Skydance’s BEHEMOTH review — Strap on your headset, it’s time to hunt behemoths — GAMINGTREND

January 30, 2025

Skydance’s BEHEMOTH is here and it is unquestionably epic, combining precise sword fighting, great climbing and grapple mechanics, gorgeous graphics, and epic behemoth fights to create a truly transcendental VR experience. Unfortunately, Behemoth is also plagued by an underlying layer of graphical and gameplay issues which often pop up at the worst moments and sometimes dampen the fun. But are these issues enough to turn players off from Behemoth’s roughly six to eight-hour campaign?

Behemoth’s story is relatively basic, though serves as a compelling reason as to why Wren, the protagonist, is dead set on his mission to slay the behemoths which stalk the land. Wren is cursed with an incurable affliction, and worse yet, that same affliction is ravaging the citizens of his hometown. In hopes of stopping the curse and reversing his town’s and his own misfortune, Wren has taken it upon himself to hunt down the behemoths and slay them. The story won’t win any points for originality, but I still found myself engrossed in Wren’s mission, however suicidal it felt.

The first thing you need to know is that Behemoth is not just a game full of sword fights, it is full of precise sword fights. This means that while you may love flailing wildly to kill enemies, doing so in Behemoth will quickly get you killed. Instead, every fight, even with the most basic enemies, takes focus. Sure, some enemies you can run up to and impale before they have a chance to react, but many others will put up a fight, blocking attacks, countering, and aggressively fighting for their lives. Taking them down not only requires good timing, but also patience and accuracy.

This is not a game where you can attack any part of an enemy and cause significant damage. Instead, their armor matters, meaning you need to aim for exposed areas, parry or knock them off their guard, and then take potshots. This is great for someone coordinated, but I am barely coordinated in real life, much less in VR, so to say there was a learning curve is a bit of an understatement. Still, after slowing down and focusing on attack patterns, I eventually picked up on the best ways to counter each enemy and began to persevere. A turning point was definitely the first human mini-boss, who quickly teaches you how to fight under pressure, including when to attack, when to dodge, and when to block. It is a humbling moment, but one that led to a sense of accomplishment rarely felt in VR. After that I felt much more confident in my abilities.…until I encountered the first behemoth. But more on that later.

Fighting does become easier as you progress, because not only will you unlock new weapons with specific abilities, but you will also learn new powers and add new functionality to your grappling hook, all of which will give you a leg up in battle. While you’ll struggle with anything more than an enemy or two at the beginning of the game, by the end you’ll be chopping enemies in half all while grappling across the battlefield, catching arrows out of the sky, and launching trees and other projectiles at them. It’s all very theatrical and works extremely well in VR while providing a great sense of accomplishment.

That said, combat is also a point of frustration, due to the previously mentioned glitches. Weapons, especially larger weapons such as axes and two-handed swords, feel floaty and wiggle around like inflatable balloons in your hand. During combat, sometimes you’ll find your weapon seemingly taking on a mind of its own, often ending up in different directions than anticipated or stuck on objects. It can be especially hard to swap between weapons and health items during intense combat moments, and I found myself often taking damage as I frantically searched for a weapon only to realize somehow my items had swapped spots. I am sure that some of this is on me, but weapon and item swapping in tense situations never felt intuitive. Thankfully, this didn’t occur during most battles, but did occur frequently enough to break my immersion on numerous occasions.

We can’t talk about combat without diving into the surprisingly large number of weapons you’ll stumble across during your adventure. You are able to hold eight weapons at any given time, including swords, bows, daggers, ridiculously large two-handed blades, axes, and shields. There is no shortage of weapons to wield, as different variations of each weapon type will often drop after defeating an enemy, with many boasting unique designs. Eventually, you’ll stumble upon colossal weapons which are permanently attached to your character, though you’ll still have open spots to hold other weapons you find. I greatly appreciated this, as it is easy to lose track of weapons in VR, and no matter how many times you drop a colossal weapon, it will always either appear back in one of your weapon slots, or can be recalled to your hand with the push of a button.

Swords are great for fast-paced combat encounters, while axes do a tremendous job against shields and armor. The two-handed sword can block nearly everything, but can be quite awkward and disappointingly floaty to wield. Daggers can be used to stab or can be thrown, and bows can be used to help pick off annoying archers and whittle down the health of more difficult enemies as they approach. If you’re anything like me, you’re always a bit wary about aiming bows and similar items in VR, but Behemoth has some of the best VR aiming I’ve yet encountered. The throwing daggers and bow both handle incredibly well and feel intuitive to use. It can still be difficult to land precise shots in the heat of battle, but thankfully a few upgrades will help make that task a bit easier.

