Preview: Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable
When the teaser originally dropped showing Attack on Titan was getting an official VR game, I was very excited to see the franchise coming to virtual reality. Then when the gameplay trailer dropped a few weeks ago that excitement waned a little. I have not been zipping around and taking down titans so, has it increased my excitement again?
Release Date: July 23rd 2024
Developer: UNIVRS, Inc
Publisher: UNIVRS, Inc
Price: $4.99 (during early access)
Previewed On: Meta Quest 3
* Access Provided For Preview *
Attack on Titan VR is described by UNIVRS as a VR Hunting Action game, which feels like a fair description in one part but, also not in other parts. The team have worked to capture taking down the Titans attacking your district very well, using what virtual reality offers to make good use of the Omni-Directional Maneuvering Gear. Allowing you to fly through the district, avoid and get close enough to the Titans to attack with the waist mounted grappling hooks and gas-power propulsion system.
This movement has been perfectly implement by UNIVRS, and once you are used to putting the grappling hooks and propulsion systems together, you will soon be whipping around the rooftops to your next objective and putting together some crazy movements to get to the nape of the Titans necks for those lethal blows.
With the game releasing in early access, you will only receive access to chapter one and two of the game, with the games road-map showing the later chapters and co-op mode is planned by the end of 2024. For this preview I was given full access to what is available in early access. These two chapters play out in five parts, which mixes phases of taking down Titans in different parts of your district, going around the district collecting materials while avoiding titans and defending a set important location in your district from waves of Titans.
All of these tasks have a time limit when needing to take out the Titans and collecting materials, then having to defend the point on the map in two phases of ninety and one hundred and twenty seconds. Fail to do the current objective in the time given or to successfully defend the area and it’s game over – and you need to start that whole part again. After the first few attempts if you are failing you will start to get used to the best approach.
When you complete the missions you will be given a score on how you performed and will gain progress unlocking other weapons for attacking the Titans – each having their own strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to find the one that works best for you and your approach. As you would expect from the show the only way to successfully take down a Titan is by attacking the nape of the neck. However, you can take off arms and legs to limit their movement and attacks to give you an advantage in the fight – until they grow back but, you can then take them off again.
In the game you will get to take on Pure Titans in different sizes, these are most predictable ones to take out. Then you will also get Abnormal Titans added that are similar to Pure Titans whose behavior is little less predictable, which consists of a wider array of attacks and movement speeds.
Where the movement and combat works fantastically and makes you feel like you are in the universe, there are currently some issues in the game. The anime-style visuals have been done well in VR games but, in the case of this they need some work on the textures as they all seem quite low quality outside of your weapons and the Titan – and as you are using the surroundings to gain an advantage these are very in your face. Outside of this there are some very big performance drops in some parts, especially in the defend missions as they add more and more Titans. As mentioned this is early access, the team are also going to be releasing a day one patch that could resolve some of these issues or they could be resolved over the time to the 1.0 release.
I am not sure if its because I am fan of the show, but I just feel like the game could offer more than it currently does, but from what is currently there it does seem like it could be built on for the chapters coming later in 2024. The movement system and combat is well designed to fit in with the show and feels great in virtual reality, but with the lower textures of the buildings in the district and the big frame drops at points, it shows what is currently there still needs some more work. With the correct work being done on it and expanding on what is there leading to version 1.0, this could become the definitive Attack on Titan experience.