Reviews

There is something really charming about this game, maybe the art style or the whimsy. I'm a big fan of Toriyama's art style, especially when it has this heavy shading like it does here. I also appreciate this being an underrated work of his that lends itself to this open world style of game more readily. That being said, the open world is pretty boring and doesn't really add much to the game. The vehicle gameplay is fine, I love the tank and the armor but some of the other bots lack viability in most cases. There is some on foot combat that is fine but honestly unneeded. The stealth segements are definitely unneeded. I'm assuming these play a part in the manga in some way otherwise I have no idea why they are even here. There is a crafting system that is very gated which makes it kind of a pain to interact with. I also never got a crafter in the hub town so early on I was fast traveling to another place to make everything and then going back to the garage, which wasn't ideal. The fast travel system was good. It's on demand and you can use it just about anytime aside from a few instances where you need to fully travel. The story itself is fine in the first half but then it gets conveluted and sloggy after the fakeout ending. The gameplay stayed good for the most part, some spongy enemies near the end but I felt like I was always more powerful up until the end. The game definitely overstays it's welcome by a few hours because of some heavy padding in last third of the game. Idk what it is with these Japanese open world games and thinking they need to do this before the end of the game but it is not a positive aspect. Overall though it was a fun game and I enjoyed how upbeat and silly it could be. I also love the Metal Slug style tanks.

📜𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐑 
The example of BAS clearly shows the development of the industry. It all began with "Batman: Arkham VR" for the first wired headsets in 2016, a simple 30-minute tecno demo without any gameplay depth, the game was more like a point-and-click quest, and used the name of a popular series only to attract an audience. However, the graphics were on par with games of the time, making you truly feel like a dark knight standing atop a skyscraper.
Meanwhile, Batman: Arkham Shadow has landed in the hands of 𝐎𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐬 and 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 devs, who have perfectly adapted Iron Man's flights to the gaming reality.
And now, after 9 YEARS! of VR development, we're getting a full-fledged game in the franchise (a prequel), which successfully transfers that very formula to the rails of "physical control" of the character. Now we have dynamic hand tracking and one-button launch directly from the headset, because these are just Android devices.. Accordingly, we're also getting PS2-level graphics with a slight comics stylization (with the resolution is even lower than the headset's native res). Personally, I wasn't able to experience the oppressive atmosphere of Gotham City and don`t feel like Batman looking at his plastic suit, the levels are also divided into small sections with rather long loading doors, but ok these are minor details..
My point is that new technologies have brought us comfort and "unashamed" gameplay in VR games, but, alas, we are losing a lot in immersion.
At the same time, I understand all the praise for the game, and I'm glad that the rumors are slowly spreading that there is a new VR-banger ,not only HL: Alyx, especially since it's a very fortunate coincidence that they decided to give away the game for free simply by purchasing a headset in 2025, I don't think Oculus expected the game to be such a success.

Ok If you haven't heard of or tried the game yet, it's a linear adventure with free movement, using a grappling hook and a cloak (open your arms) for vertical movement.
cloak (open your arms) for vertical movement. With standard first-person cutscenes, third-person death screens, atmospheric top-down cutscenes with 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 of characters already well-worn in popular culture, yet shown from a rather original perspective, the ending even claims to be dramatic and tragic.
With short detective sections, but very casual, they are solved by turning on special vision and trial and error.
With 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡: when approaching an enemy from behind, mimic a lynx leap, then twist their neck left/right, and the arenas are always dotted with bird statues you can "hang" from, pull an enemy toward you, and hang them. It's also quite immersive, but it immediately triggers enemies to examine the map more closely, fortunately, they don't raise their heads much. If you're spotted, you can always throw a smoke bomb or duck into a ventilation shaft. After all, facing at least two enemies with firearms, your batarang has no chance, and your armor will crumble in a couple of seconds.
The game's main advantage, albeit debatable, is its full-fledged 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 in the spirit of the series and the principle of "easy to learn, hard to master." Essentially, like in other VR fighting games, it remains similar to the turn-based execution of QTE: you can block and parry, throw a batarang, or punch enemies (with slow-mo assistance, of course). Several hits in a row require hitting the enemy in specific spots, but the game forgives all deviations of your hand, it`s more about the effect, finishing with a broken knee or grabbing by the scruff is probably the most brutal, But the developers also left free movement around the arena, you can dodge dash,and added a large number of moves that slightly dilute the usual fistfight, for example, jumping over the opponent's shoulder, thereby appearing behind him and counterattacking by extending your hand forward, which will also knock the weapon out of his hands, different opponents have protection from certain attacks so that you can't spam the same button (spoiler: you still can), but the most successful solution of the mechanics, which forces you to not stand still - there are always a lot of enemies, and, even if you are in a combat stance opposite the target, you can and will be attacked by others from the left and right, and you will have to "lock" on other enemies, sharply extending your left or right hand exactly 90° to the side, while there are no problems with the camera, no motion sickness, all the player's angles change very smoothly and at the same time dynamically, and over time the fight progresses due to gadgets, armored opponents, bosses who have a little more QTE moments, after each skirmish you are given a rating and a certain amount of experience, which motivates you to combine mechanics to unlock.. not exactly new moves, more like a stronger Batarang or finishing moves.
The most sad thing is that the combat becomes unbearably repetitive after just an hour.. While it's still fun and epic, you're stuck in 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧: first you target the strong enemies, then the normal ones, and you're start doing it like a robot, automatically. While even normal enemies are quite tough and annoying, each enemy requires at least 20 hits, including several finishing moves and several waits for them to get up. It's a pretty good aerobic workout, and the game even has about a dozen challenge arenas where people set zillions of records. But if you, for example, set the difficulty to maximum, which speeds up all enemy actions to the max, all the problems with the combat become more obvious; the hand tracking simply can't keep up with the instantaneous repetition of the same actions.
And the coolest combat mechanic somehow appears towards the end of the game - 𝐝𝐨𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐤𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞 with your entire body. It really requires reaction and feels awesome, but by then it becomes even easier to snatch weapons from mobs, and and eventually.. there are almost no situations where an enemy manages to lock on to a knife attack on you, and the mechanic simply disappears untapped. 

