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

A few hours into Skydance’s Behemoth, I found myself riding on the back of a gargantuan half-bat, half-dragon hybrid. I watched in awe as the creature flew through the clouds, and the moment brought me back to the first time I played Shadow of the Colossus all those years ago. Mesmerized by the sight and recalling past memories, I actually forgot to grab hold of the bat-dragon’s scales and it shook me off as it turned sideways.

My impending doom was fast approaching as I plummeted to the ground, but I still had one last chance. I activated my grappling hook to latch onto the beast’s armor plating! As it zigzagged through the skies, I pulled myself back onto its massive hide, ready to strike it down to claim victory.

That’s just one boss fight in Behemoth, a new VR action-adventure game, and it’s certainly the most memorable. As magnificent as moments like that are, they are also few and far between. Too often, Behemoth is bogged down by poor pacing and comparatively dull battles against regular old enemies that don’t live up to those thrilling heights.

Weapons of  war

Skydance is no stranger to developing VR games, having released The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners in previous years. From that postapocalyptic world filled with zombies and guns, the studio moves its expertise to Behemoth’s fantasy setting. Its hero, Wren (who can be a male or female character), is thrust into a world where a curse has befallen their village. Wren is able to stave off the corruption, but not for long. That is why they need to slay the Behemoths, who are said to be the bringers of the curse.

Along the way, Wren is aided by the disembodied voice of a sorcerer named Silja, who wants them to find powerful armaments to take down their targets. Similarly, a warrior named Ragnar seems to be following Wren around. Story isn’t Behemoth’s strongest suit, relying on tired tropes and predictable twists. That big narrative simply provides a backdrop for Behemoth’s real focus: first-person combat.

Behemoth does offer a surprisingly decent selection of armaments, such as swords, daggers, axes, bows, and shields. There are also legendary weapons that return to your inventory slots even if you drop them, including a bow that replenishes arrows over time.

Battles are primarily defense- and counter-oriented. Think of it as somewhat akin to Blade & Sorcery, minus the sorcery and with a lot of motion-controlled blocking and countering added. I can’t wantonly chop and slice everything around me since this quickly drains my stamina. Instead, I have to wait for an opponent’s strike, and then swing my weapon from the opposite direction to do a parry. This briefly staggers my foe, allowing me to follow up with deadly counterattacks. As someone who’s a huge fan of Soulslike titles, I enjoy the flow of combat in Behemoth as well. Patiently telegraphing an opponent’s move before destroying their shield or punishing them with a riposte is certainly satisfying.

This is further complemented by a strength mechanic. Wren can activate a temporary power boost that not only grants extra damage, but also lets them dismember hostiles and throw them away like ragdolls. In some cases, it’s possible to switch how blades are held, which is also great for stealthily stabbing a target. There are also upgrades for legendary weapons, like health restoration when decapitating foes and different types of arrow blasts. Once I unlocked more legendary gear and skills, I had varied, fun ways to eliminate my enemies.

Exhausting enemy encounters

Behemoth’s levels offer teases of what’s to come. As you advance through a region, you might catch a glimpse of a terrifying beast in the distance. You won’t actually get to fight it until around a couple of hours later. Most of Wren’s trek is spent going through tunnels, caves, abandoned ruins, marshlands, and castles where human enemies await. These are mini-arenas of sorts. Hostile forces include your usual raider and brigand tropes, like archers, dual-wielding renegades, and the sturdy sword-and-shield types.

I could most appreciate the physical combat when fights were self-contained. Taken in totality, though, the sheer number of encounters against human enemies in the adventure pushed me to the brink of exhaustion. These fights become tedious over time, negatively impacting the overall pacing.

It doesn’t help that Behemoth is filled with little misfires that add up. Hitting an opponent with a thrown dagger never quite feels right. Likewise, aiming with a bow is downright weird. Regular bows don’t have a crosshair, whereas the legendary bow has two circles that you need to align and a dot in the center. I honestly couldn’t tell if the PSVR2’s eye-tracking function was properly implemented as I struggled to control these features.

