After years of ready, VR diversifications of iconic online game franchises are at a turning level with the discharge of Batman: Arkham Shadow and Metro Awakening.
Whereas it has been over a decade because the Oculus Rift severely kicked off VR gaming as a worthwhile subsect of this medium, it has taken some time for it to hit console and PC gaming’s AAA high quality degree. If a flatscreen recreation or sequence received tailored for VR, it was with a brief and easy tech demo-like launch or a VR conversion of an older recreation beholden to the design constraints of a basic. This nonetheless yielded some good outcomes, however it meant VR gaming lacked an identification inside hardcore gaming franchises and was relegated to novelty spinoff standing.
Throughout the final month, Batman: Arkham Shadow and Metro Awakening each launched, indicating that one thing has modified. These full-fledged AAA VR experiences aren’t simply novelty VR conversions of beloved console franchises, however worthwhile video games of their very own. If VR gaming goes to proceed to remain related, it wants extra video games like Batman and Metro.
The very best type of VR adaptation
To see how far VR gaming has come, we merely want to check 2016’s Batman: Arkham VR to 2024’s Batman: Arkham Shadow. Though Arkham VR was developed by Rocksteady and featured some cool moments, it may very well be crushed in simply a few hours and didn’t match the sport circulation of titles like Arkham Metropolis or Arkham Knight. A recreation like that definitely had its place within the early days of VR, however in 2024, expectations are a lot increased.
Fortunately, Arkham Shadow delivered. It’s nonetheless rather more linear than Arkham Knighthowever from a gameplay and narrative perspective, it does a considerably higher job at matching the heights of Rocksteady’s trilogy. Fight is emphasised and nonetheless has a rhythmic high quality to it, stealth and detective mode segments are peppered all through, and it delivers a compelling Batman narrative about instructing the Caped Crusader empathy.
Then there’s Vertigo Video games’ Metro Awakening. The builders may have gone the route of remaking a recreation like Metro 2033 for VR or including a VR mode to 4A Video games’ Metro Exodus. We’ve seen many builders go down that route when making VR entries of flatscreen franchises. These may be nice, like Resident Evil 4’s Meta Quest launch, however they arrive off as one-note distractions and should not the true strategy to play these basic video games.
As an alternative, Metro Awakening is a definite entry within the Metro sequence, a prequel revealing the backstory of Khan. It interprets the cramped tunnels and survival shooter mechanics of the flatscreen Metro video games to VR, and each work properly inside the tech medium with only a few adjustments. Like Arkham Shadowit additionally helps a console-quality narrative worthy of Dmitry Glukhovsky’s franchise. These are two of one of the best VR video games I’ve ever performed, and so they each do the identical issues proper whereas bringing a flatscreen gaming franchise to VR.
Greater than a novelty
Arkham Shadow and Metro Awakening work properly as a result of they really feel like equals to their counterparts. Too usually, VR video games both really feel too easy in how they play, don’t characteristic high quality narratives, and fail to stay as much as the requirements of console gaming. Metro and Batman not solely buck all of these developments, however accomplish that whereas faithfully adapting well-known gaming IP to VR. If VR goes to evolve as a gaming medium, it must not solely set up breakout new franchises like Asgard’s Wrathhowever display how beloved, present franchises could make a full transition to digital actuality.
Half-Life Alyx confirmed us all of these items in 2020. You could find success in VR through the use of a incredible flatscreen recreation as a base, homing in on the components that would immerse the gamers in a VR expertise, and delivering a whole narrative expertise with it. Recreation improvement takes time, so it took different VR builders some time to catch up, however video games like Arkham Shadow and Metro Awakening point out that we’ve turned a nook for VR video games; the standard bar has been raised and it’s not all too far off from conventional gaming anymore.
At this level, VR could be very unlikely to switch console, PC, or cell gaming as the first strategy to play. Flatscreen gaming is solely extra handy and fewer straining on the physique. That doesn’t imply it needs to be relegated to secure tech demos or unambitious modes and remasters. VR may be residence to AAA-quality video games, together with ones that may stand toe-to-toe with their console counterparts. I hope Arkham Shadow and Metro Awakening are greater than only a second for VR gaming; I hope they function a reminder of an ordinary that each one builders and franchises getting into the VR area ought to meet.
Batman: Arkham Shadow and Metro Awakening are each obtainable on Meta Quest 3. Metro Awakening can also be obtainable by PC VR and PlayStation VR2.
