So I just finished up Vanishing Realms Chapter 1, available now on Steam early access.

I will start by saying this is by far the best VR game I have played yet. I will be putting out more reviews shortly, but I had to rush here and let you all know this is worth buying right now, if you have a Vive, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

The game itself is a melding of classic adventure games by the likes of Zelda or even old school dungeon crawlers from the 90’s like Eye of the Beholder or the much loved Elder Scrolls: Arena.

You begin your tutorial by traversing a series of floating rocks that serve to teach you the controls and start the story through a few scrolls and books. From then on you are on your own.

You are thrust into a dungeon with nothing but a torch and your wit.

Now that is one of the things I am loving most about VR at the moment, there is very little hand hold, much like in real life, you do not get a pop up telling you to turn a doorknob, so in virtual reality (for now at least) there is very little in the way of guidance.

Some may find this daunting, but personally I find it very refreshing. In a sea of inequity that is video game challenges it is a breath of fresh air to find games that actually want you to figure things out, not hand you the answer on a silver platter.

This game is filled with riddles and does not feel the need to baby the player. When you purchase your first sword there is no tutorial, because the game just assumes you are not an idiot and know that the pointy end goes in the other man. Same goes for the shield and bow. These are basic things in life you should know how to use, or at least seen a movie in the last 50 years to understand how the items work.

Take a torch and touch the flame to a sconce and it lights up, this actually gave me a great sense of joy, more than it should have I think, I have pretty much set everything that can be lit on fire aflame thus far.

It is these little bits of detail that sets Vanishing Realms apart from the other VR games out there, the world, though cartoon like and stylized, is quite interactive, from crates and boxes to break, to the health system. Whereby if you are low on health you can eat to replenish your low HP, to do so, grab a piece of food and hold it in front of your face. Again, this is the intuitive side of gaming that can only be achieved in VR. There is no “Press the trigger to eat” you simply mime eating.

All in all the first chapter will take you about 2 hours to finish, longer if you are aiming for a 100% clear and it will leave you longing for more content.

No word from the dev yet on when chapter 2 will be out as he is still working on refining the bugs from chapter 1.

I did not encounter anything game breaking and the experience was very smooth for an early access game, the game is way more polished than I would expect for something on EA.

All in all well worth the price of admission. The game sells for 21.99cdn and include the future Chapter 2 when it launches.

A solid 9/10.

Check back soon for my review of Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed, theBlue and Light Repair Team #4 coming this weekend.

Also coming soon is the Vive unboxing and setup videos.