Skydance’s Behemoth review: ambitious VR adventure doesn’t quite stand tall

A number of hours into Skydance’s Behemoth, I discovered myself using on the again of a gargantuan half-bat, half-dragon hybrid. I watched in awe because the creature flew by means of the clouds, and the second introduced me again to the primary time I performed Shadow of the Colossus all these years in the past. Mesmerized by the sight and recalling previous recollections, I really forgot to seize maintain of the bat-dragon’s scales and it shook me off because it turned sideways.

My impending doom was quick approaching as I plummeted to the bottom, however I nonetheless had one final likelihood. I activated my grappling hook to latch onto the beast’s armor plating! Because it zigzagged by means of the skies, I pulled myself again onto its huge cover, able to strike it down to assert victory.

That’s only one boss combat in Behemoth, a brand new VR action-adventure recreation, and it’s actually essentially the most memorable. As magnificent as moments like which are, they’re additionally few and much between. Too typically, Behemoth is slowed down by poor pacing and relatively uninteresting battles towards common outdated enemies that don’t stay as much as these thrilling heights.

Weapons of  conflict

Skydance isn’t any stranger to growing VR video games, having launched The Strolling Useless: Saints & Sinners in earlier years. From that postapocalyptic world crammed with zombies and weapons, the studio strikes its experience to Behemoth’s fantasy setting. Its hero, Wren (who generally is a male or feminine character), is thrust right into a world the place a curse has befallen their village. Wren is ready to stave off the corruption, however not for lengthy. That’s the reason they should slay the Behemoths, who’re stated to be the bringers of the curse.

Alongside the best way, Wren is aided by the disembodied voice of a sorcerer named Silja, who needs them to seek out highly effective armaments to take down their targets. Equally, a warrior named Ragnar appears to be following Wren round. Story isn’t Behemoth’s strongest go well with, counting on drained tropes and predictable twists. That huge narrative merely supplies a backdrop for Behemoth’s actual focus: first-person fight.

Behemoth does provide a surprisingly first rate choice of armaments, akin to swords, daggers, axes, bows, and shields. There are additionally legendary weapons that return to your stock slots even when you drop them, together with a bow that replenishes arrows over time.

Battles are primarily defense- and counter-oriented. Consider it as considerably akin to Blade & Sorcery, minus the sorcery and with quite a lot of motion-controlled blocking and countering added. I can’t wantonly chop and slice all the pieces round me since this shortly drains my stamina. As an alternative, I’ve to attend for an opponent’s strike, after which swing my weapon from the wrong way to do a parry. This briefly staggers my foe, permitting me to observe up with lethal counterattacks. As somebody who’s an enormous fan of Soulslike titles, I benefit from the circulate of fight in Behemoth as properly. Patiently telegraphing an opponent’s transfer earlier than destroying their defend or punishing them with a riposte is actually satisfying.

That is additional complemented by a energy mechanic. Wren can activate a short lived energy increase that not solely grants additional harm, but in addition lets them dismember hostiles and throw them away like ragdolls. In some circumstances, it’s doable to modify how blades are held, which can be nice for stealthily stabbing a goal. There are additionally upgrades for legendary weapons, like well being restoration when decapitating foes and several types of arrow blasts. As soon as I unlocked extra legendary gear and abilities, I had diverse, enjoyable methods to remove my enemies.

Exhausting enemy encounters

Behemoth’s ranges provide teases of what’s to come back. As you advance by means of a area, you may catch a glimpse of a terrifying beast within the distance. You received’t really get to combat it till round a few hours later. Most of Wren’s trek is spent going by means of tunnels, caves, deserted ruins, marshlands, and castles the place human enemies await. These are mini-arenas of kinds. Hostile forces embrace your standard raider and brigand tropes, like archers, dual-wielding renegades, and the sturdy sword-and-shield sorts.

I may most respect the bodily fight when fights have been self-contained. Taken in totality, although, the sheer variety of encounters towards human enemies within the journey pushed me to the brink of exhaustion. These fights change into tedious over time, negatively impacting the general pacing.

It doesn’t assist that Behemoth is crammed with little misfires that add up. Hitting an opponent with a thrown dagger by no means fairly feels proper. Likewise, aiming with a bow is downright bizarre. Common bows don’t have a crosshair, whereas the legendary bow has two circles that you have to align and a dot within the middle. I truthfully couldn’t inform if the PSVR2’s eye-tracking operate was correctly applied as I struggled to regulate these options.

