With the game’s initial launch in English, Joy Way plans to extend its reach by adding text localization in seven languages, including Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, and Italian, aiming for a broader global engagement by February 23.

The game distinguishes itself with dynamic mechanics such as grapple hooks for advanced movement, strategic combat enriched with ragdoll physics, and randomly generated biomes offering unique trials and rewards. It promises a versatile gameplay experience through over 80 buffs and numerous player builds, anchored by a narrative that delves into themes of love, sacrifice, and the duality of AI.

The introduction to new platforms comes with tailored enhancements, leveraging the specific capabilities of each device. The version for Pico headsets mirrors the Meta Quest build, operating at 72Hz, while the PlayStation VR 2 and Steam VR versions are optimized to deliver a more immersive experience at 90Hz. This decision follows a revision from the initially proposed 120Hz due to unforeseen technical challenges.

Joy Way invites players and media representatives to explore Dead Hook further through the provided press kit links and encourages communication through email or Twitter for additional information or inquiries.

Have you dived into the world of Dead Hook on any of the VR platforms, or are you intrigued by the upcoming language options? Your experiences and anticipations are welcome in the comments below.

Dead Hook, a game that combines elements of rogue-like adventures with the fast-paced action of FPS, draws inspiration from classic arena shooters such as Doom Eternal and Unreal Tournament. Players assume the role of Adam Stone, a multifaceted character navigating the perilous planet Resaract, embroiled in challenges of love, sacrifice, and the duality of AI.

The game distinguishes itself with unique features, including grapple hooks for dynamic movement, a combat system enriched by ragdoll physics, and procedurally generated biomes that promise a fresh experience with every playthrough. With over 80 buffs leading to numerous player builds and a progression system rooted in permanent upgrades, Dead Hook offers a deep and engaging gameplay experience.

For those on Pico platforms, the game will maintain its original Meta Quest build quality, operating at 72Hz. Meanwhile, enhancements for Steam VR and PlayStation VR 2 users will leverage the power of wired VR to deliver superior visual fidelity, including higher resolutions, advanced lighting, and improved post-processing effects, with frame rates at 90Hz and 120Hz respectively.

Set at a launch price of $19.99 USD, with regional pricing considerations, Dead Hook aims to deliver a consistent and immersive experience across all supported VR platforms, including all updates since its original debut.

Have you had a chance to dive into the world of Dead Hook on any platform? Or perhaps, have you checked out our in-depth review of the game? We’re eager to hear your thoughts and experiences with this rogue-like adventure. Comment below and let us know!

TALENT BORROWS, GENES STEAL

It’s very clear from the outset that Genotype has purloined a considerable amount of DNA from Nintendo’s eternally wonderful Metroid Prime. Apart from being reminiscent graphically, the explore-upgrade-shoot-explore-more format is clearly more than inspired by the first-person adventures of Samus Aran. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with that; when you’re attempting to clone something, you should start with very strong genes. And in the opening sections of Genotype, it’s really quite a promising love letter; the graphics are solid and smooth, the premise is intriguing, and the base promises to be a treasure trove of mystery, adventure and discovery; a futuristic setting slowly being reclaimed by organic matter in the shadow of twisted experiments gone wrong. 

WAKE UP, SLEEPY GENES

The player’s interface for everything that happens is Evely’s ‘GRAID’ gloves. Inspired, perhaps, by Half-Life: Alyx’s glove system, these handy hands act as an inventory, weapon and tools system. A ripcord acts as the selection menu; pull the cord from the right glove and let go when you’ve selected the creature you want to use.

You start off with a lowly worm Spitter gun, but soon acquire more blueprints for weapon-creatures, and all of them can be gradually upgraded by acquiring genetic matter and upgrade tokens. It’s a good, well-wrought system that feels good to use and you can get to become quite slick with it; as a way of interacting with the world, it’s definitely one of the less janky affairs on the Quest. Whilst it doesn’t really compete with Half-Life: Alyx, it’s mostly fun and rewarding to use. 

GENE MILDER

When I started Genotype, with no prior knowledge or expectation, I was very impressed indeed. It’s always puzzled me that Metroid Prime hasn’t been more widely aped directly like this, and it’s excellent to see it happen. The presentation is excellent, the graphics are lovely, and the performances are solid.

The combat seemed a little slight and inconsequential at first but not exactly bad – I expected this would be something to scale with Evely’s abilities. However, what happens over the next couple of hours is that everything becomes more and more annoying, and less and less interesting. Cracks open in the structure and direction of Genotype, and then everything that you like about it starts to fall through them.

HALF-BAKED GENES 

First off, there’s no pacing at all. You have a laundry list of stuff to do in each area, and it’s never anything more than mundane. Find security keys, find a gizmo, use the gizmo, and upgrade the gloves. Nothing feels like it’s ramping up or raising the stakes, it just feels like doing actual maintenance on an empty base. The combat is all over the place. Genotype randomly spams waves of enemies at you to pad things out, and despite some interesting creature designs you beat them all honoured way. Strafe, shoot. Hitboxes for damage are ridiculous as if to compensate for an intrinsically easy system. Dodging incoming projectiles and attacks in VR should feel intuitive – in this, the player has a field that extends beyond the physical space the character should inhabit, making it easy for creatures to get cheap hits in, and it feels infuriating. Bosses are ridiculously easy compared to the occasional waves of grunts, and there’s just no smooth difficulty curve of any kind. Your inventory will easily become filled with disposable injectors that might sound interesting – haste, invisibility and such – but you’ll never find the need or desire to use them in combat – it’s unnecessary, fiddly and pointless. 

So combat quickly becomes an uninteresting chore, but this isn’t leavened by clever puzzles or an interesting narrative. There’s literally a beige list of dull tasks to do in each area, a checklist that needs ticking. I honestly don’t find that any of it is ultimately interesting. Exploration is hampered by the fact that the environments are repetitious and massively dull. After the initial spectacle and promise falls away, it’s just a collection of corridors, crates and doors that are all so unmemorable that the map becomes essential in a way that it shouldn’t. Often, the rewards for exploration and progression are so minimal, or even non-existent, that it is completely demotivating. Why fill three identical rooms with cupboards to open, which are all empty?

TELLTALE SIGNS

Everything about Genotype is uneven, and this extends – or perhaps begins – with the writing and performances. Evely and William are played by competent and engaging voice actors, but the script and direction are erratic and poor. Evely is in a desperate situation; she is lost, her colleague is killed quite gruesomely at the start, and she is struggling to survive in a mutant-infested facility while a fatal genetic aberration is killing her from the inside out. Rather than this giving her an air of urgency or determination, most of the time she sounds like she’s having a mildly interesting day at the office.

Look at the cover art; Evely even looks like someone has interrupted her using the photocopier to ask where the stapler is. The stakes of the plot couldn’t be higher – the entire world could be destroyed by the infection escaping from the base, and Evely is dying. But that urgency is lost in what’s actually presented to the player. There are some silly attempts at wit and irreverence which don’t land at all, and I think are meant to be gallows humour from a desperate character, but don’t work on paper and the direction isn’t there. It’s a shame because I think with better guidance and a stronger script the actors would certainly have been able to hit on something special here; the moments of genuine connection that work really work, and this is to the performer’s credit. I just wish they’d have had more to work with. If the living genetic mutations that function as the weapons were part of Evely’s infection – like she was mutating herself to progress, but it was slowly consuming her, then that puts us back into high stakes, Metroid Prime territory.

