Red Matter 2 Review (Hix)
"Polished" doesn't begin to do this game justice
This is a peak AAA VR game right here, like Half Life: Alyx or Asgard's Wrath in terms of brand new and exciting interactions and effects.
The puzzles are some of the best for this kind of game. Sometimes I would think "Damn! The game has soft-locked me here!" only to discover some ingenious solution minutes later.
As with a lot of these games, it has to give bits of exposition via reading notes that are scattered around. This is a mechanic that I think most people will agree, should have died out in the 2000s. But for me, the mark of whether a developer has done it well or not, depends on whether the player is inspired to read all that fluff.
Here, the writing is perfect. Exactly the right tone for the game and not too text heavy, so reading never feels like a chore. It always feels like you're looking for some crucial clue.
The effects...brother...I've played a LOT of games, like, you have no idea, but here the game has shown me things that I couldn't have imagined possible on current technology.
The animations, textures, liquid and particle effects are absolutely sublime and will stop you dead in your tracks every time just to gaze in awe at what is happening.
I won't spoil anything, but there's a bit where you 'get' a 'thing' in the MOST ambitious and impressive way that I've ever seen a 'thing' like that 'got' in a game.
You'll know when it happens.
Great story, although a couple of the beats were painfully predictable. The use of environmental storytelling however, especially surrounding Irina and Stas' relationship actually made my heart ache at how well it conveyed the situation. It makes you CARE about characters that you may never actually meet.
THAT is good story telling.
The combat has to be mentioned. It DEMANDS to be mentioned. It's some of the best 'gunplay' I've ever experienced in VR! So incredibly simple! Just one gun with a cooldown mechanic and almost nothing else, yet it is the tightest, most John Wick shooting I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Being mobile and using cover while popping quick shots at weak points on enemies, whose movement patterns are almost a mini-game in themselves, feels sooooo damn goood. Most games need massive arsenals of guns to pull off what Red Matter 2 does with a single pistol! Crazy.
When a triple A VR game like this exists, it feels like an incredible labour of love. You can feel it in every detail.
For balance, I think I'd have to say that 'back tracking' in games is never popular, but even here RM2 manages to alter paths so that going back through a section to solve a puzzle might present new challenges.
Those hackneyed, semi-predictable story beats could have also used some work, as the horror of a situation hits much harder when you didn't see it coming two acts ago, i.e.: "Would you kindly?"
Speaking of the devil; this did hit me as the closest thing we will ever get to a VR Bioshock game.
TL:DR If you like games, get it. If you like innovation in VR, get it. This is a 10/10 game