Recent reviews by Rattlesnark

Tetris in mini-3D (two rows depth). It's really a simple game with simple modes (time limit, race to reach score) but is quite charming.

It's "bearable", but barely. To put it plainly, the levels of jank are quite extreme. The weaponry is surprisingly diverse, but melee is terrible and shooting at zombies is impactless and quite thoroughly unsatisfying. It's somewhat interesting to play through the different available storylines, but they are no masterpieces.

All in all: There are better VR games (shooters included) out there that are probably much more worth your time than this. If you absolutely intend to try this game out, make sure it's from the bargain bin.

Was kinda challenging on Normal difficulty on a first playthrough, but damn that last level was stupid ridiculous. I haven't played too many VR static arena shooters, but this one felt quite alright - like playing a Serious Sam game in VR but you can't move.

I'd give this game a "neutral" rating if I could. It's alright, not terrible. For simple scoring, I'd give this a 6/10. Get it for a price you feel is fair for a 2 hour puzzle-platformer.

To get the main grievances out of the way first:
1. It was really quite head-splitting with the boat segments (that encompass about half the gameplay) and I'm very comfortable with VR - just an odd sensation with the boat's movement and shaking when you knock into walls. The controls for rowing the boat are also quite tedious in getting it to move in the intended direction.

2. There's also an absence of control toggle for head-direction movement. Moving in smooth locomotion oriented towards your hand/controller felt quite unnatural to me.

As for the rest of the game:
Puzzle and platforming segments are "OK". The narration could drag on for a bit too long due to the game expecting you to pause in your tracks in order to listen to the entire segment (would otherwise skip if you progress too past the dialogue source).

Besides the above discomforts, the gameplay itself is alright albeit somewhat repetitive - nothing spectacular/revolutionary at this point of VR's life. Story could be a bit more exciting to garner the player's investment.

While I was seriously hoping to get it over with so I could pop a paracetamol for my splitting headache, I don't hate the game, and don't regret having played it.

I wish there was a 'neutral' review option; because while this demo looks and plays alright enough, it ultimately feels like it should 100% be a free teaser for the full game instead of being sold for a price for what is a 15-20 minute demo with zero exposition - so you don't know what's the setting/story you're getting into at all.

Overall, from this demo, I'd compare the feeling to Lone Echo (Oculus Store), where you're floating in zero-G and moving by propelling yourself off of surfaces. It's not as smooth as in Lone Echo because you float a lot less, but it still feels reasonably comfortable. There is also shooting involved so that's a bit of excitement padded on.

Can consider getting this on sale. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be purchasable as a bundle with the full game, strangely enough.

Some extra info on the contents:
1. Deathmatch: The prologue's deathmatch mode is an huge open space arena (area from the story mode) and you're given equipment as you've explored in the story. Of course there was nobody else playing so I was floating around alone with some hostile NPCs firing at me; I assume the NPCs will be present in an actual DM match as well.
2. Co-op: Could not try this one out due to being the only one playing. I assume it's the single player story but with another player present tagging along.

Has the qualities from the first game, but the hints the assistant NPC provides really aren't very helpful. Spent some time fumbling around from missing a needed item, with the hint not providing any suggestion of it at all - finally conceding and looking for answers of the Steam Discussions. Some of the puzzles were pretty obscure. Still, it's a pleasant escape room with some fidelity in visuals and VR usability.

Can be beaten under an hour but this really is quite a pleasant escape room. Fair difficulty with a quite a number of hints provided, with a relaxing ambiance in the room.

Unfamiliar with the original source material, but this was a very interesting and decent-quality production 3D adaptation to experience (in VR). Great introduction to Lovecraft's themes with decent voice acting to boot. Worthwhile experience for the curious, especially with the $0 entry price.

A short film that features some fantasy out-of-body experiences to see through the eyes of various creatures. Some creatures move very quickly, so expect to feel a little queasy at times.

Pretty clever VR gameplay mechanics! Surprised even an experienced VR player. Impressive especially since the game was released in 2018. Graphics and voice acting are quite decent too. Short but sweet game.