As it is, all of the DNA, gene splicing stuff is just scripting novelty flim-flam. It might as well be alien or advanced tech; there are no overriding themes explored or written into the genetic code of the narrative, as you might reasonably expect from its title. 

REGRESSION

Everything in Genotype conspires steadily to remove the player’s connection to it, from the uncertain and uneven tone to the pointless combat. Either give me a narrative strong enough to forgive any deficiencies in gameplay or a game that’s so good to play that off-scripting or performance can take a back seat and be ignored. Best of all, give me a little bit of both – it’s not an insane ask. I know that somewhere in the empty corridors of Snowdrop base, there’s a far better game waiting to be hatched. It’s a crying shame because a bit more time incubating could have begat something memorable and special. 

Having played the game to completion, we feel it would be fair to describe Hubris as “a narrative-driven sci-fi shooter that utilises a range of made-for-VR mechanics to create a varied gaming experience spanning a range of beautifully crafted futuristic landscapes. From platforming sections to underwater missions and even a fast-paced hoverbike sequence, Hubris will keep players wondering what’s next as they battle their way across a hostile alien world..”

Sounds cool, right?

It would also, and without contradicting any of the above in any way, be completely fair to describe Hubris as “the gaming equivalent of watching a remarkably physically attractive person completely misunderstand the concept of fun and then spend six hours explaining to you why they are the most fun person they know.”

Let’s unpack that, shall we…

GOOD LOOKING… ON PAPER

Hubris begins with the player embodying a character known only as “recruit,” a newbie cadet joining an intergalactic law enforcement organisation known as the “Order of Objectivity.” Rather quickly, your routine transfer to your training facility goes awry. With only the most cursory of establishing narrative, you begin to navigate a strange alien environment steeped in an entirely theoretical mystery.

The story then proceeds to methodically expose itself throughout a 5-6 campaign. As you make your way through the game, you will encounter a trio of characters who, despite being well-voiced and reasonably animated, somehow collectively carry the emotional resonance of a single beige sock. 

While each narrative section makes sense in context and serves to progress the campaign, the dialogue is dull. In fact, the entire story feels as though it was designed entirely to set up a series of missions rather than creating the sense of foreboding intrigue that the game seemed to be aiming for. The story vaguely hints at something deeper in the final chapter but never explains it, perhaps as a setup for a sequel. Up until then, it would be fair to summarise the entire narrative as “Oh no! Bad guys!”

STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE

Throughout the game, the player will switch from straight combat to platforming in a way that makes perfect sense for the flow of the gameplay. The only issue is; both the jumping and grabbing mechanics are so inconsistent and unrealistic that they demean any sense of immersion gained by the rest of the game.

The jumping feels weightless, occupying a physics system that feels distractingly alien, even considering the extraterrestrial context. Grabbing clearly marked edges in mid-air is so hit-or-miss as to become a masterclass in frustration, although it fares slightly better on PSVR2 for some inexplicable reason. Mixing the gameplay by interspersing platforming sections amidst the combat missions is a great idea, but it’s let down by the poor execution of the jumping and grabbing mechanics. 

Also mixed into the proceedings are some underwater sections. Thankfully these are a great success. Swimming works well, and the gear change in play style accompanying these sections is rewarding and engaging. These sections really highlight the potential of the varied gameplay the developers were going for. Had the other sections been equally well delivered, things might have been different for Hubris.

PRETTY…PRETTY EMPTY THAT IS

Despite all the sub-genres stuffed into its missions, Hubris remains, at its heart, a sci-fi shooter. If this core conceit had been delivered to a class and standard that matched its presentation, all other criticisms would have paled against a set of basics done well. Unfortunately, as a shooter, Hubris feels vain and shallow.

Players quickly acquire a starting weapon, a humble space blaster that can be upgraded by an infuriatingly slow collecting and crafting system. This system also allows players to transform their beloved pew pew into a broadly ineffectual semi-automatic or what is, quite possibly, the worst shotgun yet to grace VR. With the expanded arsenal quickly proving lacklustre, players will find that the bulk of the action is best serviced with the rather mundane but well-upgraded starter weapon.

Thankfully, the range of enemies you will face hardly requires an audacious arsenal to be dispatched, so that starting pistol should do you just fine. The variety of enemies is slim, as is the, and I’m being generous here, ‘AI’ that drives them. Although not as bad as the likes of Gambit, flanking enemies felt far easier than it should be, and much of the action felt reminiscent of Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge.

That is not to imply that combat is terrible. There were definitely a few of the less linear combat sections that had me enjoying myself, but it did all feel like something that we have already seen, and a few years ago at that. Couple that with the lack of grenades, drones, shields, or anything creative or interesting to bring to the combat, and you have an action game that feels disappointingly one-dimensional.

OOOOOH, SHINY

Let’s not beat around the bush; Hubris is a good-looking game.

In fact, it’s the type of game that makes you realise how far developers have come since the Quest 2 was initially released. From the futuristic internal environments to the cavernous underwater sections and onto the strange alien skies of the twin planets, the world of Hubris is an impressive sight to behold.

There is some artifacting around the hands, and sometimes the heads of characters, which is mildly distracting, and the surface water effects don’t quite match the insane standards set in Breachers, but overall Hubris occupies a place at the top tier of what players can visually expect from the Quest 2. The art direction is clear and consistent, and the visual world-building is far superior to its narrative counterparts. In terms of visuals, there is much to appreciate and very little to complain about.

On PSVR2, the graphics clearly outshine those on the Quest 2, which is to be expected. Hubris also benefits from superior haptics.

The sound design in Hubris also speaks to a game with high production values. The sound effects are consistent with the world, and most would feel at home in a high-budget sci-fi film. Some of the critter sounds are a little weak, particularly when compared to the masterful work of games like Crashland, and there is little in the way of ambient sounds in the bigger open areas. But overall, the sound design complements the graphics well, and the two elements together go a long way to distracting you from the gameplay issues, successfully putting some glossy lipstick on our hubristic little pig.

IF LOOKS COULD KILL   

Hubris has a list of features and gameplay mechanics that should make it one of the most engaging single-payer VR games of all time – had they been done well. But, perhaps fittingly for a game called Hubris, it seems that pretty graphics and a laundry list of features were assumed to be enough to satiate players. They aren’t.

The general concept of mixing climbing, swimming, platforming, and driving sections with a traditional linear action game is brilliant. In fact, the pure potential of using all of these techniques to fuel an epic story-driven adventure is intoxicating. However, when compared with the various best-in-class mechanics that already exist in each of these auxiliary genres, Hubris sadly proves that being a jack of all trades but master of none is not an ideal proposition for a VR action game.

