Underdogs (2024)

Credits rolled.

It's a fun game with great combat mechanics. Sending enemies flying with a big punch is extremely satisfying. It also has a neat style with a lot of personality.

Unfortunately, as it's usual with indi VR games (which is almost all VR games), it is a bit thin in content. The roguelike structure stretches things, but runs are very similar. You always start with the same mech loadout and randomness sometimes don't give you new pieces after a few matches. The story is always the same, with the same exact dialogue, including the boss banter. One complete run includes two arenas, a linear corridor and a final boss, so there's also not a lot of environmental variety.

Still, this is one of the best new VR games I played recently and it's such a treat to have a new single player release that is as solid and enjoyable as this.

The devs published a whole roadmap with updates, so apparently they plan to add more content. I really hope they do and that the game lives up to its potential.

My right arm hurts a bit and I realise that in terms of exercise, this game has the issue that it's not balanced between both arms, like Beat Saber is. I just naturally gravitate towards hitting with my right arm and using my left arm to move or to grab. Maybe it would be cool to have a mode that randomises which arm has which weapon so you're forced to switch.

BTW, the other night I noticed a nice small detail. In fights you can see a bunch of health and status indicators over the enemies' heads, but they sometimes seemed to disappear. I was a bit puzzled until I noticed that these indicators are diegetic and depend on your cockpit not being smashed to pieces. When there are cracks on the glass, you can only see the bars when looking through the tiny pieces that are left. It's such as nice small detail that makes the game feel more real and alive.

I was a bit tired after a whole afternoon of organising books in boxes so I decided to pay a mech fighting vr game. The core gameplay is very satisfying. You play as te pilot and your hands control his hands attached to controllers that controls the mech hands. It sounds contrived but it's quite immersive because it solves the issue of lack of feedback. You move your arms, the vr arms hit a wall and stay there while your real arms hopefully don't hit anything... Kind of a mess. In this game, your in-game arms also don't hit anything, but the thing they're controlling do. Not bad!

Damage is based on speed and swing length so you really need to move those muscles to deal good blows, and you need to be constantly moving using the gorilla-like locomotion. So the game is quite intense. Punches feel impactful and fights are high intensity.

The only problem I can see looming in the horizon, after playing for a hour or so, is the roguelike structure. It's kind of half-baked and the arena is always the same so I fear runs won't feel very varied. But will see.