A Vancouver artist is helping bring British Columbia to life in Marvel’s Wolverine, turning familiar North Shore views and B.C. landmarks into the backdrop for a high-octane video game.
Gavin Goulden, Senior Art Director at Insomniac Games, lives in downtown Vancouver. He’s also one of the people helping bring North Vancouver and the Sea to Sky Highway into the upcoming PS5 game, giving local players some familiar scenery in Wolverine’s next adventure.
“It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, I feel,” Goulden tells 604 Now. “It’s not often that you get to recreate the place you love in a PlayStation game about the hero you grew up with.”
Vancouver Gets To Play Itself
Vancouver is used to standing in for other cities on screen. In Marvel’s Wolverine, it gets to be Vancouver. “Being able to show the Vancouver area as itself and deliver a unique take, while staying authentic to the real world location, is a great honour,” Goulden said.
Wolverine’s Canadian roots meant Canada was always going to have a place in the game. The Vancouver area offered a setting that suited the team’s story and gameplay, with recognizable sights stretching from the North Shore towards Squamish.
Players shouldn’t expect a street-for-street replica. The team took artistic liberties to make the locations work within Wolverine’s world, while paying attention to the details locals would recognize.
For Goulden, those included downtown landmarks visible from the North Shore and the iconic sulphur piles. But some of the details he most wanted to capture were along the drive towards Squamish.
“Most importantly, though, I wanted to capture all of the beauty that British Columbia has to offer along the drive towards Squamish and the details on our signage with the Squamish language fully visible.”
From The Sea To Sky Highway To A Harbour Air Flight
To help recreate the region, Insomniac artists travelled to B.C., collecting photo references and scan data, and making the drive up the Sea to Sky Highway to Squamish themselves.
Goulden also took his research to the skies. “Additionally, I even took a Harbour Air flight along the coast to gather aerial footage of the Sulfur Pile, the drive along the highway, and even how weather conditions can change along that journey.”
Experiencing the province in person gave the artists a chance to see the scenery and changing conditions they were bringing into the game. For Goulden, getting it right also meant considering the communities represented on screen. “The goal for our team at Insomniac Games when adding Vancouver as a location within Marvel’s Wolverine was authenticity and showing respect for the communities that helped inspire the environment.”
Spot The Local Landmarks
You can already see some of that work in the game’s extended gameplay trailer. Look out for the Lions Gate Bridge, motorcycle scenes along the Sea to Sky Highway and the North Vancouver sulphur setting, all highlighted by PlayStation’s team.
The story will take Wolverine beyond Canada, but Goulden is especially interested in how players here at home respond. “When players load up Marvel’s Wolverine on September 15th, I hope the locals feel seen and that we did a great job at recreating a place that I love.”
For players unfamiliar with B.C., he hopes the game will spark enough curiosity to visit and experience it themselves.
Marvel’s Wolverine launches on PS5 on September 15, 2026. Find more details on the official PlayStation website.
