Behemoth: Skydance’s Groundbreaking Leap into Epic Adventure Gaming

I thought we all agreed back in the Xbox 360 era that checkpoints before boss battles, which began with extensive unskippable dialogue, were truly stressful. No one wants to hear the same explanations repeated ad nauseam every time they restart a confrontation, especially when these confrontations are as challenging as those in Behemoth. However, it appears that the developers at Skydance were oblivious during that time because this game features some of the most frustrating checkpointing I’ve experienced in a long while.

The checkpoints became so exasperating at times that I found myself needing to take a break just to cool down, diminishing my enjoyment of a game that excels in many other aspects. I have no issue with intense battles and hardcore gameplay, which Behemoth offers in abundance. However, the annoyance of having to walk, climb, or grapple your way along a linear path only to hear the same pre-fight dialogue and opening animation after every single death had me releasing massive sighs characteristic of Behemoth more than once.

This isn’t just an annoyance before the punishing mini-boss fights or towering Behemoth encounters either. It also occurs with challenge towers and hidden zones. Challenge towers usually need to be scaled to uncover the treasures within, which can take a fair amount of time and effort, as the climbing is largely scripted and puzzles need to be solved along the way. Since the collectibles and rewards you earn from these towers are often located near the top, this means that if you fall off an edge and meet your demise during your descent, you lose everything and will have to scale the entire tower again and solve all the puzzles once more if you want those collectibles and upgrades back.

On one occasion, I ventured into a twisting side dungeon featuring some story-related grapples across a seemingly bottomless abyss and was rewarded with some cool collectibles along the way. Exciting! However, I soon continued down the main path only to be taken out by an archer and find myself back at a checkpoint that was set before I completed the side dungeon. This resulted in all of my hard-earned collectibles vanishing. Frustrating! Such checkpointing would be irritating in a regular, flat game, but experiencing this in a VR game where you can’t simply sit back and sulk makes having to redo even minor sections quite the hassle. Suffice it to say, I never returned to collect those types of collectibles again, which ultimately meant I wasn’t able to enhance my characters and weapons as much as I could have if the checkpoints had been a bit more lenient.

Now that I’ve expressed that concern, it’s time for me to return to the task at hand by explaining exactly what Behemoth entails. Or should I say Skydance’s Behemoth? That’s the official name of the game after all, and Skydance is the acclaimed VR development studio behind The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, certainly one of my favorite VR games of all time. I can see why attaching their name to the title might add a touch of prestige. Still, it feels a bit like when a parent writes their child’s name on a sock just in case it gets lost at school. This is Skydance’s Behemoth after all, so please don’t take it, okay?

In Behemoth, you assume the role of Wren, an individual cursed with something called the rot, a plague that has devastated his lands and turned its inhabitants into ravenous monsters. For a reason that unfolds later in the narrative (no spoilers here, so don’t worry), Wren is able to utilize the rot’s curse to his advantage, channeling the rage it incites and harnessing it to bolster his power and stamina in ways ordinary humans cannot. Thus, Wren must slash and stab his way to the Forsaken Lands where the rot originated in order to end it at its source. However, stopping it at its source actually means confronting a series of other Behemoths along the way.

These colossal and formidable boss fights against towering Behemoths are undeniably striking, both visually and mechanically, yet considering they are the main draw of the game, they are also sparse, appearing only occasionally during the game’s eight-to-ten-hour play time. To navigate through the intervals between these encounters, players must progress through a series of relatively linear levels using both the game’s unique and impactful melee combat to dispatch rot-infested foes and its solid traversal mechanics to navigate hazardous territories and discover hidden areas that often require some puzzling to access.

Visually, these environments are captivating from the outset, showcasing stunning landscapes and intricate textures that occasionally rival those in Horizon: Call of the Mountain in terms of breathtaking sights. The splendor of these visuals remains consistently high throughout the game’s runtime, especially during moments when Behemoths make their appearance. However, locations can become increasingly repetitive as you progress through the limited variety of biomes, which range from snowy castles and muddy terrains to castle interiors and, well… caverns. It’s hardly stunning then that the segments between Behemoth encounters become largely forgettable, aside from a few interesting elements scattered here and there.

