Arken Age On Quest 3 Looks Like A Promising Port

Arken Age is making its way to standalone VR next month and I got the chance to take an early look at the upcoming game on Quest 3. How well does this ambitious PC VR and PS VR2 title hold up after making the jump to mobile hardware? Read on for my impressions of the game’s first three levels.

The Sights, Sounds & Feel of The Bio-Chasm

On PC and PS VR2, Arken Age shines with its dense environments, amazing use of scale, and intense physics-driven combat, all wrapped up in a futuristic narrative-driven sci-fi storyline. Most of those elements are excitingly still here on Quest 3, but naturally, compromises had to be made to get this ambitious title running on the headset’s standalone hardware.

Gameplay Captured by UploadVR on Quest 3

Let’s start with the visuals. Textures look scaled back, and the lighting feels slightly flatter in most areas, but it’s an impressive port. The game’s world still looks excellent on Quest 3 and provides a unique mixture of sci-fi elements and fantasy design. It holds up surprisingly well on the standalone lower-spec hardware.

Sound design shows no significant differences between the PC VR and Quest 3 versions, which is great because Arken Age has some of the best ambient music I’ve heard in an adventure game in a long time. The sound effects and world noises feel fitting and blend nicely with the musical backtrack. After playing the game for a few hours, I couldn’t get the music out of my brain, and now I want an OST.

Gameplay Captured by UploadVR on Quest 3

For performance, Quest 3 handles Arken Age’s intense combat better than I expected. Climbing in particular feels responsive, and hanging off cliff faces still gives me that gut-drop sensation. Swinging my sword and whipping out my spring-loaded climbing picks remain smooth, and I didn’t run into much of the stuttering I’ve sometimes seen with other standalone ports, like Alien: Rogue Incursion before it got patched.

Some of the more heavily populated combat sequences saw occasional framerate drops, but none that disrupted my immersion to the point of frustration or affected my gameplay.

Gameplay Captured by UploadVR on Quest 3

Combat also feels satisfying, with the game giving me the ability to seamlessly switch from melee to ranged weapons or a combination of them on the fly. Blocking oncoming strikes with your sword or energy shield has weight, and landing a perfectly timed counterstrike makes you feel powerful.

The Half-Life: Alyx-style telegrab mechanic, combined with climbing in several places across each map, offers combat style variation and more freedom of choice in how to take down each new enemy. Having this ability to add some flair to my combat style feels excellent.

Early Verdict on Quest 3

We positively reviewed Arken Age earlier this year, and we’ll be sure to take a closer look at the Quest 3 version when it releases in October. Until then, my impressions of the first three levels on Quest 3 are favorable. For a game of this scope and scale running on a standalone headset, it’s an impressive port.

The Bio-Chasm still feels alive, physics-driven combat still lands a heavy-handed blow, and the sense of scale is preserved across systems nicely. If you’ve only got a Quest 3 or 3S, you’re not missing out on the heart and soul of this experience, just that extra layer of fidelity you’d expect for PC VR games. Right now, it’s a great start.

Arken Age reaches the Quest 3 family on October 30 on the Meta Horizon Store, and it’s available now on PS VR2 and Steam.