Batman Arkham Shadow gameplay trailer debuts at Gamescom 2024

And it looks promising

Camouflaj

After months of teases and cinematic reveals, Camouflaj showed off the first Batman Arkham Shadow gameplay trailer during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024. It’s two minutes packed with punching, Bat gadgets, criminal conspiracies – all the stuff you’d expect from an Arkham game, basically.

After a bit of narrative setup about the Rat King and the tide of darkness sweeping over Gotham City, the trailer shifts to Batman beating up on several Rat King followers in an eerily lit underground hideout. The action looks surprisingly smooth and clean, much more polished than we saw in Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice and, thankfully, without the jittery little head bobbing effects so common in VR games.

Batman’s Bat senses tingle when an enemy’s about to land a punch, which is your sign to dodge, weave, or just move really fast and clock them one. Fist combos blend seamlessly into batmerang attacks, and then the Caped Crusader glides to safety with the help of another gadget. Bat senses point out nearby enemies and contraptions, there’s some light puzzle solving, and a pretty nifty boss fight against an electrified giant. The whole thing is more cinematic than I’m used to seeing in VR as well.

So I get why Batman Arkham Shadow is a Meta Quest 3 exclusive and also why Camouflaj says it’s a continuation of Rocksteady’s Arkham games. The encounters in the trailer might not have the same breadth of variety as we saw in Arkham Asylum, but the spirit of the trilogy seems very much alive in Arkham Shadow.

We don’t have much longer to find out whether it can live up to that promise. Batman Arkham Shadow launches sometime in October 2024.