THE LAST ACTION HERO

At its core, Vendetta Forever is simple in concept. The game presents you with 60 short levels, each a bite sized action vignette built around a single goal: kill your way to the end using weapons dropped by enemies. What sets this game apart is a unique core conceit that places action at the centre of the experience. In order to move you must dispatch an enemy and as they drop their weapon grappling towards it becomes your means of movement—grab it, and you’re instantly transported to their location. This creates a dynamic, rhythmic flow to the gameplay that feels intuitive and utterly replayable.

The levels are designed for quick bursts of action, ranging from blink-and-you-miss-it two-second shootouts to more elaborate sequences that play out like mini action movies. While the premise may sound straightforward, the game’s real magic lies in its variety. Far from be 60 Shades of Same, each level feels thoughtfully designed to give an experience different from the last. Although not every level will land with every player, there is enough clever variation and nuanced action to ensure that there no doubt be something for everyone.

From quick-draw shootouts to melee-only challenges, every level keeps you guessing. One minute you’re flinging knives with deadly accuracy in a tight corridor; the next, you’re using colonial muskets each with only a single shot while holding off waves of enemies on a hillside.

WHY IS EVERYTHING STICKY?

If there’s one word to describe Vendetta Forever, it’s “sticky.” nDreams have successfully made a game that has a knack for hooking you with its mechanics and holding on tight. Levels like Knives Out, a 15-second whirlwind of throwing weapons are so addictive that it’s easy to lose ridiculous amounts of time replaying it, chasing a coveted spot on the leaderboard.

The game also cleverly bends its gameplay to allow for players to focus on whichever element suits their mood. The leaderboard is split between score-based and speedrun categories, providing a competitive edge while catering to multiple playstyles. Whether you are playing for a high score or a fastest time the gameplay holds up which is a testament to the developers focus on balanced, exciting and well executed mechanics.

What Vendetta Forever also excels at is presenting challenges that are difficult but never feel insurmountable. Every failure teaches you something new, urging you to refine your approach and try again and it’s that perfect balance of frustration and fulfillment that keeps you coming back for more.

It’s worth noting that while Vendetta Forever excels at delivering short bursts of excitement, it won’t appeal to everyone. Fans of narrative-driven epics or games with complex mechanics might find its focus on arcade-style action too simplistic. The short levels and leaderboard-driven replayability are a double-edged sword, offering endless fun for score chasers but potentially feeling repetitive to players looking for deeper gameplay loops.

HAVEN’T I SEEN YOU BEFORE?

It’s impossible to talk about Vendetta Forever without acknowledging its influences. Stylistically, it borrows heavily from Superhot and Pistol Whip, with a minimalist neon-drenched aesthetic that emphasizes clarity over complexity. Its vibrant, high-contrast environments are a joy to look at, and its minimalist art style ensures smooth performance even during the most chaotic firefights. While it doesn’t push the limits of what VR can achieve graphically, it nails its aesthetic, evoking the clean, polished vibe of Superhot while adding a splash of arcade energy.

The game also leans into subtle pop culture references, with levels themed after action movie tropes. Knives Out has the outrageous intensity of a Kill Bill fight scene while other levels channel the gritty energy of an old-school spaghetti Western. These thematic nods add a layer of charm that makes each level feel familiar and exciting.

The audio is equally well-crafted. Every weapon feels satisfying to use, thanks to punchy sound effects that make each kill gratifying. The soundtrack keeps the adrenaline pumping, with driving beats that enhance the action without overshadowing the gameplay. That said, the soundtrack while good, could still be improved upon. It gets the job done but fails to deliver a level of energy that elevates the gameplay the way Pistol Whip does.

THE VERDICT

nDreams have delivered a VR shooter that is stylish, addictive, and unapologetically fun. With its intuitive mechanics, varied levels, and competitive edge, Vendetta Forever is one of the best arcade style short-session action games currently available on the Quest. It’s not for everyone, but for those who value instant gratification and love the thrill of leaderboard climbing, it’s an absolute must-play.

