Batman: Arkham Shadow Review

Very few things excite me more in the gaming space than the opportunity to explore a beloved universe in new and exciting ways.

While Batman VR offered an intriguing slice, Batman: Arkham Shadow promises a feature-length narrative experience with 10-15 hours of Batman talking, investigating, and smashing his way through Gotham’s many problems.

Batman: Arkham Shadow Review

Batman: Arkham Shadow takes place after the events of Batman: Arkham Origins and just before Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, but those without any experience in the previous Arkham games can enjoy a completely standalone adventure without fear of feeling lost and confused halfway through the story.

Hell, even if you don’t like Batman, this should still sit toward the top of your must-play VR titles.

It’s that good.

The introductory hours of Batman: Arkham Shadow take place on the shadowy rooftops and darkened alleys of Gotham, before leading Batman’s investigation into the Rat King to the depths of Blackgate Penitentiary.

Much of the game is split between stalking the night as Batman, and mingling with prisoners and staff of Blackgate while disguised as Matches Malone.

It’s a distinct difference in play style with much of Malone’s segments being purely conversational, exploring Blackgate as he runs errands and leads Batman’s investigation further – but it never gets dull.

I enjoyed these segments just as much as beating Rats to a pulp as Batman. It’s during moments as Malone that the player gets introduced to various characters from throughout the Batman universe, offering greater insights into the narrative foundations of the Arkham games.

I knew Camouflaj would have no difficulty tackling the atmosphere of the Batman universe, but the legacy of Arkham’s combat transcends a single genre or franchise. It’s one of the most immersive and hard-hitting combat systems in all of gaming.

Other traditional games have tried and failed to capture that same essence, but adding the challenges of implementing that on the VR platform? That’s no easy feat.

Batman: Arkham Shadow delivers a combat system that feels exactly like you’re playing another Rocksteady title. It’s a perfect combination of challenge and ability.

It begins simply enough: You combine punches to hit your enemies and wait for on-screen prompts to time your counter.

Almost encounter by encounter, the difficulty scales ever so slightly, introducing new enemy types that require different combinations of skills and abilities to take down. The combat system blossoms into some of the most impressive action sequences I’ve seen on the VR platform, and it does so at an almost artistic pace.

Brushing away my VR rust, the early battles were a cumbersome mess. Struggling to string together my punches, missing chances to counter, I was the worst Batman in history. In the final hours, I was taking down 15-20 enemies with an unbroken combo utilizing smoke bombs, batarangs, cape swipes, explosive gels, stealth kills, and even summoning my own bats; it was glorious.

You can – and will – become nearly untouchable. Leaping over riot shields, dodging knife swipes, grappling guns from distant foes. With enough time and dedication to the combat, Batman: Arkham Shadow delivers the most accurate and exhilarating Batman experience ever made.

For those new to VR, or perhaps brushing off the cobwebs, several modes sit alongside the story which provides additional opportunities to test and improve in combat through various challenges and objectives.

This rock-steady transition to VR doesn’t just deliver in the combat sense; it perfectly embodies the roots of the Arkham games across the entire experience. Grappling from vantage point to vantage point as you analyze enemy patrol paths, picking that perfect time to strike. Exploring the dark alleys of Gotham and the oppressive hallways of Blackgate, it offers a deep and more personal perspective of DC’s dark and gritty nature unlike any other.

I don’t want to spoil even a minor detail of the story or the characters you will encounter, but I will say the attention to detail and fan service is heartwarming. I’m far from a hardcore comic fan, but I lost count of the tiny details and mentions of various characters and events from throughout the Batman and Arkham universe.

It’s a dark and twisting narrative that explores the origins and motives of some of Gotham’s most famous and infamous characters, with stellar voice acting and facial animations throughout. I’ve walked away with a new love and interest for many of these characters, ones I hope I get to explore further.

While Batman: Arkham Shadow delivers on some of the more challenging aspects of bringing Batman to life in VR form, it surprisingly struggles in more simple areas. The same applies to one would expect to flourish in a VR setting.

Batman’s Detective Mode is reduced to a mostly narrative tool, exploring tiny crime scenes as he reconstructs events through the use of various forensic and investigative techniques. It delivers in a sense that it feels accurate to the character, but it doesn’t deliver much in terms of gameplay variety.

Clues typically need to be found in a specific order, removing any real chance for the player to feel like the detective. Instead, I just found myself running around small rooms looking at various objects until one lit up.

It’s not necessarily a bad part of the game, and I get it. Balancing challenge with accessibility in VR is difficult. When you get stuck, it’s not as simple as bringing up your phone for a quick Google search. It works, and it removes the often frustrating elements of these “find the object” style missions in games, but it does feel like a missed opportunity.

Years ago, it was difficult to justify the heavy price tag of entry into the VR space.

Today, Camouflaj’s own catalog stands as a system seller itself.

Iron Man VR offers a traditional, Marvel-esque superhero experience saving the world, while the dark and gritty Batman: Arkham Shadow delivers that more mature and realistic DC experience that fans have come to love.

Batman: Arkham Shadow pays homage to the Arkham games as if solely developed by Rocksteady itself. Incredible combat, a fantastic cast of characters, and the opportunity to feel downright unstoppable make Batman: Arkham Shadow a game worthy of a Meta Quest 3 pick-up.

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