Meta Quest’s big budget Christmas release lets you take on the role of Deadpool, in his mission to destroy both his enemies and the fourth wall.
Deadpool isn’t your average superhero. In fact, he isn’t even really a hero. He’s a Canadian mercenary (probably) called Wade Wilson, with the power to heal even horrifying injuries, after being part of an unpleasant medical experiment. His dark humour and nihilism are complemented by an attitude towards enemies that encourages grotesque, gore-soaked slapstick humour. Deadpool isn’t one to take life or death too seriously.
As such he makes an ideal video game character. There’s no need to come up with tenuous explanations when he comes back to life after being dismembered, and ultra-violence is his calling card. He also tends towards monologues, his jolly, foul-mouthed stream of consciousness chatter continuing for pretty much the entire game. It makes plot exposition very easy to do, because he’s just continually narrating.
He also comes armed with a neat combination of ranged and melee weapons: two pistols on his hips, a pair of katanas you can snatch from behind each shoulder, and grenades you pull from your left wrist. You can hurl any weapon at anything, so throwing your swords and guns at enemies is fine, as you can just pull fresh ones from their holsters. Deadpool’s finishing move is a jumping two-footed kick to the face, which works especially well against stunned enemies.
To get around the place in VR there’s a grapple gun in the small of your back, which links to glowing anchor points, letting you fling yourself across certain parts of its levels at speed. It makes that element of traversal fast and fun, and unlike a great many VR games it works flawlessly, making it easy to grab a gun or sword without any braindead fumbling – even throwing things proves reliably accurate.
The only bad news is that you’ll need to play Deadpool VR standing up. We tried sitting down, but plenty of things end up below the level of the sofa cushions, making it impossible to reach buttons or use your pistols. Standing may be a small price to pay, but it’s worth being aware of where you stand, because you’ll be needing to slash with your swords, throw punches, and toss grenades, so unless you want the carnage to extend into real-life, having enough child and pet free space around you is essential.
Staying in character, the cartoon violence is amped up to the max. Limbs are sliced off, heads explode, bodies – often including Deadpool’s – get eviscerated, and it’s all done in cheerful comic book style, with no sense of actual horror; not that you could get away with much of that when its hero keeps up his stream of comedy babble throughout.
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Film and game references arrive at such a rate it’s hard to keep up. Alien, Jeff Minter, Back to the Future, Vanquish, Sesame Street, Pac-Man, A Clockwork Orange, Predator, Wordle, and so very many more – it’s clearly written by proper geeks, and all the better for it. The quality of the script is almost as good as the Deadpool films and while Neil Patrick Harris is standing in for Ryan Reynolds, he does such an excellent job you’re scarcely aware of it.
The plot is essentially an excuse for the action, with Wade kidnapped by a monstrous trans-dimensional TV producer (Mojo, a long running X-Men villain) and put in charge of recruiting new contestants for his dystopian game show. None of them want to come, making each one the end-of-level bosses, who once defeated gets sucked through a wormhole back to the studio.
It’s also an excuse for rating your violence. Using various combinations of moves and weapons gains more viewership, rewarding you with in-game currency you can spend on upgrades. That includes new outfits for Deadpool and several varieties of improved swords, guns, and grenades. It means you’re best off using combinations of melee and ranged weapons and regularly claiming weapons from fallen enemies and the gun cabinets that litter its levels.
The game’s unusually high production values extend to a well-executed Deadpool suit, your hands, arms, torso, and legs visible when you look down, eschewing the floating gloves so many VR games resort to. It’s a master class in first person action, which extends to the rapid motion when you use your grapple gun, wall run, or fall from a height.
It also does a great job of varying your tasks. Despite the range of temporary weapons you pick up, fights are a little one-note, relying on skills and weaponry that you master early in the game. The designers get around that with some fun one-off pieces of equipment, like the wrist blasters you get when fighting Ultimo, the game’s version of Ultron, which as Deadpool himself comments, does not require the additional licensing fees.
Deadpool doesn’t so much knock on the fourth wall as take a bulldozer to it, regularly addressing you as ‘player’, while commenting on the number of fetch quests you’re having to endure. It doesn’t make those any less dull, but there has to be something to break up the otherwise constant combat, which is a given when you’re looking for reluctant new contestants, or taking part in brutal arena-based game show minigames.
The latter are only okay, unfortunately. It’s nice to play video game staples like capture the flag, and 2 vs. 2 deathmatches, but both enemy and friendly AI are weak, and with only four players in the arenas they can seem too sparsely populated, making those levels feel a bit lifeless. However, like everything in Deadpool, each idea is whisked away before you can get too tired of it.
The worlds you visit in search of fresh blood for the TV show are inspiringly different from one another, as are the boss fights that punctuate them, even if none of them are at all challenging at normal difficulty. It’s entertaining nonetheless, and adding to replay value, once you finish the game and restart it, there’s fresh dialogue that amusingly recognises you’re going for a second play through.
The combat may feel a little simple, and there’s no doubt the constant barrage of wisecracks do eventually start to wear thin, but the high level of polish and incredible dedication to immersive fun and foolishness really make the most of Deadpool and his macabre proclivities.
Marvel’s Deadpool VR review summary
In Short: A raucous VR splatterfest that captures Deadpool’s brand of sardonic humour and gratuitous violence perfectly, with sky high production values largely making up for the overly simple combat.
Pros: The VR motion sensing and gestures are unusually seamless and consistent, with an impressive variety of set pieces and locations. Neil Patrick Harris does an excellent Ryan Reynolds impersonation.
Cons: Combat is a little superficial and Deadpool’s insistent commentary does eventually start to grate. Normal difficulty is too easy
Score: 7/10
Formats: Meta Quest 3 (reviewed) and 3S
Price: £38.99
Publisher: Oculus Studios
Developer: Twisted Pixel Games
Release Date: 18th November 2025
Age Rating: 18
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