Now, as Fracked makes its way to the Quest, the question is: Will nDreams update their design choices to once again play to the strengths of the hardware? If not, will the design choices from 2021 hold up, or will Fracked feel like a relic of the past?

FRACK TO THE FUTURE

At its core, Fracked is a narrative-driven shooter with a straightforward premise. Players step into the boots of a lone soldier who unwittingly stumbles upon an isolated mountain fracking operation. This isn’t your typical energy extraction site, however. An alien corruption has spread throughout the camp, turning miners into grotesque enemies and threatening the very world itself. Alongside a trusty “eye in the sky” sidekick, players are tasked with investigating the mysterious outbreak and eradicating the alien menace.

The story unfolds over a 3 to 3.5-hour campaign, taking players through a series of 8 fairly linear levels. The game’s structure alternates between intense action set pieces, thrilling skiing sequences, and climbing sections that, while serviceable, don’t add much to the overall experience. The action sequences, particularly those where players ski down slopes while shooting enemies on snowmobiles, are exhilarating at first but quickly lose their novelty.

Despite the initial bursts of excitement, the campaign’s short length leaves much to be desired. What could have been an epic, sprawling adventure feels more like a bite-sized thrill ride—fun while it lasts but over too soon.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE CLUNKY

Fracked offers an interesting mix of classic run-and-gun gameplay with elements of traditional cover shooters. The game’s cover system is one of its standout features, allowing players to physically move in and out of cover using their off-hand. This adds a level of immersion and physicality that a simple button press fails to achieve. The action is fast-paced, with set pieces that serve up waves of enemies for the player to mow down. However, these set pieces often feel like filler content, with limited objectives beyond surviving the onslaught.

Unfortunately, Fracked is hampered by some clunky design choices that feel inherited from the PSVR controllers and detract from the overall experience. Holstering weapons, for example, is far from intuitive. Rather than the accepted standard of using the grip button to grab and holster weapons from intuitive locations on the body, switching weapons is done via a button press. New weapons instantly materialise in your hand in a way that is jarring and immersion breaking. Holstering involves an awkward long press while holding the gun by your hip, a process which felt cumbersome at best.

The inability to dual-wield or two-hand weapons seems to be a deliberate way to force players to engage with the cover mechanics, but it makes the gunplay feel one-dimensional. For the cover based elements it makes sense, but the run-and-gun elements are sorely let down by the inability to rush into a situation guns akimbo.

WHO NEED’S STAIRS WHEN YOU CAN ZIPLINE?

The game’s limited weapon selection further exacerbates this issue. Players have access to only two main weapons and three special weapons, the latter of which cannot be holstered and can only be used for a single clip. This severely restricts the variety of combat encounters, especially when paired with the limited enemy types. There are only three main enemy types, and while they are mixed up by arming them with the same limited weapons available to the player, the overall combat experience can feel a little repetitive.

On the plus side, Fracked does incorporate some enjoyable environmental interactions. Zip lines and exploding barrels are scattered liberally throughout the levels, providing ample opportunities for creative kills and quick escapes. However, the sheer abundance of these elements raises questions; what does a fracking operation need with so many zip lines, and why the hell are there explosive barrels absolutely everywhere?!?!

The climbing sections, though present, are mercifully few and far between. They serve as brief interludes between the more action-packed sequences and do an ok job of delivering a few cinematic thrills. But, like so many games that incorporate a superficial climbing mechanics, these sections lack the tension and nuance delivered by more dedicated climbing games like The Climb series. As a result, these sections lack the impact that could easily have delivered.

THE FRACKED AND THE FURIOUS

If there’s one area where Fracked truly excels, it’s in its visual presentation.

