So allow me to preface this by stating AT TIME OF WRITING that this game should not be purchased. This is because I believe the dev should have been working on the game a little more before getting it out there, but allow me to add more to it. We'll start with the negatives so I can end on a positive note.
Firstly, the game is really barebones. Obviously, with more updates and time, the developer will obviously add more, but this game is very clearly in alpha. I can tell there's the gameplay loop:
1. Leave base.
2. Go to a location.
3. Loot items.
4. Return to base.
Now that's not bad, but there's not much more at time of writing. The items you loot are all components for the myriad pieces of a rifle you're given, and so I think that's a good way of telling your players(without telling them) what to go out and do, because the hodgepodge of rifle pieces do NOT make a good rifle at the start, so if you want an actual rifle go out and get it, and I applaud that.
However, you are EXTREMELY LIMITED in carrying. There's no arbitrary number system, its ALL how you try to keep it on you. You have 3 slots, one for a backpack on your back, and two on your hips. Including your hands, you have 4 slots to carry loot in, which is criminally small, and I found my "runs" involved me leaving base, and then almost immediately turning around and returning to base. It really kneecaps the runs, because even with a backpack, you get an ADDITIONAL 3 WHOLE SLOTS. It's really infuriating, and if I may, I'd suggest a system to have a pocket system, or somewhat like H3VR with all kinds of slots on you.
The AI is rudimentary at best. Again, it's really alpha, but the AI being your main obstacle to your goal is just not up to snuff. They're slow and annoying instead of threatening, and I really wish they weren't, because I feel that they need to be better. However, this leads back to the above with the storage, and a warning, since, if you increase the lethality of your AI, and you do not increase your storage, I feel that you're liable to make them insurmountably dangerous, and since they hear gunshots, you may feel better just straight up running away.
The developer also added a crafting system, but like a broken record, the crafting system is rudimentary and really damn hard to get. I took a section of glass, and broke a stone into what I think were supposed to be arrow heads. I then took that glass, and, trying to sharpen a spear, broke it in half. I then took the other stick I had, made it into a sharpened spear, and used it to kill 2 zombies before it broke. As for the bow and arrows, I feel like it'd be a more engaging crafting system if I was given much more instruction. I have no idea how to make anything, nor do I know if anything I grab has a functional yield to me, so I feel confused about these items. Which, correct me if I'm, wrong, but don't spawn in the wild just yet, only gun parts. So I feel that it's moot trying to learn because I cannot loot these items.
Now to the good. I like that there's a crafting system, and it's trying to take advantage of VR's strengths, because with the stick from above, I was able to break it or sharpen depending on which angle I approach from. I feel this needs some fine tuning, especially since, in my opinion, you could make sharpening a function of pushing the glass along the edge instead of a percussive movement.
The towns I visited were mostly well put together, and you can tell by the scenery that this was an apocalyptic event, and not just a weird set of ghost towns with green ghouls wandering about. And the simplistic art style does make for some easy running on the headset with my somewhat limited power PC, but the only thing I would suggest is giving some of the looted items a bit more detail or a description when hovering your hand over.
I like the physical interaction with enemies. If you stab them with a spear, instead of it just dealing damage, your spear will go into them, and you can yank it out and stumble them with it. I wish it was a little more physics based, but with this being just an alpha, pretty much, it shouldn't be a focus at the moment.
All in all, this has a lot of passion and potential. I will warn the dev, however, and state that this early release probably should not have happened, since this is the first look someone will get about your game, and if it's not even close to up to snuff, you could be losing a lot of potential players. I would suggest focusing on tuning the existing stuff first, since I feel you have a good base but they have some initial issues. Then, I'd work on the other things like adding new items, places, crafting recipes, or whatnot. I'd also suggest looking at and playing other, much more established and large VR games to get some inspiration, like controls to allow the player to pick things up off of the ground without crouching, more locomotion options for potential VR beginners who have motion sickness by merely looking around, and more. I don't want this to be discouraging to the developer, however, since he should not take this as a definitive "never get this game", but rather a "this is a rough passion project" and if you are looking to pick this up, I'd only do so if you're trying to invest in this game as an idea, and instead of looking at it like it's a completed game.
