Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion offers you weapons, swords, and implants to mow down the undead, however is that this early entry title nonetheless value your time? Learn on for our full review-in-progress.
I am normally lenient with regards to early entry video games. These are works in progress, and even when I do know there’s room for enchancment, I’d nonetheless just like the core gameplay or foundations. Then, there’s Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion. After taking part in this arcadey roguelike romp towards the undead for roughly six hours, I can solely say that I am glad that I may at the very least launch the sport.
What’s it?: An motion recreation the place you are taking out zombies with roguelike mechanics.
Platforms: Quest and Steam VR (reviewed on Quest 3)
Launch Date: June 6, 2024 (early entry)
Developer: Dream Dev Studio & Horizon Lab
Value: $9.99 (Steam) / $14.99 (Meta Quest)
Cyberfusion follows on the heels of its predecessor, Loss of life Horizon: Reloaded. Admittedly, I did not play the earlier recreation. My closest frames of reference for the VR zombie apocalypse style are Arizona Sunshine 2, Resident Evil 4 Remake VR, and The Strolling Lifeless: Saints & Sinners. I do not count on an early entry recreation like Cyberfusion to have a slew of options, however I nonetheless anticipated greater than what’s presently accessible.
For starters, Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion would not have a conventional marketing campaign. As a substitute, development is damaged up into by-product and uninspired mini-tallies, similar to “kill X variety of zombies,” “get X variety of headshots/decapitations,” “survive for X minutes,” and so forth.
As you full these tallies, you unlock extra maps, which include drab-looking corridors and samey-looking hallways. The extent design would not encourage confidence, even with procedural technology, as you discover that there are solely minor modifications just like the objects in a hall or the placements of terminals that grant further well being, ammo, or credit.
Enemy selection and design are additionally sorely missing. Some zombies shamble towards you, those who transfer a bit sooner, and beefier brutes that put on soccer jerseys. Drones could seem, however they’re rapidly handled if you happen to can deflect their laser projectile. Outdoors of the boss-type foe in later ranges/maps – which requires extra effort because it prices and chases after you – the remaining hostiles barely pose a problem. Nevertheless, if you happen to’re not cautious and your character dies, you lose all “unbanked” credit and the bought firearms you carry. You need to amass credit as soon as extra with solely a melee weapon/prosthetics to see you thru, therefore the roguelike nature.
Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion tries to delve deeper into futuristic sci-fi and cyberpunk themes by giving your character modifications and implants. Sadly, the early entry model solely permits you to change between two prosthetic arms within the Horizon Labs hub: one allows you to deal a strong electrocuting blow, and one other offers you Wolverine/Baraka-esque blades that protrude out of your knuckles. These are first rate fight options, although I’ve to replenish power by slaying extra opponents.
Firearms, in the meantime, are bought utilizing the credit earned from terminals or zombie kills. Regrettably, the choice pool is restricted. Presently, I can solely buy a pistol and an assault rifle; the shotgun and revolver are presently unavailable on the time of writing. Nonetheless, I did have a trusty katana, which is all the time a part of the default loadout.
Given the above, you is perhaps questioning: “Hey, you get a sword, empowered melee assaults, and a few weapons. These aren’t a lot, however fight ought to nonetheless be thrilling and dynamic, proper? Proper?”
Sadly, no. Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion presents much less of a quick and frantic VR exercise expertise. As a substitute, it is extra akin to a stroll within the park – besides I had my hand-held out as if I used to be strolling a canine or main a marching band.
That is because of the aforementioned katana. I needed to maintain it horizontally, guaranteeing the weapon was roughly head or neck stage. Then I slowly moved towards the undead, or I would allow them to strategy me. The result’s near-instant decapitations, all with out doing slicing or stabbing motions.
Moreover, deflecting drone lasers is finished by holding the katana outward, so I barely needed to transfer my arms throughout most runs. I used to be as lethal as Michonne from The Strolling Lifeless, albeit a Michonne on an escalator, conscious that her flight’s been delayed and he or she would not have to rush to the adjoining terminal.
Worse, enemies appeared to solely spawn in corridors or rooms that I used to be not . I’ve by no means seen zombies rising from darkened crawlspaces or air flow ducts, however they did magically seem a number of toes behind me if I a lot as rotated. That led to runs the place I merely stayed close to the doorway/exfiltration level, held out my katana, and funneled shambling corpses into my “Limbo Blade” occasion, amassing credit and XP. The expertise was tedious, to say the least.
Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion touts full-body immersion and dynamic fight, although you may nonetheless play whereas sitting down. Simply do not forget that the katana and pistol are drawn from leg holsters, so ensure that there’s sufficient house in your play space so that you can attain them.
The sport additionally has clean turning and snap turning digital camera settings, with the latter having 15, 30, 45, and 90-degree choices. It is also attainable to disable turning with the best thumbstick, which implies you need to flip round together with your entire physique. These management choices and different tweaks may be seen on a wall within the Horizon Labs hub. A top offset slider may be seen on a wall within the entrance room.
The powered prosthetics and firearms really feel pointless. Though I respect the inclusion of handbook reload controls, there was actually no level in rigorously aiming, taking pictures, grabbing {a magazine} from waist stage, and reloading my weapon – the sword did the trick easily and effortlessly. The identical may be stated for restricted physics mechanics, similar to pulling containers and maimed torsos and throwing them at your opponents, although these actions made me snort just a few instances. Moreover, because of roguelike mechanics, bizarre random spawns, and never eager to lose credit, I had to decide on probably the most dependable survival technique.
Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion Evaluate In Progress – Present Last Verdict
Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion suffers from poor stage design, uninspired goals, ridiculous physics implementation, and tedious fight. The katana makes issues too simple, and different armaments/mechanics aren’t as fleshed-out. In consequence, it is presently a extremely forgettable expertise. I will revisit the sport later to see if these points are addressed and when it introduces new core options like multiplayer assist. As an early entry title, Cyberfusion presently has little or no to supply and I genuinely can’t suggest it.
UploadVR makes use of a 5-Star score system for our recreation opinions – you may learn a breakdown of every star score in our overview pointers. As a review-in-progress, that is presently unscored to replicate our strategy on masking post-launch updates. We’ll revisit this overview as soon as Cyberfusion enters full launch.
Editor’s be aware: Dream Dev Studio has launched the next Loss of life Horizon: Cyberfusion early entry roadmap, which particulars deliberate updates throughout Q3 2024, This autumn 2024 and Q1 2025.
