Batman: Arkham Shadow review

Sliding like a greased batarang into the timeline somewhere between Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Asylum, the new VR adventure, Batman: Arkham Shadow from developers Camouflaj, aims to make you feel like you’re really behind the cowl. After Batman Arkham VR from a few years ago was a two-hour dud, Camouflaj (Iron Man VR and Resi 4 VR) have pulled out all the stops here to give not only the gadgets and skills to be Batman, but also the sense that you are a truly menacing presence to some of the thugs currently roughing up Gotham.

From the moment you step into the leather boots of Mr. Wayne, Arkham Shadow does its best to make you feel the part. You can pull an endless supply of batarangs from your utility belt, grab your cape to glide across gaps, and use the grapple to pull yourself up to high ledges. More than this, though, Arkham Shadow attempts – with some success – to translate the series’ trademark timing-based combat (which still hasn’t been successfully aped by many games other than the Mordor series and Marvel’s Spider-Man games).

In Arkham Shadow, you react to attacks you can see and even attacks of-screen with strikes, while you’re able to throw jabs, hooks, uppercuts and even kicks to knock your foes around. It’s really responsive on the Meta Quest 3, and the feedback through the controllers greatly aids the immersion. When you’re tackling two or three goons at a time, and everything is flowing well, it does kind of make you feel badass.

Facing off against new villain The Rat King, you’ll make your way through various quintessential Gotham environments like the sewers and rooftops, with plenty of opportunities to use your gadgets. There’s a very Metroidvania-like structure to it all, as there is in all the Arkham games, that opens up new areas as you increase Batman’s abilities. Batman himself is as surly as ever, and less chatty in general, now voiced admirably by Roger Craig Smith after the passing of the great Kevin Conroy.

I’m not sure whether it was down to the game or the improved technology in the Meta Quest 3 (this is the first game I’ve tested since upgrading from the Quest 2), but I had no problems whatsoever with inertia, despite using free-movement combined with snap-turning. Usually VR locomotion gives me awful nausea and I stick to teleporting, but in Arkham Shadow I was never troubled. The only other game I’ve had a similar experience with is Half Life: Alyx, which I played on the Oculus Rift way back when.

I can draw a few comparisons between that game and this one, too. Although Alyx is still the benchmark for VR world design, there’s something similar about the overall aesthetic and level of detail. So maybe I just get less inertia from exploring grimy cityscapes in general. Either way, there’s a ton of comfort options to make it easier and smoother when playing, so definitely check them out. You’ll want to be as comfortable as possible when you get stuck into some of the meatier puzzles, and you’ll certainly need to be calm when Harley Quinn starts talking.

This being an Arkham game, certain characters from the other titles make an appearance, such as the aforementioned Harlene Quinzel and Harvey Dent, both in their pre-villain phases. It adds an air of authenticity to it and, well, it’s Batman – you’ve got to have his rogue’s gallery of clowns and freaks and psychopaths or it just wouldn’t be the same. Arguably, you could say it retreads old ground for the series more than once with things like your detective vision – and especially when a certain guy with a burlap sack for a mask shows up to give you a dose of nightmare dust in a sequence that’s extraordinarily cool in a VR setting.

On balance, there is a certain amount of jank in the tank when it comes to movement and enemy AI, but maybe that’s to be expected. I got stuck in the scenery a few times when trying to glide across gaps, and there’s the usual VR juddering when you have to do things like retrieve an item from your belt. Actions like throwing switches and climbing ladders feel incredibly tactile though, which makes up for a lot of the other shortcomings.

While Batman: Arkham Shadow doesn’t fully wrest the crown from Half Life: Alyx’s head, it is a fantastic VR experience. No actually, for once it’s not just an “experience”; it feels like a proper Arkham game through and through, which I’m eternally grateful to Camouflaj for providing while Rocksteady are off hammering the final nails into Suicide Squad’s pungent coffin. It might not get everything 100% right, but Batman: Arkham Shadow is the most authentic and immersive way to make yourself feel like the Caped Crusader that I’ve ever played.