Batman returns to VR
BATMAN has an impressive gallery of supervillain enemies but the most famous ones like the Joker often hog the spotlight, especially in the world of videogames. However, this may change in an upcoming game set in the Batman: Arkham series.
The franchise’s four main games – Asylum, City, Knight and Origins – changed the face of the superhero genre in gaming and inspired many of the games that came since the franchise began back in 2009.
One of the series’ spin-offs was Batman: Arkham VR. Unlike the main games, Arkham VR allowed players to step into the armoured boots of Batman by using virtual reality (VR) headsets such as the PlayStation VR or Oculus Rift.
The game was short, its gameplay was barebones and reception was mixed, but the high sales showed that it had potential and that demand was certainly there.
On May 1, Oculus Studios revealed that it is answering the demand with Batman: Arkham Shadow, a new VR game set in the Batman: Arkham universe. Unlike how Rocksteady Studios developed the main games, development for Shadow will be handled by Camouflaj.
“Leaning into our eight years of dedicated VR game development history has enabled us to not only create a distinctly Arkham-feeling game but done in a way that leverages the immersive magic only VR can provide,” reads a letter from Camouflaj founder and studio head Ryan Payton.
“Batman: Arkham Shadow is the largest Camouflaj development project to date and marks our second release as a first party member of Oculus Studios, following 2022’s criticallyacclaimed release of Marvel’s Iron Man VR for Quest 2.”
Unfortunately, the game is set to be a Meta Quest 3 exclusive game.