BONEWORKS

I feel odd negatively reviewing Boneworks. I liked it, and you can have a good time with it. I think the Hammer-esque grid textures and graffiti are a cute aesthetic, the gunplay is fun enough, and the puzzles are stimulating without being overlong. The physics are robust, and this does have the most consistent and reliable gripping and climbing out of any game I've played with the Index Knuckles' weird capacitive pads. The Ladder proved this to me perfectly, only Boneworks could make that work for me. However, Boneworks is no longer the gem of VR I assume it was in 2019. Other games have learned what it has to teach, and its innovations are no longer as stunning. Furthermore, my playthrough highlighted for me all the moments it wasn't living up to. Melee combat is limp and inconsistent, with the amount of force required to deal damage (either barehanded or swinging something) feeling near random, and trying to mantle ledges led to a lot of awkward swimming motions at walls trying to get my virtual legs underneath me. This lends an almost insulting air to the "advanced VR users only" disclaimer, with its 'advanced' mechanics coming off as quaint at best. It's also not helped by the barebones and directionless story, difficulty appreciating the sandbox mode due to very stingy unlocks, and a lack of quality of life features I had gotten used to in similar systems (Blade and Sorcery comes to mind). The more I sit with it the more all the little annoyances come to the surface, and I begin to wonder if this was worth the $30 asking price. It walked so later games could run (almost literally with popularizing joystick movement) but the rough edges show now more than ever, and it is most valuable today as a museum piece, no longer the leading edge. You're buying more of a history lesson in mass-market VR than anything, and you have to be prepared to meet it halfway .