Recent reviews by lee

What a great game - short but well formed. Tongue-in-cheek cutesy story well-told without dialog, enough challenge and repeatable patterns with a dash of RNG to let you learn the levels, stellar soundtrack (if you like Monstercat and friends). The devs have even included a "casual mode" to make it easier. After you complete the story, there's challenge mode, online play, and achievements to get.

Only major issue I've had so far (I haven't tried multiplayer) is the utterly infuriating movement but not display lock to 16:9. That is, my monitor is 21:9 (2560x1080) and while the level and bullets are shown going to the edge of the screen, you can't move outside of the 16:9 area (1920x1080 in this case) - there's no indicator, it's just an invisible wall, and it drives me crazy! I lament the lack of a level editor but this isn't a bug.

And yes, the Mortal Kombat level demoed at TwitchCon 2016 IS included in challenge mode. TEST YOUR MIGHT!

Instant pick-up-and-play fun (assuming your VR rig is set up), highly replayable, excellent first-party beatmap design, great community support for third-party songs. This is THE VR game to showcase to anybody who doesn't get VR, and to play for the sheer joy of it if you do.

As it turns out, it's also pretty good exercise, too.

If you have VR, this is a must-have.

I purchased Subnautica to play in VR as it was highly recommended, despite not being the kind of game I normally play - as a general rule I do not enjoy gather/craft games.

Unfortunately for me, in VR, Subnautica is the worst culprit for triggering motion sickness that I have played so far. The PDA is way too close to your face and you can't change the distance. This was especially bad when using lifts where you float and the animation forces your head to move in directions you aren't looking. So for me, personally, not a fun time in VR.

I continued to play it because I'd already spent a few hours in it, and I wanted to see where it was going, despite not really being my kind of game.

Then it got real interesting real quick when the scope of the story expanded somewhat. And then again, and again. There is almost always more to go than you think.

75 hours of meatspace time spread over six months, and over 200 in-game days, and I have finally finished.

Play this game.

The only caveats are VR as mentioned above, and bugs. I never played in Early Access (well, OK, the very end of EA as I bought it at the end of November 2017) and I didn't get bitten with anything serious until near the end of the game - the level didn't load properly, I was apparently out of bounds, didn't realise it, and saved ... bad plan. I had to cheat to get out, then spawn all the stuff in the PRAWN suit/its upgrades left behind the inaccessible side of the wall. There are other bugs I encountered but nothing as bad as that (such as while in the lost river, in the area with the skull by the yellow tablet door, getting shifted forward by the physics while drilling a resource and being jammed under the skull, unable to move). Debug console FTW.

I had to refer to the wiki on one occasion, because I just could not find the third of three parts for an item and it was driving me nuts - although this was not critical to progressing in the game. The wiki is very well detailed and marked with spoilers, although it isn't foolproof. Only use it as a last resort, stay as unspoiled as you can, and enjoy this great game. 9/10.

Fun. But (I cannot lie, they are big buts (sorry)):

• No tutorial whatsoever. Not even for locomotion.
  
• Speaking of which, there are four methods for moving, one of which reminds me of the telepath movement from Waltz of the Wizard, but not as well done. I tried them all out and ended up sticking with teleport - you move so slowly otherwise.
  
• Balance issues. Maybe I just got lucky but on my fourth or fifth game, which I am still playing, having chosen a crossbow and shield in the starting room I got a +1 to projectiles and have been just annihilating enemies since.
  
• The map needs a zoom function. Maybe there is one - I don't know - see the first point. In my current game I am lost and ended up back in the starting room. Based on the item descriptions in the "vault" in the lower level of the lobby (an unlabelled door, of course), there are bosses, but I haven't found one yet.
  
• You can activate the shield, but there is no indication of the cooldown timer between activations (unless I missed it - see the first point).
  
• The crossbow fires as fast as you can pull the trigger, but overheats - a nice mechanic, but the concept feels a bit weird. Also I didn't realise you could do that until I panic-fired - guess what, see the first point.
  
• A quick restart option would be appreciated, in single player at least, do you really need to go back to the lobby after every death?
  
• Bit buggy - I accidentally teleported outside of the lobby (teleport while moving on the lift) and couldn't get back in. Shop items can cover up their prices (e.g. staff).
  
• Lobby is completely out of place and looks unfinished, compared to the rest of the game - but maybe this is on purpose.
  
• HUD below player can be a bit hard to read, as can the bits on the right hand side of the in-game menu that say "mute" and "back to lobby" - not really a big deal once you know what they say.

All of the above relates to single player - I haven't tried multiplayer, except accidentally.

This feels like something that came out of early access a bit too early. I am hesitant to say yes to "do you recommend this game?" but the fact is I am going to go back to it and continue playing, because right now, once you 'get it', it is fun, and probably moreso in multiplayer. None of the issues above on its own are deal-breakers (apart from maybe the first as it would resolve many of the others).