Gnomes & Goblins is a passion project from executive producer Jon Favreau. In the game, you are surrounded by characters that resemble Grogu from the Mandalorian. The charm of Gnomes & Goblins can be seen and heard throughout the short run time in this creative cinematic experience. Gnomes & Goblins in VR melds exploration and adventure gameplay mechanics.
VR games oftentimes follow a certain trope like recreating something you can do in real life, throwing you into a zombie apocalypse, or giving you a gun. Lone Echo on Oculus Rift differs in standard VR gameplay and drops you into the body of an android dubbed, Jack, alongside Captain Olivia Rhodes on a mission on a space station near the rings of Saturn. The game starts out with you aiding Captain Rhodes in some basic tasks as you go through tutorial-like stages by teaching you how to use your IO-sensor, welding torch, repulsion traversal jets, and a rocket pack. In the opening act of the game, you will move around the space station accessing control ports and panels, turning dials and levers to complete small puzzle sections.
Vader Immortal Episodes I-III places you in the shoes of a smuggler aboard the Windfall after evading the Hutts with a shipment of spice. While jumping through hyperspace, you’re immediately taken captive by Darth Vader and held in his prison upon Mustafar. The VR experience found in Vader Immortal is similar in scope and scale to the Batman VR experience on PSVR. While going through Vader Immortal’s three episodes you more or less play through a short 90+ minute movie, where you teleport from point A to B while engaging in various puzzles and interactive areas within your ship, the castle above ground, and the lower portions of Mustafar, as you travel deeper within the depths of caverns and mines.
Down the Rabbit Hole is a familiar retelling of Alice in Wonderland’s tale of fantasy and intrigue, though this time in VR where you interact with the world in ‘third person god-mode’. The story starts off moving Alice through a house and searching for a key to open up a hatch in the floorboards. After you fall through the floor and down the rabbit hole, you are quickly greeted by the white rabbit. He tasks you with finding your way through to the party for the red queen and acquiring invitations along the way.
BoxVR brings together the rhythm of music and movement into a fitness gaming package that is one part color coordinated jabs, hooks, uppercuts, and blocks, along with leaning left, right, and squatting down. If you haven’t tried a fitness VR game or think that gaming and fitness shouldn’t be in the same sentence together, then you need to try BoxVR.
I would say that I am a simulation game aficionado of sorts, having played MudRunners before, as well as other games in the genre like Farming Simulator, Construction Simulator and EuroTruck Simulator. For some, the driving simulation style of games just never clicks. For others though, the gameplay is relaxing and enjoyable, despite frequently finding myself careening down a hill or tumbling over an embankment.