Batman: Arkham Shadow
SOCIAL JUSTICE LEAGUE
You’ll no doubt have heard, at some point, the waggish claim that Batman is a one percenter who inflicts violence on the poor rather than investing all that money into social programmes. It’s an argument that Camouflaj appears to have taken to heart.
Shadow’s
primary antagonist is the Rat King and his army of downtrodden criminals, whose talking points nod to modern critiques of the American carceral system and policing. (One piece of graffiti reads ‘GCAB’, the ‘G’ presumably standing for ‘Gotham’.) While our rattish sympathies are eroded by their fondness for murder, it’s also hard to root for
Shadow’s
Batman. Seeing the effect of our finishing moves up close drives home that unfavourable reading, not helped by his characterisation as a creature of gravelly rage.
Developer
Camouflaj
Publisher
Oculus Studios
Format
Quest 3
Release
Out now
The genius of Rocksteady’s Arkham games was in how they fulfilled that mask-and-cape childhood fantasy while keeping you at arm’s length enough that you could appreciate every cool thing Batman did on your orders. With 2016’s Arkham VR, the developer experimented with putting you inside the cowl (which, covering the top of the head but leaving the lower half exposed, is a pretty good match for a VR headset). That, though, was a short experience with limited interactions.