Batman Arkham Shadow: 5 Things you need to know about the VR-exclusive game

Is Batman: Arkham Shadow the biggest VR game of the year? Scrap that. Is this the best VR game ever made?

Some critics are legit using such high praise to describe this new VR Batman game.

From one perspective, it’s a far more involved follow-up to 2017’s Batman VR. But it’s also part of one of the most celebrated game series ever, the Batman Arkham lineage.

It doesn’t come from the same studio. It’s not playable on the same platforms. And working in VR means there were a whole new raft of challenges to contend with. It looks like they’ve only gone and done it, though.

Here are the 5 things you need to know about Batman: Arkham Shadow, which is available now for Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S.

1. This is a full-size 10-hour adventure

At first glance you’ll probably think Batman: Arkham Shadow is pricey for a VR game. It costs £38.99, although it’s "included with the purchase of Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S” if you claim by April 30, 2025.

This is no short and basic experience, as many VR games are, though. It’s a full 10-hour-plus adventure, similar to the runtime of Xbox 360 and PS3 classic Arkham Asylum.

The game is set between the events of Arkham Origins and Arkham Asylum. Batman has to take down the Rat King. He has kidnapped Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon, and is threatening to kill them and other city officials in the run up to what Rat King and his cronies call The Day of Wrath.

2. It’s one of the best-reviewed VR games ever

Back in 2022 we, and plenty of Batman fans, hoped Gotham Knights would recreate some of the magic of the Batman Arkham games. It didn’t, but Batman: Arkham Shadow really does.

This sounds like it should be almost impossible given a true first-person translation of the Arkham series combat would probably leave us in a pool of spew within four minutes. But developer Camoflaj has managed to create suitable VR equivalents for both those games’ action and atmosphere.

It’s led to a Metacritic score of a stonking 87%, pipping even the massively celebrated Asgard’s Wrath 2 from 2023 (86%). Could this be the best VR game ever? We don’t think it’s going to eclipse Half-Life: Alyx. But for a game on Quest? It’s right up there.

3.You’ll use immersive control gestures

One of our first thoughts with one of these more involved VR games: how do you actually play it?

Batman: Arkham Shadow goes big on immersion, which fits the blueprint pretty well. You, of course, point to use your grapple hook or find clues in the detective mode.

You raise your arms from your sides upwards to make Batman glide when falling through the air. And you enter the detective mode by bringing up the right controller to your head, and pressing a button.

Movement throughout the environment is via the grappling hook, or normal gamepad-style control, and you can rotate your view by 90 degrees with the thumbstick. Batman control gestures aside, this is pretty familiar first-person VR stuff.

Camoflaj says the combat gameplay was inspired by VR favourites like Superhot and Beat Saber, and involves matching your arm movements to prompts on-screen.

Meta rates the game at a Moderate intensity, a level up from the Comfortable rating given to 2017’s Batman: Arkham VR.

4. Elijah Wood stars (among other legends)

Batman: Arkham Shadow has a pretty epic cast for a VR game. The most important member is Roger Craig Smith, who plays Batman. He’s taken on that character many times before, including in Arkham: Origins.

The biggest name, though, is Elijah Wood, who takes on the role of Jonathan Crane, also known as Scarecrow. That villain is a massive part of the Arkham games, and in the past has been played by Dino Andrade (Aslyum) and John Noble (Knight).

Long-term series staple and voice acting legend Troy Baker also stars, as Harvey Dent. He’s played various roles throughout the series, including Batman sidekick Jason Todd and Joker.

You’re probably getting the idea: they haven’t scrimped on voice talent for Arkham Shadow.

5. It’s only for Quest 3 and Quest 3S

This game is a Meta Quest exclusive. It’s clearly here to support the launch of the Meta Quest 3S, which is basically the Quest 2 with a better processor, refreshed design and the colour mixed reality chops of the Quest 3.

That means you’re out of luck if you are a Sony PS VR 2 player. Or someone who plays VR using a PC.

There’s no real reason for this to open up any time soon either. Meta owns the developer of Batman: Arkham Shadow, Camoflaj. So you're going to want to invest in Meta's hardware for this latest opportunity to be the Bat.

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