In recent years, the announcement of another wave shooter would have been met with, at best scornful derision and, at worst, an angry mob, virtual pitchforks at the ready. Yet here we are, staring down the absurdly hand-crafted barrel of VR’s most saturated genre, and we are not outraged. We are, dare I say…intrigued? Bravo.

But the real question is, how long will that sense of intrigue last?

RIDING THE WAVE…SHOOTER

Mothergunship: Forge is, you guessed it, a wave shooter. But it’s not JUST a wave shooter. At the heart of the game is a unique and intuitive crafting mechanic that aims to set the game apart from the hordes of similar titles. To be honest… it comes close.

Each “level” of the game is essentially a room full of robotic harshness, which you must dispatch from the confines of a rather small platform. The action takes place entirely in the 180 degrees in front of you, and although there is some action being thrown at you from the sides, the lack of a total 360 onslaught is a real missed opportunity.

You begin with gauntlets upon which you can fix randomly selected weapons. However, at the end of each room, you have the chance to be awarded another gun part. Essential to this process is the Lego-like connector pieces which will allow you to mount more components together and create ever more preposterous weapon configurations.

The actual weapon attachments range from the run-of-the-mill shotgun and grenade launcher to the slightly more inventing Pizza slicer, a metal box that launches saw blades into the fray. In between rounds, you can reconfigure your arm-senal to try new combinations or try and fit in even more destructive potential. All in all, this system is really great and is easily the best reason to play Mothergunship: Forge.

Some might say it’s the only reason.

SPACEPIRATETRAINER: FORGE

Mothergunship: Forge is a game that is basically just built on one really solid premise; the gun-crafting mechanics. This element is addictive, engaging and quite simply, a lot of fun. Had MGS: Forge taken that wonderful core conceit and built a game around it that complimented it as much as it celebrated it, then this game could have been something exceptional. That is, however, not what happened.

Instead, developers Terrible Posture Games have shoved their innovative crafting system into the bloated corpse of the most overplayed genre available in VR and, in doing so, sentenced it to death. Don’t get me wrong, everything here works and works pretty well. In fact, MGS: Forge is a solid iteration of “stand here and shoot the baddies”. But so are the scores of others that already exist. It’s not bad per se; it’s just been done before, quite often. 

The game offers some bullet hell components, which fill the screen with assorted chaos and brings a Pistol Whip style physicality into the gameplay, which works well. The rogue-like feature that allows you to pick the prize you win at the end of a wave is well-executed and enables the player to tailor their run to a mood or play style. Even the progression system is well done, with new rewards clearly signposted and enough new gear unlocked at the end of each run to make you want to go back in again. 

There is some very basic movement on offer. Still, the size of your platform is limited to the point that the smooth locomotion feels like an afterthought. Those of you who have larger play spaces will definitely get the most out of the game as the room-scale duck and dive elements add a lot more presence to the action. 

Honestly, there’s nothing here that’s bad. Still, without the super cool crafting element, Mothergunship: Forge would probably have been the gaming equivalent of a small beige wall located within the museum of beige walls. 

As it stands, I really enjoyed my first 3 hours in the game, then tolerated another two hours before playing a final hour out of a sense of review-based obligation. Once this review is done, I can pretty much guarantee that I will never feel the urge to play it again.

PEW PEW FOR TWO TWO

Mothergunship: Forge also has a coop mode and, in this instance, has achieved something that I have quite literally never seen before. That is, they have made the first multiplayer mode that is actually less fun to play with a friend than the single-player game.

On the plus side, the game allows you to throw gun parts to each other so you can swap pieces in and out. That was a fun element which I enjoyed. Unfortunately, that was about it (and the sparkling conversation, of course, Omar).

The MP version of the game removes all the progression, the rogue-like elements, and the bosses. It literally removes all the things that keep you invested and replaces them with another player. I can imagine that if I wasn’t playing with a friend with whom I enjoy talking bollocks, I would have noped out at about wave 3 and spent some time evaluating my life choices. 

LEGO GOES BOOM NOW

Visually, Mothergunship: Forge will not be winning any awards, but it gets the job done with reasonable proficiency. The art direction is solid, creating a chunky industrial world that is satisfying to blast robots in. The weapon effects are all nice and punchy; even in the most chaotic moments, everything feels clean and easy to interpret. Each level has a unique visual feel, making your progression through the waves feel satisfying. The enemy design does feel like it could have been a bit more creative as fairly shortly, enemies start to repeat themselves, just in bigger versions. It works, but it’s hardly innovative.

The audio landscape that MGS: F provides is again perfectly satisfactory. The voice acting is good, although sparse, but adds a nice sense of character and polish to the game. The music is a cavalcade of non-descript video game music that suits the tone and theme of the game perfectly. You’re probably not going to be putting it on your next playlist. To give a better example of how noteworthy the music is, after 6 hours in the game, I’m having trouble remembering a single riff. But I know that it made me feel extra shooty at the time.

The spatial audio is perhaps a little muted, and the enemy sound design is also a touch unimaginative, but as with the rest of the game, there’s nothing overtly disappointing on display.

FINAL COUNTDOWN

Mothergunship: Forge is a wonderful core mechanic that was sadly robbed of the chance to appear in a game worthy of its promise. It is an entirely satisfactory iteration of the wave shooter genre, but when you see how much fun it is to build the ever-growing monstrosities of doom, it seems criminal that you only get to use them in such a basic gaming context. 

I’m reluctant to strongly warn people away from playing MGS: F as it’s really not terrible. By the same token, it’s just as hard to recommend it as there is just so much content out there that delivers wave-focused action more proficiently. Now, if you could just give me a gun crafting system like this in the intense wave survival of Crashland, you may just never get me out of the headset again…

On the other hand, some trepidation comes along with such an announcement. Video game history has taught us that a good IP rarely guarantees a good game. In fact, as a community, we gamers have endured countless crap-fests shovelled under beloved IP’s. 

So it is within the throes of this delicate emotional ballet that we enter into Final Space and attempt to live our dreams and rescue our beloved Mooncake!

CHOOKITY PAH

Let’s be clear on this from the beginning. I LOVE Final Space.

As an animated show, Final Space delivers an impeccable balance of laugh out loud humour, gripping action, clever writing, nuanced characters, and moments that pack a genuine emotional punch. 

In fact, if you haven’t seen it yet, you have my permission to leave this review and start watching it now. Go on, I’ll wait… 

The other thing worth being clear about at this early stage is that I DO NOT love Final Space VR: The Rescue. Olan Rogers, the show’s creator, is kind of a personal hero of mine, so believe me when I say that it is beyond painful for me to say this. 

Final Space VR: The Rescue sees the player enter the world of Final Space through a disappointingly simple plotline that runs adjacent to the main franchise. Essentially, the game uses the same cast and overall narrative style as the show but populates a cookie-cutter storyline that forgoes familiarity with the source material in favour of easy access. It’s a decision that makes sense on paper but carves away one of the core elements that has given the show its success. Without the show’s beautiful ability to develop nuanced characters and build intricate plotlines, what you have left immediately feels like some kind of Final Space Lite.

