Batman: Arkham Shadow VR review — I am vengeance, I am the night, I truly am Batman

I’m going to be honest, getting under a mask is a tough ordeal. Not just for Batman, who more or less lives under one, but for me, who doesn’t always prefer to put a VR headset on. I love the idea of VR, but to wear a screen on the front of my forehead for an extended period, it needs to be worth it. After playing Batman: Arkham Shadow on the Meta Quest 3, being the caped crusader is a worthy ask of my time.

For those who want to press the thought of there already being a Batman VR game, you’re completely right. Batman: Arkham VR released on the PSVR back in the day, and while it’s a fun dip beneath the cowl, I’m not sure anyone would classify it as more than a technical demo experience. Batman: Arkham Shadow however – being on better hardware and developed eight years after – is much more dense. There are multiple layers to this I’ll discuss in the review below, but just the runtime, being a full 10+ hour game, eclipses the 1.5 hours How Long To Beat estimates for Batman Arkham VR by a large margin. Seriously, just the trip to the in-game title reveal sequence took me that long.

Batman: Arkham Shadow opens to you as a criminal taking out the Bat Signal, only to be instantly caught and arrested. From here everything fades to earlier that day, taking you on a journey as Batman looking for The Rat King, who has promised a day of wrath on Gotham City. The game begins in a section of Gotham designed to teach you the ins and outs of Arkham Shadow. These early moments are befitting of the Arkham name in storytelling, with plenty of dialogue whether in person or on the Bat Radio. I’m reminded a lot of conversing while traversing Gotham in Rocksteady’s games throughout Arkham Shadow, a great compliment given the incredible atmosphere and narrative capability of that studio, despite this being developed by Camouflaj Games – the same folks who brought us Iron Man VR.

While I largely have enjoyed the narrative, it certainly takes a while to get going. Most of the Arkham games begin shrouded in mystery, but I didn’t feel like the rubber meets the road until at least the halfway point, and maybe even the third act. As a result the story almost feels like it takes a backseat to the gameplay. That’s not a bad thing as the gameplay is the meat and potatoes, but Batman is one of the most interesting heroes, and with the most interesting rogue’s gallery. It doesn’t have to be the case. There is also a backstory told in cutscenes that relates to what you’ll eventually find, but again, the mystery of everything leaves the opening moments of that less meaningful.

That said, the characters in this video game are well developed. You have your occasional one-off weirdos (I’m not as big a fan of the warden), but Falcone and The Ventriloquist are excellently presented. For a VR game, Camouflaj didn’t hold back with this story and what surrounds it. Also, Roger Craig Smith as Batman, Martin Jarvis as Alfred, and Tara Strong as Dr. Harleen Quinzel give outstanding performances in their roles.

Getting underneath the cowl, this is quite clearly an Arkham game. Translating anything to VR isn’t easy, but somehow Camouflaj has fully immersed me in the world of Bruce Wayne and his alter ego. Sure, there are limitations – this isn’t a full-on open-world game – but the core gameplay loop is right. I’m impressed, I haven’t felt this way since Asgard’s Wrath 2 (our personal VR GOTY). So many times you play a VR game and it feels stuck in being a VR game, this just feels like a good game – period.

I’d almost compare Arkham Shadow to Arkham Asylum, with less scouring a spacious city and more exploring a small location. The moments are more impactful that way, and since you don’t have the high specs to work with, this was the correct call. The space you’ll spend most of your time in after the title rolls across the screen is Blackgate Prison. To keep from spoilers, the story weaves Batman’s presence here well, and tells it in a way that subverts expectations. I like the choice of Blackgate because it allows for a confined area, which works well for Arkham Shadow by concentrating on making its space great. I’ve still found a good amount of scale here, some of which will wow you as you step into those areas. There isn’t a ton of stuff off the beaten path, but in VR, that’s okay by me.

Controlling Batman requires a full range of motion, but can be played sitting down or stationary. There isn’t a teleport option for movement in Arkham Shadow, so be forewarned if you suffer from any motion sickness. Thankfully, there is an array of other options that do help whether you’re a beginner or expert in the space, like vignetting as you walk, or grappling to a ledge instead of climbing the ladder nearby. Gliding is also a great way to keep people from experiencing any discomfort, while also leaning into what it’s like to “be the Bat”. I really appreciate the amount of settings available, but also that the game starts off by asking what level of VR you prefer to experience and giving you a preset option. For those just picking up a headset and getting Arkham Shadow for free, immediately having those will be fantastic, especially as most people won’t know what settings to adjust in the first place.

