Yah know, I see a grappling hook, I'm immediately interested. Things like grappling hooks need to be in every action game. But the ways in which you can use it are very restricted and baby-gated. Want to use it to climb higher? Use one of our pre-determined lion's head things placed throughout the level. I don't know why you would want to climb higher though when you're just fighting zombie men. Also when you are in transit after hooking something there's absolutely no deviation, no FREEDOM. Want to hook an enemy? Sure, but you'll only be able to pull yourself to him to get a free hit of damage. In some situations I would of liked to hook and enemy and had the option to yank him to me or to the floor instead of throwing myself in the mosh pit. If this is how the grappling hook is going to function for the entirety of this game's development I'll probably never touch it again. I hate being restricted with a tool that SHOULD make me feel free. Also the range of the grapple is extremely short. Like the difference between the Hookshot and the Longshot in OoT, with this being the Hookshot and your expectations being the Longshot.

Being able to swap between your arm shotgun and grapple mode by turning your hand palmside up or down is a fantastic utilization of the freedom VR gives you, and more games need to make controls like it. Right now it's pretty finicky but I can see it feeling fantastic with some range tweaking. I was having a particularly hard time getting the shotgun to come out when I needed it. The little pellets that come out of the gun are just for show, the actual aiming is extremely aim assisted, which I suppose makes sense but I'm not a fan of THAT much assist. Also the damn thing toggles every time I twitch my arm and makes a noise that gets very annoying after the fiftieth time.

I don't like the weightlessness of the sword fighting. It's not sword fighting actually. It's just swinging as fast as you can into a meat shield that can absorb a ton of damage. You aren't parrying or blocking anything, you're Dark Souls style running away everytime you see an enemy startup a swing. It's your only option. It's drain-the-number-bar combat. It's all about numbers. Again going back to the freedom that VR gives you I think melee action games should rid themselves of this ancient health bar trope and make each swing of your sword really feel like it can do some damage. Make the window of opportunity to land a death blow small and difficult, but let landing it be devastating. If I can land a good swing with the sweet spot of my sword on his jugular give me the win. And make me have to avoid swinging into his armor. If I hit his armor I lose sharpness and do nothing, maybe weaken it a little.

This game is definitely going for very fast and loose movement, but I find myself preferring to sticking to the ground every time I get into a fight. There's no reason to jump around except to dodge and chase people down. Once I get to the enemy we just swing at each other. How about you ditch fighting a bunch of small enemies and give me a large enemy that makes me use my grappling hook and arcade-y jumping to reach his weak spot. Attack on Titan style. It's like, "Ah yeah we got really fast movement and super responsive jumps and a fuggin' grappling hook, lets make an arena brawler with restricted movement."

Why do I have to walk from one arena to the next with nothing to do in between? A game like Alyx has you looking for supplies and solving puzzles between fighting. There's really no reason to make me traverse an empty hallway.

Why's the pottery so damn loud when it breaks. Jesus Christ you're going to blow out my Index Speakers.

Why do you feel the need to have an annoying archer ♥♥♥♥♥ that runs away the second you get close to him. It's not like I can't chase him down but all of my options are close ranged. If he's just stand there and man fight me once I got on him I don't think he'd be as annoying as he is. And I'm constantly trying to get the damn shotgun to activate, thrusting my arm back and forth palm up and it's just not staying out.

Speaking of expected range versus actual range, the tip of my sword would constantly go right through enemies. I'd have to smash the middle part in their face before it'd register a hit.

Why do you have all these supposedly different swords but they're all just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ swords? Oh one does arbitrarily more damage than another sword. Cool. I like loot but not only are they're all just swords, plus they all look the same in this sand coated washed out environment.

I'll keep my recommendation as a Yes for now, only because I think these types of action melee games could be perfect for VR, and this game feel very early on in development. It's got room and time for big changes. But if gameplay stays the same up until release, it's a definite No.

Yah know, I see a grappling hook, I'm immediately interested. Things like grappling hooks need to be in every action game. But the ways in which you can use it are very restricted and baby-gated. Want to use it to climb higher? Use one of our pre-determined lion's head things placed throughout the level. I don't know why you would want to climb higher though when you're just fighting zombie men. Also when you are in transit after hooking something there's absolutely no deviation, no FREEDOM. Want to hook an enemy? Sure, but you'll only be able to pull yourself to him to get a free hit of damage. In some situations I would of liked to hook and enemy and had the option to yank him to me or to the floor instead of throwing myself in the mosh pit. If this is how the grappling hook is going to function for the entirety of this game's development I'll probably never touch it again. I hate being restricted with a tool that SHOULD make me feel free. Also the range of the grapple is extremely short. Like the difference between the Hookshot and the Longshot in OoT, with this being the Hookshot and your expectations being the Longshot. Being able to swap between your arm shotgun and grapple mode by turning your hand palmside up or down is a fantastic utilization of the freedom VR gives you, and more games need to make controls like it. Right now it's pretty finicky but I can see it feeling fantastic with some range tweaking. I was having a particularly hard time getting the shotgun to come out when I needed it. The little pellets that come out of the gun are just for show, the actual aiming is extremely aim assisted, which I suppose makes sense but I'm not a fan of THAT much assist. Also the damn thing toggles every time I twitch my arm and makes a noise that gets very annoying after the fiftieth time. I don't like the weightlessness of the sword fighting. It's not sword fighting actually. It's just swinging as fast as you can into a meat shield that can absorb a ton of damage. You aren't parrying or blocking anything, you're Dark Souls style running away everytime you see an enemy startup a swing. It's your only option. It's drain-the-number-bar combat. It's all about numbers. Again going back to the freedom that VR gives you I think melee action games should rid themselves of this ancient health bar trope and make each swing of your sword really feel like it can do some damage. Make the window of opportunity to land a death blow small and difficult, but let landing it be devastating. If I can land a good swing with the sweet spot of my sword on his jugular give me the win. And make me have to avoid swinging into his armor. If I hit his armor I lose sharpness and do nothing, maybe weaken it a little. This game is definitely going for very fast and loose movement, but I find myself preferring to sticking to the ground every time I get into a fight. There's no reason to jump around except to dodge and chase people down. Once I get to the enemy we just swing at each other. How about you ditch fighting a bunch of small enemies and give me a large enemy that makes me use my grappling hook and arcade-y jumping to reach his weak spot. Attack on Titan style. It's like, "Ah yeah we got really fast movement and super responsive jumps and a fuggin' grappling hook, lets make an arena brawler with restricted movement." Why do I have to walk from one arena to the next with nothing to do in between? A game like Alyx has you looking for supplies and solving puzzles between fighting. There's really no reason to make me traverse an empty hallway. Why's the pottery so damn loud when it breaks. Jesus Christ you're going to blow out my Index Speakers. Why do you feel the need to have an annoying archer bitch that runs away the second you get close to him. It's not like I can't chase him down but all of my options are close ranged. If he's just stand there and man fight me once I got on him I don't think he'd be as annoying as he is. And I'm constantly trying to get the damn shotgun to activate, thrusting my arm back and forth palm up and it's just not staying out. Speaking of expected range versus actual range, the tip of my sword would constantly go right through enemies. I'd have to smash the middle part in their face before it'd register a hit. Why do you have all these supposedly different swords but they're all just fucking swords? Oh one does arbitrarily more damage than another sword. Cool. I like loot but not only are they're all just swords, plus they all look the same in this sand coated washed out environment. I'll keep my recommendation as a Yes for now, only because I think these types of action melee games could be perfect for VR, and this game feel very early on in development. It's got room and time for big changes. But if gameplay stays the same up until release, it's a definite No.