Batman: Arkham Shadow is the first big exclusive VR game for the Quest 3
It’s a new story set in the franchise canon.
One of the main reasons it has been difficult to recommend the $500 Quest 3 VR headset over the $200 Quest 2 is a lack of exclusive titles, as most games have to support both models. This means we haven’t really seen the power of the Quest 3 yet, but the tides are turning. Meta just announced Batman: Arkham Shadow, which is fully exclusive to the company’s newest headset.
It looks like this title is actually set in the pre-existing Arkham universe, but it's not being developed by franchise steward Rocksteady Studios. It’s being created by Oculus Studios and a developer called Camouflaj, which made the surprisingly great Iron Man VR experience. The track record is pretty spotty when it comes to other developers playing in Rocksteady’s sandbox, but the inclusion of Camouflaj makes me cautiously optimistic.
There’s a trailer, seen above, but it's devoid of any actual gameplay. For that, we’ll have to wait until Summer Game Fest in June, according to Geoff Keighley. The trailer does indicate the presence of a little-known member of Batman’s rogues gallery called Ratcatcher. He controls rats to commit crimes. It’s a whole thing.
This isn’t the first time that Batman donned a VR headset. Back in 2016, Rocksteady released Batman: Arkham VR. The game was praised for being immersive, but dinged for being just an hour long. Hopefully, this one is a bit longer, though I’m actually into short VR experiences that are done really well. There’s only so much time to wander around the house like a doofus with a headset attached to my face.
While this is certainly the highest profile Quest 3 exclusive, it's not the first to be announced. Starship Home is a mixed-reality adventure that looks like it should have been a launch exclusive for the Vision Pro. The horror-tinged Alien: Rogue Incursion isn’t quite a Quest 3 exclusive, as it's also releasing on Steam and PSVR2, but it is a “next-gen” VR game that doesn’t have to run on the antiquated Quest 2. All three titles will be released by the end of the year.