As such, upon entering the game, you will discover that your buddy has been kidnapped, and it’s time to go to The Rescue. That, I’m afraid, is about at cerebral as things are going to get…

Offering the choice of playing solo or co-op, Final Space VR: The Rescue lets players embody one of four of the franchises most iconic characters before setting off to battle through a planet-sized prison complex in search of the missing Mooncake. 

Sadly, what this actually equates to in gaming terms is about an hour and a half’s worth of uninspired walking over there, shooting those guys and then walking somewhere else to do the same thing. 

Groundbreaking this is not.

I’M GOING TO MURDER YOUR FACE OFF!

The most flattering description one could adorn Final Space VR: The Rescue with is that it is a technically functional shooter. By that, I mean that movement, holstering, and firing weapons all pose the essential utility they were designed to deliver. However, the sad truth is that “functional” is definitely the highest praise that can be given. There is such little depth to Final Space that one could be forgiven for thinking that the team behind this game had never before played VR. This is, incidentally, not the case. Grab Games are responsible for the not entirely terrible Knockout League, so what happened here? 

Your guesses are as good as mine.

The game world that Final Space inhabits is so void of any of the interactions that make VR engaging that it’s actually staggering. There is nothing that you can grab, move or climb, or… anything. Other than picking up a gun or holding your hand over a scanner to open a door, the world isn’t interactive at all. You can’t even grab a keycard and use it; they just magically appear and then inexplicably float over and open things themselves! 

Locomotion in the game is permanently set to the pace of a largely ambivalent sloth. That’s right, in Final Space VR: The Rescue, you can’t even sprint!

The levels are linear sequences of corridors that funnel the player into the next action sequence. These are invariably large rooms where you need to blast a selection of non-descript enemies until such time as the game is benevolent enough to let you proceed. Throughout the proceedings, the stakes remain painfully low as any time you take a sizeable amount of damage, a cookie (the in-game health pick up) almost automatically appears. In my playthrough, I never came even close to dying, and before long, I stopped trying to avoid damage altogether.

IT’S A LOAD HUE A LOOOOOAAAAD!

Final Space VR: The Rescue is most definitely a game that is best played in the co-op mode, and one can’t help but think that the only true enjoyment to be had here would be running through the game with a good group of friends. While that may be true, that is hardly what I would call high praise. Final Space VR: The Rescue is better with friends in the same way that standing in a parking lot at 2am eating cold beans out of a tin is better with friends. I mean, yeah, it is better, but I’m willing to bet that you’d all rather be doing something else.

Final Space VR: The Rescue is so bland that it reminds me of when cereal companies used to buy rights to old video games, reskin them in the image of their mascot and shove copies into sugar-laden cereal boxes as a way to peddle diabetes to the obliviously hyperactive children of the mid-’90s. For the gaming iteration of a show as intelligent as it is innovative, it is astounding how little originality or thoughtful design has been applied to the gameplay mechanics.

With just a bit more attention to the basics, Grab Games could have had a reasonable game here. Access to a few powerups, usable items, and even a rudimentary inventory system would have helped bring the core gameplay in line with modern standards. Similarly, some more focus on some basic environmental interactivity would have really scaled up the sense of immersion and made the experience feel more relevant. Adding in some familiar VR mechanics like sprinting, climbing, or defensive capability would have added some much-needed depth and versatility to the gameplay.

But I think the biggest thing missing from Final Space VR: The Rescue is a story that does justice to the source material. I usually prefer games that take a perfunctory approach to narrative and focus on the action, but in an IP like Final Space, that feels like a misstep. It’s a shame for a franchise that is so good at balancing humour and action across ever-evolving plotlines to be reduced to a short game with an almost entirely irrelevant story.

GET OFF MY CHEEKS HUE!!

Final Space VR: The Rescue does manage to hold its own in the graphics department. While it’s hardly going to make jaws hit the floor, it is still a decent representation of the Final Space world. For the first few minutes, it felt great to be inside one of my favourite shows of all time. Wandering the halls of a prison planet with Avocato, Nightfall, and Tribore was pretty cool. The environments are what you’d expect from being transported into an animated series, with a healthy dose of cell shading giving a crisp, clean visual landscape.

The sound design is by no means brilliant. Still, it’s not terrible – with a reasonable array of ambient and spatial sound design adding to the basic functionality of the gameplay. The weapon sound effects lack oomph, though, making the combat feel a little muted, but in the context of the game, this is far from being a major complaint. Pull the trigger, and the gun goes “Pew”, so I think we can chalk that up as a win…

What should be commended, though, is the voice acting.

Despite lacking profound content, the cast’s talent and confidence with their characters are a pleasure to experience. Maybe it’s because I’m a massive fan of the show, but being amongst the soundbite banter of this excellent ensemble was easily the best part of the Final Space VR: The Rescue experience for me.

FINALE… SPACE

Final Space VR: The Rescue is a multiplayer shooter that has, unfortunately, arrived about 6 years too late to be of any meaningful value to the genre. Offering a tepid action-adventure that showcases the best elements of 2016 VR, GrabGames have unfortunately failed to do any justice to an otherwise outstanding IP.

It pains me to say that without the franchise’s trademark depth and nuance and lacking the immersive interactions or basic mechanics of modern VR gaming, there is very little of Final Space left to Rescue.

Originally announced as a PCVR exclusive in 2019, Vertigo Games made waves recently when they announced that the game would launch simultaneously on PCVR, PSVR, and Meta Quest 2. This news came as a blow to Quest 1 users who would need to wait until Q2 of 2022 for their turn but was a welcome surprise for owners of the newer headset.

In 2017 Arizona Sunshine was a veritable masterpiece in VR gaming. Still, times have changed, and it remains to be seen if Vertigo have managed to bring their undead shuffling into the current generation of mobile VR.

FROSTY THE SNOWBREED

For those who hoped that After the Fall would be a more modern take on Arizona Sunshine’s format or a faster-paced take on Saints & Sinners, it’s not. After the Fall is not an epic narrative-driven campaign. There are no branching pathways or character choices, nor is there any physics-based melee. However, what it does have is a series of incredibly intense, multiplayer-focused, fast-paced shoot fests. After the Fall strips away many of the pretences of modern gaming and serves up relentless action like a severed head on a silver platter.

Set in the not too distant future, After the Fall takes place in a snow-covered, post-apocalyptic iteration of Los Angeles in which Hell has, quite literally, frozen over. A new breed of undead have taken over the surface, and these SnowBreed roam the world en masse. The sparse narrative sets up the player as a Harvester, a gun-toting warrior who risks everything to harvest from the surface to keep the human race alive. Don’t really need any more than that, right? 

One thing you will definitely need, though, is a squad. After the Fall does have a single-player mode, but its co-op multiplayer is at its heart. Single-player mode simply replaces your buddies with AI ones. After the Fall is a multiplayer shooter, and playing it without real people is almost as odd an experience as trying to play it without the shooting part. But more on that later.

