Solve Nightwing's brutal murder in 'Batman: Arkham VR'
I'm staring down at the battered body of Nightwing, vigilante alter ego of Bruce Wayne protégé Dick Grayson. His ribs, jaw and arm are broken. His neck has been snapped.
I lean over to inspect the personally devastating scene, but I'm all business. I'm Batman, the world's greatest detective. And here on the ground in front of me is the beginning of a murder mystery.
Batman: Arkham VR is a surprise. It was a standout reveal in a PlayStation E3 press conference full of them. After seemingly finishing off its work on the Arkham series in 2015, Rocksteady Studios is back for another Batventure.
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A virtual reality Batventure.
If you're familiar with Rocksteady's Arkham work to date, you might as well banish it from your mind. This PlayStation VR-exclusive experience is less about punching and more about investigation.
Rocksteady Studios is back for another Batventure. A virtual reality Batventure.
There are two pieces to the demo Sony is sharing at E3, the first of which is mostly tutorial and scene-setting. You start out as Bruce Wayne, just chilling at home in your palatial manor. The fun starts when Alfred hands you a key to your piano, which activates the elevator down to the Batcave.
The brief sequence that follows sees Bruce suiting up -- you interact with a variety of machines to first put on the suit, then the gauntlets and finally, the cowl. You also gather the key tools of Batman's trade: A grapnel gun for quick escapes, a scanner to aid in your investigations and, of course, an endless supply of Batarangs.
Then you're whisked off to a darkened alley where the motionless, shattered body of Nightwing lies slumped against a wall. This is where the scanner comes in handy.
The later Batman: Arkham games featured investigation sequences that involved piecing together the events of a crime by using evidence to create a holographic representation of what happened. It's much the same in Arkham VR, only now you get to see it all through Batman's eyes.
A simple series of fast-forward, pause and rewind maneuvers allow you to shuttle through Nightwing's brawl with a mysterious assailant, pinpointing the moments that led to his injuries and eventual death. From this, you learn that the crime had a witness, an agent of the Penguin.
And that's it. The demo ends as you grapnel up to the waiting Batwing, presumably to fly off to wherever Penguin is currently roosting.
It's a promising first glimpse at how a character like Batman could work in a virtual setting. Batman: Arkham VR is expected to launch in October, right around the PSVR's release, so expect to hear more soon.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