The game’s art direction is nothing short of fantastic, making superb use of a stylized cel-shaded art style. Textures are bold and vibrant, with strong outlines and a thoughtfully conceived palette that make the game pop that ensures the world feels consistent and vibrant. One odd quirk, however, is the giant hands that seem to be nDreams’ calling card (Ghostbusters, I’m looking at you). While not a deal-breaker, it’s an unusual design choice that might take some getting used to.

The audio experience in Fracked is equally impressive. The soundtrack dynamically shifts with the action, adding to the intensity of firefights and the tension of quieter moments. Voice acting is top-notch, showcasing the difference that a proper budget can make when securing professional voice talent. Sound effects are crisp and impactful, and the use of spatial audio helps players subconsciously navigate the chaotic battlefield, adding another layer of immersion to the experience.

FINAL ACT

Fracked is a game that oozes style and accessibility, serving as an excellent entry point for players new to VR shooters. With outstanding art direction and some thoroughly engaging set pieces there is a lot to enjoy in the Quest port of nDreams’ 2021 PSVR hit.

That said, Fracked can’t help but feel slightly hampered by its heritage and struggles to keep up with more modern VR shooters. Despite this, Fracked is a still a fun and engaging experience, especially for those looking for a short, stylish romp through a visually stunning world.

The acquisition integrates nDreams into Aonic’s group of global gaming companies. Aonic, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, includes various specialized gaming firms, such as OtherSide Entertainment led by Warren Spector, Milky Tea, Exmox, and TutoTOONS.

nDreams, recognized for developing VR titles like Synapse and Phantom: Covert Ops, experienced significant growth after an initial investment of $35 million from Aonic in March 2022. This growth included expanding its team to 250 people and releasing several successful titles, such as the Game Awards-nominated Synapse.

With this acquisition, nDreams will continue operating under its current leadership, with co-founders Patrick and Tamsin O’Luanaigh remaining as CEO and Chief People Officer, respectively. The company plans to maintain its focus on VR development while benefiting from Aonic’s supportive environment and opportunities for knowledge and resource sharing among its studios.

Aonic aims to become a major player in the global gaming industry, promoting creativity and growth within its group of mid-sized studios. This acquisition is part of their strategy to strengthen their position in the VR and mixed reality games space.

A few weeks ago, nDreams gave us and other press outlets and YouTube channels a chance to play a demo of it, and we covered that, but it was short and did little but make us all collectively froth at the mouth and wait patiently for the final launch build. Now that it’s here, I can set your mind at ease; it’s a joy to play. 

The narrative conceit behind Synapse is, as I’ve said before in my preview video, lifted straight out of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. You are a recruit tasked with saving lives by infiltrating a rogue colonel’s mind and fighting past his mental defenses to find out where he’s planted a bomb so you can thwart his plans. Consider this the Inception VR game that could’ve happened in some alternative reality where video game adaptations of movies were actually cool. 

Neural Networks

With this narrative firmly in place, the player goes through the mostly monochromatic levels of the game, fighting off tougher and tougher enemies as they drill down into the colonel’s preconscious, his conscious, and finally, his subconscious mind.

You’re equipped with a starting pistol, and some very basic telekinesis at the start, you can throw inanimate objects around the map, crush enemies with big cubes, or grab exploding barrels gently to move them around and then crush them for a very satisfying explosion.

The game also allows you to level up, both across runs and within runs. Completing certain achievements, called Revelations, awards you with Insight points that you can use to unlock permanent upgrades on a skill tree, divided into three branches; Tactician, Assassin, and Survivor. 

Within each run, you get access to temporary mods called Mind Hacks, these are quite inventive; one gives your bullets a bounce, another turns your last one or two shots in a cartridge into grenades, etc.

Synapse is built around making you feel like a badass and providing you with enemies that challenge that badassery so you don’t get complacent no matter how powerful you’ve become.

Retinal Resplendence

There are no two ways about it; Synapse is a looker. The monochromatic art style looks fantastic on PSVR2 and is excellently infused with orange, red, pink, and purple highlights that flawlessly draw your attention to the gunplay and telekinesis. The levels themselves are well-designed, providing ample opportunities for mobility without ever feeling lost. You also have a scanner inside your left palm, that you can glance at anytime. It’ll show you where the enemies are and, once upgraded, where the health fonts are as well. 