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Fortunately, the combat in Behemoth is incredibly enjoyable, and Skydance has leveraged everything it learned from The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners games to equip you with some truly impressive weaponry that, although virtual, still conveys a remarkable sense of weight and heft. At its core, this game revolves around the exhilarating feeling of wielding a sword like a true warrior, and that sensation is consistently achieved. From the subtle button press that allows you to adjust your grip on the sword, making it seem as though you’re twirling it like a deadly baton, to the enhanced sword you acquire later in the game that returns to you—Mjolnir-style when thrown at foes—encounters are invariably exhilarating.

Melee combat is straightforward to pick up, yet challenging to perfect, particularly due to the game’s dynamic environment. However, when you master the rhythm of blocking, dodging, and striking at precise angles (never underestimate the impact of a well-placed stab), it feels immensely satisfying. I found it somewhat difficult to execute a successful parry, which might just be user error on my part, especially as I occasionally managed to pull it off accidentally while trying to block.

Aside from this challenge, Behemoth’s swordplay evokes a sense of reality, enhanced by the added thrill of virtual archery. In fact, landing a series of headshots in a row with the bow feels remarkably satisfying and gives you a similar rush of adrenaline as a successful sword fight. Let’s not forget Wren’s rage power, which grants you temporary super strength that replenishes over time. When activated during a battle, this rage allows you to slice through enemies and sever limbs with a bladed weapon, or even grab them and hurl them into a wall of spikes for an instant kill. It can also be used to punch through ancient walls to uncover secrets, although the Hulk-like roar Wren emits every time it’s triggered can become a bit mundane, especially if, like me, you accidentally activate it frequently.

These moments are certainly infrequent, but combat can occasionally feel a bit awkward as well. Sometimes swords appear to be stuck in enemies’ heads while visually remaining a distance from their skin. Thrown weapons like knives can feel rather inconsistent too; sometimes they land exactly where you want them to, and at other times, a slight flick of the wrist sends them soaring into the air. It’s better, therefore, to focus on close quarters combat, as long-range attacks are prone to mishaps.

Nonetheless, given the evident effort invested in Behemoth’s combat, it’s unfortunate that most of the standard enemies you encounter are generally clones of one another, simply distinguished by varying degrees of armor. They attack you in waves of differing quantities. Occasionally it may be a sword-wielding man, other times a stabbing woman, or sometimes an archer, but typically it will be a mix of all three, and you’ll need to dispatch them all before a door opens, allowing you to progress.

Admittedly, this made me eagerly anticipate the mini-boss encounters. There’s something captivating about these towering, yet still predominantly human-sized foes that may appeal especially to Souls-like enthusiasts, and I also appreciated how they introduced some cool new combat dynamics. One particularly memorable mini-boss requires you to physically cover your ears to protect yourself from its deadly scream. It’s a clever, straightforward mechanic that I haven’t really seen in a VR game before, and it’s a fantastic use of the medium. Just let me skip all the dialogue and restart from the beginning of the fight if I die, please!

The puzzles and navigation also demonstrate a solid grasp of what makes VR engaging, but once again suffer from repetition that makes solutions somewhat predictable. Each puzzle generally revolves around similar concepts—pulling objects, breaking items, and placing things on pressure switches. While mechanically executed well, rather than providing consistently challenging enigmas that demand genuine insight like in, say, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, most puzzles here can be solved by simply locating a wooden crate and figuring out how to push or pull it onto the ground.

Fortunately, climbing is straightforward and delightful, and you’ll rarely struggle to find handholds or ledges. Transitioning from a hanging position to standing is accomplished with a simple, smooth flick of the wrist. You also have a wrist-mounted grapple hook that enables you to navigate around areas. Although it doesn’t possess the flair or speed of the one in Batman Arkham Shadow, it allows for quick movement.