at EMF and use the particle accelerator to destroy the rock, still destroy the building, still have all the angsty scenes with Norman and his slow desperation throughout the game as Harry gets sicker and things start falling apart. And we STILL have Harry almost dead (or actually dead) by the end of the game, we can STILL have Norman blame Spiderman for destroying the symbiote. We STILL get Green Goblin set up there..

To me it just works better. We have more time to introduce Eddie because there's no Kraven in main game. We still get all the Miles/Peter stuff, MJ/Peter stuff, maybe even more than we got. And we get more time to see it all evolve. The hive mind thing feels straight from Stranger Things but I'll allow it. It also gives more time for more side missions and characters (the Howard mission had be sobbing like a baby).

So, what about Kraven? Like I said, we can have things sprinkled throughout the game as hints or teasers if you want, even a few smaller optional side missions. But DLC is all Kraven. No tech heavy army. Just him. Isn't he the hunter? Why am I learning everything about him from faceless mobs of random hunter people? We have past villains escaping (which again they could set up in the background of the main game), Peter and Miles tracking them down but arriving too late. We, and more importantly Peter, see Kraven kill them. Peter can even try and intervene. Maybe that's where Kraven realises he underestimated Spiderman as a worthy opponent. We learn about Kraven's cancer diagnosis not through tape recordings but interactions with the chatacters. Imagine a scene of Peter and Kraven just sitting and chatting, Peter feeling old and worn down, inferior to Miles. Kraven maybe even respecting his ability to capture all of the past villains but not recognising him as a powerful foe. Spiderman, or Spidermen, finally defeating him and depriving him his glorious death, instead destined to die in a jail cell. Sorry but Spiderman is absolutely a worthy opponent for Kraven even without the suit. Still give us the Lizard chase as we try to help him (maybe Norman complains Dr Connors is missing and isn't able to treat Harry?). Heck, even have Spiderman join up with some villains like Li, or Shocker in order to track Kraven or prevent them from being killed. I loved the little quips we got from Tombstone and Spiderman in Act 1. The Kraven thing could have been way more tight and enjoyable if they'd made it 5-10 hours of just him, not spending hours working through hordes of way overpowered humans with swords...

Anyway, there's my pitch for a rewrite of SM2. Let me know how wrong I am below 😆