Video Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfC6E8OayAs
As with all early access games it’s hard to form a clear and nuanced opinion of the game. Castle Wars VR is in very early access which means the game is lacking in features but it did give me a look at the direction the game is going in.
First off, I’m a big fan of the visual style of this game. It has that WOW-like cartoony feel which makes the environments really come alive. The characters and the levels feel very detailed and make me wish I would’ve known more about the story and why I am playing these levels. There is a lot of variation to the levels and at times I wished I was playing an awesome VR MMORPG. At the moment, aside from a very short cutscene in the early game, there is no story present.
The gameplay is where there’s still some work to be done. It’s all still very basic at this moment and you’re given very little info as a player. The game only started being fun to me after figuring out what each unit does. Before that I just spammed random units, hoping I’d do some damage.
After knowing the stats the game got really simple, I just found an all powerful combination and finished every level quite fast. I didn’t even have to think about countering a specific enemy unit, I just kept spamming the same combination. The ability to teleport around the map and throw fireballs can be fun but has too little benefits at the moment as it’s hard to find a good vantage point on some maps.
The campaign is also a very short experience, I played for 45 minutes and finished the first of three difficulty levels and did not feel motivated to push through the other difficulty modes as there simply is no incentive to complete them.
Afterwards I turned to multiplayer for some interesting challenges but had to conclude that the game suffers from a well know early access VR disease: empty servers.
So I was basically done with this game in 45 minutes. 45 minutes for €14,99? That’s one expensive experience.
I won't recommend this right now, considering the quality of several VR titles on the market for about the same price. i'd wait and see how the game progresses.
Some suggestions to the dev to make this game a more complete experience
- Upgradeable units
Upgradeable units would give this game more depth and would also bring more variation and challenge to it. Having to adapt your strategy because the enemy is sending forward new units on the battlefield keeps you alert as a player and forces you to anticipate.
- Visible unit stats
Without this the game just becomes a guessing game. Admittedly the developers stated that they will include this in one of the upcoming updates.
- A Story/reason to play the game
Combined with the already beautiful level design this would only get the player more immersed in the environments and would give meaning to what you’re doing.
- Rewards/currency
Having to earn currency in order to buy or upgrade units would increase replayability and give the players more choices in how they play. It would also force you to think more about the money you spend as you wouldn’t have unlimited resources.
- Player interaction/abilities
Giving the player more abilities to choose from will give more incentive to actually go and walk around. How cool would it be to be able to control one of your units and do the fighting yourself when the going gets tough?
