Skydance’s Behemoth hands-on report

blog.playstation.com:

Even back when they were herd-deep in undead, the creators behind The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners were dreaming up how – and where – else they could apply the immersive tactility of their VR combat. At the tail end of 2022 came the answer in the form of a cinematic teaser: sidearms would be exchanged for swords and dangerous encounters transposed from a Walker-infested New Orleans to a brutal, dark fantasy world.

And last week, a gameplay debut by way of the latest State of Play. At the initial announcement, the cornerstones promised for this Unreal 5-powered adventure – physics-based combat, a grappling hook to climb and grab, and boss battles with earth-shaking titans – all present in nearly two minutes of PS VR2 footage.

There’s plenty in that first-look sizzle that I experienced first-hand by way of a recent hands-on. Thirty minutes and change were spent going toe-to-toe with skilled fighters, repelling down mountainous ruins, and clambering up the torso of an angry, monstrous behemoth in a “vertical slice of a vertical slice” demoing the game’s key features.

Favoring dual-wield loadouts and two-handed broadswords throughout, I walked away feeling every inch an ancient warrior but equally glad to have donned a lightweight shirt that morning and had a few weeks of a gym return under my belt.

You don’t have to fear a forced workout. The studio intends to craft difficulty settings that cater to and scale for all players, be they story and lore lovers, power fantasy seekers, or survival enthusiasts. But even in this preview, the intricacy of combat is a gritty delight. The core of the physics-based melee system requires blades or shields to be angled correctly to strike limbs and block incoming blows, thrown daggers, arrows. There’s a tight parry window to stagger enemies and unblockable attacks that your dodge move will come in handy for.

The studio is still developing the game’s haptic feedback to make use of PS VR2’s headset and Sense controllers. The intent