Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is here, officially bringing the hit anime to VR for the first time, albeit in early access. We got an eye-full last month when developer UNIVRS released its first trailer, which admittedly looked pretty rough. While that’s still true for the game in its current state, it actually packs in some fun mechanics, leaving me holding out hope for the AoT VR game that it might become.
In its current state, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable feels very much like a tech demo, offering up a single mission (aka ‘chapter’), a few unlockable blades, and only a few bits of story to chew on out of the gate, offering up about 30 minutes of content which you can replay as much as you want if you’re looking to move up the scoreboard and unlock more weapons.
Essentially, you’ll get a quick Power Point at the beginning recapping the anime’s premise, and then you’re launched right into the tutorial, which is segmented into discrete mini-missions: i.e. do the thing, fade to black—rinse and repeat until you make it to the first and only mission in the game at present. I’d expect a less disjointed tutorial in the future, but hey, this is early access we’re talking about.
There, you’ll learn how to fight against Titans; you can slice their limbs, although they regrow back after a period, so you’ll need to cut them down for good by slicing at the back of their necks. To do this, you’ll need to lock on and retract your omni-directional mobility gear, which works similar to the grappling hooks from the Windlands series.
How the game differentiates itself from mission to mission is going to be a big factor in whether its most fun bit—swinging around the walled city filled with the series’ iconic red-roofed buildings—really has staying power, and doesn’t just evolve into a bunch of samey swinging and slicing. It will also need to tighten up Titan interactions, as AI pathfinding feels very blocky and artificial, and you can usually clip through Titans upon death, which ruins a bit of the first few ‘wow’ moments when bringing them down for the first time. They could also benefit from a visual overhaul—although I can see what the studio is trying to go for in terms of keeping it grounded in the anime’s visual style.
That said, swinging around using the omni-directional mobility gear and using the blades are undeniable high points, as you lock onto the neck of a Titan, and make big and flashy cuts, red indicating you’re using your full strength.
Despite some pretty frenetic movement, it’s also a really comfortable experience thanks to the constant visual effects that surround you as you flight through the air—the sort of speed lines you regularly see in manga.
There are a few other clear wins here too. The game incorporates diegetic UI as much as it can, giving you a pen to paper to start chapters from your mission log—certainly more interesting than using a laser pointer on a 2D monitor. To start the mission, you even need to leave your John Hancock, which feels like an immersive touch.
The team has their work cut out for them. Visuals feel middling, if not downright ugly at points, as the trailer suggests, and it seems to be suffering from stability issues. The game also needs to add in two-player co-op mode, which is slated to launch with its 1.0 release later this year.
That said, it’s too early to tell whether Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is going to be the sort of VR game you and your AoT-loving friend definitely need to play. There are still a lot of questions about level and enemy variety, and how much of the story will play a part.
The big question though is it worth the $5 entry price to get early access. AoT superfans will probably want to jump in no matter the state of the game. I’m a casual enjoyer of the series, and I’d personally wait for successive chapters to be released to see where the game is actually going first. Still, that $5 entry fee feels like an honest price for what VR veteran developer UNIVRS is planning.
If you’re curious to see for yourself, you can nab Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable in early access right for Quest 2/3/Pro.
