As a VR user, I’ve often been witness to the dichotomy between indie-made VR games and first party-made VR games. I’ve begun writing this article because I want to explore actual modern examples and put to words what I feel this argument is actually discussing. I’ve known, innately, that Indie VR has a tendency to push the envelope a lot more than AAA developed VR games, which seem to be frightened to push boundaries in fear of becoming too niche for a general market. I’m going to be conducting a comparison between two games with somewhat similar mechanics to document these differences. 

I’m going to preface that I am going to be using mods for one of the games in this video, for the sake of comparison, but I am aware this may seem suspect at first, although, the game features a robust ingame mod manager that is extremely easy to use, and anyone who purchases the game is likely to figure it out and use it rather quickly.

Why am I using mods though?

Because the comparison i’m drawing has one throughline – Batman.

Device Specs

As with my previous reviews, I’m using a 512 GB Meta Quest 3 for both of these experiences. Space is optimized, so I shouldn’t receive any performance hits. 

Blade and Sorcery – The Batman Experience

So, before I get on to sample, I’ve decided to use five easily installable mods for this experience.

The Mods i’m using are: 

• Modern Overhaul by IronUkelele
• Foldable Batarang by firstmaskedgamer
• Batmans Grappling Hook by Breadymans
• Batman The Dark Knight Returns Armor (1.0) by reteretei
• Subway Nomad (1.0) by Mxthic

Overview

Installing the mods was easy, all you really need is an internet connection. Starting the game, the load times were hardly affected by the mods. Loading in, and everything worked as expected, suiting up and getting my gear was very easy. I walked over and entered the subway map, starting the encounter, and began.

The map, combined with the Modern Overhaul and assets, made the Batman experience I had created super immersive. It was dark, there was intense music, and I was beating up armed criminals with my fists and effortlessly weaving through crowbar swings and knife thrusts, and knocking people flat with a right hook, turning around and throwing a bataranag into an approaching criminal’s knee, and then taking out my third assailant with a dramatic flying kick. The Batman experience was all there, I truly felt like I was taking on a mob of criminals as a highly trained martial artist, although, due to the very nature of what I was doing, modding a combat sandbox game, that is ALL there was to it. There wasn’t really a stealth element, as this was just an arena, theoretically, one COULD stealth roleplay as Batman in the dungeon mode, but that might be jarring and unimmersive due to the clash between Batman and the medieval knights and warriors he would be fighting. 

Additionally, due to the violent nature of Blade and Sorcery, trying to roleplay as Batman becomes considerably more difficult when trying to adhere to his strict No-Killing rule. Enemies die after taking enough damage in pretty much any way, so, punching a dude or throwing him against the wall until he does his death scream and ragdolls, you can sort of cognitive dissonance that a little bit, “He’s fiiiine” but there really is no pretending when you accidentally decapitate a criminal with an uncautiously thrown batarang, or, in this particular map’s case, accidentally toss a criminal in front of a moving train. It was when I saw that the map had programmed a gore effect for him being liquified by the train that I decided that this probably wasn’t the game for the heroic Batman experience. On top of all of that, again, due to Blade and Sorcery being Blade and Sorcery, there was no story, detective-work, or dialogue to speak of, merely punching thugs in spandex. 

While this part of the review seems to be overwhelmingly negative, what I can say for modded Blade and Sorcery is that the combat feels wonderful, impactful, and immersive, and for a moment, I did feel like Batman, as I jumped over subway trains and took a man out with a kick to the head with a powerful Hans Zimmer track in my ears. All in all, it could definitely have been better, and a dedicated Batman game may perform better. However, I am particularly cynical about AAA VR games in general, as I feel, compared to some of the indie edge-pushers, they play it far too safe, content in making clones of Job Simulator or other glorified playground equipment. I hope to put those prejudices to the test with the opponent in the other corner of this battle,

Batman: Arkham Shadow

Batman: Arkham Shadow is one of the Flagship titles of the Meta Quest 3, and it boasts higher graphical fidelity than any prior quest game, even beating out the likes of Red Matter and Asgard’s Wrath. Despite that promising offer, though, I would be remiss if I didn’t state what has previously gone unspoken in this article, that being the source of my distrust toward this title. 

