Always Higher

This is my honest review for this game without spoiling the end. NO, I was not paid to do this review. Please keep in mind I own over 115 VR games and I'm always looking for a unique experience. Since I received this game during the beta process (with over 2 hours of gameplay), I have seen this game evolved during the beta process into the right direction. First off, this game DOES require room-scale space. You will be moving around from all angles and interacting with the environment so be ready to use some puzzle solving skills with some patience. Yes, you will need a lot of it because the mechanics of how to do things might seem unclear from the beginning but overtime you will figure things out. As you progress through the game the difficulty does slightly increase as you work your way up to the top. There are 3 levels of difficulty in the settings and a few options for sound/graphics. If you’re looking for a game that has the elements of a FPS shooter (dodging and shooting with a shield), quick tactical gameplay (unlocking the terminal puzzles in a set time) and room-scale VR interactive environments... check out this game. I highly recommend going through the tutorial, read the "controls info" topic on the discussion page, and communicate with the developer for any suggestion to improve the gameplay. The developer is open to new ideas and things might change in the future. VR is uncharted waters for developers and it's refreshing to see another game bring a unique VR experience. Do I recommend it, YES, if your open for experimental VR games. Have fun. What to expect.... + Rewarding experience moving up the levels + Lots of dodging and shooting enemies + Lots of presssure (limited time countdown) at the terminals + VR mechanics of moving around and interacting with environments + Great save concept of progression + Definitely room for improvement in game mechanics (talk to the developer for suggestions) What NOT to expect.... - Instant cues on what to do right away - You will die a lot but you can jump back into the fight. Sometimes it's frustrating - Mind blowing graphics however the lighting effects are excellent - No multiplayer function - Big variety of enemies (I wish there were more to mix things up)

Full disclosure: I was NOT in the beta, and I don't know the developer apart from a short discussion in the last 2 days about some (mostly self caused) trouble I had with the game. I have about one hour gameplay by now, but considering this game is flying deep under the radar due to the same-day release of a similar but much more hyped VR game I decided to write a review. In Always Higher, you start at the bottom of a cylindrical structure, and must get to the top. along the whole height of the structure are plaforms with inbuilt teleporter which must be activated to move forward. Along the way you meet enemies and turrets, you find new weapons and energy cubes, and from time to time you find a teleporter which sends you somewhere else. So the flow is : shoot enemies, active teleporter through a (so far) easy reaction mini-game, teleport to the next highest platform, repeat. At its most basic, Always Higher is a room scale, 360 degrees wave shooter. Where it differs from any other VR wave shooter I've tried so far is that it includes (if the first, not mandatory, one is representative of something players meet later on, then NON-trivial) puzzles. Also, despite involving teleporting, it makes actual sense and doesn't feel like a cop-out. There is a story, but how much or how well this story develops I can not tell yet. The environment (so far) is basic but works and fits the theme very well, the enemies are not particularly tough, but takes strangely human tactics at times (extending their arm past the shield and shooting while staying hidden ... the typical SPT n00b tactic;). Graphically the game is everything but ugly too. The humanoid animation is slightly awkward sometimes, but I've seen way worse. The weapons are the only slight negative I can find: I have two so far, plus a shield, and everything feels ~wimpy~. The weapon noise is a literal "pew pew" without any bass or power to it, and nothing seems to register when the shield is hit. Also, both seems to have a wild spreading pattern making it sometimes a bit hard to correctly aim (or maybe it's my tracking that is off? but I don't have this problem in other games). Oh .. and the music .. big negative point! There is only one single track, and it is awesome! The game needs more of those! :) All in all, if you would like to try a different kind of (story) shooter, that isn't all hectic and chaos, and even presents you with puzzles, AND YOU HAVE THE SPACE(!) then get this. It is still a bit raw around the edges, but it is somehow more intriguing and feels more interesting than its competitors.

Not for me. Repeats too quickly with slightly boring tedius tasks.

I think this game is very good for the price tag. Graphics looks great and it is very succesfull in terms of immersion. Gameplay and design is original and variated enough with some interesting ideas. Obviously there's going to be much better VR sci-fi games in the future but for now i think it sits amongst the best, therefore worth playing. EDIT: after beating the game i second this evaluation i gave some times ago, i would like to add the reccomendation of going through the optional Tutorial section before the actual game to better understand how things work.

THIS GAME WILL REQUIRE YOUR PATIENCE. IT is absolutely fantastic for $1 but you may not understand what to do at the start. Luckly there is a "walk through" in the I wouldn't recommend this game were it even $5 but at $1 (not even on sale) it's well worth it. Develpers please heed some advice: PEOPLE PLAY VR TO FEEL CONNECTED TO THE GAME WORLD: THIS GAME DOES NOT FEEL GOOD TO PLAY WHEN YOU PICK IT UP. CONS 1. The gun is the wimpiest gun I've played in a game. Please fix it. Doesn't have to be a cannon but this is ridiculous. 2. There is almost no reaction when you do hit an enemy. Many laser bolts hit the enemy and you have no idea until he doubles over if your actually landing shots. Even if you don't have the budget for animations add ragdoll or even just a burst of sparks when the laser hits the enemy to acknowledge hit detection. 3. Create a better reload animation (rather than just charging battery bars) and perhaps shorten the reload time. It's hard to anticipate how long your gun will be down for while it recharges and a reload animation would tip that off while you wait helplessly. 4. I found it hard to know when I was getting shot and why I wasn't shielded/ behind cover properly. 5. Some enemies are invulnerable to lasers but you have no idea because your lasers don' t show notable hit detection on vulnerable enemies anyway. 6. Item interaction/ activation of consoles is way too counterintuitive. At least put a memo or actual demo video right above the items explaining exactly how to activate them. For much of the first half of the game It's hartd to tell if controls or glitchy or if your just doing it wrong (they are glitchy but also hard to figure out). 7. There should be a way to go back down again (at least a short distance) to look for hidden areas and such. THere is plenty of instruction on going up, you dont need to force the player up every single step. 8. Narrator voices are great but enemy voice acting is horrendous almost "jill sandwich" bad. PROS: 1. This game has a great concept and great asthetic. 2. Vertical height really brings out the scope of VR 3. Very good use of room scale with dodging and ducking for cover and the teleport mechanic doesn't feel artificial. 4. Pretty decent enemy AI in shootouts, enemis use over sheilds and cover well. 5. Great ragdoll physics/ fall deaths when enemies do go down instead of retreating though the teleport. 6. Destroyed / gritty world creates great atmosphere This game has really great potential to be a very solid $5-$7 value if things were just a little smoother and intuitive. THe asthetics and level designs are all there. Many people will quit this before really giving it a chance due to frustration which is a real shame. It is fantastic for its current price of $1, but I would gladly pay five times that amount to see the issues improved. It doens't appear to be early access and the devolopers havn't made it cledar what work, if any, is still planned.

I can't make head nor tail of this. The instructions are gibberish - possible a bad translation and everything is so much more complicated than it needs to be. If a simple game is going to have controls as somplex as this, then the DEVS need to give some really clear instructions on how to play.

Needs to be more intuitive with clearer instructions. May change my recommendation if I actually figure out how to play it. Frustrated with it now.

Is it me or ar the controls on this thing buggy :(

cant't star the game , the training is too complex.... _____________________ 兴许是我英文太差，卡在一开始的地方了，但是可以 感觉出物理的交互系统做的不是很好。