GOTTA CATCH EM ALL

At release, the game consists of five levels, each taking around 30 minutes to complete. Once these levels have been beaten, you could be forgiven for believing that was the end of the game. Vertigo Games, however, are banking on the fact that you will be left wanting more. Hidden within each level are additional credits, items, and weapons that will be taken back to the game’s hub if carried successfully through to the end of the run. Here the player can upgrade and refine their favourite loadout ready for the next run. 

Trust me, you do not play After the Fall in order to complete it and then shelve it. You play After the Fall to relentlessly search for items, which you use to better your ability to continue to search for items which in turn you use to better your ability to… well, you get the picture. If this kind of gameplay loop is something that you see yourself enjoying, then you are in for one hell of a ride. The action is great, the level design is good, and the mechanics are excellent. If, however, you demand a clearer sense of purpose and progression in your games, then you may need to approach After the Fall cautiously. 

If the gameplay loop sounds familiar to you, you might be familiar with Valve’s Left 4 Dead games. After the Fall ‘borrows’ the same general style and loop. A party of four, killing zombies and trying to find their way to the next safe house, to replenish their supplies and saunter forth to kill more zombies. 

If you’ve been hoping for a VR version of L4D, this is as close as you’re likely to get unless Valve decides to make one themselves.

THERE’RE TOO MANY OF THEM!

Where After the Fall really shines is within its core loop of large scale action. Each level is essentially just a series of happily violent set-pieces connected by pathways that lead you towards the next kill zone. Your troop will wander in and have no choice but to blast your way out. 

Rinse, Repeat. 

Above all else, what makes After the Fall so enjoyable is the sheer volume of zombies that it throws at you and your party. Horde after horde of frozen undead will literally teem out of the walls, holes in the ceiling, or just flood over the walls to charge at you in unrelenting waves of death. It operates on a scale unlike anything else on the Quest and is worth playing just for the chance to experience that thrill. 

There are only around six different enemy types, but you will dispatch them in their hundreds. For the most part, you will be dealing with your standard running or crawling zomboids, but thrown into the mix are several larger, more challenging enemies that will demand your attention no matter how deep into a horde you find yourself. From exploding Eaters to fast-moving, armoured Brutes, these variant opponent types add a dynamic element to the combat that makes it all the more manic. 

There are also Boss fights, although, in fairness, there is only one type of boss that is repeated on every level. Don’t get me wrong, the boss fights are fun to beat, but the repetition is somewhat disappointing. Overall, the enemy types are good, but I wish more were included at launch.

There are six weapon types available, each of which is unlocked as you successfully complete harvest runs. Each of these can be upgraded in many different ways, making up the final core conceit of After the Fall. During each run, you can find new upgrade parts for your guns. With sights, grips, barrels, and magazines, the guns can be systematically improved using the spoils of each previous run. The higher the difficulty level, the greater the spoils, so this provides the final incentive to keep diving back in time and time again, improving both your skills and your arsenal. 

Vertigo have incorporated a range of reloading mechanics and incentivised using the more cumbersome “manual” reloads. Players are awarded an extra 50% harvest score when using manual reloading, leading to more money and bigger and better guns. That is, of course, if you can survive the extra pressure.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS…MORE!

Sadly, somewhere mixed within this gameplay loop is also where After the Fall trips over its own identity and becomes more of a niche proposition. At least for now, there is a limited range of weapons, enemy types, and levels to enjoy. You can supplement your primary loadout with pipe bombs and health syringes, each of which can be stored, Alyx-like, ‘inside’ your wrists, but there aren’t any other devices, traps, or items that add to the gameplay. This really feels like a missed opportunity.

Even though everything that the game does is great, there’s just not that much of it, and there is a genuine threat of things becoming stale all too quickly. If the Vertigo team had launched After the Fall with 7 or 8 levels, some additional items to spice things up, or maybe even a perk system to give you more reason to grind out your harvest, then perhaps it would feel a little more fleshed out. 

Having said that, Vertigo have announced a roadmap of soon-to-be-released free content that includes additional enemy types, an extra weapon, and a new map.

APOCALYPSE WOW

Although the bot-driven single-player mode can quickly get dull, After the Fall is a real joy to play with a group of people all looking to cover each other’s backs, working together, and having a bit of a laugh while gunning down snowbreed. 

In a multiplayer context, the action in After the Fall stays fresh, the tension intensifies, and the sense of relief your team survive a heavy combat section becomes all the sweeter. This really is the best way to enjoy After the Fall, so if you prefer single-player games, you should definitely factor that in.

It’s worth mentioning that there is also a PvP mode where players can face off against each other in 4 vs 4 gunfights. However, that is more an added bonus than a reason to play. I could experience this mode during the pre-release press window. My impression is that the PvP is decent but not original enough to depose any current MP shooters. If Vertigo threw some snowbreed into the mix and turned it into PvPvE instead…well, that might make it far more interesting…

THIS IS NOT DISNEY ON ICE

After The Fall is not a stunning game visually, but it is a highly efficient one. Anyone who has been following the pre-launch hype train will no doubt have seen the PCVR footage, and so the big question is, “how much worse does it look on Quest?” Well, it looks a lot worse, to be honest, but don’t let that put you off. The team at Vertigo Games have worked pseudo miracles with ATF to translate all the most essential visual elements faithfully over to the Quest. Sure, the textures are a lot less detailed, and there is an overtly blocky geometry to the limbs and chunks of head that fly off the snowbreed as you slay them, but the essence of the game is nevertheless there.

Most importantly, though, so is the body count. 

For all that it lacks in textures and lighting on the Quest, After the Fall more than makes up for it in the sheer number of enemies that the game can handle. There are dozens of zombies on screen at multiple points, and in my hours of playing, I never had so much as a single frame drop. There was only one point in my playthrough that made me think, “Wow, that looks great”, but there were so many moments that made me think, “Holy shit, there are so many of them!”

The Sounds of Death

The audio landscape that Vertigo have wrought is really top-notch and incredibly well suited to the game. The soundtrack is effortlessly engaging, switching between increasingly intense 80’s synth vibes to ambient stillness, allowing you to dwell in the atmospheric spatial audio with ease. Sounds of an impending onslaught mix with the groans and slithers all about you to create just the right amount of unease as you traverse the streets and corridors of each level.

The gun sounds are reasonably weighty, each with its own character, and the rest of the game’s auditory cues combine well to create an atmosphere that walks right up to the line of genuinely unsettling before stepping back in favour of being a little more fun.

The voice acting is limited in its scope but competent in its delivery. There is scant little material to work with, but it fits the game well, bringing some levity to the proceedings and reinforcing the arcade vibe that the game exudes. Overall, the sound is balanced, well delivered, and brings everything together artfully. 

AFTER YOU FALL

After the Fall is a glorious tribute to arcade based mayhem that delivers some of the most frantic action that the Quest currently has to offer. While not boasting anything that could be meaningfully described as a campaign, After the Fall crafts its own type of depth with an abundance of stylish, adrenaline-pumping action.

Sadly, the content available at launch is “light”, to say the least. With only five missions to play and six weapons to unlock, After the Fall is a game that will be best enjoyed by those who love looter shooters. Whether or not this becomes your new gaming addiction, the intense action and insanely high enemy count alone make it easy to recommend this title to anyone with even the slightest interest in post-apocalyptic zombie madness.

