Windlands 2 is the third game from Psytec Games, and the second of the Windlands series. This game is a continuation of the series, and it took the virtual community by storm for some time last year. This is a game in which you will feel like Spider-Man’s uncle in a game that is noting like the Marvel cinematic universe. This first-person grappling hook game will give you a new life in VR, and you be having fun until you have to make the trip the garbage can.
In our VR in-depth game reviews, we look to cover everything you need to know before you go out and buy or try one of the top virtual games on the market today. We will be covering everything you need to know, from the real physics of swinging from tree to tree to the realism of the characters, we will be offering a full loo at Windlands 2 here. If you think you might be interested in this game, let’s jump in and see what this game is all about.
Getting Up and Running
You can find Windlands 2 on the Steam Store, the Viveport Store, and the Oculus Store for $29.99. You can’t find this game on the PlayStation Store for the PSVR headset, so users will have to opt for a different experience. This game is a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription and it will be for some time going forward, so getting this game at no extra cost is going to be at an advantage of those a part of the subscription.
Windlands 2 is going to be a larger file, but about average for the price the game is going for right now. This game is going to take 8 GB on your local hard drive, nothing too big here. If you are connected to a faster internet connection, you could have this game downloaded and installed in nearly five minutes. If you are suffering from the epidemic of a slower internet connection, this game could range from over 30 minutes to an hour. The tutorial is similar to the first, so skipping it won’t let you miss too much vital information/
Type of Game
This is categorized as a first-person grappling hook game, but to those who aren’t familiar with the specific categories inside of VR, it might seem a little overboard. This game will have you strategizing and exploring as much as possible. There is a good amount of action in this game with your bow and arrow, but none of the action scenes are going to drown out the amount of exploring and discovering you will be doing inside of this game.
You will be colonizing a little bit in this game, but not nearly to the same extent that you will be inside of hit game No Man’s Sky. Because this game isn’t as popular or expensive, there will be ends to your exploration. This game doesn’t have a lot of replay-ability, but it’s not a title you will be wanting to come back a lot either. There’s a lot of reasons for that. Let’s jump to the scorecard and see what this game is all about.
Player Perspective
Like most great VR games, this game is going to be played from the first-person perspective. You will be seeing your weapon, grappling hook, or whatever else is in your hand. You won’t be seeing your hands themselves, but you will be in the perspective, giving the game the benefit of the doubt in this situation. If seeing your body is a big deal for you inside of VR, you won’t be satisfied in this game. If it isn’t too big of a deal to you, this game will shine brightly here.
Theme and Story – Score: 8/10
The theme and story in this game was the highlight. You won’t be too blown with anything in this game, but the depth of the story and the continuous theme is something that will keep you in this game longer than you thought you would be. A good score here for theme and story, but this pattern won’t be repeating for the rest of the scores here.
Controls – Score: 7/10
The controls in this game were above average, but a lot of work feels like it was skipped in this part of the game. Interacting with anything other than the obvious was always a shot in the dark, and even when you could, it wasn’t clear exactly what to do with it. With a game that is so strong in story, you’d hope your ability to interact with the story itself would be a bit better. One simple update could fix this part of the game, but that doesn’t seem like it will the case anytime soon.
Music and Sound – Score: 7/10
The developers are boasting the fact that they have a full original soundtrack for this game, but it never impressed us too much. Yes, it was original, but it felt like it wasn’t used in the right way. It felt like when you would appreciate it the most, it wouldn’t be there. The placement of sound effects and music was misused in this game, causing the score to be lower than the devs would’ve hoped.
Player Movement – Score: 7/10
The player movement in this game alone was fine. Although it caused some gnarly motion sickness, the game responded just as you would expect. It wasn’t a perfect system though, but the variety of ways to move in this game was important. From swinging tree to tree to ducking behind boulders, this game gave us everything we were expecting in this section. Not a great score, but it could’ve gone a lot worse.
Kinetosis – Score: 2/10
There are games out there that only get a 1 out of 10 here because they don’t care about your stomach and make the game hard to play. This game is getting a 2 because it felt like they cared about your stomach, they were just horrible at proving that they cared enough to change the game a little bit. Flying is your main way of movement in this game, and unless you have an iron stomach, this game will be hard to play for more than a few minutes at a time.
Environment and Immersion – Score: 7/10
This score usually reflects what the rest of the scores add up to be, and this is a perfect case of it. The movement was fine, nothing too amazing. The sound and music were well done, but the placement killed the potential we saw for this game. The motion sickness was too bad to overcome, and that ultimately kills the immersion. The environment was fun, but nothing many people could see themselves enjoying for too long.
Overall – Score: 6.3/10
The score properly reflects how we felt about this game. It isn’t perfect, but it gets the job done for many people that are looking for a game in this category. It is not going to win many awards, but the continuous story is going to bring some players in. We don’t recommend spending your money on the full version of this game, but if you have Viveport Infinity, this game is worth a download.
