Spider-Man: Communion Anxiety

Spider-Man: Communion Anxiety is a 2025 action-adventure game developed and published by Mad Man Ninja Studios. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man, it is inspired by the long-running comic book lore series adaptations in other media. In the main story, the super-human symbiote Venom craves to reunite with Spider-Man, offering power but causing personal problems to his civilian persona, Peter Parker.

Gameplay is presented from the third-person perspective with a primary focus on Spider-Man's traversal and combat abilities. Spider-Man can freely move around New York City, interacting with characters, undertaking missions, and unlocking new gadgets and suits by progressing through the main story or completing tasks. Outside the story, the player is able to complete side missions to unlock additional content and collectible items. Combat focuses on chaining attacks together and using the environment and webs to incapacitate numerous foes while avoiding damage.

Communion Anxiety was released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on September 7, 2025. The game received praise for its narrative, characterization, combat, and web-swinging traversal mechanics, although some criticized its open-world design for lacking innovation. A number of reviewers called it one of the best superhero games ever made, some comparing it favorably to the Batman: Arkham series. It won several year-end accolades from a variety of gaming publications, critics, and game award ceremonies. Spider-Man became one of the fastest-selling games of the year, one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games of all time, and the fastest-selling superhero game in the United States.

Gameplay
Communion Anxiety is an open-world action-adventure game set in the borough of Manhattan in a fictionalized version of modern-day New York City. It is presented from a third-person perspective showing the playable character and allowing the camera to be rotated freely around them. The primary playable characters are the superhero Spider-Man and the villain Venom, who can navigate the world by jumping, using their web shooters to fire webs that allow them to swing between buildings, running along walls and automatically vaulting over obstacles. The player can precisely aim webs to pull himself towards specific points. Physical objects are required to attach webs to for swinging, and momentum and speed of the swing can be controlled by releasing the web at specific points to gain height or move more quickly. The game features an optional fast travel system that uses the New York City Subway system.

Combat is enacted using three buttons; one for dodging, one for physical strikes, and one for web-based attacks. Webbing can be used to incapacitate enemies and stick them to nearby objects, immediately removing them from battle. Enemies who are knocked from great heights are automatically stuck to a nearby surface in a web-cocoon, preventing death. Venom can also use the environment to fight, jumping off walls and throwing objects like manhole covers, grenades and webbing-restrained enemies.

Successful and consecutive attacks build "Focus", which can be partially used to heal Spider-Man, while full Focus allows special finishing attacks to Venom take down an enemy instantly. Spider-Man and Venom possess "spider-sense", which is shown as a white icon around the character's head, indicating an incoming attack that can be dodged. A precise dodge performed just before the attack hits allows the protagonist to retaliate with webbing against the enemy. Some enemies must be overcome using different approaches. Melee-weapon-wielding enemies must be knocked into the air and shielded enemies must be attacked from behind. Enemies armed with whips will drag the characters out of the air and require a counterattack to fight effectively. Other types of enemy include heavily armored agents who can take more damage, brutes, and jetpack-wearing enemies who remain airborne.

Suits, suit mods, gadgets, and their associated upgrades are purchased with resources called Tokens, which are awarded for completion of specific tasks. Each unlockable item requires different quantities of each Token type: Challenge Tokens for completing Taskmaster's time-and-skill based combat, stealth, and traversal missions; Backpack Tokens for locating Spider-Man's old backpacks containing mementos from his past; Research Tokens for completing research station missions, science minigames, and the collection of pigeons; Crime Tokens for stopping ambient crimes; Base Tokens for clearing out enemy bases; and Landmark Tokens for taking pictures of specific locations around the city. There are also minigames that are rewarded with experience points and research tokens including Circuit Puzzles that require the arrangement of an electric grid and Pattern Puzzles that require the recreation of a specific pattern using composite parts. Radio towers in different areas can be unscrambled, highlighting collectable objects, missions, and active crimes.

Plot
Eddie Brock and the alien parasite are now held at very distant locations from one another. His five spawns created by the Life Foundation show up and bust Eddie out, because they want him to teach them how to control their symbiotes. They also take Daily Bugle reporter Ken Ellis (disguised as Eddie's doctor) hostage. The Venom symbiote also breaks free and escapes. It travels from host to host trying to find Peter Parker and rebond with him. Meanwhile, Eddie and Ellis escape, and as the other five symbiotes try to find him, someone stabs and kills Agony. The others believe the murderer is Brock and Phage convinces the others to find and kill him.

Eventually Parker is found by the remaining Life Foundation symbiotes holding the body of another dead symbiote. The remaining symbiotes capture Eddie, trying one last time to convince him to help them, but then it is revealed that Scream (one of the Life Foundation symbiotes) is actually the murderer, having used a sonic knife to pierce the symbiotes and kill the hosts.

She announces that all symbiotes are evil, and that makes the humans who bond with them also evil and intends to kill Eddie. She also reveals plans to track down and ultimately kill Carnage. But Brock's symbiote finds him in time and the two rebond into Venom. They easily beat Scream and she is arrested. Venom escapes before he is recaptured, having doubts in his mind about him being Venom.

Reception
Communion Anxiety received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game received praise for its gameplay, graphics, narrative, and characterization, but was criticized for its familiar open-world tropes and lack of innovation. Critics called Spider-Man one of the greatest superhero games ever made. VentureBeat called it "the best Spider-Man game ... and one of the best super hero games ever", while Game Informer wrote, "Like Batman: Arkham Asylum before it, Communion raises the bar for one of the world's most beloved heroes". Reviewers praised the gameplay mechanics; the web-swinging traversal, in particular, received unanimous acclaim. EGMNOW said it was a more streamlined version of the physics-based system used in Spider-Man 2 (2004), while Game Revolution praised the way it conveyed speed and movement. Game Informer said web-swinging was so much fun that they never used the game's fast-travel system.