It’s Rail-gun Time!

At an Oculus comfort rating of Moderate, Hyper Dash is suitable for most VR users. It relies little on smooth locomotion and primarily uses dash teleportation and an on-rail movement system. Despite the high-speed turning and movement inherent to most shooters, the teleport mechanic is well suited to those who haven’t entirely developed their VR legs yet. Once properly understood, players will need to utilise the erratic movement granted by this teleportation to improve their chances against enemies. Although those players will likely be doing the same to you, so you’ll have to watch out for the ephemeral trail that marks a sudden dash. Hyper Dash also gives players complete control of their movement on the rail system, allowing them to hop on or off at any time and even choose their initial direction. 

Moving on from movement, the akimbo style dual-wielded weapons lend themselves well to the freedom offered by the Oculus Touch controllers. Players can equip any combination of guns they choose, depending on what they need for that map and assuming they can find the weapon spawn points within it. Various map designs allow diverse gameplay across multiple modes, including Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination, Elimination, and the ever-popular Payload. 

Dashing Good Looks

The graphics are absolutely astounding for a game that can run natively on Quest 1 with up to 10 players! While maintaining solid framerates, movement trails and weapon discharges are colourful and dynamic up close. The player avatars are crisp and easily identifiable from across the map. The simpler wall textures likely assist the game’s stability but still fit well with the theme of a futuristic combat simulation and rarely detract from the overall experience. Most of the time, your focus is drawn by other visual elements like faux reflections, impressive lighting and water splashes.

While the game doesn’t give you much time to stop and smell the roses, you can still appreciate some things before you’re struck down by a gun-toting robot. Whether it’s a laser, bullet, or missile, the unique and satisfying weapon sounds won’t ever be as enjoyable as the hit register when you strike an enemy. 

Audio in this game is designed to feel busy and action-packed, from the ambient hype music through to the movement sounds and game alerts. Constant communication with your team adds further to this, and there’s almost always someone desperately trying to yell callouts or coordinate a new plan. Proximity chat with enemies allows for even more interactions; some good-natured teasing, various intimidation tactics, and the requisite trash-talk that’s an ever-present aspect of most online games.

Jumps the Rails

Where Hyper Dash frustrates is in the high skill ceiling set by an already experienced player base. Despite doing its best to teach players the ropes, the tutorial doesn’t quite prepare new players for the brutality of experienced players. However, players can practice as much as they want, and the AI bots are surprisingly good, albeit lacking in team tactics. 

Smooth locomotion is present in Hyper Dash but seems utterly useless in the game. Emphasis is rightly given to the teleportation dash mechanic, but if you struggle with that system, you will stand absolutely no chance at trying to get by using only the sprint mechanic. It is, at best, a helpful way to close the gap after a poorly aimed teleportation or to strafe while shooting from a distance. 

Further Down the Line

Luckily, most players quickly adapt to the teleportation mechanic and find it one of the most crucial elements in making the game exciting and fun. After amassing an extensive player base through SideQuest, the official launch allowed for even more popularity as access became more accessible and the dedicated servers became more populated. 

Competitive tournaments and eSports groups such as Dash League will undoubtedly continue to develop as the numbers and interest grow.

Hyper Dash also provides cosmetic upgrades, unlocked through experience points earned in-game. Skilled, dedicated players will, of course, reach higher levels faster, allowing them to show off fanciful weapon skins and replacement heads for their droid avatars. 

 More Grinding Required

Though players have some level of individuality, the developers at Triangle Factory could take a page from EchoVR and implement greater degrees of customisation to the colours and patterns players can equip on their avatars and gear. Additionally, the introduction of ranked games could reduce the barrier of entry for new players, with potentially more customisation rewards available in the competitive servers as an incentive for high-level players. 

Hype Train

Despite some barriers to entry for new players, Hyper Dash is a solid FPS that made its mark early on and managed to foster a healthy community of players. I can’t wait to see what changes they bring to it in the future with proper funding and an ever-increasing fanbase. 

RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE

There is a distinct and rewarding whiff of quality to Sniper Elite VR from the moment it loads. Good, crisp, and well-designed menus make it quite clear that the developers have taken things seriously. A huge selection of comfort and movement options are offered, simply and cleverly streamlined for those who want to dive quickly into the game. If, like me, you’re a natural tinkerer with game settings, rest assured you’re well catered for here. It’s an immediate and all too rare indicator of the quality and care infused in the game, and it gets better from there. 

A few button presses and the game loads, and we’re presented with a scene of the rural idyll; a stone-built cottage in the Italian countryside and a young family playing in the sun. The player is the narrator, an old man watching younger generations play happily away as he reminisces about the second world war, and his reasons for fighting. It manages to not be too mawkish, and the unusual perspective of a Partisan rather than a square-jawed American Blast Hard Cheese-type is refreshing. It also, thankfully, doesn’t dawdle too long on this old fellow talking. This framing device works well for narrative context but doesn’t outstay its welcome. He’s an old chap sat on a bench briefly reminiscing, and his ‘diary’ acts as the menu hub and mission selector for the game. There are a couple of levels that act as tutorials for the rest of the game, which is all told in flashback. It works really well, and you’re only ever a few seconds away from being in the heart of the action.

SHOOTY BEAUTY

The first thing to strike you about the game is how lovely it looks. It isn’t going to stand in comparison to the latest Unreal Engine games on the current and next-gen consoles, of course, but we all know the Quest is basically a mobile phone with ideas above its station. As such, the fact that the visuals manage to actually impress is wonderful. It doesn’t feel like a creaky and antiquated engine that might fall apart at any minute; there’s good texture work, produced to the limitations of the hardware but beautifully realised nonetheless.

The architecture and panoramas actually look good. Explosions are convincing. Everything has a sense of weight, and it even borders on approaching realism at times. Yes, it never looks better than a really, really good PlayStation 2 game – but this is, in the murky new world of VR, still astonishing progress compared to what we usually get, and it makes such a difference.

SCOPED OUT

The sniping, thank goodness, works excellently. It would hardly be in any kind of elite company if it didn’t. Aiming down the scope feels natural and just challenging enough; reloading and chambering ammo is the right balance of convincing and accessible. If you’re aware of Sniper Elite as a game series, then you’ll be aware that its USP is the Kill-Cam you get upon successfully sniping a Nazi shitbag. This is a gleeful and heady mix of medical textbook musculature, organs and over-the-top gore, showing skinless soldiers having various bits of themselves popped by your bullets. In VR, the first person view follows the bullet as it makes its way over to its target in a way that should be quite sick-making, but intelligent use of slow motion and vignetting means it’s just the right side of thrilling and rewarding. I have made my way through four Sniper Elite games, including this one, and it never really loses its appeal, causing both giggles and satisfaction. 

The focus feature of the Sniper Elite games has been excellently implemented here. When the off-hand trigger is pressed while aiming, a small red diamond appears almost like a laser dot, slowing time and focusing ever more tightly on a distant target. After a few shots, it becomes second nature; after a few levels, it becomes a challenge to try snipe without it – one which the game even sets as an optional objective.