But I haven't covered the main thing yet: if you make it through the first hour of the game, you'll finally remember the title. Unexpectedly, the 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐫𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧, and it's conceptually brilliant. The thing is, after the prologue level, Bruce Wayne decides to create a fake identity (I don't know what kind of technology this is, but that's it), commit a minor act of administrative hooliganism, and wind up in jail himself.
And the game's structure literally alternates between civilian sections and Batman sections. During the day, we wander through the prison's utility rooms, just talking with key characters, briefly reminiscing about collectibles: you can call found phones, or hang posters and various cosmetic items in your cell (no minigames or something like that), except for overhearing little stories from some prisoners, like the escape planners.
But at night, we climb out the window of our cozy SHU cell on the edge of a cliff, descend into the cave that flows into the prison (oh ye those comic book conventions), where Alfred delivers a portable Bat-computer and a disguise—we replace the fake human skin with the Batsuit, and we're now we can move on "combat" missions within the Arkham expanses. Essentially, like in 𝐀𝐫𝐤𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝐀𝐬𝐲𝐥𝐮𝐦, the prison is a mini-Metroidvania filled with numerous secrets that can only be unlocked by acquiring new gadgets. For example, with a new mechanic for removing bars by pulling a grappling hook like a rope, but there it literally takes half a second (Rope tricks were already implemented much more deeply in 𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞'𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡 game).

Well, Batman didn't become my favorite VR-game. Due to the graphical simplicity, I can't immerse myself in the character (which is why I enjoyed playing even the 2016 version more). Technically, it's also not exactly flawless, interface of the game even doubled sometimes due to the "accommodation-convergence" conflict in our eyes.. come on, how did they manage that? I've never encountered this in other games. The combat, while unique and spectacular, was quite tedious in terms of gameplay. he plot is likely only suitable for fans of the character. However, the game has many strong points throughout, making it undoubtedly one of the most significant projects that has given impetus to the industry. However, this alone is far from the peak of VR Experience (HL Alix is ​​not the peak either) by the way... a sequel has already been announced. 

𝐌𝐲 𝐎𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩: https://backloggd.com/u/grihajedy/list/publisher-oculus-studios/

This is a pretty underrated game that unfortunately was somewhat targeted by the incels of gamergate because of how 'woke' it is. The audacity of having a black woman in a lead role. To be fair, there is a lot modern thinking injected into this 1690s period that just wouldn't be common. It is not entirely unbelievable though especially when you actually look at historical accounts of witch trials. I think they do a good job of balancing their messaging without it going overboard and it all serves the story. I think the story itself is good, it opens very strong with a creepy full moon set on a seaside town. The setup is good and gives you a cool dual protagonist combat system that never feels as good as it should be. There are a lot of skills that play into a certain playstyle if that is your thing. The progression can be lopsided because of how each of the characters skillpoints are gained. If you don't do haunting cases, Antea isn't earning a point to spend. She definitely has the better abilities, one of which being an AOE attack that can one shot a lot of the enemies later on. There is some good level design with some metroidvania type puzzles sprinkled in to come back to. My biggest complaint about this game is that it actively discourages exploration. A lot of the time you will come to an inpass, overpowered enemies or find you need an item that you need to return with. The fast travel system isn't great as it's point to point and not on demand and there is so much backtracking in this game. It can end up feeling like a slog despite good story beats and haunting cases. The combat go old fast because of the limited depth and how often enemies would randomly appear just to pad out your travels. It doesn't help that the gear system is pretty useless. There is so much build crafting put into the gear that it made most useless because I didn't engage with a lot of those stats or abilities. I ended up sticking with the stuff I got around the halfway point. I think the way to play this is to mainline the story and do the haunting quests, side stuff really doesn't add anything in my opinion. I wrapped up around 80 hrs so there is a lot of game.