Batman: Arkham Shadow, the latest Meta Quest 3 pack-in and a follow-up to the much-respected Arkham console games, seeks to put you in the role of the caped crusader more directly than before. And though this isn’t quite the first VR Batman game, it’s certainly the first larger-scale attempt. So how is it? And is it worth buying a headset to play?
Developer Camouflaj, perhaps best known these days for its work on Iron Man VR, has been focusing its efforts on virtual reality, and it shows in Batman: Arkham Shadow through its well-considered (if conventional) setups. It’s also a bit slow to get going? Lots of early-game tutorials make sure you know what to do, as if it’s your first VR game. Which, for some, may be the case, as it becomes the Quest’s latest system seller.
Shadow follows the events of Batman: Arkham Origins and is most inspired by the confined gameplay of Arkham Asylum. There’s a ton of well-known voice talent, including a lot from the old Arkham cast! And that’s a good investment for this game, which is so much about those voices. You’re set off to take down the Rat King, a newly-created villain for the game, but along the way you see a lot of characters you might know.
Fundamentally, this game is about punching. Which, hey, VR does well! You complete a series of quick-time events to fight, throwing specific punches and countering through various means. This isn’t a “think about your opponents’ weaknesses” game; it’s decided for you. Which is fine? There are so many enemies to fight in this game, and it would rather see you push through them quickly.
It’s in larger room encounters that Batman: Arkham Shadow is at its best. In these, you use perches, vents and such to help pick off enemies one by one, studying movements and bringing in some of your gadgets to help when needed. It’s during these fights that Shadow truly opens up and lets you be creative. When we started watching guard patterns and scouting out just the right vantage points for unseen takedowns, that felt really nice. This is, fundamentally, an accurate recreation of the Arkham scheme, and just how enjoyable that was to people is a lot of why this game exists! But the perspective does change a lot about how it feels.
Taking out foes and finding hidden collectibles contributes to an experience meter, allowing you to upgrade various abilities. It’s also a game that likes giving you new abilities from time to time, as you find a need in the mission, climb to the roof for a delivery and then head back down to use it. A lot more time is spent in the process in this game, physically moving from place to place. We suppose it’s a good way to break up combat sequences and keep you immersed in the identity, but do be prepared for the time investment.
There’s still something of a theme park-like ethos to “big-budget” VR game design. Environments are more set dressing than places to spend lots of time. You get a lot of exposition through audio between encounters. It’s also more than happy to use that audio to not-so-subtly nudge you to your next objective. Rarely does Batman: Arkham Shadow want you to stop and smell the roses, and doing so will result in increasingly direct reminders of the thing to do next.
And maybe that’s for the best! Batman: Arkham Shadow is full of dark environments with similar sorts of dingy decoration. It’s true to the source material, and the low lighting does help mitigate the inevitable visual downgrades you get when rendering the resolution and double display of VR. It’s an action game through and through, and other Quest titles are happy to provide different pacing for those who want it.
That said, Batman: Arkham Shadows is not a bad looking VR game, and Camouflaj has clearly been pulling out tricks to get the most out of the hardware. For example, there’s some pre-rendered lighting in spots, putting your focus on particular corners. You can see the seams, sometimes. For example, we moved a grate from a green-tinged vent, and it stayed bright and green. But it’s likely worth those exceptions.
Batman: Arkham Shadow feels comfortable to play in a small room or even seated, with some creative use of the crouch button to reach lower objects. Conversely, the game doesn’t do a heck of a lot for room-scale players, but it’s likely a compromise worth making for the game. Other titles will make you want to walk around; this is extremely a stick-to-move experience.
We’ve encountered some bugs along the way, getting stuck on craggy rocks or having doors fall down and leave invisible barriers instead of opening. These are the sorts of things we expect will be patched up relatively quickly, but still thought it worth noting for early players. Generally, reloading the checkpoint has solved the issue, but sometimes that means losing a few minutes of progress. We also had a bit of difficulty with the cape controls, as the activation wasn’t as reliable as we wanted. Hopefully that can be tuned a bit!
While it may not have the immersive mechanics to be a great VR introduction, Batman: Arkham Shadow is fun to play and faithful to its Arkham predecessors. And yeah, picking off enemies one-by-one feels great.
Batman: Arkham Shadow, developed by Camouflaj and published by Meta, is available now for Meta Quest 3 and 3S. It’s included with new headsets, and costs $49.99 for other buyers.
Enter Gotham City in fully immersive VR. Set after the events of Batman: Arkham Origins, experience a new entry in the Arkham franchise like never before. Meta Quest 3 version reviewed. Review copy provided by company for testing purposes.
While it may not have the immersive mechanics to be a great VR introduction, Batman: Arkham Shadow is fun to play and faithful to its Arkham predecessors. And yeah, picking off enemies one-by-one feels great.
- We do wish we had a bit more freedom in the investigation sequences. As it is, it’s a “look at all the highlighted evidence” story scene? But we’d love to have felt like we did real detective work.
- There are side challenges to play outside of the main campaign, which feel best used as a showcase for a friend or something? We got our fill of the fighting as part of the story, but your mileage may vary.
- Enemy grunts could use a verbosity slider.
Published: Oct 21, 2024 08:30 pm