The Quest headset has been on a roll lately, landing some bigger games and working with some rather large IP.Batman: Arkham Shadowis a recent standout, bringing the DC legend to life in a way that feels authentic to Rocksteady’s memorableArkhamseries. Now, legendary developer Twisted Pixel is giving the Marvel universe a go withDeadpool VR, with a bit of help from actor, singer, dancer, and voice-over artist,Neil Patrick Harris. Nope, no Ryan Reynolds this time,though he was involved in the marketing campaign.
We had a chance to play the (quite lengthy) demo ofDeadpool VRlive at Summer Game Fest, and speak to Phil Therien, Lead Designer at Twisted Pixel, about what the project has in store as well as what it was like working with Marvel. Based on what we’ve played, it looks like an irreverent and authentic romp that will make any classic Deadpool fan laugh.
Deadpool VR Takes Lessons From Past VR Shooters
It Feels Great To Play In VR
As soon as I put the headset onand took a look around as Deadpool’s severed head, I knew this wasn’t going to be a typical action game. With some light puzzling, constant dialogue (that isn’t as in-your-face as the cinematic universe iteration), and tons of gun and swordplay, there’s always something exciting happening inDeadpool VR. It uses the classic VR “grab swords from your back and guns from your hips” gameplay, but with a few added twists, like, say, using limbs as a weapon. This is on top of the dual-hand VR mechanic that’s been perfected in the past few years, allowing players to wield two weapons separately in both hands.
That simple concept leads to a lot of fun action sequences, like dual-wielding pistols, stealing enemy weaponry, or shooting an enemy while you’re zipping around a stage with a grappling gun. Gameplay freedom sounds like a buzzy term, but it truly applies here withDeadpool VR. At some points during heated arena bouts,I was reacting instinctively, and the game just…let me do it. It’s also pretty violent, with plenty of dismemberment, accompanied by nonstop dialogue by Neil Patrick Harris. While I thought I’d get annoyed by Deadpool’s constant mouthing off (true to form!), it never irked me throughout the entire demo.
When asked how this all came about, Therienenthusiastically explained that Marvel came to them. “It was like…would you guys like to do an IP? Yeah! It’s Deadpool! Everyone was super excited, but we wanted to do it our way. Our own voice, our own style, inspired by the comic books. We talked to Neil [Patrick Harris] about it, he wanted to put his spin on it, he was really excited about it.”
The game says yes to the player.
As for the inspiration behind it being an action adventure, Therienwanted the game to be freeing, with lots of silly antics and open-ended gameplay:“We really wanted to have gameplay that was inspired by really good shooters, and we have a lot of experience at Twisted Pixel…I think people are going to be pretty impressed by how good the shooting is. The game says yes to the player…you can shoot from the hip, you can use your own limbs as weapons, you can use parkour. You don’t have to use that to beat the game, but if you want to be a master ninja, you can do that. There’s some light puzzling in the game. But it’ll be in Deadpool ways. If you know Deadpool you’ll find yourself getting through puzzles quickly, like you did.”
Deadpool VR Will Span The Marvel Comic Universe
There Will Be Plenty Of Comic Cameos
I wanted to dig intothe depths of the Marvel catalog that Twisted Pixel had access to, and thankfully, it seems like a lot. Therien notes:“Mephisto…Flag Smasher…Omega Red…Lady Deathstrike, Mojo! There are others that we haven’t revealed yet. Mojo World is the focus of the story of the game. The way the game happens is Deadpool gets hired to recover a Helicarrier…then, we don’t want to talk about too much, but Deadpool gets roped into a contract and hunts villains for Mojo.“Mojo is a perfect choice for the game, and Therien also teased that we’d see Mojo World in all its glory at some point in the adventure.
We thought they [Marvel] would shut down some of our ideas for being too out there or too crass, and they said, ‘No, let’s take it further.’
But what about Marvel’s involvement? Thankfully, based on what Therien told us,Marvel basically wanted to “yes and” the team from the start:“From the very beginning, we were working with Marvel. We thought they would shut down some of our ideas for being too out there or too crass, and they said, ‘No, let’s take it further.’ Everything along the way was very organic. It’s more like sometimes they’ll clarify the tone and ask to drop a reference to Marvel…in fact, adding Mojo to the game was their suggestion. That’s the kind of example of how they contributed to our vision.”
After the first few years of consumer-grade VR headsets, studios moved out of the “tech demo” phase and on to more fully-fledged game releases. Naturally,Deadpool VRwill feature a full story mode, with potential extras to keep you playing. When asked how long it was, Therien confirmed this notion:“It’s a full campaign, we haven’t timed it yet, but it’s what you’d expect out of a full campaign.”
Marvel’s Deadpool VR will be released “later this year” on Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S.
