Meta Quest: Attack on Titan VR still has a long way to go — Hands-on
I faced the naked giants in Attack on Titan VR. Find out what the Early Access version of the manga adaptation is like.
In Attack on Titan VR, you take on the role of an unnamed recruit of the Scout Regiment from the manga of the same name. Equipped with the "Omni-Directional Mobility Gear" and two blades, you swing across the rooftops within the great walls, protecting the (non-existent) inhabitants from the invading Titans.
Familiar characters like Mikasa, Armin, and Levi also appear in the VR game, but are little more than references who explain the game's mechanics, at least in the first few hours. Anyone expecting the campaign to have its own unique story in the Attack on Titan universe will be disappointed — at least in the Early Access version. Basically, it's all about killing Titans, and I've done enough of that in the last two hours.
Content
In the footsteps of Spider-Man
Right at the beginning, a short tutorial on a giant wooden dummy shows me how to use the two grappling hooks and how to bring down the Titans with the double blades. I use the grip buttons on the Touch Controllers to shoot the hooks in the desired direction. If I use them one after the other, I swing like Spider-Man between the sometimes high buildings and church spires.
If I move the joystick during the flight, I can activate the gas jets of the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear and change the direction of the flight in midair. For example, I can circle around a titan in battle to better hit its weak points. If I bring both hands together, I can also fly to a fixed point.
To speed up a bit or gain altitude quickly, I press the joysticks down for a brief boost. I always have to keep an eye on the slowly replenishing gas gauge. If it is empty, I keep walking until it fills up again.
Swinging is not easy. It takes a while before I can judge the trajectories correctly and coordinate my movements and attacks properly. But after the familiarization phase, I manage to pull off some spectacular moves. After a while, swinging through narrow alleyways and outmaneuvering the Titans in the air feels really powerful.
Arms, legs, neck: how to get the Titans down
I can only kill the giants with targeted sword blows to the neck, which I can only reach with the grappling hooks. However, after two hits at the latest, the Titans shake me off. If I want to slow them down, restrict their movement, or even bring them down on their knees, I aim for their limbs first.
With just a few hits, I can cut off their arms or legs, giving me a strategic advantage — but only for a short time, as the beasts regenerate quite quickly. This can be especially useful if you are fighting multiple Titans at once, or if you need to protect a building from their blows. The Titans also vary in size, speed, and attack patterns. It can be useful to take the legs out of a fast Titan while you take care of its bigger but slower sidekick.
The double blades in Attack on Titan VR don't last forever and get shorter over time. So I always have to keep an eye on whether my sword will be good enough for the next attack. I discard worn blades with A or X and replace them by flicking the controller down briefly. Between missions, I can use experience points to buy new weapons. These differ in appearance and characteristics, and do more damage to limbs, for example.
Of course, the ever-hungry beasts do not surrender without a fight. They punch and kick me, and they can even leap onto high towers to reach me. If a titan catches me, I have to hit its fingers quickly, or I'll end up in its voracious mouth.
My verdict on Attack on Titan VR (Early Access)
Attack on Titan VR could be a good game for fans of the original in a few months. However, the developers still have a lot of work to do.
The early access status of the manga adaptation is immediately apparent: clipping errors, flickering edges, the visuals are often jittery, objects appear gradually as you walk through the streets, and the environment is extremely plain — yes, almost ugly. Something needs to be done graphically here because even on a mobile headset, game environments in 2024 should no longer look so crude. The city could also use a little more life. At the moment there are only Titans running around, and I wonder who I'm supposed to be protecting.
However, since the action is largely well done, the sparse environment doesn't matter too much in combat. When you're swinging back and forth between the Titans at what feels like 200 mph and chopping off their limbs in style, the textures of the buildings hardly matter.
Still, I am curious to see how the developers will keep the gameplay exciting for several hours. So far, the mission design has almost exclusively revolved around killing Titans, and I'm already longing for more variety after barely two hours. A proper story would certainly help. After all, the manga and anime tell much more than just the battle between humans and Titans. Reducing Attack on Titan to the action just doesn't do justice to the original.
Despite the shortcomings of the Early Access version, I look forward to seeing how UNIVRS expands the game in the coming months.
Attack on Titan VR has been available as an Early Access version in the Meta Horizon Store since July 23, 2024. The VR game is available for Meta Quest 3, Quest 2 and Quest Pro and costs $5 for now.
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