Everything about Synapse is polished, stylish, and elegant; the user interface, the levels, the icons, right down to the font choices. Everything about the game screams polish, and the art team at nDreams deserves massive kudos for what they’ve done here.

Echoes of the Mind

Not to be outshined, the audio in Synapse is superb. The audio design is excellent, from the general soundscapes and UX interactions down to the sound design of the weapons, gunfire, and explosions. Everything feels meaty and full, and if that weren’t enough, the game has landed two of the best voice talents available, with Jennifer Hale voicing your handler and David Hayter voicing the Colonel. As the game progresses, you hear memories of conversations between the two, revealing more of the narrative context, seeing what drives the Colonel, and revealing some uncomfortable history regarding your handler. 

Feel the Feedback

Synapse also does a magnificent job justifying its existence as a PSVR2 exclusive, making substantial use of the PSVR’s adaptive triggers and headset haptic. Pushing the triggers gently to move an exploding barrel and then tightening your grip to blow it up is a pleasure every single time you do it. When enemies shoot at you the rumble in your headset not only alerts you to being shot but helps provide directionality, helping you pinpoint the direction of your assailant. Pulling armor off the larger enemies to make them vulnerable to your bullets is a truly immersive, satisfying experience, both empowering you and making you really feel like you’re pulling hard to take that damn armor off.

Even the PSVR’s eye tracking is put to use, making the UI interactions incredibly fluid and intuitive, as well as enhancing the accuracy of your telekinesis. Synapse is designed to take advantage of the PSVR’s unique features, and it shows. 

Perpetual Pathways

The only real criticism of Synapse, and this can almost be considered praise, is that, as with most VR roguelikes, its longevity is questionable, and I want MORE of it..much more. 

Your run through the Colonel’s mind takes place across 9 levels To their credit, nDreams have used a clever narrative device, which I won’t spoil, to provide you with enough impetus to want to finish at least three runs, since it’s only really then that the full story is revealed to you.

So, although the gameplay in Synapse loops back with greater difficulty, as most roguelikes do, the narrative itself carries forward across those three runs, making each run narratively, if not mechanically unique, and giving you a compelling reason to play through at least two more runs after you’ve finished your first. Overall, and taking that into consideration, the game should take you around 10-12 hours to complete, given that you’ll more likely than not die a few times. 

We tried to ask about any plans for upcoming add-ons or DLCs, but if nDreams have any post-launch plans, they’re keeping them close to their chest, so we’ll have to wait, hope, and see. 

Neural Nirvana

In case the review hasn’t made it abundantly clear by now, Synapse is an incredibly well-built VR action game for PSVR2, and a ridiculously easy game to recommend to any action or shooter fans who have a PSVR2. With incredible visuals, delicious use of the PSVR2’s special features, and gameplay that makes you feel like a badass mercenary with Jedi powers, the perfect polish of the UI is just the icing on the cake.

LITTLE BOXES ON THE HILLSIDE

What is immediately apparent upon loading Little Cities is that it really has been designed from the ground up to be satisfying to interact with. From the menu screen onwards, everything is clean, uncluttered and extremely pleasant to be immersed in. It’s going for cosy, and it gets there immediately.

Everything about Little Cities is pleasing, from the benign music to the sharp, crisp and appealing graphical style. The tutorial is not only painless but fun, an ongoing and welcoming experience which efficiently introduces everything you need to know to play the game in a pacy way. 

Little Cities is a simple joy to whizz about in. The navigation is clever and effortless; the controls rely on pointing physically at bubbles and drawing clean gridlines, and clicking for construction. Rather like the wonderful Tentacular, it’s one of those titles that make you feel like some developers really are getting to know what works in VR and are tailoring the experience to be as delightful, interactive and virtually tactile as possible. 

