Batman: Arkham Shadow hands-on preview – world’s finest VR game-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Batman: Arkham Shadow – you are the night (Oculus Studios)

GameCentral reports back on its favourite playable game at Gamescom, with a shockingly good continuation of Batman: Arkham in VR.

It is very hard to be positive about the current state of VR. Or at least that’s what we thought before playing Batman: Arkham Shadow. Sony’s shameful treatment of the PlayStation VR2 is bad enough (especially once it was confirmed there’s ‘no chance’ of Astro Bot using it) but with reports of billions of dollars in losses at Meta it’s beginning to seem like the whole concept of VR is still not ready for the mainstream.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the games themselves have done little to counter our pessimism, with most of the best ones simply being VR modes for flatscreen games like Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil. Dedicated VR games still struggle to be anything more than a tech demo, which is exactly what Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham VR was, when it was released in 2016.

However, Batman: Arkham Shadow is a real game. It’s taken four years to make, it’s up to 12 hours long, and has surprisingly complex combat, puzzles, and a recreation of the predator stealth sequences from the original games. It’s not only the best game we played at Gamescom last week but seems certain to be one of the best VR games ever made.

To be fair to the other games at Gamescom, something like Civilization 7 is not the ideal thing to be playing at a noisy trade show, whereas entering a virtual world to pretend you’re Batman is the perfect escape.

We didn’t get a lot of context for the story but it’s a sequel to 2013’s Arkham Origins, which itself was a prequel and the only major entry not made by series creators Rocksteady Studios. All we know for certain is that an original character called the Rat King (who is connected to but different from the pre-existing Ratcatcher) is the head of a cult that is poised to take over Gotham City.

According to developer Camouflaj, who made the almost great Iron Man VR, there are also some minor Easter eggs for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, since the two games were in development at the same time. Although whether there would’ve been if the game’s final fate was known we wouldn’t like to say.

What we played was essentially the tutorial level, as Batman arrives in the sewers, in an attempt to stop the cult at its source. Since it’s wireless, and doesn’t connect to a console or PC, the Meta Quest 3 is not as graphically powerful as the PlayStation VR2, but Arkham Shadow still makes a very good first impression.

Not only are the graphics excellent but the sense that you actually are Batman is almost perfect, with a full virtual body when you look down, and not just the usual disembodied hands.

We were told before starting that the game had all the comfort settings switched on, which we assumed was going to mean a teleport style movement system and turning round in 45° steps – which is the norm for other VR games.

There was none of that though and while the view was narrowed as you move forward there’s always full freedom of movement and absolutely no sense of nausea. This includes the combat sequences, which are wonderfully well orchestrated, using every trick in the VR book and still managing to be reminiscent of the original Arkham games.

Batman: Arkham Shadow – the combat is great (Oculus Studios)

Combat involves multiple thugs coming at you at once, as you raise your fists and pummel whichever ne’er-do-well takes your fancy. Once you’ve made your choice, QTE style symbols appear, to encourage you to jab with your left or right fist, while sometimes you have to swipe left or right instead.

You can counter too and if an enemy attacks and you can’t see them a little icon pops up, suggesting you stick out your arm and punch them without even looking. Because you’re Batman and that’s the sort of thing he does.

We’re not sure how hard this, or any other element of the game, is going to get but what we played felt great, especially the finishing moves where you knee someone in the face or batter them when they’re already down.

The predator sections are even closer to the Arkham games, as you switch between perching on gargoyles or creeping around under vents, before popping up to grab a hapless villain. You’ve got a smoke grenade on your arm if things go wrong and you can choke people out by a different set of QTEs. As ever though, it’s dropping down to grab an enemy and hanging them from the rafters that’s the most satisfying way to dispatch them.

However, the absolute best motion control is putting both your arms out at 90° degree angles and leaning forward to swoop down on an unsuspecting perp using Batman’s cape. Actually, we’re not sure you need to lean forward to make it work but we did anyway, because at that point we were absolutely convinced we were an actual superhero.

Every action in Arkham Shadow is immensely satisfying to perform, including using a batarang to activate distance machinery or switching on detective vision by pressing the side of your head. We’re really not sure about how complicated the puzzles are going to get, but according to Camouflaj the game does become a full-on Metroidvania later on, just like Arkham Asylum.

Given how well everything else works we have no reason not to believe them, especially when they’re promising a minimum playtime of 10 hours. At the moment Asgard’s Wrath 2 is the pinnacle of complex VR gaming, but while Arkham Shadow is not very similar its sense of immersion, and of fulfilling every possible fantasy of being its main character, seems unmatched.

The character of Batman is 85 years old this year and there’s unlikely to be any better birthday present for fans than this. Unless Mark Zuckerberg takes up vigilantism, it’s also as close to reality as Batman can get with current technology.

Formats: Meta Quest 3
Price: TBA
Publisher: Oculus Studios
Developer: Camouflaj
Release Date: October 2024
Age Rating: 16

Batman: Arkham Shadow – it’s not all set in the sewers (Oculus Studios)

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.Entertainment – MetroRead More