Speaking of upgrades, the colossal weapons are the only weapons which can be upgraded during your adventure, and upgrades are done at workbenches scattered throughout the world. Simply drop your weapon on the forge, select the upgrade, throw in some alloy – obtained throughout the game from scavenging – and then smack the weapon with a hammer until the upgrade is complete! It’s a simple system, but helps you feel a sense of progression that is otherwise lacking. There is an upgrade system of sorts for Wren, but he mostly gains health and stamina upgrades throughout the course of the game by defeating behemoths or finding items, though there are a few strength points you can spend to upgrade specific abilities. It’s no RPG, but will help you feel better equipped to challenge the increasingly difficult enemies as you progress. These upgrades may do anything from allowing your weapons to break shields and armor, providing stat boosts upon a well-timed parry or dismemberment, or allowing your bow to shoot explosive and knockback arrows

Behemoth is incredibly creative, utilizing its VR concept in ways I haven’t really experienced before. For instance, during a Behemoth battle you must cover your ears, in real life, to avoid taking damage from his sonic attack, and in another area you must cover your mouth to avoid breathing in poison. While these ideas are neat, their implementation is lacking. I didn’t really experience any difficulty covering my mouth, but the ears seemed to not register correctly and despite covering them, I often took damage. It doesn’t help that you are fighting a behemoth as you attempt to cover your ears, leading to many frustrating deaths. It would help significantly if the small icon which shows your status as ears covered or mouth covered would stay on screen during these events rather than disappearing, because otherwise you just place your hands and hope for the best and only know if you have incorrect placement by taking damage. These icons can be seen whenever your health bar is visible, such as when taking damage or using medicine, so I’m not sure why that icon couldn’t just remain visible for the duration of these segments.

So let’s talk about the large, large elephant in the room, the behemoths. The unequivocal stars of the show. Or rather, they should be. Throughout the game they are a lingering presence, often seen destroying areas, chasing off enemies, or simply making noise to remind you they are out there, waiting. It certainly is an imposing sight to watch helplessly as these colossal creatures stomp and fly past, shaking the ground with every movement, sometimes wielding weapons the size of houses. So you can imagine my disappointment when I encountered my first behemoth for a true one-on-one encounter and found out that it was simply a puzzle, similar to Shadow of the Colossus, and ultimately required more hand-eye coordination than fighting skills. I’m not sure what I expected, but after the buildup throughout each area leading up to these fights, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment.

That’s not to say there isn’t merit in the fights. They are certainly a spectacle and looking up in VR at a behemoth when you aren’t even as tall as their toe, or looking down from a behemoth as you grasp for your life while they soar through the sky, certainly removes any sense of arrogance you may have had in your abilities. But instead of an epic back and forth with a behemoth, we are instead reduced to dodging, climbing, pulling off objects with our grappling hook, swinging around an arena, awkwardly attempting to shoot arrows, and taking a jab here and there on weak points. Often these fights are ruthless, with one mistake costing large swaths of health, and usually there is nary a health item in sight. Overall, these battles just feel a bit clunky and frustrating despite how much of a handle I thought I had on the mechanics up until the fight. They do get better as the game progresses, with the third fight being a standout despite lingering a bit too long, but I can’t say that any of the fights would make it to the top of any “best parts of Behemoth” list I may make.

I did enjoy the Behemoth fights, don’t get me wrong, but I just felt that the lead up to them was much better than the fight itself. Throughout its campaign, Behemoth has a plethora of great enemy encounters which test your skills along with some simple, yet fun puzzles to complete. This is the bread and butter of the game and it is done exceedingly well. I had so much fun exploring, uncovering secrets, and taking down enemies that the behemoths quickly became an afterthought – a necessary side quest to continue my journey. It’s possible that on a replay my thoughts may change, as knowing the correct steps to take to tackle a behemoth may help alleviate some of the frustration I felt during my first go around, but as it stands they were my least favorite part of the game.

Overall Behemoth is very linear but does a great job at never feeling like it is. The game flows together nicely, with each new area being expertly paced and the game continuously challenging you to utilize your skills in new ways. The best example is grappling, which begins basic, but by the end of Behemoth you’ll find yourself doing your best Tarzan impression while breaking through walls mid-swing. It’s fantastic. Progression just feels natural in Behemoth, but if you came solely for the Behemoth fights you may find yourself surprised by the multi-hour stretches between these epic battles. But since my favorite aspect of Behemoth is the world and exploring, I didn’t mind.

For completionists, there’s also plenty of secrets to find. If you search enough, you’ll often find entirely optional towers to explore, filled with lore and upgrades. These areas are short, but function as puzzles, with Wren having to work his way to the top collecting scrolls and various items, while finding ways to knock down crates, open gates, etc. in an effort to clear his way back out. These are nice breaks from the standard game, and I appreciated them being there.

Behemoth really is an impressive achievement for a VR game and one of my favorite VR experiences. It is the closest I’ve yet seen to matching what the PS5 is capable of, at least from a straight VR game and not a port like Resident Evil 4 or Village. Despite a few glitches, including some minor graphical glitching in the form of pop-in which became more prominent toward the end, the previously mentioned combat annoyances, and the occasional enemy who found himself stuck halfway in the ground, nothing ever impeded my progress or ruined my enjoyment.

Richard Allen is a freelance writer and contributing editor for various publications. While he enjoys modern gaming, he is a retro gamer at heart, having been raised on a steady diet of Contra, Mario, and Dragon’s Lair. Chat with him via @thricetheartist on Twitter.

Behemoth is certainly ambitious and uses VR in unique ways to create a sense of scale rarely seen, but it fumbles what should be its best aspect – the behemoths. Still, Behemoth is unquestionably epic, combining precise sword fighting, great climbing and grapple mechanics, gorgeous graphics, and epic boss fights to create a world that feels great to explore. While the behemoth fights are certainly a spectacle, I found the lead up to the fights far more entertaining than the fights themselves. Still, Behemoth is well worth picking up.

—Richard Allen