Venom (2020 PS4 Video Game)

Venom is an action-adventure and thriller video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4, serving as a sequel and spin-off to the popular and highly successful Marvel's Spider-Man video game franchise's second installment, Spider-Man 2. The game went into development in mid-2018, right after the second Spider-Man installment sold 10 million copies in its first few days after launch, with the game receiving extremely positive reviews and fans hailing the game as "Marvel's Arkham City". This game focuses mostly on Eddie Brock's journey as the anti-hero known as Venom and his crave to destroy Peter Parker's life, but also features Peter Parker himself. The story of the game plays upon two different perspectives from two very different characters who are in conflict with one another.

Rating
M (Mature) for Blood/Gore, Intense Violence, Language, and Suggestive Themes

This game was going to have a T-Rating, but since Venom is a very violent character, this game pushed the T-rating and is just minimum M-rating; similar to Batman: Arkham Knight.

Gameplay Features/Dynamics

 * The immersive combat system is partially inspired by the Batman: Arkham video games, mixing those dodge and attack elements with web gadgets, parkour, swinging, and great variety in combat, as the combat is what Spider-Man fights like in the comic books. There are two times more web gadgets to unlock, as the skill tree has added two more categories and makes the combat even more engaging than ever
 * Venom brings his fight moves and unique abilities back from the second Spider-Man installment (the Venom DLC) and improves upon the combat system, enhances the system, and implements upgrades, RPG elements, and skills to unlock and test out different waters in Venom's brutal combat; the maximum level for Venom is 65
 * The maximum level cap for Spider-Man is 65 as well, and Insomniac Games is continuing making it challenging to level up to add difficulty to the game
 * There is a character wheel; the player can change from Spider-Man to Venom with the simplicity of a button; the game switches between the two characters every other mission but when players decide to not pursue a main mission, they can switch between the two whenever they desire.
 * This game's map is very unique and different compared to the last two Spider-Man installments; this map features the entirely accurate Manhattan, a now entirely accurate Queens, Staten Island, Ravencroft Penitentiary, Brooklyn, Ryker's Island, the Raft, and a map of San Francisco. Without getting into spoiler territory, there is a point in the game where the player travels to San Francisco and the entire act is set there. The San Francisco map is just a little smaller than the Manhattan borough and has multiple activities, side missions, etc. to complete
 * Spider-Man has a total of 50 (vanilla base) game suits to unlock; all with their own special abilities
 * Venom has a total of 10 (vanilla base) physical designs to unlock; all with their own special abilities
 * Insomniac Games has brought back the suit customization; that system now applies to Venom's character designs as well
 * The story plays from two different and clashing perspectives; one perspective is from Eddie Brock and the other perspective is from Peter Parker. The game does a great job on balancing both their lives and letting the players see through their point in the story.
 * Challenge maps for stealth and hand-to-hand has returned and gives the player a variety on completing them; the highest difficult challenge is almost impossible to beat

HLTB
Main Story (alone): 39 hours

Main Story (plus a few extra activities): 49 hours

100% Completion: 84 hours

Playable Characters

 * Eddie Brock/Venom (Benjamin Diskin)
 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Yuri Lowenthal)
 * Yuri Watanabe/Wraith (Tara Platt; playable in separate story DLC and can be accessed in challenge maps)
 * Flash Thompson/Agent Venom (Joshua LeBar; playable in separate story DLC and can be accessed in challenge maps)

Protagonists

 * Eddie Brock/Venom (Benjamin Diskin)
 * Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Yuri Lowenthal)
 * Flash Thompson/Agent Venom (Joshua LeBar)

Main Story Antagonists

 * Cletus Kasady/Carnage
 * Stanley Carter/Sin-Eater
 * Carlton Drake/Riot
 * Donna Diego/Scream
 * Phage
 * Anne Weying/She-Venom
 * Ramon Hernandez/Lasher
 * Leslie Gesneria/Agony
 * Yuri Watanabe/Wraith
 * Abe Jenkins/Beetle
 * Mac Gargan/Scorpion

Side Story Antagonists

 * Mark Raxton/Molten Man (Spider-Man)
 * Cain Marko/Juggernaut (both)
 * Big Brown (Venom)
 * Hobie Brown/Prowler II (both)
 * Vermin (Spider-Man)
 * Mendel Stromm (both)
 * John Jameson/Man-Wolf (Spider-Man)
 * Gog (Venom)
 * Mindworm (Venom)
 * Alex O'Hirn/RHINO (Venom)
 * Phineas Mason/The Tinkerer (Venom)
 * Carlos LaMuerto/Black Tarantula (Venom)
 * Lonnie Lincoln/Tombstone (Spider-Man)
 * Hammerhead (Spider-Man)
 * Adrian Toomes/The Vulture (Spider-Man)
 * Magnum (both)
 * Hydron (both)
 * Herman Schultz/Shocker (Spider-Man)
 * Jason Macendale/Jack O'Lantern (both)
 * Doppelganger (Spider-Man)
 * Grim Hunter (Venom)
 * Fifth Avenue Phantom (Spider-Man)
 * Ero (Venom)
 * The Thousand (Venom)

Supporting Characters

 * Anne Weying 
 * Mary Jane Watson
 * Captain Jean DeWolffe
 * Mayor J. Jonah Jameson
 * Sally Avril
 * Dr. Ashley Kafka

Synopsis
Several months have passed since the Osborn family's death and Peter continues spending his days as a Wall-Crawler and learning, through hardships and loss, that those hardships build his character. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock continues to leech off the power of the black symbiote and as he draws less attention towards Peter and more attention towards a flying maniac known as the Beetle, Eddie becomes somewhat of an anti-hero. Eddie goes after the Beetle because he is targeting New York's highest authorities and a new CEO known as Carlton Drake, who reaches out to Eddie and nabs on attempting to get closer to Eddie. Eddie investigates the Beetle and Drake and finds himself in a big web of conflicts; Drake has funded an organization known as the Life Foundation, keen on the black symbiote and innocent people are dying due to Drake's immoral ethics. This draws in two crazed serial killers who warps Eddie's mentality and draws in Peter, who Eddie is forced to work with to stop the bigger problem; the Life Foundation and a symbiotic monster more terrifying than both the monsters within Eddie and Peter...

Story Events (Leading up to the ending)

 * 1) A fight between Venom and Spider-Man break out at ESU; the fight is a two-way and Venom is exclaiming how Peter is weak. Eddie's arrogance gets the best of him and beats Spider-Man up, but Spider-Man knows of his past mistakes and tries to keep the brutal fight away from civilians at all costs. The fight ends with Spider-Man creating a loud noise to try and get the symbiote off of Eddie, but that does not work, as Eddie manages to escape in time. Eddie goes home and the symbiote calls him a failure for not being able to kill Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Peter goes home and rests up, telling himself that he must stop Eddie at all costs. Peter is also working on finding Yuri, who is still wanted by the NYPD, after becoming the sword-and-bomb-wielding vigilante known as Wraith...