Reality and fantasy were deeply intertwined in Marvel’s Spider-Man, where gamers swung from webs above Lincoln Center and leaped from the Empire State Building’s spire into the crowds leaving the subway station at Herald Square. The comic book icon also brought his own landmarks to that version of New York City, which hosted the Avengers headquarters a few blocks north of the United Nations and a supervillain prison in the East River. The designers at Insomniac Games are now expanding the superhero’s jurisdiction beyond Manhattan for the sequel, to be released for the PlayStation 5 on Oct. 20. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 swells into Queens and Brooklyn (including Coney Island attractions), testing a design team responsible for nearly doubling the real estate of the 2018 original. The game’s design director, Josue Benavidez, said his research involved contacting organizations like the Center for Brooklyn History, posting on Reddit groups devoted to the borough and calling businesses near the buildings he was studying.

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Persons: Josue Benavidez Organizations: Lincoln Center, Empire, Herald, Avengers, United Nations, Insomniac Games, PlayStation, Insomniac, for Brooklyn Locations: New York City, East, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Coney, United States, Burbank , Calif, Durham, N.C