Skip to main content

Batman: Arkham Shadow is more faithful to the series than you think

Batman stands near fire in Batman: Arkham Shadow.
Camouflaj
Summer Gaming Marathon Feature Image
This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

During Summer Game Fest, Meta revealed a new story trailer for Batman: Arkham Shadow. While the clip only delves into story, an accompanying blog post confirms that the gameplay staples of Rocksteady’s Arkham series are all coming to VR.

Batman: Arkham Shadow was announced earlier this spring as a Meta Quest 3 exclusive. Positioned as an official entry in the Arkham game series, the news was met with a mixed reception from critics of VR. Meta has followed up with a blog post detailing exactly how the new game will play, even if it isn’t showing that in action just yet.

Batman: Arkham Shadow (Meta Quest VR) Reveal Teaser

According to the post, Batman: Arkham Shadow will bring the series’ signature freeform combat to VR. Players can punch, dodge, perform takedowns, and more just as they can on console and PC. Players can even sit on a perch and string up unsuspecting enemies, throw their Batarang to extend combos, and break away from enemy sight lines with smoke bombs.

As for traversal, players can zip around Gotham with a Grapnel Gun and glide with Batman’s cape. Stealth, Detective Vision, environmental puzzles, collectibles, and more series staples have all been adapted into VR.

As for its story, Arkham Shadow takes place between Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum. Players face off against the Rat King, who takes over Gotham on July 4 with the help of a cult. Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent are both abducted, as the Rat King looks to get revenge on those who have harmed Gotham in a “Day of Wrath.”

The new trailer at Summer Game Fest isn’t terribly informative, only showing some slick cinematics. It’s still unclear how it’ll all play in VR or what the scope of the project is. Judging on what we know so far, though, it seems like Camouflaj is doing the work to make Arkham Shadow feel like a true mainline entry rather than a VR spinoff.

Batman: Arkham Shadow launches this fall on Meta Quest 3.

Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
Metaphor: ReFantazio feels more familiar than I expected
The main character in an anime cutscene for Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Heading into my demo of Metaphor: ReFantazio at Summer Game Fest Play Days, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to glean much from 45 minutes of playtime. While all of its trailers have been visually striking, I hadn't really gotten a sense of how it played and wondered if Atlus and Studio Zero had gone too far with visual flair following the positive response to Persona 5's user interface. Thankfully, Metaphor: ReFantazio felt more familiar than I'd expected.

Metaphor: ReFantazio feels like an unadulterated look at the kind of RPGs Atlus' best developers would make if they weren't restricted to the demon-collecting features ingrained into the core of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona. It has all the visual flair, as well as the in-depth RPG systems, of those games, but puts the gameplay focus more on Archetypes, which are essentially character classes, party member positioning, and Synergy abilities. It's shaping up to be well worth the time of any Atlus RPG fan.

Read more
Sonic X Shadow Generations races to consoles this October
Shadow in the moonlight.

Sonic X Shadow Generations made a brief appearance at Summer Game Fest 2024 and it got a launch date of October 25. The rerelease will launch on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC and cost $50

Revealed at the January 2024 State of Play, Sonic X Shadow Generations is a remake of the 2011 title that adds Shadow as a new playable character alongside the modern and retro versions of Sonic. Shadow will feature his own unique levels and gameplay. All the original Sonic stages returning, though there was no indication that any new Sonic stages would be added to this version of the game.

Read more
Civilization 7 finally announced, but you’ll have to wait for more info
The banner for Civilization 7, with highlighted text on a dark background.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII - Official Teaser Trailer

Civilization 7 will conquer your game time soon. The latest in the iconic turn-based 4X strategy franchise was announced by developer Firaxis Games during Summer Game Fest on Friday.

Read more