Review of ‘Skydance’s Behemoth’ – A Monumental Leap in VR Action-Adventure Gaming

Skydance’s Behemoth comes to life with a blend of cutting-edge VR design and insightful lessons learned from their previous hit, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. As a fresh entry in the action-adventure category, Behemoth treads familiar narrative grounds that might not break into the spotlight against conventional video games. However, within the world of VR, its enormous presence and immersive experience are unmatched and incredibly rewarding.

Skydance’s Behemoth Details

• Developer: Skydance Games
• Available On: Quest 2/3/Pro, PSVR 2, coming soon to SteamVR
• Reviewed On: Quest 3
• Release Date: December 5th, 2024
• Price: $40

Gameplay

Taking a page from Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke, Behemoth places you in the shoes of Wren, a cursed villager destined to become a hulking menace if the affliction runs its course. This curse is both a blessing and a curse: it grants you extraordinary power, enabling you to move swiftly and land devastating blows, all in the quest to unearth and eliminate the evil tormenting a fallen kingdom.

Throughout visually stunning environments, from decrepit castles to intricate pathways, players face off against a variety of cursed foes, all under the sway of malevolent forces. These battlegrounds also host enormous, troll-like adversaries that keep the tensions soaring.

Behemoth delivers intense, physics-driven combat with a focus on melee engagements. Forget robotic enemy strike zones—instead, you’re encouraged to unleash your creativity and strategically strike and parry. Blocking enemy attacks involves simple, intuitive sword maneuvers, opening up vulnerable targets. However, indiscriminately dashing and chopping away can exhaust your stamina, demanding focus and strategy to adapt to different enemy types and styles.

Leveraging your supernatural abilities, you can tear through armor and dispatch multiple adversaries with single swipes. This ability, which recharges over time, can be even more effective with upgrades that boost speed and allow new chain kills.

As the game progresses, encounters with armored foes become more frequent, necessitating the use of three legendary weapons: a powerful two-hand sword, a regenerating bow, and a formidable axe designed to break through armor. These weapons can be enhanced at conveniently located forges using Coloss Alloy, the game’s solitary upgrade currency.

The crafting system is minimal, focusing mainly on upgrading weapons. This seems like a missed opportunity given the many collectible plants that offer minimal health benefits when consumed. Maybe there were plans for a potion crafting system that didn’t make the cut? Nevertheless, health potions remain an abundant lootable resource among the game’s spoils.

Beyond combat, you’ll find environmental puzzles ranging from straightforward to deceptively complex, each serving as the precursor to encounters with mini-bosses, eventually leading to the magnificent Behemoths.

The game truly shines during Behemoth battles. Despite only featuring four of these majestic creatures, each fight tests all your honed abilities, from archery to grappling. These epic, multi-stage confrontations challenge you to exploit available weaknesses and devise strategies for toppling these titans. While a witch-like voice guides your progress, it doesn’t detract from the sheer scale of these massive undertakings. These battles demand meticulous execution as you navigate their intimidating forms to deliver critical blows.

While Behemoth includes various collectibles, narrative notes, and functional inventories, the immersive story is somewhat predictable and lacks a wow factor. Challenging gameplay, however, keeps you on your toes. Even on its easiest setting, encounters can be ruthless, often requiring several attempts to master strategies against formidable foes.

Over my nine-hour campaign journey, I found the experience streamlined and purpose-driven. Every engagement feels meaningful and essential, rewarding exploration and collection of Coloss Alloy for essential weapon upgrades, with scant non-essential clutter. Fast travel lets you revisit past levels to uncover secrets, but thankfully, the game avoids excessive content recycling.

Immersion

You’ll likely appreciate the voiced characters, including Wren and his internal witch-like advisor, who enhance the narrative without disrupting puzzles or combat. Unlike many games with overly assertive companions, these voices are well balanced, offering guidance without impinging on your autonomy.

The voice acting, though competent, felt slightly off in tone with the game world, introducing an unexpected contrast. Though plot twists and climactic battles are somewhat stereotypical, the game’s combat, artful movement, and stunning visuals might just win you over.

Enemy AI often feels somewhat simplistic compared to Saints & Sinners, with predictable patterns on larger stages, but overall, Behemoth offers a complete package that couples exciting exploration with engaging challenges. Just about every element is expertly crafted, from the varied environments to the anticipation of upcoming Behemoth showdowns and the satisfying crunch of breaking barriers.

In the end, had Behemoth launched on a headset like Quest 3 five years ago, it would have undoubtedly impressed with its innovative use of mobile VR technology.

Comfort

Behemoth demands an active playstyle but accommodates both seated and standing options for longer, more comfortable sessions. The game supports dual-wielding, so ensure you have a spacious area to fully indulge in the game’s physical requirements.

Standard VR mobility options abound, catering to various preferences for movement and turning, all enhanced by a gentle snowy vista effect that makes navigation intuitive and natural. Besides the one stomach-churning elevator ride, Behemoth offers an overall comfortable, engaging VR experience.

Skydance’s Behemoth Comfort Settings – December 5th, 2024

• Turning: Snap-turn ✔ / Quick-turn ✖ / Smooth-turn ✔
• Movement: Teleport-move ✖ / Dash-move ✔ / Smooth-move ✔ / Blinders ✔ / Head-based control ✔ / Controller-based ✖ / Swappable movement hand ✖
• Posture: Standing mode ✔ / Seated mode ✔ / Artificial crouch ✔ / Real crouch ✖
• Accessibility: Subtitles ✔ / Dialogue audio languages ✔ / Adjustable difficulty ✔ / Two-hand requirement ✔ / Hearing required ✔ / Adjustable player height ✖