Undead Citadel has had a slow, quiet development path since it first appeared on the VR radar years ago. Now it’s finally locking in a console release. The medieval hack-and-slash survival game will hit PlayStation VR2 in July, bringing with it a combat system built around weighty, physical melee.
The project comes from a small Spanish team that’s clearly focused on kinetic feel over spectacle. This isn’t a flashy blockbuster with set-piece moments. It’s a grounded VR brawler where every swing, block, and parry has weight — and that’s where it finds its footing.
Combat is all about physicality and feedback
Undead Citadel leans heavily on tactile swordplay. You’re not just flailing at enemies. You need to commit to your swings, angle your blade correctly, and manage stamina if you want to stay alive. Weapons don’t feel interchangeable. Each one handles differently depending on length, weight, and attack speed.
There’s a noticeable emphasis on timing. Shielding, dodging, and countering undead attacks relies more on muscle memory than raw speed. The pacing is slower than something like Blade & Sorcery, but that makes every encounter more deliberate. Combat here feels scrappy, not cinematic.
Visuals are dark, gritty, and functional
The art direction sticks to a grim medieval fantasy style. You’re moving through ruined castles, torchlit crypts, and damp dungeons full of shambling corpses and oversized monstrosities. It’s not stylized or painterly, but it gets the tone right for a survival-focused experience.
Textures and models won’t push PSVR2 hardware to the limit, but the benefit is smoother performance and faster loading. That’s important when immersion relies more on physical action than ultra-detailed scenery. The environments serve the gameplay, not the other way around.
Single-player focus with minimal narrative baggage
This isn’t a live service game or a sandbox. Undead Citadel is a mostly linear, single-player experience with a campaign that prioritizes action over storytelling. There are bits of lore scattered around, but don’t expect long cutscenes or character arcs.
What matters is the loop — move through an area, scavenge for gear, fight through mobs, survive. It’s a combat-first game that knows what it is. No filler systems, no meta layers, just a consistent beat of tense, up-close fights.
A long road to release, but timing may work in its favor
After years in development limbo and a quiet PC VR launch, Undead Citadel now lands on PSVR2 at a time when the platform needs more grounded action titles. The library leans heavily on shooters and puzzle games. This gives players a melee-heavy alternative that doesn’t require online matchmaking or hours of onboarding.
It’s not reinventing the genre, but that’s not the point. This is a VR game about simple mechanics done well — and that approach has aged better than many overengineered projects from VR’s earlier years. If it delivers the core experience cleanly, it could find its audience without needing to chase trends.
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Always the first to plug in. VRSCOUT dives head-first into the most immersive VR worlds, analyzing mechanics, comfort, innovation, and that elusive “presence” factor. If he says it’s worth it, it probably is.