As I played Arkham Shadow, I noticed very well thought out pacing. This is something that plagues VR games, with large vistas but nothing filling them, or in-depth gameplay in irresponsibly tight spaces. Arkham Shadow contains the best of everything, with balanced stealth, puzzle, and combat sequences throughout your experience. Even the side things feel well placed, with several collectibles that don’t require nearly the amount of effort you put into Riddler trophies (although I still have some to find that might make me take that back). It all flows, making the game feel that much more complete.

Flow has always been important to the Batman games, and the Freeflow combat has always exemplified that in previous Arkham outings. Arkham Shadow continues the tradition, and once I was used to the cadence, I’d argue it feels as good as the combat on a controller. It’s quite literally a dance, almost a rhythm game as you punch the nearest guard, swing your hand left to counter another, press the right stick forward to jump an oncoming one with a guard before slamming down on his back to launch him across the room. Batman’s ballet of battle is on full display, whether you’re slinging a Batarang or stunning a bigger combatant with your cape. It’s fun to smash an opponent into the ground, and even as the crowds of enemies got larger, I still found myself able to rise to the challenge. I’m impressed with how well they’ve translated the feel of Arkham combat to VR.

Camouflaj has managed to take this gameplay loop and keep it fresh with their steady insertion of new enemy types and gear. My reviewer sense can tell it could be repetitive for some, but it always seems that right when it should get stale, something new made me rethink my approach. I have to tip my cowl to the team, they made the right choices in their approach to combat.

One particular fight that stood out to me was one versus Falcone and his thugs. The arena was constrained, with a specific method to follow in order to get Falcone down from a landing. There’s a great “video gamey” feel to this battle, taking on a horde of thugs until the game allows you to take the next step forward to taking Falcone down. It’s exhilarating, and with enough meat on the bone to feel like you did something rather than simply experienced it. There are more stellar ones I could point to, but this one is top notch design work.

The gear I mentioned above is pulled straight from the other games, and while there are only a few Bat-items that make an appearance, they’re used the right way. You start with Batarangs, then need items like the decoder and explosive gel. These open up new gameplay opportunities, and yet again, the natural flow of the game lets them feel utilized correctly when they arrive. It also gives you the ability to run back to previous locations to grab those collectibles you couldn’t get to, adding some extra replayability in there. You’ll also have the opportunity to upgrade these alongside a few abilities and your suit’s durability, which is a pretty standard tree that anyone can figure out.

Of course, there will be moments where you don’t want to fight. I’ve always been the type to prefer stealth in a game, and in the Arkham series it was too much fun to identify your threats in Detective Vision, scoop up baddies from the floor via the grapple, and hang them from the gargoyles where Batman is hiding. This is something I’m so glad isn’t missing from Arkham Shadow, and even requires some exertion as you hang from your perch to grab a passing foe. Using these, sneaking up behind people, crawling through grates; all add to the all-around experience that is Arkham Shadow.

My only frustration in the combat lies in the ignorant AI. I didn’t play on a tough difficulty, but man, these enemies can be dumb. I’m not necessarily surprised, as the previous Arkham games weren’t bastions of adversity, but it’s funny to glide down, punch a guy out, and then escape into the shadows without a problem. If you want a challenge, definitely raise the difficulty, but I’d see that just being a slider for your and your opponents health bars.

Speaking of challenges, the predator and combat challenges return. These are as the title suggests, your combat challenge is fighting a room of enemies for a high score, and your predator challenge is stealthily doing the same, but on a timer. They’ve been staples of the series for a while, and add to an already amazing package.

Visual fidelity and performance are two areas where Arkham Shadow has its successes, but also a few failures. For VR, the game looks pretty good, with believable environments and quality character models. There is some plainness to some of the places you’ll visit, however, and when characters start talking… it can be quite bad. I had one segment where Dr. Quinzel and Dr. Jonathan Crane mouth a bunch of words and only once they were done did those words come out. A lot of the dialogue doesn’t match up, a pretty poor showing in that department.

The performance is smooth overall, with only a few jitters when I had a bunch of enemies in front of me. My biggest issue with bugs came with the third act; I crashed out quite a few times. That can probably and may already be fixed via a patch, but I couldn’t find a specific reason as to why these were occuring.

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