THOSE WONDERFUL TOYS

Other guns are well realised, and while it can often go against the grain for stealthy sniper types like yours truly to run-and-gun with an SMG or a shotgun, Sniper Elite VR is surprisingly encouraging and playable if you want to mix it up and play that way. Even in sections that find you trapped in a tower or other vantage point, it’s quite happy for you to drop grenades or fire bazookas at your targets rather than just stick to your sniper rifle, and that’s refreshing. I’m sure some people might find the point and aim system for throwing a grenade a bit simplistic for VR, but in actuality, it makes actually using them in the heat of battle a bit more practical, predictable and rewarding. The handguns such as the Luger feel a bit too Robocop, but at least they pack a punch. And as for the stealthy Welrod pistol… It’s lovely for the occasional short-range headshot, but its authentically woeful inaccuracy at any kind of distance can lead to much frustration.

LEVEL-HEADED

I was worried in the opening levels that some of the finer points of Sniper Elite might have been lost in translation. The most recent iterations of the flat games in the series have featured sprawling levels with multiple vantage points and approaches and large dollops of stealth. Given the technical limitations of the Quest specifically and VR in general, Sniper Elite VR does well to try and consolidate this experience. Levels might be smaller overall, often divided into a couple of levels per mission, but the first time that the game cuts you loose to try to take out soldiers as silently and efficiently as possible as you explore, it’s still quite a thrill. The game is impressively sizeable for a VR title. The locations take in a variety of pleasingly familiar locales, which convey the WWII setting as well as you might hope. Beseiged Italian villages, fuel depots, cliffside gun ranges… It’s all rather excellent, and the 18 levels present various challenges for most skill levels.

There are several ways the game encourages replaying levels; there are optional objectives to complete, ranging from time-based challenges to using specific weapons or other methods of murder a certain number of times. All the weapons have specific challenges attached to them, all of which are niftily displayed when you hold them up in profile. You might find yourself getting obsessed with getting 20 heart shots with your rifle, for example. There are also collectables scattered through the levels, although disappointingly, the letters you can pick up don’t seem to have any readable content this time around, which feels like a bit of a placeholder and a rare example of the game not being as fully fleshed out as its forebears. Nevertheless, there are a lot of things to do as you make your way through the levels, and it should keep you occupied (or perhaps fighting occupation?) for a long time.

BAD FOR YOUR STEALTH

So what’s the catch, Doc? Surely Sniper Elite VR can’t get it all right? Well, you know, astonishingly, it comes very close. The stealth is a little dated and unpredictable – a criticism which might also be levelled at the flat games in the series. It’s not bad by any means and is still far more polished and rewarding than, say, Espire 1: VR Operative. But there’s an unpredictability to the AI soldiers, which can lead to some gnashing of teeth; sometimes they can blunder about confused after finding a body or hearing shots fired, and sometimes they run in weird directions. If you learn the patterns and foibles of how the soldiers act, which is what I guess you need to do, then it’s possible to not just fluke your way through. But there’s no tagging of enemies or x-ray vision or anything like that, and sometimes it feels like the game hasn’t really played fair. Other times it’ll just put a soldier facing the other way, oblivious to you and just in the right position for a headshot, and you forgive it. Just be aware that if you want some sort of alternative to Hitman, none of the Sniper Elite games is that, especially this one.

PLEASE RELEASE ME

I’ve flagged a few niggles during my time with the preview build of Sniper Elite VR that the developers have assured us will be addressed in a Day One patch. If they show up for you, let us know; games can always be re-reviewed, for better or worse. At present, the gun belt/holster affair is wonky and confusing, but they’re sorting it. The game can often decide to put the menus elsewhere other than where you’re looking. Again, this is being patched, but a long press of the Oculus button to reset your view – or turning around a bit – should sort it. One slight annoyance (and it doesn’t seem to be on the patch list) is that expecting players to find keys for padlocks in a post-GoldenEye world seems massively redundant – especially as there are no animations at all for the act of unlocking said locks. Let us shoot them off, or at least turn the key if we have to! It seems a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, but that is my metier.

THE BEST OF THE BEST

It gives me a tremendous amount of pleasure to recommend Sniper Elite VR wholeheartedly. As a fan of the series generally, I was hoping it would be good, but that it serves as an exemplar of a Quest FPS is just a joy to me. It’s not only an unusually well-wrought and finely honed title but there are also some things it even does better than its flat siblings; the story and main character, for example, actually manage to seem vaguely interesting. It’s full of excellent design choices and has an uncompromising level of quality that is simply too rare for a Quest-based shooter. 

Without a doubt, Sniper Elite VR represents a new high bar for the genre on Oculus’ standalone headset. Generously, it’s even a cross-buy title on the Oculus Store, so those who use PCVR can buy this version and play that version for free. A class act, for sure.

Does this plucky, ragtag band of space rogues have what it takes to blast their way into your game rotation, or will their heist run afoul and leave them down and out, drowning their sorrows in some futuristic cantina? 

Grab your guns and buckle your bandolier because it’s time to find out.

We can be heroes

Larcenauts is the Quest’s first foray into the hero shooter genre and is a welcome addition to the library if for that reason alone. This sub-genre has become popular in recent years with the rise of flat games like Overwatch. Much like Population: One has been called the Fortnite of VR, many will make the same comparison here with Overwatch. 

For the uninitiated, hero shooters favour a character class system, with each character coming equipped with unique weapons and abilities. Larcenauts offers eight unique characters or “specialists” to choose from. The characters all have abilities that are varied enough to give an entirely different spin on the gameplay. 

Larcenauts offers traditional character classes with a futuristic slant that makes the game sparkle while providing an eccentric and compelling cast of characters. Evander, for example, is an elite sniper whose high-powered rifle and cloaking ability make him deadly at long range, while the vaguely creepy Chi is a masked medic who seems to take just a little too much pleasure in reviving his teammates. There are also more unusual characters, such as the mighty Vod, an alien brawler who uses Dhalsim like extending arms to batter his opponents into submission.

This eclectic menagerie of misfits is elegantly balanced, allowing for a tactical depth to the game that begins right from the moment you select your character. Unlike non-hero shooters, choosing your character is about what role you want to fill within your team just as much as it is about which weapons you want to use. 

Specialists come equipped with their own unique weapons and possess several abilities that encourage a particular style of play. Broadly speaking, each specialist has deployable gear, which allows the player to drop an item into the world and a quick ability, which is often based around movement. In addition, the ability to “overcharge” weapons provides a powerful variant accessible to either of the characters’ weapons and personalised grenades that suit their specific playstyle. 

In addition to all this, each character has two Power Slates, allowing the player to add additional perks to enhance specific aspects of their play style. These could be as simple as a damage or ammo count modifier or as pivotal as extra usage of a vital ability. The choices are wide-ranging and add a thoughtful, balanced amount of customisation within each class.

This is all really rather nice and offers something that was sorely lacking on Quest until now. Finding the characters you favour takes time, and getting good at them takes more time, even before you start to tweak their load-outs and power slates. A lot is going on in Larcenauts, but everything makes sense and contributes to the game’s overall enjoyment without feeling cluttered.

