Update #2 02 Oct 22:
- I am now convinced there is too much light flickering going on in this game. I might actually pay for DLC for the ability to fix the lighting system on the ship.
I would go as far as to have a panel available in each section of the ship to turn lights off /on for it.
- It seems whenever the monster gets close enough to you, you are automatically dead. If the monster grabs you, I understand dying. But when the monster isn't in your face (but close), and you turn your invisibility cloak on, you're still dead.
Another time I tried activating a flash bang right before the monster got to me. It would have been cool if it had gone off and allowed me to escape.
- So far I have been playing single-player exclusively, and the biggest hassle has been that once getting a keycard, finding the right door can be a real pain (unless you choose the right character).
Having a pan capability on the limited map screen you have on your hand would be useful.
- It was nice to discover that you didn't always have to hide in a locker to get away form the monster. Maybe it was dumb luck, but ducking behind crates seemed to help.
- In the single player mode, I have yet to get to a computer console. Seems like all of the consoles are locked behind doors you need keys for. What a shame I getting killed while trying to find the right door.
- On some beds/tables, the items seem too far back to reach for them with just my hand. I literally had to bend at the waist to be able reach and grab.
NOTE: One time today, I tried messing with the customized controls, but wound up changing nothing. It may have been sheer coincidence, but upon getting back into the game, my controls flipped-flopped between hands for opening doors, and could not get back to the main menu. I hard quit the game, and each attempt thereafter resulted in the game never starting, and my monitor displayed was frozen on a black screen.
I had to pull the plug on the computer to get my monitor back. I deleted and re-installed the game, and so far everything is working okay.
=====================================================================
UPDATE #1 01 Oct 22:
-Once going into the Single Player, if I die and select 'Try Again', I get taken to some sealed-off Map Room to where I can view all available cameras, but I can't seem to get out of that room, forcing me to quit the current game and start a new one.
-I tried some different characters. The one with the gun is okay, but using the Valve Index grip to withdraw and store the gun often makes me store the gun by accident (this issue would be much less of a problem with the Oculus controllers. The one with the Night Vision also has Thermal Vision, as I can see the creature anywhere within the facility (although using that also drains your battery).
- It seems like not all door keys fit all doors. Bad assumption on my part.
- I begin to wonder if I play long enough, will I become so familiar with the ship layout, that the game will become easy.
The game still has a certain charm to make me come back, and reminds me somewhat of another VR game called the Persistence.
====================================================================
Played on a i7-8700, 16GB RAM, GTX1070Ti with a Valve Index (90Hz refresh). Observations are as follows:
- Not playable with Index controllers. Fortunately, a kind soul posted a community setting for this. Aside from being able to not switch from snap to smooth turning in this community setting, all else is decent.
Having a native Index Controller option is needed.
- Some level of controller customization would be nice. For example, other VR games may use 'left joystick click' to run, but in this game it is the left grip. Not bad, just different.
- I can't clearly recall, but I think I had a Custom graphic setting enabled by default, but after screwing with it (i.e., seeing what it looked like on Low, Medium, etc), the 'Custom' option seemed to disappear completely.
- I played while standing (right now I jacked my back a little, so it is less painful to stand), and aside from finding the initial door card in the tuitorial, all was pretty good.
- One time in playing the tutorial, after getting killed, hitting the 'Try Agan' button had me falling through the floor,for which I had to restart the game.
Another time,the alien was stuck in the floor, but I completed the tutorial.
- The alien itself is not particularly interesting to look at. It wasn't horrible, but its light colored skin almost makes it stand out, whereas I was expecting something that blended decently with the darkness.
- The sound for the footsteps sounds so artifical it is almost distracting, and it's always the same whether I'm crawling, walking or running.
- The overall ship design seems too large (e.g., big rooms, big corridors). While this is not necessarily bad, one of the highlights for the Alien: Isolation VR-modded game was that there were small areas, as well as big areas; the small areas gave the right feel of claustrophobia that if you were caught, you felt trapped. It could be I haven't gotten to the smaller-scale rooms in this game yet.
-This game begs comparison to the Alien: Isolation VR mod, and overall this game makes a valiant effort in providing an alternative to A:I VR. I'll need to spend more time with it, but I guess the important take-away is that I see/feel something that makes me want to try it again.
