Become the Dark Knight in Batman Arkham Shadow VR

Batman Arkham Shadow is Batman’s second venture into VR, but this time he means business! The first game was little more than a few puzzles in a couple of set locations, but what we have with Arkham Shadow is a full-fat, fully explorable. Although a somewhat linear Arkham adventure, it sits up there with the very best in the series.

Set six months after the events of Arkham Origins and shortly after the Blackgate Metroidvania-style game, Arkham Shadow sees Gotham under threat from an unknown villain, known only as The Rat King. Batman starts looking for information on him down at Arkham Docks and the joining sewer system before progressing into recognisable areas of Gotham itself.

It soon becomes apparent that in order to find out more, Batman is going to have to go undercover in Blackgate. To this effect, he creates a character called Matches Malone and gets himself arrested.

The rest of the game takes place inside Blackgate Prison itself. It revolves around asking questions during the day as Matches and then going undercover on an evening as Batman, thanks to a hidden Batcave that he had buried there in a similar way to how there was one under Arkham Asylum. You have a mix of slower gameplay as Matches and more active gameplay as Batman, although Matches is quite handy with his fists when he needs to be as well.

Now, let’s talk about the gameplay first as that’s probably what most people are interested in. Does it play well? Is it just like an Arkham game? Are there any obvious shortcuts for Virtual Reality? And so on. The answer to all of these is yes and no.

Firstly, it controls really, really well. I’m one of those people who don’t have much luck with motion-controlled selecting of tools or guns and such like. I usually find myself franticly flapping my arms in the desired motion only for nothing to happen, but not here. If I wanted a Batarang, I could instantly produce one and get it to go where I wanted it to, the same with explosive gel (although that has an annoyingly short range). Whichever gadget I wanted, it was there when I motioned for it.

The same with fighting, which I’ll get onto in a bit. Jumping is a case of running at a gap and Batman will auto-jump. And gliding never gets old! You drop your hand to your sides, pull the side triggers and open your arms like wings and Batman starts gliding! That never gets old and the sight of your shadow on the floor as you land never gets old either. You really are Batman!

The combat is very smooth too. You literally throw punches yourself and the game will prompt you which way to punch next with yellow arrows or circles to punch. It sounds like a QTE-type thing, but it isn’t, it’s completely free flow with thugs coming at you from all sides, just like the traditional games. You hold your arms out to either side when prompted to counter side attacks and you need to grab your cape and swing it to stun thugs that need it. It’s quite enjoyable to get into a large combat situation and if you don’t work up a sweat while fighting then you’re doing it wrong!

The stealth mechanics are a little different though, and I don’t think it works quite as well. For starters, it’s too easy to throw a punch instead of grabbing someone and alerting one guard alerts everyone in the area instantly. But the thing that’s broken more than anything is the gargoyle takedowns. You can do them, but again, taking one down this way instantly alerts every enemy in the area, with no exceptions, so they’ll all rush to the area and getting them to separate again is almost impossible.

This isn’t so much of an issue early on, but later, when everyone has a gun, it makes it a real chore. They’re not my favourite sections in the game. All the usual vents and broken walls are there to use, but in the end, I managed them all by glide kicking, ground and pounding, then zipping away before I could get gunned down.

Graphically, it looks incredible! There are no half-measures here. Blackgate looks just like the few times we’ve seen inside from the other titles, but in terms of textures, it’s closer to Arkham Asylum than Arkham Knight. Although, that’s to be expected with a VR title. Everything looks so good and solid, you’ll honestly feel like you’re there.

There’s no holding back on the usual Arkham background stuff either. Vicky Vales gives regular TV news items via a telly in a common area, inmates chatter amongst themselves and the sets are very well detailed too. Flys buzz around, litter floats about, and nothing suggests we’re seeing a cut-down game here, the level of detail is astonishing, especially in the characters.

We get to meet several of Gotham’s Super Villains before they become them. Harley Quinn is here as her Doctor persona and is sympathetic toward the patients with no hint of the character she will turn into. Dr Crane, on the other hand, shows obvious signs of being a bit off as we witness the early use of his fear toxins and hear how he uses fear to manipulate the inmates and even fellow doctors to get what he wants.

Spoilers prevent me from saying anything about another character change, but that was really well done and it’s a character who I feel has been massively underrepresented in the series of games, so it was great to see them get fleshed out a bit more.

In terms of game structure, it’s a lot like Asylum, with areas unlocked as the story progresses; it’s also roughly the same length as well. Missions are quite short, probably because of the Meta Quest’s poor battery life (I was getting between an hour and a half to an hour forty-five out of each full charge), but this actually works in its favour I feel.

Arkham Shadow is one of those games where it’s hard not to recommend it to people. It’s a full-fat Batman game, that’s fully responsive bar a couple of minor issues here and there, and has a very compelling story with an ending that leaves you wanting more. My only hope is that it gets a sequel, or even better, that the rumoured Asylum remake gets a VR option as that would be incredible!

Batman Arkham Shadow is available exclusively for the Meta Quest 3 and 3S Virtual Reality Head Sets.