Whereas DIG VR focuses on excavation, this upcoming sim has an enjoyably foolish arcade facet value exploring on Quest. We went hands-on as soon as once more.
Introduced in April, DIG VR from Simply Add Water and Wired Productions feels just like the power-digging equal of PowerWash Simulator VR. It entails excavating completely different areas throughout Diglington, beginning with a mini-digger and varied attachments earlier than unlocking extra. Following the earlier trailer within the UploadVR Summer time Showcase, we took it for a second spin on Quest 3.
We beforehand tried DIG VR throughout GDC 2024, taking part in the tutorial and first space of the marketing campaign. The presentation appeared noticeably extra polished, and I additionally examined the thumbstick controls. These swap between car and arm motion when concurrently pushing within the left and proper sticks. It is a good different, although I desire the physicality of full-motion controls.
In any other case, the tutorial part was unsurprisingly much like my earlier demo. My earlier impressions have not modified dramatically, and you may learn these under for extra info. I additionally detailed the movement management scheme, in-game music choices, problem settings, and core gameplay.
DIG VR Feels Like PowerWash Simulator For Energy Digging
DIG VR appears like PowerWash Simulator for digging, and it’s coming to Quest quickly.
My newest preview focuses on what we could not discover earlier than, such because the Sandbox Mode. That allows you to discover the sport’s further instruments, and since the playspace is not large, it does take a short while to maneuver about. And that is high-quality as a result of DIG VR is not an expertise that wants an unlimited space, although I want you may spawn objects.
With the mini video games, Simply Add Water has taken an creative method to acquainted actions that works surprisingly nicely. For instance, bowling entails the absurdly hilarious premise of attaching a bowling ball to a string and swinging the ball forwards and backwards to hit completely different pins throughout the alley. It is a novel, pleasurable tackle a well-recognized sport, although I initially struggled to guage the motion-controlled actions wanted for the ball’s momentum.
The opposite two mini-games are equally absurd. ‘Billy’s Ball Pit’ entails scooping up blue balls from a pit inside a set time restrict, incomes extra factors for grabbing smaller balls. Attempting to catch the smaller ones was barely fiddly with the controls, although rewarding whenever you succeed. You may even be penalized for choosing up pink balls, which requires some finesse.
My favourite one is the ‘Excessive-Midday Hook A Duck,’ which takes place in a western-themed city. You want to seize 20 geese magnetically, however solely these at present sporting a cowboy hat depend, they usually have to be dropped right into a barrel with out utilizing your digger’s bucket. Seeing a digger used for carnival video games is sort of amusing, grabbing geese wasn’t too difficult, and the net leaderboards imply I can see this getting aggressive at launch.
Lastly, I additionally tried the ‘Misplaced Treasures’ mode, and that is mainly a treasure hunt. Your digger’s bucket acts like a detector that beeps louder and extra continuously as you get nearer to buried treasure bins. The issue is, there isn’t any assure you may really discover treasure, as a few of these embody trash. It is a enjoyable concept that properly builds upon the carnival video games method to DIG VR’s facet content material.
Past the core marketing campaign, DIG VR’s mini video games present that the sport is not taking itself too severely in a great way. It is an entertaining balancing act between these after a light-weight simulator extra like PowerWash Simulator VR and arcade enjoyable. We do not have an actual launch date but, however proper now, Simply Add Water appears to be onto a profitable components.
DIG VR arrives this yr on the Meta Quest platform.
