Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum was lauded as quite possibly the best superhero video game ever made when it released in 2009. Featuring a compelling story where you play as the Caped Crusader himself, exploring the iconic Arkham Asylum and coming face to face with Batman’s most notorious villains, and engaging in fun, punch combat to boot, it was the first time I’d ever felt like I was properly stepping into Batman’s cowl. 15 years later, the series has returned with Camouflaj’s Batman: Arkham Shadow. Except this time, the experience is more immersive than ever.
Released in October 2024, Batman: Arkham Shadow is set a few months after the events of Arkham Origins. Batman is younger here, but still confident, and still very intimidating.
Our story begins with a news broadcast introducing us to a new villain who calls himself the Rat King. All we know is that he’s cooked up a terrible plan to destroy Gotham on the Fourth of July, and it’s up to Batman and the police to stop him. The game is largely set within Blackgate Penitentiary, where Batman must find out who the Rat King is and bring him to justice, all while dealing with familiar faces like Jonathan Crane, Harleen Quinzel, Joker, and more.
The plot itself is largely serviceable and it never quite hits the emotional highs of Rocksteady’s original trilogy, but it was a fun romp nonetheless. I found myself more than willing to look past the narrative shortcomings though, as the cast performances are solid across the board, and the gameplay was enough to make me want to see this thing through.
Now seems like a good time to point out that Arkham Shadow is a VR-exclusive title. It’s the second VR entry in the Arkham series, and also my personal first foray into the world of virtual reality. After spending some time messing around with the intricacies of the Meta Quest 3 and learning how everything works, it was finally time to dive into my first real game.
Needless to say, the experience was… disorienting. Look, I’m a complete VR newbie here. During my first play session, I made it to maybe 30 minutes before I needed to tap out and take a break before I lost my lunch. Movement is largely done with the left analog stick on the Quest 3’s split game pads, while camera movement is handled with the right stick. Sounds basic enough, except when you practically have an immersive screen strapped to your face, stick movement feels unnatural, way too quick, and could very well make you sick.
It was here that I learned I would need to make some space in my room for proper movement, which really elevated the experience. I should point out that as a VR newbie, the bar is probably on the floor here, but Arkham Shadow has done such a great job with its environments, gameplay, and voice acting that it was difficult to not immediately feel like I had well and truly stepped into Gotham City myself. With enough space, it was easy to feel like I was walking around the sewers of Gotham, getting up close and personal with every little detail etched into my surroundings.
Sure, there’s the occasional goofiness that comes with looking down at your weird, unnatural VR character hands, but it’s never enough to break my immersion. The controls certainly took some getting used to, as you’d need to hold down the triggers on the game pads and physically reach at your left and right hips to grab items. There’s also a bit of weird depth perception funkiness that can happen as you reach for environmental objects, and it can take a bit to get used to holding down certain triggers to have your character grip them. This is all stuff that comes to you with time though, and once I got the hang of it (and got used to the VR trippiness), I was off to the races.
Combat is a total blast, too, as you get to literally throw punches in hand-to-hand melee affairs with the Gotham thugs. It starts off fairly basic, though you’ll need to watch your directional punches, and you’ll also learn to do cool, no-look deflects where you hold your hand out to the side to block a punch, and have the camera immediately wheel in that direction so you can continue your combo.
Enemy types get more varied as you continue playing, and there will be new tactics you need to deploy in order to fight guys with guns and guys with batons. You’ll raise your arms to activate Batman’s caped glide, and hold your fist to your chest to grab a Batarang to throw it. Before I knew it, I was starting to work up a slight sweat playing through Arkham Shadow, especially if you’re throwing out punches like you mean them.
Yes, you will look like an absolute fool to anyone who walks in on you playing this, but I didn’t care. The combat gameplay in Arkham Shadow felt so fresh and fun that I found myself looking forward to the next fight sequence as soon as I was done with one.
Because this is an Arkham game, of course the experience wouldn’t be complete without some sort of Scarecrow-induced hallucination sequence. I won’t spoil it here, but if you’ve played any of the previous Arkham games you’ll more or less know what to expect. In VR, however, the hallucinations feel especially scary because of how close you are to the action.
For the rest of your time, you’ll be doing some light puzzle-solving, though these are so simple and basic that I couldn’t help but wish the game had done away with them entirely. I suppose it’s to be expected; getting stuck in one area for a prolonged period of time in VR can cause serious discomfort, so I appreciated that these were quicker to get through, but I wonder if it would’ve made for a much tighter experience had Arkham Shadow simply focused on its strengths: the combat, the gadgets, and the visual spectacle.
Batman: Arkham Shadow was the best introduction into the VR world I could’ve asked for. I’d recommend newcomers like myself to start on the easier difficulties to get acquainted with the controls, then ramp things up slowly as you get into a groove. The plot enthusiasts may find themselves disappointed by the story, but look, this is the closest you’ll ever get to actually feeling you’re Batman. That’s gotta count for something.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here. Reviewed on Meta Quest 3.
