Edit 09/2024
IR got an update that made it a whole lot more appealing, with more in the way of customisation and diversity of mech capabilities - now 6 chassis each with a unique set of abilities, and further customisation of each loadout with modules - buffing armour, thruster fuel regen, that sort of thing. It's brought in a fair few players.

Still not really my thing - it's an arena FPS with a mech theme, rather than a "true" mech sim.

It feels like you're strongly discouraged from trying to occupy the mid-range skirmisher role, with the mechs, weapons and map design only really favouring the extremes - sitting up on a hill with sniper weapons, or zooming in to brawl in close quarters. The few weapons that would be appropriate for this middle-ground feel underpowered - the giant miniguns (intimidator?) in particular.

One of the things that bothers me most in respects to core gameplay is that both/all weapons are tied to the one trigger - you either fire both, or neither. As such, only a few combinations of weapons are synergetic, and for the most part it seems you're railroaded into doubling up on the same one.

The mech damage model is divided up into several "sectors", but it's unclear how damage really works. Do I need to bring a sector down to 0 and keep hitting it to score a kill? Do I need to reduce them all down to 0? Does hitting a 0hp sector transfer damage to others? Which sectors are tied to which parts of the mech's hitbox?

I think IR would do well with improved bot support and customisation/control of them - if not more single-player focused content in general. The audience is a niche, within the niche VR market. I imagine it'll quickly become difficult once again to find populated, ongoing games. I think there are people organising regular games of it on the discord - don't quote me on that.

I'm still leaning towards a "no", and still mostly for subjective reasons - but if you enjoyed Hawken, or if the idea of fast-paced arena-style robo-stompy-shooty in VR appeals to you at all, it's definitely worth checking out following this update.


Original review:

Iron Rebellion has got a lot of good things going for it - it feels, sounds and looks good, and its gameplay systems are pretty well thought-out. At the moment though, there's barely anybody playing (mitigated somewhat by bot support) and it's seriously lacking in content - maps, weapons, chassis.

Could also do with some kind of tertiary equipment that adds variety to each chassis/class, and helps distinguish them from one another - eg. the Scout could have things like sensor equipment (not that there seems to be any sensors to begin with), stealth or more movement abilities; the Assault could have a choice between mobility or survivability-enhancing equipment, that sort of thing. As it is right now, the chassis' only significant distinguishing features are size and armour vs speed.

My main turnoff is entirely subjective - gameplay-wise, this is more Hawken than Mechwarrior, and the latter is what I want in a VR mech game. Give me torso-twist, tank controls and a wide variety of customisation options.

As it stands, I'd recommend Vox Machinae over this - it's both VR and Flat compatible so there are more people playing in MP; it has a full singleplayer campaign, is more content-complete and has more variety in basically everything - mechs, equipment, weapons, maps and gamemodes - and more fleshed-out damage modelling. It also doesn't have torso-twist, but hey.

As for a more (classic) mechwarrior-style VR mech game, keep an eye on OVRLORD - the demo's been out for a while and it's heavily WIP, but worth checking out to get an idea of what it's going for.

Edit 09/2024 IR got an update that made it a whole lot more appealing, with more in the way of customisation and diversity of mech capabilities - now 6 chassis each with a unique set of abilities, and further customisation of each loadout with modules - buffing armour, thruster fuel regen, that sort of thing. It's brought in a fair few players. Still not really my thing - it's an arena FPS with a mech theme, rather than a "true" mech sim. It feels like you're strongly discouraged from trying to occupy the mid-range skirmisher role, with the mechs, weapons and map design only really favouring the extremes - sitting up on a hill with sniper weapons, or zooming in to brawl in close quarters. The few weapons that would be appropriate for this middle-ground feel underpowered - the giant miniguns (intimidator?) in particular. One of the things that bothers me most in respects to core gameplay is that both/all weapons are tied to the one trigger - you either fire both, or neither. As such, only a few combinations of weapons are synergetic, and for the most part it seems you're railroaded into doubling up on the same one. The mech damage model is divided up into several "sectors", but it's unclear how damage really works. Do I need to bring a sector down to 0 and keep hitting it to score a kill? Do I need to reduce them all down to 0? Does hitting a 0hp sector transfer damage to others? Which sectors are tied to which parts of the mech's hitbox? I think IR would do well with improved bot support and customisation/control of them - if not more single-player focused content in general. The audience is a niche, within the niche VR market. I imagine it'll quickly become difficult once again to find populated, ongoing games. I think there are people organising regular games of it on the discord - don't quote me on that. I'm still leaning towards a "no", and still mostly for subjective reasons - but if you enjoyed Hawken, or if the idea of fast-paced arena-style robo-stompy-shooty in VR appeals to you at all, it's definitely worth checking out following this update. Original review: Iron Rebellion has got a lot of good things going for it - it feels, sounds and looks good, and its gameplay systems are pretty well thought-out. At the moment though, there's barely anybody playing (mitigated somewhat by bot support) and it's seriously lacking in content - maps, weapons, chassis. Could also do with some kind of tertiary equipment that adds variety to each chassis/class, and helps distinguish them from one another - eg. the Scout could have things like sensor equipment (not that there seems to be any sensors to begin with), stealth or more movement abilities; the Assault could have a choice between mobility or survivability-enhancing equipment, that sort of thing. As it is right now, the chassis' only significant distinguishing features are size and armour vs speed. My main turnoff is entirely subjective - gameplay-wise, this is more Hawken than Mechwarrior, and the latter is what I want in a VR mech game. Give me torso-twist, tank controls and a wide variety of customisation options. As it stands, I'd recommend Vox Machinae over this - it's both VR and Flat compatible so there are more people playing in MP; it has a full singleplayer campaign, is more content-complete and has more variety in basically everything - mechs, equipment, weapons, maps and gamemodes - and more fleshed-out damage modelling. It also doesn't have torso-twist, but hey. As for a more (classic) mechwarrior-style VR mech game, keep an eye on OVRLORD - the demo's been out for a while and it's heavily WIP, but worth checking out to get an idea of what it's going for.