I’ve flown through the air as Iron Man. I’ve used my detective instincts to investigate a prison as Batman. And now, I’ve picked up my own decapitated arm and beaten my attacker to death with it. I probably don’t have to say I was playing as Deadpool in that last one. I’m sure you already guessed that.
Revealed at Summer Game Fest 2025, Marvel’s Deadpool VR is a new action game coming exclusively to Meta Quest 3 and 3S later this year. It’s the latest title from Twisted Pixel, the developer behind 2009’s ‘Splosion Man, and will be its first game since becoming a subsidiary of Oculus Studios in 2021. For its grand debut under the Meta banner, the studio is putting its history of irreverent humor and over the top action to the ultimate test by letting players embody the Merc With a Mouth as they cut through dimwitted goons
Ahead of its reveal, I played a slice of Marvel’s Deadpool VR and got more details on the project from Twisted Pixel. It’s every bit as bloody as you’d expect a Deadpool game to be. Though what’s even more impressive is how it’s pushing the Meta Quest 3’s power to create one of the fastest and more fluid action games I’ve tried in VR to date.
Merc with a headset
Marvel’s Deadpool VR is a first-person action game that has players dual wielding katanas, picking up any gun they can find, and creating moments of improvised violence across what Twisted Pixel calls a “full campaign” complete with secret levels and unannounced replayability hooks. It tells a completely original story centered around the villain Mojo rather than adapting any specific comic book arc, though characters like Flag-Smasher and Lady Deathstroke play a role in it. It also features a new voice for Deadpool: Neil Patrick Harris, who is a dead ringer for Ryan Reynolds here.
The first moments of my demo immediately tell me what I’m in for. I’m in first-person, but looking through the eyes of Deadpool’s decapitated head. I take control of his nearby body and kick the scientist who presumably carried the beheading out, all while a peppy Neil Patrick Harris kicks out a barrage of fourth wall-breaking one-liners (including a very dated “Damn Daniel” reference). After retrieving my weapons, I lob off the scientist’s hand, use it to open a door, and get ready to butcher my way through a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. All of this unfolds in a vibrant pop art style that puts the Quest 3’s power to good use.
To properly adapt the character, Twisted Pixel had to figure out what it would mean to embody the character. It wouldn’t make sense to have him play like the Caped Crusader does in Batman: Arkham Shadow, after all. To make him stand out from other heroes, Game Director Daniel Bullock says that speed was the key.
“We had early conversations with Marvel where we were talking about what makes Deadpool Deadpool,” Bullock tells Digital Trends. “One of the things that came up was that Deadpool is basically Spider-Man with no webs. That kind of set us thinking early on about how we could push the movement and the fast pace and really make the player feel like a ninja.”
That philosophy becomes apparent quickly once I enter a room full of enemies. I have two pistols, one I can grab from each hip, and a katana on each shoulder. Dual wielding is key in battle, as I can use those weapons on the fly in whatever configuration I choose. If I want, I can throw a sword in each hand and slash my foes to death. Or I can mix and match a katana with a handgun and try attacking two enemies at once while moving. It’s remarkably complex for a VR game — and that’s just the beginning.
The deeper I get, and the heavier the waves of enemies become, the more I see just how much I can do in battle. I can toss my sword at an enemy, pinning their body to a wall. I can divekick into a guy, jump off his head, and fire my pistols down at him. When I get a grappling hook late in the demo, I’m able to launch myself up to a rafter with one hand while shooting with the other. The action is non-stop as I juggle my weapons with any ones that my fallen enemies leave behind, from shotguns to electrified batons. Weapon upgrades will deepen the slapstick routine too, as they’ll give Deadpool’s tools unique perks like the ability to turn a tossed gun into a boomerang. Twisted Pixel says it has a “say yes to the player” mentality here; it wants players to be able to pull off anything they think should work.
The routine works remarkably well thanks to responsive controls that let me very quickly grab tools off my body, toss them aside, and pick something else up without any friction. I’ve never quite been able to move this efficiently in VR before, and without a hint of motion sickness to boot. It’s a blood-soaked ballet that does away with the flimsiness many VR action games bump into.
I only got a taste of the project, but the demo I tried teased a full adventure game that isn’t just about clearing out enemies to move on to the next room. I got a quick introduction to the story, which will see Wade Wilson fighting through Mojoworld. There will be sequences that have players driving cars and manning turrets. Mobility is important outside of battle, as my demo had me wall running and grappling out of a trap room. I even did a puzzle or two, grabbing a grenade off my wrist and tossing it into a hole to blow open an explorable path. All of those things could happen in any superhero game, but Twisted Pixel really tried to pay attention to how Deadpool would tackle them compared to any other cape.
“When we’re developing our features, we do ask ourselves that,” Executive Producer Jody Coglianese tells Digital Trends. “Okay, this is a cool thing, but why is it going to be cool for Deadpool? What’s going to set us apart from another superhero? And then you kind of have to put your mind in a different bad place sometimes. We have a couple puzzles. Puzzles are fun! But what would be Deadpool’s way on this puzzle? And you can kind of maybe put some … gestures in there to figure out what would make that happen.”
Based on my first demo, it looks like Twisted Pixel have cracked how to make a hero that moves and acts like Deadpool rather than tossing players under a mask that could be on any old hero. So long as you have the tolerance for a few hacky jokes — and you’d have to if you’re already a fan of the character — then Marvel’s Deadpool VR should deliver a bloody good power fantasy fitting of an antihero.
Marvel’s Deadpool VR launches in late 2025 for Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S.
