Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (PS4)
Darth Vader is likely the most iconic character to emerge from the Star Wars series, and a VR game that seems to let you play as him sounds like it could be a thrilling experience. However, despite the name, that is not what Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series is about. Rather than finding yourself behind the armor of the villainous cyborg, Vader Immortal has you playing as a faceless and nameless smuggler who is the only one who can stop Vader’s latest plan. There is a bright side though, because while you might not be playing as Darth Vader, you are eventually able to do everything you’d want to do as the Sith Lord, from swinging a lightsaber to grabbing things with the Force and even firing lightning from your hands.
As for why a no-name smuggler ends up being the only person who can stand up to the Galactic Empire’s most fearsome warrior, this all ties back to their ancestry. On the lava-covered planet of Mustafar, an object called the Bright Star teems with life energy, it supposedly able to bring the dead back to life or even make whoever wields it immortal. However, the only clues to its location are hidden behind genetic locks, meaning only the descendants of the artifact’s creator Lady Corvax have a hope of finding and utilizing it. When Vader discovers the smuggler you play as is of Corvax’s bloodline, he aims to force you to plunge into the depths of the planet to find this valuable relic. The few remaining inhabitants of the world are eager to see this dangerous artifact destroyed instead, leading to the smuggler constantly trying to break away or sabotage the plan with their help.
Interestingly, while Vader is poised to be the plot’s main antagonist, there are points where he notices special promise in you, even training you in the ways of the Force, but perhaps a bit less effective is the droid ZO-E3’s attempts to inject some levity into the affair. For the most part, this first-person PSVR game takes its subject matter pretty seriously, so a character who can add some humor isn’t unwarranted, and Maya Rudolph plays the wise-cracking droid well for what she is. However, she can feel like she is undercutting things a bit too often when she’s around, especially since the game otherwise serves as an interesting deeper look into a Star Wars planet with plenty of mystery around its nature and history. In fact, there are some downright artful moments where the game shifts to a more painterly look for visions of what have been or could be, and thankfully ZO-E3 doesn’t truly ruin anything since she’s not too obnoxious. Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series was originally a set of three episodic installments released individually on the Oculus Quest and it almost feels like the game’s plot could have worked as a three issue comic series in the Star Wars universe, something that’s not too surprising when you learn the game’s writer David S. Goyer also worked as a screenwriter on various Batman and Blade films.
The narrative definitely needed to pull its weight here though, because while the campaign’s story is interesting to follow, it’s not quite as engaging when its time for some action. The PlayStation Move controllers represent your hands in the game world, but besides pressing some buttons and the occasional ladder climb, they’re mostly going to be wielding the powers the Star Wars series is best known for. Lightsaber play works as well as you could hope for, the game tracking wild flails as well as heavy swings but rewarding more meaningful motion with heavier damage. However, it can also be used for deflecting laser shots and guarding against other lightsabers, which should make using it more robust if not for how forgiving the game’s combat is. If the enemy isn’t in lightsaber range, they make sure you know when they’re going to fire a laser so you can easily stand still and guard. Some warning is warranted of course, but even beyond it rarely feeling like damage you take actually hinders you much, the moments where laser deflection is necessary just involve standing, waiting, and easily blocking.
Eventually you will get Force powers, these allowing you to do things like grab nearby objects to hurl at enemies for a less slow way to fight, but these hit on an issue as well. The Force is actually too strong with you, the player able to focus their hand on a foe for a bit before they can lift them up and toss them aside, instantly defeating them. While tossing aside a single Stormtrooper as others shoot at you isn’t too bad, there are times the game slowly has strong enemies appear like droids wielding laser staves, but you can Force grab all of them before they’re a threat and toss them away, completely robbing the moment of any danger. Those droids at least put up a good fight before you understand the Force, but even all the way up to the confrontation with Vader the game struggles to put together a challenging fight thanks to you being too strong and the game being too forgiving even when you do take damage.
If Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series was left to stand on the merits of its story mode, it would be able to put forth an interesting story in the Star Wars universe while the action you participate in to progress it feels more like theme park activities with few stakes and a greater focus on just getting a chance to use the Force and a laser sword. Thankfully though, there is a part of the game where some real difficulty arises, that being the three different Lightsaber Dojos, there being one for each episode. While the plot didn’t seem to want to bar you from always heading forward to experience the narrative, the Lightsaber Dojos are meant to be a real test of your ability to handle your sword and Force powers, this mode even being the only place where lightsaber throws and Force lightning can be utilized.
The Lightsaber Dojos each contain around 40 rounds of play, a set amount of enemies appearing that really do aim to test your ability to master the game’s attack options. During a normal round there are Imperial Commendations you can earn to unlock alternate gloves, lightsabers, and even a few saber variants like Darth Maul’s famous double-bladed lightsaber. You can earn three commendations per round, but you lose one any time you take a hit and if you take too long to finish that round, you’ll slowly miss out on the chance to earn those other commendations too. Thus, you can’t just shrug off a laser hit anymore, making deflection and guarding more important than ever. Actually watching how enemies behave becomes key and they will try tricky maneuvers to get around your defenses. What’s more, later Lightsaber Dojos introduced extra elements like traps you can trigger and blasters you can steal so your own options keep expanding. There are even Unleashed rounds where the goal changes to defeating as many enemies as possible, it no longer mattering if you’re hurt so long as you don’t die and the number of foes present really demands a strong understanding of how to attack foes quickly and efficiently. Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series can finally be a bit thrilling as enemies that put up a good fight stand against you and a reward system urges you to be careful but swift, and while it can feel like a wider range of enemy types would help these dojos avoid a handful of rather similar rounds, this portion of the game provides the more exciting lightsaber VR experience compared to a story that is more interested in its plot than its action.
THE VERDICT: Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series does serve as a nice side-story in its sci-fi universe that explores a planet otherwise mostly meant to look cool, but while it works on digging into Mustafar’s lore, it doesn’t do much to make the VR activities all that engaging. Enemies fold far too easily to the Force or wait too patiently for the player to easily block their attacks, but a saving grace when it comes to interactivity arises in the three Lightsaber Dojos. Actually facing foes that require good use of your lightsaber and Force powers finally deliver on an entertaining play experience when otherwise actions mostly seemed to exist to show off more story scenes, but it is essentially a challenge mode, meaning that Vader Immortal can be effective in parts but never quite the full package all at once.
And so, I give Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series for PlayStation 4…
An OKAY rating. My earlier comparison of Vader Immortal’s plot to a comic book wasn’t just an excuse to mention David S. Goyer’s involvement. The story mode does feel like it is meant to be witnessed more than interacted with at times, actions often not difficult and the player is moved along even when they aren’t doing too well. A comic is passively read and often intersperses bits of action to perk things up for a bit, and while your hands are moving around to make the action bits unfold here, the sights and lore are the real star while you’re mostly the key to open the lock on the next story segment. The Lightsaber Dojo swings in and saves things when it comes to the action though, it not only expanding your abilities to make them more robust but finally presenting situations where you will need to handle yourself well with the interesting powers you command. The dojo can definitely get quite difficult and it’s not like the story needed to be as demanding as this side mode gets, but a better mix of danger and speed could really add some pep to the story’s battles. The dojo, conversely, just feels like it could use more material, you can only mix a handful of enemy types in so many ways before you feel some repetition despite smart round design alleviating that somewhat.
A greater lean into the pure combat focus of the Lightsaber Dojos could have lead to a more exciting interactive experience, but Star Wars’s setting does provide some engaging fiction that would be a shame to shove aside in favor of something purely visceral. My initial misconception that this might be a game where you play as Darth Vader was an intriguing prospect, and that’s because the Star Wars series has more than blade-swinging and moving objects around with your mind to lean on. This is no exploration of Vader’s character though with Mustafar really getting the spotlight if anything, but he does play an important enough part that his name in the title does feel justified. The two halves of the game do feel too separate though and don’t always benefit from the features found in the other, but the parts where they do work mean Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series has some entertainment value that means a franchise fan will likely at least find part of the experience enjoyable.