Compounding matters, I ran into a few bugs and glitches during my playthrough, such as enemies that got stuck in textures or behind walls. I had to goad them out until their heads appeared just so I could hit them. There was also a nasty bug that caused my legendary bow to disappear – it was nowhere to be found, not even in my alternate slots. Since I couldn’t damage a boss’ weak spots without it, I had no choice but to reload an earlier save. I could have lived with a handful of these messy missteps, but the quirks pile up too high by the end.

The big, bad beasts of Behemoth

The stars of Behemoth are, naturally, the titular massive creatures that beg to be taken down. Imposing from a distance and downright frightening up close, these beasts remind me of titanic beings from various games, most notably Shadow of the Colossus, given the exciting mix of combat and platforming they present.

A couple of these bosses are terrestrial, with each stomp shaking the ground and the PSVR2 itself, thanks to haptic feedback. That behavior allows me to find a point on their feet or legs that I can climb or an object that I can pull down to finish them off. The second boss, meanwhile, is the aforementioned bat-dragon hybrid, a monster that shrieks so loudly that you’ll want to cover your ears. Since it’s a flying creature, I had to shoot it with arrows before climbing on its back as it flew through the air. This phase of the encounter required me to destroy its armor plating so I could hit the blighted nodes that they covered.

Make no mistake: face-offs against these monsters are spectacular set pieces. They will challenge you and, at times, they may even frustrate you. But you will, nonetheless, feel triumphant once you’ve slain your quarry.

Despite advertising so many big bosses, Behemoth’s biggest disappointment is that there are too few of them. Counting the final boss, there are only four actual Behemoths in the campaign. Perhaps that helps make these confrontations feel more special. Even so, they’re far and beyond the best moments of the campaign, so it’s a bit of a shame to get so few, considering that they’re the adventure’s main selling point.

Exploration and immersion

While battles can be uneven, exploration in Behemoth is a rewarding experience throughout. Levels are fairly linear, but there are still several alternate paths and secret rooms to discover. Players are likely to find lore collectibles, health upgrades, stamina buffs, and the Coloss currency needed to upgrade gear in lots of nooks and crannies. That searching is made just a bit more exciting thanks to traversal mechanics that make sense in VR, such as climbing on ledges and using the grappling hook.

Controls are fine, for the most part, though not as intuitive as in a game like Horizon Call of the Mountain. Grabbing a ledge and pushing downward lets Wren mantle; climbing a cliffside requires holding grips one hand at a time, and then jumping if the next ledge is higher. That’s all fine, but the problem is that jumping while climbing is very unpredictable. If any part of Wren’s body bumps into a solid object, they could find themselves pushed all the way to oblivion.

Behemoth offers two turning modes for comfort: smooth turning and snap turning (with degrees and vignette sliders). There are no teleport movement options. As someone who prefers snap turning with vignette, I was able to play in bursts without feeling dizzy or nauseated, even with all the climbing and fighting that I had to do.

A few more clever mechanics provide an extra layer of immersion. Replenishing Wren’s health requires that I raise a potion or herb to my lips. I did this so often that I sometimes opened my mouth thinking that I was about to nibble on the food myself. At certain sections, players will even need to cover their ears to prevent damage from sound blasts, or cover their mouth as they wade through a swampy area with poison gas. That’s the kind of creative thought that helps elevate Behemoth in between messy fights.

Though uneven in its execution, Behemoth is an enjoyable VR offering from Skydance, one that’s likely to interest action-adventure aficionados looking for immersive experiences. It’s not a long game either, as you can clear the campaign in under 10 hours – far more manageable than the 60-hour-plus Asgard’s Wrath 2. It’s just a shame that Behemoth doesn’t fill those precious hours with more spectacular boss fights. With so few peaks, the promising VR premise never quite reaches the heights of its towering title.

Skydance’s Behemoth was reviewed on PlayStation VR2. A code was provided by the publisher.