HIP TO BE SQUARE

At heart, there’s a simple formula to building Little Cities‘ little cities. Build roads, build houses, supply the houses with power and broadband and give the inhabitants somewhere to work and shop and emergency services to call when things go wrong. Do this well and keep the population happy, and the city grows exponentially, so it gets trickier to place things in a way that keeps everyone smiling. Put an industrial zone in the middle of a pleasant housing estate, and it’s going to irk the locals, for example. And you’ll want to keep everyone smiling. So joyous is the experience of playing that it’s very jarring to see the sad un-smiley icons pop up over previously harmonious locales. The demands and satisfaction levels of the populous are simply portrayed as a little 3D pie chart and graph and require only the briefest glance to keep on top of.

The city design never gets overly ambitious; it’s all clean gridlines and tidy blocks. The downside is that you’ll never make anything mad or erratic – the massive upside is that you’ll never get lost or make something hideous. The game’s systems are transparent and instantly make sense; there’s a huge focus on making sure the game is always readable and kind to the player. It never feels like plate spinning or trying to second guess an ever-changing hidden spreadsheet, which games of this genre can often be guilty of. 

TAKE YOU DOWN TO FUNKYTOWN

This game gives you plenty to smile about as you play it. Seeing cars beetling about on the roads and building slowly taking shape is just a pleasure. All of the information you need to know to assess the needs of the burgeoning city is so easy to access and concise; it’s just like checking your watch. After a couple of days away, I didn’t dread having to relearn any complex mechanics, and the interactions became and remained second nature. If there are awards for UI in VR, then Little Cities really needs to win some.

By containing its ambition a little, Little Cities manages to achieve everything it sets out to do in style, providing an engrossing and gentle city-building experience which is a delight from the minute you fire it up. The contrast between this and Cities VR could not be starker.

LAST EXIT

Everyone I’ve shown Little Cities to has been immediately drawn in by its accessibility, to the point that it’s actually been problematic. Being a busy VR reviewer, it’s a pain having to wrestle the headset back off friends and family, so addicted are they to the hypnotic and rewarding gameplay loop of city-building that Little Cities manages to forge so well. 

Overall, Little Cities is just a beautiful way to lightly engage the brain, hands and imagination for a few hours. It creates a wonderfully engaging and warm environment and uses VR in an astute manner so simple that it appears effortless, which is obviously where the developers have made the most effort. 

It’s a joy to recommend Little Cities to players of all ages and abilities.

Boater Cell

Your job, generic agent, is to infiltrate somewhere or other and stop the Russian terrorists from unleashing a fiendish thingy or somesuch. We aren’t really here for the plot or characters. There are some bad people, in a forbidding, abandoned facility. They need to be stopped. Thankfully, the whole place is flooded, and you’re a kickass black ops type. Stuck in a kayak. 

Yes. The unusual and excellent conceit at the heart of Phantom: Covert Ops is that the player spends the whole game stealthing around, shooting and hiding, in a kayak. What must have been a challenging elevator pitch turns out to be a superb way of utilising the virtues of VR, and sidestepping a lot of the problems that some people have with it. By making the player remain sedentary and yet still empowering them with convincing movement, it opens up the playing field a little to people who might otherwise find the immersion a challenge due to motion sickness. It’s canny, but more importantly, it works fantastically well. 

Oars of the Patriots

In real life, you plonk yourself on a chair with some arm room. Maybe you can even sit on the floor with your legs stretched out for additional immersion. Hell, why not go the whole hog and seat yourself in an actual kayak before donning the headset? Lockdown affects us all in different ways; they can’t touch you for it.

In the game, you’re sat with everything you could need within arms’ reach; Silenced pistol on your chest, sniper rifle down the right of the boat, paddles to the left, and a pair of binoculars, which act as your scanning mode and camera, resting on your lap. They all snap back into their cradle positions when you let go, and everything functions as you might hope. The scope on the sniper takes a little bit of self-calibration to get used to, but once you’ve done so, it feels second nature. Like the general design philosophy in the game, everything feels designed to convince rather than be needlessly fiddly, from the simple but satisfying paddling mechanics to the straightforward, chunky act of reloading the guns.