You see, I am an avid fan of the Rocksteady studios Batman: Arkham games, and that itself is an understatement. I adore, and have many, many steam hours on Arkham Asylum, City, Origins and Knight, and I believe them to be some of the very best superhero video games of all time. I would even say the success of the Insomniac Spider-Man games is largely due to the fact that they are incredibly similar gameplay-wise to the Arkham series; so, placed in the shoes of a boy with a love of both Virtual Reality games and the Batman: Arkham games, imagine my youthful joy buying Batman Arkham: VR at my local gamestop, being driven home and eagerly placing the disk into my playstation 4, plugging in my pre-owned Playstation VR, prepared to be blown away with the Batman experience of a lifetime.

For those in the know, that is not what happened, instead, ten year old Matthew was given a clunky, laggy, and boring “VR Experience” that lasts only about 20-25 minutes, depending how long you spend standing there with your finger up your butt trying to figure out the ridiculously obvious puzzle. 

You see, this was at a time when Virtual Reality was in its infancy, only just starting to come into the mainstream, and when the VR game market was even more primitive and safe than it is now. Unfortunately, Batman Arkham VR was little more than a cheap escape room experience with a few cheap scares, with a “story”, that was really a bunch of abstract hints and teases to the plot of Arkham Knight, which had already been out for a year at that point. Enough waffling about disappointing childhood Batman experiences, though, back to the point. This experience was enough to deeply sour my expectations when I heard that the quest 3 would be shipping with a virtual reality Batman: Arkham game, NOT developed by Rocksteady, I was more than hesitant, but, since I have this Quest 3, which came with the game, I figured it might be worth a try, after all, VR Tech has certainly improved since 2016, maybe it will be like Vader immortal, hopefully better, as that was also mostly a glorified theme park ride. And from my Hour and a half or so of playtime, what do I think, and how does it compare to Modded Blade and Sorcery?

I was wrong.

Batman: Arkham Shadow is the single best AAA VR game I have ever had the pleasure of playing, and it’s quality, content depth and gameplay blow just about everything that I’ve come to expect from corporate VR games out of the water completely. It is everything that I had hoped Batman: Arkham VR would be and more. 

Combat-wise, Shadow takes a different approach than expected. Whereas I would expect physics-based combat, like Bonelab, Blade and Sorcery or Drunkn Bar Fight, Shadow instead opts for a butter-smooth, rhythm game-like experience, where you have to follow the fight choreography laid out before you, not unlike Beat Saber. Additionally, Shadow also features similar uses of Batman’s Arsenal of Gadgets to the flat-screen Arkham games, and even adopts the glorious predator stealth system, adapting it all for VR just about seamlessly. Batman: Arkham Shadow features all of the Fun and Intense gameplay of an Indie VR game, with none of the jank, and all of the polish of AAA VR games like Asgard’s Wrath and Superhot. I have yet to check out Asgard’s Wrath 2, but if this is the model going forward, AAA VR may have a much brighter future than my cynical mind could have imagined.

The Advent of Arkham Shadow has almost made the blade and sorcery part of this article feel completely pointless, as it really is the complete batman experience by comparison, delivering all the bone-breaking superhero violence expected from a Batman game with none of the expected modding jank. That’s not to say modding Blade and Sorcery isn’t worth it, though, as it is still unbeaten as far as sword combat goes, but for hand-to-hand? Shadow is hard to beat. The game is also very cinematic, and has plenty of accessibility features, which means it’s less likely to produce motion-sickness than Blade and Sorcery, which I believe should feature Bonework’s warning for advanced VR Players.

Conclusion

I think the main takeaway from this Article is that Blade and Sorcery modding, while fun, does pale in comparison to a true, competently made product. I would also take away from this that when done correctly, VR games can be wonderful. I think technology like the Quest should become more mainstream and available to the public, as VR is an avenue of gaming that deserves so much more exploration than it currently has. It’s an unparalleled level of Immersion, imagine an RPG like Skyrim or Baldur’s Gate 3 made for VR, it would be a revelation. 

All in all, I would say if you’re looking to don the Cowl and sharpen your knuckles on some criminal jaw-bones, Arkham Shadow is undoubtedly the way to go. But the Greater message of this article, I think, is to look for games of quality, regardless of if they’re developed by an Indie studio or a AAA one.