Skydance's Behemoth

Skydance's Behemoth
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Skydance Games (formerly Skydance Interactive)
Publisher	Skydance Games
Platform	SteamVR, Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2
Device	Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest 2, PlayStation VR2, PC VR headsets
Operating System	Windows, PlayStation 5
Type	Game
Genre	Action-adventure
Input Device	Tracked motion controllers
Play Area	Standing, optional seated
Game Mode	Single-player
Comfort Level	Smooth and snap turning, motion vignettes, artificial crouch, seated and standing support
Release Date	December 5, 2024 (Quest, PSVR2, SteamVR); PS5 physical edition February 6, 2025
App Store	Steam, Meta Quest Store, PlayStation Store
Website	https://www.behemoth-game.com

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Skydance's Behemoth is a single-player virtual reality action-adventure game developed and published by Skydance Games, the studio formerly known as Skydance Interactive that also made The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. It was released on December 5, 2024 for Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, PlayStation VR2, and PC VR via SteamVR, with a PlayStation PC build sold as cross-buy with the Quest version. A physical PlayStation 5 edition, which still requires a PSVR2 headset to play, followed on February 6, 2025 in North America, Europe, and Australia.

The game places the player as a hunter named Wren in a dark fantasy world called the Forsaken Lands. Wren has been infected by a curse that grants bursts of superhuman strength, and uses that power, a grappling hook, and physics-driven melee combat to track down and kill four colossal creatures called Behemoths in order to lift the curse. Skydance built the combat on the dismemberment and weapon systems from its earlier The Walking Dead VR titles.

Gameplay

Skydance's Behemoth is played from a first-person perspective using two tracked motion controllers. Combat is physics-based: the player blocks, parries, and strikes enemies described by the developer as skilled, strategic warriors rather than simple foes. Wren carries three main weapons, a two-handed sword, a bow, and an axe, which can be upgraded using an in-game currency called Coloss Alloy. The combat continues the gore and dismemberment technology Skydance developed for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners; chief technologist Peter T. Akemann said the team "continued to push our gore-tech and dismemberment systems."

A grappling hook is central to traversal and combat. The player uses it to climb, zip, and reel up and down walls, towers, and cliffsides, and to grab smaller enemies and pull armor plating off larger ones. The curse afflicting Wren also grants a temporary superhuman strength ability that lets the player cut enemies in half, sever limbs, and pick foes up and throw them.

The four Behemoths are the game's set-piece boss fights. Each is a giant creature with distinct strengths and weaknesses, and defeating one requires multi-stage strategies that combine shooting, melee, climbing, grappling, and dashing. Reviewer Scott Hayden of Road to VR wrote that the Behemoths "basically put all of your increasingly refined skills to the test: shooting, slicing, climbing, grappling, dashing, everything." Between the boss encounters the player explores environments that range from snowy tundra to swampy marshland, solving environmental puzzles and fighting smaller enemies and mini-bosses. A full playthrough of the campaign runs about nine hours.

For comfort the game offers smooth and snap turning with adjustable vignettes, dash movement, an artificial crouch, a haptic feedback toggle, grip customization, and both seated and standing play.

Development

The studio that became Skydance Games was previously named Skydance Interactive, the gaming division of Skydance. It is best known for the VR survival horror game The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (2020) and its sequel The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution (2022). The team revealed Behemoth on October 11, 2022 at Meta's Connect conference, then under the Skydance Interactive name, describing it as a project built "from the ground up to showcase everything the studio's learned about what it means to fight for your very survival in VR" and initially targeting a 2023 launch on Quest 2 and Oculus Rift S.

The game was directed by Brian Murphy, with art by Michael Kaufman, writing by Frank Barbiere, and music by Andrea Bellucci. Murphy said the team designed the Behemoth fights for a physical reaction from the player: "When the Seal swings that flail and it smashes to the ground, your adrenaline spikes. That's what we were after, a visceral response." The release slipped from 2023 to fall 2024 and then to its final December 2024 date.

Release

Platform	Release date	Notes
Meta Quest 2 / Meta Quest 3 / Meta Quest 3S	December 5, 2024	Meta Quest Store
PlayStation VR2	December 5, 2024	PlayStation Store; requires PS5
PC VR (SteamVR)	December 5, 2024	Steam; also a PlayStation PC build offered as cross-buy with Quest
PlayStation 5 (physical edition)	February 6, 2025	Boxed PS5 release that still requires a PSVR2 headset; sold in North America, Europe, and Australia

Reception

Reviews varied by platform. On the review aggregator Metacritic the Quest version held a score of 76 out of 100, the PC version 68 out of 100, and the PS5 version 56 out of 100.

Road to VR's Scott Hayden scored the game 8.5 out of 10 ("Great") and called it "a colossal step forward in VR action-adventure gaming," praising the combat and the Behemoth boss fights while noting that the story was "a just little too predictable to be truly engaging." UploadVR rated it 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing that "Skydance's Behemoth feels great when you're slaying the titular creatures, but there's ultimately some rough edges." The UploadVR review described the Behemoth encounters as the game's strongest component but criticised repetitive block-and-switch puzzles, limited enemy variety, and several technical problems including pop-in, floating objects, and soft locks. Other outlets were more negative: Eurogamer gave it 2 out of 5 and Push Square 4 out of 10.

The game was nominated for Immersive Reality Technical Achievement and Immersive Reality Game of the Year at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in 2025.

Current status

In 2025 Skydance Media merged with Paramount. Following the merger the studio behind Behemoth and the Walking Dead VR games was reorganized, and as of June 2026 Road to VR reported that the former VR team was developing an unannounced game for PC and consoles rather than another VR title, marking a pause in its work as a dedicated VR developer. Skydance's Behemoth remained available on the Meta Quest Store, Steam, and PlayStation Store.