'Spider-Man: Miles Morales': The Essential Guide

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is currently available, exclusively on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It is cut from the same cloth as its 2018 predecessor, but there's a more scrappy, youthful energy that drives this game. Miles is new to the superhero game, which means that he still has his rough edges. He stumbles a bit on his landings. And he's still discovering and learning to harness his latent powers: his Venom electrical attacks, and his ability to turn invisible.

If you're expecting to breeze through this game using your old Spidey skills, think again; this may be a shorter game, but it's also a harder one than its predecessor. Here are a few Spider-Man: Miles Morales strategies to keep you one step ahead of your foes, along with some cool Easter eggs that you definitely don't want to miss.

Miles is not as capable as a combatant as Peter was. Peter was able to take on a room of 20 enemies in a head-on fight, by himself. If you try doing this as Miles, especially in the early goings of the campaign, you are going to die, a lot.

You are almost always better off stealthing—attacking from the shadows—than fighting, especially if you're being attacked by more than five enemies at once. Stealth was only partially viable in the first game; the enemies were extremely sensitive to any sort of movement, and even if you managed to take out an entire group, the backup or "second wave" would instantly spot you. But Miles Morales will rarely force you to fight. Entire sequences can be accomplished via stealth; enemies will not suddenly gain magical vision, where they can never lose sight of you. There are also many more objects in this game that you can use to "cause accidents" or distract your foes.

Fighting might be necessary, in the end. But it should always be the last resort.

The enemies in Miles Morales frequently lose sight of one another, This is a perfect opportunity to use a Perch Takedown, where Miles can silently dispose of a villain by webbing him up and hanging him from a beam or wall.

If you press R3, a danger icon appears over each enemy's head, which tells you whether you can take down an opponent without being seen. If an enemy isn't "safe," it might be because of your angle, relative to your target. Always line up, and try to position yourself directly above whatever enemy you want to take out. There were countless times where the silent takedown depended on me changing my position, rather than waiting for the enemy to move.

This is an underrated aspect of stealth gameplay; you don't have to balance on the overhead beams to sneak around. You can actually use your webs to zip directly to the ceiling and crawl about. You can also execute silent perch takedowns while sticking to the wall or the ceiling, mqkint this game is more generous with range of attack than its predecessor. Sticking to the ceiling allows for more flexible stealth movement and more Perch Takedown opportunities, especially if the enemies' patrols don't cross under beams.

If you get spotted while stealthing around, turn invisible and web swing away from your last known location. Re-establish stealth; once the enemies give up looking for you, you can go back to silently taking them down. Later in the game, some enemies will have vision goggles that ruin this strategy. Make sure that you take them out first.

Peter gives Miles several virtual combat and web-swinging challenges, which are scattered throughout the city. I would recommend doing these as soon as possible, as each one unlocks a valuable traversal or combat skill. There are different levels of mastery to each challenge, but don't worry about that; the bare minimum is all that's required to complete each challenge and acquire each skill.

Your default Web Shooters are more useful than you think; upgrade them as quickly as you can. If you can web someone close to a wall or object—even the massive Brutes—it'll instantly incapacitate him, which can save you a lot of trouble. Similarly, if you knock someone onto the ground, a couple of webs will permanently take him out. One trick I used a lot during my playthrough: I'd uppercut an opponent into the air, and instead of performing the follow-up air combo, I'd wait for him to hit the ground, and then web him up for an instant knockout.

Webbing someone also allows you to swing the enemy around your head via a Web Throw; this is also an instant KO if you hit a wall.

I achieved 100 percent completion on this game, and one of the most confusing parts was where to find the last remaining "Underground Caches." If you're down to the last few and you don't know where to find them, check the Roxxon Labs and Underground Hideouts; each of them has a Cache past a vent or behind a hidden wall, and you might have missed it when you first cleared the area.

Here are some must-do activities. If you go to the cemetery at the location above, you'll find the grave of Miles' father, Jefferson Davis. You can pay your respects and earn a trophy. And if you turn right from the grave and head straight, you can find Ben and May Parker's graves as well.

If you go to the above location, you'll find Mick's Diner from the previous game. Mick was one of Stan Lee's final cameos before his death. The diner now has a massive statue of Mick/Stan Lee out front. Just like in the cemetery, if you go right up to it, you can pay your respects and earn a trophy.

There is a massive Black Lives Matter mural at the location above. The game will eventually lead you here if you complete the side missions of helping your Harlem neighbors, but you can visit the mural any time during the game. Completing those side missions will earn you a black and yellow suit, which are the signature colors of BLM iconography.

It is Christmas season during this game's campaign, which led me to wonder: Is there a massive Christmas tree in the game? Sure enough, if you go to the above location, you can visit Rockefeller Center and see the world-famous Christmas tree. The signature wire angels are also there, a short distance away.

And lastly, though this should come as no surprise in a Marvel game, there is a mid-credits secret ending once you're done with the campaign. If you're not a comics buff, make sure you have the subtitles turned on. If you Google the names of the people in the room, you'll get a pretty clear indicator of where this franchise is headed, hopefully in the very near future.