When I mentioned my little field trip to Jacinda Chew, the game’s artistic director, she didn’t sound surprised. In the middle of a mission, I couldn’t resist swinging away to crawl up the side of Spider-Man’s in-game equivalent of One World Trade Center-pausing for a snapshot when I found the block of windows that would line up with GQ’s actual offices.
In the hands of a player with the requisite New York baggage, playing Spider-Man can feel like forging your own intensely personal trail into the Uncanny Valley. Anyone who has spent even a little time in New York City will be comfortable swinging around this digital recreation-navigating via web on streets that they learned, in real life, by walking or taking the subway. But as soon as I picked up the controller and stepped into Spider-Man’s red-and-blue tights, I realized I didn’t need the in-game map.
It’s been about a year since I moved from New York City to Los Angeles. Here’s one thing I didn’t expect to feel when I turned on my Playstation 4 and started playing Marvel’s Spider-Man: nostalgia.
