Batman Arkham Shadow is a sweat-inducing slice of nostalgia that captures the essence of Rocksteady's trilogy
Knight to remember.
I'm standing in the dark streets of Gotham, as I have done countless times over the years, but now I'm physically craning my neck up to look at its street signs, the names of boarded up shops, the police helicopters buzzing overhead. I'm near the end of an hour-long look at the upcoming Meta Quest 3 exclusive Batman Arkham Shadow, and have finally emerged above ground. It's my first proper view of the city, and goodness it feels familiar. And yet, deliberately I think, the action is being kept at street level for now, next to burning braziers and amongst swirling fog, rather than among the rooftops above.
There are moments in this opening hour of Arkham Shadow where you do find yourself up relatively high. But this street level introduction to Batman's stomping grounds makes sense here, both to highlight how you can naturally gaze around its world - and also likely to avoid too much early vertigo from wobbling atop a skyscraper.
Developed by Camouflaj, the talented team behind Iron Man VR, Arkham Shadow is a canon entry to the Arkhamverse sandwiched between Origins and Asylum. Batman is still relatively young here, and guided by the voice of Alfred in his ear as I pick up the ropes of the game's controls. You can walk normally or zip about areas by grappling, quickly changing your view orientation 90-degrees via the thumbstick and then zooming over to the nearest area you're looking at. Batarangs are stored on your chest for you to fling. Smoke bombs are on your arm for you to pick up and lob. If you hold your hands by your sides and then raise them together, you can extend your cape to glide.
The demo begins beneath Gotham’s streets, with Batman on the trail of the mysterious Rat King. Of course, we’re in Arkham's sewers. Here, each of the game's systems are slowly introduced, with particular focus on Shadow’s melee-based combat. You can launch yourself towards enemies by aiming a punch towards them, then land a series of follow-up blows to knock them out cold by following on-screen gesture prompts.
It all takes a little getting used to, but by the end of the demo I'm able to land combos with one hand while blocking off-screen attacks with another. It feels a bit like when Neo is fighting one-handed in the Matrix. There are times I feel crowded, with enemies on all sides, but this is good stress, I think, as another thug the same height as me aims a muscular forearm at my face. The gang sizes feel smaller than in other Arkham games, and the enemies still gamely wait their turn to attack, but it gets my adrenaline pumping harder than simply sitting back pressing buttons.
Later, the enemies come with guns, and it's here I get to experience the Arkham series' trademark predator gameplay in first-person. Switching on Detective Mode - by holding my right hand up to the side of my head, like I'm activating my cowl - I can see the three grunts holding assault rifles highlighted below, and track their patrol patterns. I swoop down to the most isolated of the three, quickly land punches, drop a smoke bomb then grapple back up to safety. A decade on, this reproduction of Rocksteady's gameplay still gives a thrill.
Arkham Shadow is designed to be a game around the same size of Arkham Asylum, with collectibles and places to wander off the beaten track for those who want to linger. At one point in the demo I find a path back to where I started, should I want to head around again for anything I've missed, though otherwise this introductory section is linear. It's early days, and it's absolutely not on rails, but the demo feels like I've stepped into an elaborate Arkham theme park experience - a riff on an established setting that nails the original trilogy's atmosphere, and gets you engaged by putting you through something of an assault course.
After an hour in the cowl, and Batman now debriefing with Jim Gordon, I emerge back into the noise of the Gamescom showfloor. It’s disorientating - I'm not a regular VR player, so I am probably more easily impressed by the immersion when I do rarely put on a headset. At the same time, this also means I find it harder to sink myself into VR controls when I'm so used to holding a control pad. But after an hour of Batman Arkham Shadow, I'm impressed - it undoubtedly leans into the possibilities of VR and replicates Rocksteady’s original work well. How well can it expand on that world? That remains to be seen, though what has been announced about its narrative - that it’ll feature earlier, more human versions of Harley Quinn, Two-Face and Scarecrow - has me intrigued. For those who do dabble beyond the flatscreen, Arkham Shadow is definitely worth keeping your detective sights set on.