I have faith that more can, and will, be done with Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable. Despite it leaving Early Access tomorrow, there’s a heavy focus on an arcade-styled Titan-slaying experience with mind-blowingly exhilarating movement…and little else. This is a game that I can see myself playing and replaying with friends so long as they’re fine with Unbreakable’s quirks.
Virtual Reality needs a “big thing” to really get folks into the notion of using their headsets more than once a week or month. With Batman: Arkham Shadow showcasing impressive VR movements a compelling implementation of the Gotham Universe within Meta’s little headset that could, the future is bright for VR. Now more than ever do VR players deserve fun experiences that can only be showcased in a VR setup; if these experiences bring along access to underserved IP, that’s even better.
Earlier this year, UNIVRS, Inc. released Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable in Early Access on the Meta Quest platform. I didn’t know that Early Access was supported on Quest, but it was too good to pass up for $5. Featuring fully licensed characters, stellar voice acting, a roadmap of additional content, alongside a competitive price point, Unbreakable looked to be a VR experience that stuck true to its source material while also offering players fun gameplay.
Fast forward several months, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is now ready for its full 1.0 release, bringing two additional chapters, new weapons, and a co-op mode to players alongside an updated price. I’m pleased to see UNIVRS add so much in so little time, all the while sticking to their roadmap! Without further ado, let’s dive in to see how Unbreakable fares as a fully-fledged VR experience.
Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is a fun game, don’t get me wrong. I’ve spent several hours swinging through the Walled City and cutting Titans down, limb from limb. There’s just a deep part of me that cannot look past a missed opportunity in thorough immersion and gameplay variety. Its presentation prioritizes mission-based completion and high-scores instead of a deep dive into the world of Attack on Titan. If you wanted a unique story or even a canon narrative told within The Walls, you won’t get it. Instead, you’ll get a highly replayable gauntlet of Titan-ic trials (see what I did there?) that will reward you for mastering momentum-based movement that would make Spider-Man cry. Well, not Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man, but you get the message.
I was immediately placed into the shoes of a new recruit of a military group that fights Titans, gigantic naked humanoids who eat humans and cause destruction. Using “Omni-directional mobility” (ODM) gear, I was to make my way through the Walled City and slay every Titan in my path. The ODM gear is like a pair of jet-powered grappling hooks. By aiming the Quest’s controllers at separate buildings, I could essentially swing from building to building like Spider-Man but restricted to snap-turning (turning incrementally rather than smoothing).
There’s a deep mastery curve associated with getting the ODM movement just right. Moving one of the joysticks while flying through the air let me swing around (instead of over) buildings and take advantage of the momentum I had built. My first few hours of aerial gameplay was a struggle, but mastering aerial strafing and swinging into battle was all the more satisfying. By the fifth hour, I began to wish that someone would make a VR Spider-Man game.
Aside from swinging through the Walled City, I had blades on my hands that I was to use to chop Titans’ limbs to bits. After I had dulled the blades from excessive use, I had to reload them by swinging my arms downward. Much of what I had to do in Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable required me to use VR inputs to the fullest extent. What was better was that I could do all of these things (slicing, wildly flailing my arms, etc.) while sitting down.
Completing the chapters and earning extra stars (read: higher scores) inched me closer and closer to unlocking additional weapons that I could take into battle. For instance, the second set of unlockable blades deal less damage to Titans’ napes, but dealt additional damage to their limbs.
New to the 1.0 launch of Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is a multiplayer element – as in, being able to play co-op with another player who owns the game. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a match using the quick play/random match function. I’m excited to see how players enjoy the co-operative experience once it hits Quest devices later this week!
In my past two years of playing and reviewing VR games, I’ve become increasingly familiar with the notion that the technology that powers our headsets does not cater toward precision. Sure, there are instances where the tech “just works” and my movements are near-perfectly replicated in-game, but more often than not there’s a degree of messiness associated with movements that are to be translated into gameplay. Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is forgiving in the sense that moving through the Walled City can be done any which way, but combat requires a high degree of precision that doesn’t translate well into VR as of now.
Here’s what I mean by that: The only way to kill a Titan is to aim for its nape (as in, the back of its neck). Attempting to target the Titan’s nape head on is futile, and the game teaches you in the first few minutes that you’re better off targeting limbs to knock the Titan to the ground. All of this was well and good until I was pitted against a group of Titans. Because they would constantly hunt me down, I could only land a hit or two on a downed Titan before needing to dash away to safety. If I missed the nape by what seemed like a millimeter, my attack input would not register and prolong the battle further.
I’m all for frenetic inputs in a VR game – I’ve spent my fair share of playing high-stakes VR games to feel comfortable with the notion of needing to be fast, furious, and frenetic. The moment a Titan collapses to the ground is fair game for me to propel myself forward and whack away at their neck until their health bar disappears. It’s just frustrating when there’s little to show with wildly flailing the controllers in hopes that something, anything, connects with a Titan’s gigantic head.
At first glance, the world of Attack on Titan feels rudimentary and slightly smudgy as well as empty. Trees and buildings have softer and less-detailed textures than the Titans, making for an immersion-breaking graphical experience. The City itself lacks the casualties of war, instead opting for generic buildings that are more-or-less destroyed from the Titans presence. I’m unsure if this was an intentional choice to better support the earlier Quest models, but it’s disappointing for the game’s world to miss out on the Quest 3’s power. It would have been nice for a greater variety of biomes and map layouts, too – but I’ll take what I can get.
Before I end this review, let’s talk about the game’s pricing. Prior to the full launch, the Early Access price for chapters 1 and 2 was $4.99. Chapters 1 and 2, going forward, are rising to $7.99. The Part 2 content that is releasing on the 17th will remain a separate purchase for $12.00, regardless of if you’ve purchased the first 2 chapters prior to today. Assuming you haven’t yet purchased the game, that’s around $19.99 for Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable. As a starting title, the $19.99 is more than fair for those who can easily get 10 hours of the base game’s content and several more hours of co-op play. It’s highly replayable and fun, even if I find some of the segments to be difficult or frustrating.
I have faith that more can, and will, be done with Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable. Despite it leaving Early Access tomorrow, there’s a heavy focus on an arcade-styled Titan-slaying experience with mind-blowingly exhilarating movement…and little else. This is a game that I can see myself playing and replaying with friends so long as they’re fine with Unbreakable’s quirks.