Wet Works

There are a couple of unexpectedly delightful treats in here. The first, thankfully, is the movement of the boat itself. Paddling and manoeuvering feel amazing. nDreams have completely nailed it. It’s the best of all worlds, working as you might expect even if you’re au fait with real kayaking, but also accessible and functionally sound for the game, too. There’s something deliciously right about not quite making it into the reeds you use as hiding spots, and pushing off from some scenery (or frantically paddling in one direction) to conceal yourself before a searchlight sweeps over you. The movement is also quite pleasing at speed. There’s an elegant method of quick turning and even drifting in the water, which is excellent fun.

The second is the real emphasis on stealth and non-lethality. The game stresses this during the first level – it genuinely wants you to distract and avoid most enemies rather than shoot them outright. Whilst it still gives you scope (haha) to utilise those rewarding headshots on some targets, the focus is definitely on infiltration rather than body count. It’s one of the things that increase the replayability of the levels, too, as the game scores you on just how stealthy, accurate and quick you’ve been, with many individual stats for each. There are also hidden objectives and collectables to find on your way through, too. While the game can be whipped through in about seven or so hours, the levels are designed to be revisited. There are also online leaderboards; that perfect stealth run is dangled like a jaffa cake in front of you at every turn. I think it’s pitched just right. The playing time means that the water-bound gimmick never outstays its welcome before the game’s story runs its course, but there’s excellent value for money here too. 

Lake Beater

Whereas Espire 1: VR Operative loaded all the tropes of the stealth-action genre into a game and failed to understand or execute them properly, Phantom: Covert Ops has a strong design ethic and focus that never overreaches. Within the limitations of boat stealth, the devs have done a solid job of exploring the possibilities. There’s sniping. There’s sneaking. There are moments of panic and action. It’ll be great to see a sequel that allows some evolution of these ideas in here. How about rope arrows so you can pull bodies into the water to conceal them, for example? I will say that if, like me, you have been intrigued by the idea of Phantom since it was revealed, that it will not disappoint.

Phantom: Covert Ops promises Metal Gear-style gameplay in a kayak, and it delivers, with good pacing, rewarding gameplay and decent options for replayability. If there’s one major niggle in the game, apart from the shocking decision not to call the protagonist ‘Canoe Reeves’, it’s that the plot and characters are all so po-faced and forgettable. Metal Gear leavened its austere and creaky plot points with eccentric characters and a sense of the absurd; apart from collecting incongruous toy alligators, there’s no playful imagination here. This character blandness is even highlighted by the stunt casting of David Hayter (Solid Snake himself) as the wincingly predictable, if well-voiced, villain General Zhukov. Whilst it’s all done very well, with nothing standing out as sub-par, it’s also pretty forgettable in terms of world-building. But the actual second-to-second experience is great, so we’ll not beat on it too much for that. 

Rainbow Slicks

The graphics and overall presentation are good for the Quest. The menus are really sharp, and the loading screens make use of text overlaid in 3D to make them less static, which is a surprisingly under-utilised trick in VR. There are some impressive vistas, and while the water and lighting effects are predictably lacking compared to the PCVR version, there’s nothing that distracts from the experience at all. There’s nothing that will wow, perhaps, but everything does its job well. The audio is good, with plenty of atmosphere. The game recommends headphones, and I do too. The music is the sort of tense-but-forgettable fare you will probably be expecting of the genre, but some of the environmental ambience is terrific and sells the gameplay well.

It’s worth pointing out that the title is cross-buy with the Rift, so if you want a few more nifty graphical perks and you’re able to make use of Oculus Link, then that’s an option. Whilst nothing here graphically will live in the mind when you’re done, the experience will – and that’s the whole point.