Review: Skydance’s Behemoth
After a number of delays Skysance’s Behemoth has now landed on all platforms. As soon as this game was announced I was really interested in seeing their next project after the very successful Walking Dead: Saint and Sinners series took VR by storm. Now its here, has it been worth the wait?
Release Date: December 5th 2024
Developer: Skydance Games
Publisher: Skydance Games
Price: £30.99
Reviewed On: Meta Quest 3
* Access Provided For Review *
A Search For A Cure
In the game you play as Wren, who is looking to end the curse which is not only running through your veins but, is also plaguing your own village. It’s now time for this lone hunter to go into the Forsaken Lands, which is also being destroyed by the same curse in your hunt to cure it. The problem is the only way to cure it is by slaying the towering Behemoths.
Slay Towering Gods
When it comes to gameplay the main focus is combat but, the game also throws in some platforming, traversal and some light puzzle elements (usually using boxes and pressure pads). For the combat you will get some hero weapons that you have to keep and pick up enemy weapons and shields to help along the way. To join your weapons you are going to also get supernatural strength from you curse, which comes in very handy to break armor, punch through walls and throw the enemies around. To help with your platforming and traversal you will have to climb, dash and use a grappling hook attached to your wrist to make your way across gabs or reach higher points. With the grappling hook also being useful in combat at times like, pulling archers off the ledges and their vantage points.
Despite the combat being the main element, you might find some elements that are little underwhelming compared to their previous title Saints and Sinners. It seems the AI in Behemoth for the standard enemies is more dumb and less scripted than the zombies in Saints and Sinners. Then the weapons feel a little less weighted, making the combat feel a little less physical that the later. But, even taking these issues into account the combat in Behemoth is satisfying, as you make your way through the Forsaken Lands winding paths, derelict castles, snowy tundras and marsh lands. Sometimes taking on few marauders or sometimes being looked into a setting and taking on more in a confined space.
Where taking out the marauders on the way might all seem a little straight forward, as soon as it’s time to take on the Behemoths it gets a lot more difficult and the games main focus really excels. All the Behemoths you take on have a different approach to taking them out, making each encounter with these towering Gods feel fresh – despite the end goal being the same. As you use your abilities, hero weapons and traversal options to get the weak points take them down, with each one becoming more difficult. These really do become fantastic set-pieces for what its possible with Virtual Reality, and when you fell one of these huge beasts you feel epic.
Throughout the levels you will find ways to upgrade you characters and hero weapon stats, and new features to your grappling hook. For you character you will find hidden items that will increase Wrens health, stamina and strength, as well as gaining upgrade points. For your hero weapons you will need to locate little sheets of metal and as you progress you will come to crafting furnaces to craft upgrades for your weapon. You will also find upgrades for your grappling hook that will add abilities to it like being able to use it bring items to you, or allow it hook multiple marauders – for these upgrades some will be unmissable as you need them but, then some are more hidden.
The games comes with the three difficulty levels you wound expect Tenderfoot (Easy), Standard (Normal) and Barbarian (Hard), for this review I played through it on Standard. On this setting where I died a few times on Behemoths while working out the pattern or solution, outside of this I did not die too often. This was thanks to the game having an abundance of health potions dropping or a plant you can eat to generate a little health – personally, I would have like to see the game being a little more difficult. Behemoth also comes with a number of collectibles hidden around the world, these come in the form of skulls, scrolls and carved animals. For my review I focused on the story and not actively looking for these items and it took me around seven-hours, I would imagine with how many I found not actively looking for them, if you want to find them all it could increase it to around ten-hours.
All About The Scale
Skydances’s Behemoth is one of these games that does show the limitations provided by a mobile chip, with choices having to be made on the quality of things like foliage and textures for a game of Behemoths size. The team have done a fantastic job with the lighting but, when comparing it to other versions you can see the difference shadows make – especially when taking on the Behemoths.. However, even with this the game is still visually strong for the Meta Quest 3 – and with the game needing a minimum of the 3060 on PC, the fact the team have got this running on a standalone device looking as nice as it does its testament to work Skydance Games does.
Now, there are a few issues with how it visually looks on the Quest 3, but these could be fixed with patches with the first patch being due in week one for the Quest 3. The issues I found is there is some texture pop-in, although this is not all the time. Then some of the textures look odd, for example, the climbable parts of the wall looking more stuck on than part of the same wall. The most noticeable one which happened two or three times was textures in a room in the distance not loading at all at first – which stood out more because they were just colored blue. Despite these few issues, for the most case you are kept immersed in the Forsaken Lands.
Skydance’s audio work in Saints and Sinners was fantastic, and they have continued that solid work in Behemoth. You are taken into the environments you visit by their great work making the environmental audio match. The only real issue I had with the audio was, when dragging boxes it always sounds like they are being dragged on a solid rock surface, even if the box wasn’t on one. Where this is not distracting, I think it stands out more because the rest of the environmental audio is so well implemented. The combat sounds are done well with the clashes of metal, weapons hitting shields and each squelch from a successful strike sounding out. Add to this a fantastic musical score, which sounds similar in style to the score from Saints and Sinners, which is used perfectly to set the feeling of the area you are looking around and your current situation.
One thing that I love in Virtual Reality is when scale is used effectively, and believe me as you look up at the Behemoths it is insane how tall these things are. If you think of Shadow of the Colossus scale, but with how VR works they seem even more imposing. Of course to go with the scale of the Behemoths it was important the audio matches with that scale, and it certainly does. Their steps echoes throughout the mountains as the word shakes around you. Then as you are facing them their screams bellow with the deepness you would expect. Which really brings these hulking Gods to life and makes you understand the task ahead.
As well as the Quest 3 version, I was provided access to the PCVR and PSVR2 versions of the game. As you expect these were taken to the next level by extra power offered over the standalone device. The jump does seem quite substantial here and the game excels more with those more detailed and crisp visuals – and although there is better looking games on the Quest 3, it still a nice looking game. Just got to hope the upcoming patches removes those missing textures in the distant rooms that show up every now and then and some of the pop-in.
Comfort
The Verdict
Skydance’s Behemoth brings another great title to VR and although its not perfectly executed, it is still fun. Where you will have a great time playing it, you‘ll feel improvements could be made in most areas outside of taking down the Behemoths. The combat is fun, but this is mixed with some pretty dumb AI on the human enemies and it just doesn’t feel as weighty as the combat should – which when you have seen how they did Saints and Sinners you know they can do better. The game does open up to 8 weapon slots, but getting between them slots never gets any less fiddly, especially in the heat of combat – so for the majority of the game I just treat it like I only had the four slots you start with. As mentioned I really couldn’t find any issues with the Behemoth fights, each one got progressively more difficult and epic, and you felt a sense of achievement you’d expect when its been killed. Where this is really the selling point of the game, it’s not enough to propel the game to above the 80%.