Compounding issues, I bumped into a couple of bugs and glitches throughout my playthrough, akin to enemies that acquired caught in textures or behind partitions. I needed to goad them out till their heads appeared simply so I may hit them. There was additionally a nasty bug that triggered my legendary bow to vanish – it was nowhere to be discovered, not even in my alternate slots. Since I couldn’t harm a boss’ weak spots with out it, I had no selection however to reload an earlier save. I may have lived with a handful of those messy missteps, however the quirks pile up too excessive by the top.

The large, unhealthy beasts of Behemoth

The celebrities of Behemoth are, naturally, the titular huge creatures that beg to be taken down. Imposing from a distance and downright scary up shut, these beasts remind me of titanic beings from varied video games, most notably Shadow of the Colossus, given the thrilling mixture of fight and platforming they current.

A few these bosses are terrestrial, with every stomp shaking the bottom and the PSVR2 itself, due to haptic suggestions. That habits permits me to discover a level on their ft or legs that I can climb or an object that I can pull down to complete them off. The second boss, in the meantime, is the aforementioned bat-dragon hybrid, a monster that shrieks so loudly that you simply’ll need to cowl your ears. Because it’s a flying creature, I needed to shoot it with arrows earlier than climbing on its again because it flew by means of the air. This section of the encounter required me to destroy its armor plating so I may hit the blighted nodes that they coated.

Make no mistake: face-offs towards these monsters are spectacular set items. They are going to problem you and, at instances, they might even frustrate you. However you’ll, nonetheless, really feel triumphant when you’ve slain your quarry.

Regardless of promoting so many huge bosses, Behemoth’s greatest disappointment is that there are too few of them. Counting the ultimate boss, there are solely 4 precise Behemoths within the marketing campaign. Maybe that helps make these confrontations really feel extra particular. Even so, they’re far and past one of the best moments of the marketing campaign, so it’s a little bit of a disgrace to get so few, contemplating that they’re the journey’s important promoting level.

Exploration and immersion

Whereas battles might be uneven, exploration in Behemoth is a rewarding expertise all through. Ranges are pretty linear, however there are nonetheless a number of alternate paths and secret rooms to find. Gamers are more likely to discover lore collectibles, well being upgrades, stamina buffs, and the Coloss forex wanted to improve gear in plenty of nooks and crannies. That looking is made only a bit extra thrilling due to traversal mechanics that make sense in VR, akin to climbing on ledges and utilizing the grappling hook.

Controls are fantastic, for essentially the most half, although not as intuitive as in a recreation like Horizon Name of the Mountain. Grabbing a ledge and pushing downward lets Wren mantle; climbing a cliffside requires holding grips one hand at a time, after which leaping if the subsequent ledge is increased. That’s all fantastic, however the issue is that leaping whereas climbing could be very unpredictable. If any a part of Wren’s physique bumps right into a stable object, they may discover themselves pushed all the best way to oblivion.

Behemoth provides two turning modes for consolation: clean turning and snap turning (with levels and vignette sliders). There aren’t any teleport motion choices. As somebody who prefers snap turning with vignette, I used to be in a position to play in bursts with out feeling dizzy or nauseated, even with all of the climbing and preventing that I needed to do.

A number of extra intelligent mechanics present an additional layer of immersion. Replenishing Wren’s well being requires that I elevate a potion or herb to my lips. I did this so typically that I typically opened my mouth considering that I used to be about to nibble on the meals myself. At sure sections, gamers will even must cowl their ears to stop harm from sound blasts, or cowl their mouth as they wade by means of a swampy space with poison fuel. That’s the sort of artistic thought that helps elevate Behemoth in between messy fights.

Although uneven in its execution, Behemoth is an pleasurable VR providing from Skydance, one which’s more likely to curiosity action-adventure aficionados on the lookout for immersive experiences. It’s not a protracted recreation both, as you’ll be able to clear the marketing campaign in beneath 10 hours – way more manageable than the 60-hour-plus Asgard’s Wrath 2. It’s only a disgrace that Behemoth doesn’t fill these treasured hours with extra spectacular boss fights. With so few peaks, the promising VR premise by no means fairly reaches the heights of its towering title.

Skydance’s Behemoth was reviewed on PlayStation VR2. A code was supplied by the writer.