Review: Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable Feels Clumsy

There are times when I hope that a final version of an early access game will turn out better than what I experienced, but have a sneaking suspicion nothing will really change. It happens, even if we do see minor patches along the way to help. This is the case with Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable, the Meta Quest game based on one of earliest fights against the Titans in the series. The concept and idea is sound. Some gameplay elements are good! But the innate experience means it couldn’t really change some of the fundamental issues present even in the initial releases.

Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable kicks things off right at the very beginning, so people coming to the game don’t need to have watched much or the anime or even finished the first volume of the manga. It is set during the Battle of Trost District arc, which is right as Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Alert, and other new 104th Training Corps members join the higher ranking members of the Survey Corps to face the Colossus Titan and other invading titans that breached the gate and attacked the wall. We’re a member of Survey Corps also fighting to protect the city and drive the Titans back alongside notable characters from the series. 

This quest is broken down into briefer missions, as well as co-op and survival modes. In each one we wear Omni-Directional Mobility (ODM) gear and use it to parkour through the streets of a bleak city that, honestly, looks like something plucked from a PS2 game with rudimentary textures. When we see smoke or Titans, our goal is to head toward it to defeat our foes, get needed resources, and help protect the town.

There are times when I really enjoyed and appreciated Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable. I really like how Univrs handles the ODM gear. Back when I previewed the first part, I mentioned that it made this feel like a Spider-Man game. Getting to swing through the town and zip around from place to place is absolutely great. I don’t get tired of it. Even better, I don’t get motion-sick from it! It is just smooth, enjoyable, and involves common sense controls. 

Also, as disturbing and weird as the Titans look in-game, I don’t hate it! I mean, I do, but I feel like it is fitting for the situation we’re placed in this title. We’re supposed to be disgusted and horrified by them and their exaggerated proportions. Being around them should make me uneasy. At the same time, some of the smaller ones should absolutely look a bit goofy. It makes sense. There were a few times when it seemed textures weren’t quite right, and the rest of the world isn’t as detailed as the Titans themselves, but I was typically so busy moving around to deal with extermination missions and resource gathering that I only noticed when a task had me defend a position against waves for a certain amount of time.

The problem is that some issues I experienced in the early access release of the game and initial part remain in the full version of Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable. Characters can be incredibly flat, both in terms of the writing in the story and how they are actually depicted in-game. Sometimes, we don’t get 3D models for folks and we instead get what look like 2D standees in a scene! The quests are very surface level and superficial, so it isn’t really getting into the Survey Corps’ quest or doing an even adequate job of retelling the Battle of Trost District storyline. The character models in-mission also look pretty simple, so your fellow Survey Corps members look unmemorable and rudimentary.

Another issue is that while using the ODM and taking down Titans actually feels pretty good, it stops being challenging or interesting by the time you’ve gone through a few missions. Univrs designed the missions to be replayable, so you can return and try to get a five-star grade for your proficiency and efficiency. However, the only thing that made facing these foes challenging was when there would be a whole horde of them or when I’d be pitted against one that had more health than usual. This usually made it more likely I’d encounter bugs, such as the game not registering that I’d accurately hit the back of a Titan’s neck or a limb at a point to remove it. I almost wondered if this was tied to the increased number of enemies on the field, because it seemed like that and instances where I’d be caught and killed even though I should have been safe happened more often at those moments.

I also can’t speak to how the multiplayer works in Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable, as there apparently weren’t enough people playing the game to try it out. (It was honestly why I waited so long to write this review.) There is a cooperative option, however. Maybe you’ll have more luck than I did? Though given the issues I experienced with hits or dodges sometimes not registering properly when lots of enemies were around, I can’t imagine adding another human player to the mix to tax the title will help much.

There are ideas and elements I appreciated in Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable, but the overall execution is clumsy and in need of patches. In certain missions, gliding through the city with ODM can feel so realistic. Taking down a Titan in certain situations works well. It’s just the repetitive nature of things and issues that can pop up when you face hordes that show how clumsy, awkward, and buggy it really is. Perhaps with some patches, it will eventually get stronger.

Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is available on the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, and Meta Quest Pro.