Marvel's Deadpool VR preview: maximum effort

Deadpool is a character made for VR in my opinion, and his new Meta Quest game proves it.

VR is still a relatively new medium for video games. They can often feel janky, unfinished, or just don’t work despite being a really great idea.

While Deadpool’s new VR game isn’t perfect, my demo at Summer Game Fest had me genuinely impressed with its whimsical approach to a Marvel game, and utilises the potential of VR very well.

In my demo Deadpool is tasked with infiltrating and destroying a stolen S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier, with Neil Patrick Harris lending his voice to the merc with a mouth.

Players have access to his dual katanas and pistols, but eventually acquire grenades and even a grappling hook later into the game. Deadpool of course knows he’s in a video game and regularly mocks the convenience of certain developments and gameplay changes.

There was a decent amount of player expression too, as you swipe your blades up to knock enemies into the air, stab through them, deflect bullets, blast from afar with various ranged weapons and even initiate takedowns. My favourite part was throwing a shotgun at an enemy and catching it midair as it bounced back to me, before squeezing the trigger and taking the poor guy’s head off.

Deadpool is immortal but he still takes damage, and you can still “die” if enough damage is sustained.

In a cool addition though his arms can be blown off, and if you look down you can see them slowly regrow due to his healing factor, which was a nice touch.

I had a lot of fun playing Deadpool, and it could very well be the best game on Meta Quest systems when it launches, but will it do enough to knock Batman: Arkham Shadow off its pedestal? Only time will tell.