The Dirty Dozen

Primarily multiplayer, with bots bolstering the roster when needed, Larcenauts is a 6v6 team-based shooter at its core. At launch, the fast-paced action takes place over four beautifully designed maps and features three game modes. Additionally, Impulse Gear have already shared a roadmap promising even more content before the end of the year.

On release, the game modes on offer include classic FPS staples like Team Death Match, a Capture the Flag style mode called Refuel, and the somewhat more innovative ‘Dronehack’ mode. In Dronehack, players carry a ball-shaped drone from one side of the map to the other to connect to an uplink before the drone explodes. The drone can be passed between players or thrown “downfield” to cover more ground and make it to the uplink, all while your enemies attempt to shoot you and/or steal the drone from you. It adds an original and often chaotic element to the mix and is a thrill to play.

Larcenauts‘ pacing is deliberately frantic, with each game mode encouraging you to cover as much of the diverse maps as you can. This is helped along by movement powers that push you at breakneck speed, as well as handy grapple points which allow you to traverse the vertical elements of the map swiftly and efficiently.

At times it can become almost overwhelming trying to balance all the elements of the gameplay. Maximising the utility of your abilities and timing the usage of your character-specific grenades or your overcharge mode can be a lot to process, especially while trying to remain mindful of where your enemy is attacking from and how best to support your team. However, once you get the hang of it, Larcenauts provides the sort of delightful madness that can eat your hours away.

Why do we fall, Master Bruce?

All that said, Larcenauts is not perfect. 

In fact, a few critical design choices have been made, which could sadly ruin the game for some and would have been fatal for a lesser game. 

To begin with, Impulse Gear have committed one of the cardinal sins in VR insofar as there are times when the players’ in-game hands stop tracking to their physical ones, and a canned animation takes over. 

This happens during reloading and sprinting, two actions that you repeatedly perform as you play, so if this kind of thing bothers you, it’s REALLY going to bother you. Additionally, your off-hand is not used for two-handed aiming but instead just steadies your weapon against recoil. This means that once your off-hand engages with your primary one, it is no longer being tracked so long as the grip is pressed. If this sounds like a deal-breaker for you, I would recommend waiting to try Larcenauts until after the first few updates have gone live.

Despite understanding that at this stage in VR development, having an animation take over your hands is borderline criminal, I got past it. In fact, it was relatively easy for me to ignore these issues because of how brilliant literally everything else in the game is. 

That is an important point to note here, as my Solaris review pointed out similar issues, and I scored that game poorly. The difference here is that, unlike Solaris, once you get the canned animations out of your mind and just play, Larcenauts offers a level of depth and polish that will see you joyfully rushing back into the fray time and time again.

The good news is that during our recent DevTalk with Impulse Gear, they confirmed that Immersive Sprint, Two-Handed aiming, and Manual Reload are all on track to release shortly after launch. One can only hope that the lack of these features doesn’t hurt the initial player base.

The Spandex Looks Good On You

For this review, I played Larcenauts on the original Quest. I must commend the team at Impulse Gear for how much they managed to squeeze out of the older headset. For those of you with a Quest 2, however, Larcenauts provides better textures and increased levels of detail. So yes, it’s prettier on your new gear. Lucky you! 

Whichever Quest you’re playing on, Larcenauts is a thoroughly good-looking game, with varied environments and excellent character design throughout. Despite the intense action, frame rates seldom drop, and assets don’t pop into existence as complex scenes render. It’s bright, vibrant and smooth and is a testament to what a talented team can achieve on the Quest.

The levels are thoughtfully designed in terms of gameplay and provide excellent graphical variety, with each level having different zones and unique visual motifs. My own favourite level is definitely Hazard Pay, where the action takes place under an ominously purple-clouded sky, lit up by an electrical storm and an impressively exploded planet in the skyline. Somehow Larcenauts manages to do more with the ambient backgrounds than many other games have, all while providing impressive gameplay action.

The character design is also excellent, with each specialist looking unique, interesting, and appropriate for their role in the game. This really makes the process of trying them all and picking your favourites very satisfying. The UI is also elegantly designed to be clean, effective and user friendly. I did notice a slight graphical glitch on the character select screen, but that’s a minor issue, and it didn’t lower my opinion of the production values. 

Overall, I would say that Larcenauts has achieved a visual standard that few other titles on Quest have.

I’m holding out for a hero

The audio design in Larcenauts is equally top-notch. The voice acting is excellently performed and used to significant effect, treading that fine line between filling the void and becoming obtrusive, and it does so with finesse. In addition, each character has a distinct personality that is rendered admirably through their limited dialogue. It all meshes perfectly with the tone, pacing and aesthetic of the game and is an excellent example of the power of clever sound design.

The music is pretty good as well, with lively hooks that will have you unconsciously nodding your head in between matches. It’s juxtaposed to the background music with increasing intensity as matches wind towards their climaxes. It’s catchy, distinctive, and most importantly, totally harmonious with everything else that the game has to offer.

Spatially, Larcenauts succeeds but does not excel. Compared to Population: One and Crashland (I know, different genre), Larcenauts doesn’t stack up as the pinnacle of directional audio. Perhaps I had the music up too loud, but I found it difficult to pick out directional cues amid even mild action, most noticeably with approaching footfall. It would appear that all our delightful space rogues (even the heavy metal ones) are remarkably light on their feet or wearing very soft bunny slippers…

Live, Die, Repeat

The biggest question with an online multiplayer game tends to centre around longevity. How long will the game be able to keep you coming back, and more importantly, how long will it be able to sustain its player base? Sadly, I dropped my crystal ball recently, so your guess is as good as mine.

I will say this; I have already put as much time into Larcenauts as I have in Contractors, and I like Contractors well enough. However, I have little interest in going back into Contractors again, whereas I can’t wait to get back into Larcenauts.

I played for a few hours, just experimenting with all the specialists, trying to decide who I wanted to master. I then spent another few hours focusing on two of them, only to change their load-outs and power slates and have them feel like entirely new characters. I have a ranked list of the specialists in the order I want to practise playing them, and I expect to be playing Larcenauts long after learning to use them all proficiently. 

If you find that the basic mechanics, diversity of customisation, depth of tactical team play and overall flow of the gameplay appeal to you, and if the game draws and maintains a decent player base, then you will probably find that there is more to keep you coming back here than in pretty much any other shooter on Quest.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Larcenauts is an incredibly polished and well-delivered hero shooter that manages to offer something new and exhilarating within a fairly crowded market. At launch, Larcenauts is marred by some questionable design decisions that would have felled a lesser title. However, the game has made up for these shortfalls by focusing on the core elements of gameplay that make it so satisfying to play.

Larcenauts excels thanks to its range of customisations that allow for varied play styles and add magnificent depth to the outstanding team play. All in all, Larcenauts is a unique and downright engaging multiplayer shooter that is as addictive as it is fun. If you’re looking for a new way to blast your friends (or total strangers) in VR, then I highly recommend taking this one for a spin.