[disclaimer: this is the first VR game I have recieved for review, but not the first VR game I have played, having owned a Metaquest for a few months and purchased games and experienced what is good and what is bad. Unfortunately, the following review will be mostly bad]
I was highly excited for Neolithic Dawn and I am extremely fortunate that I waited and maybe I should have waited longer, because of the many VR games I have played, this had some of the worst responsive controls I have ever experienced… not just in VR though, but as a whole. Before even getting into poor hit boxes, a tutorial that does not clearly explain what buttons does what, and buttons not doing what they’re supposed to do… your character doesn’t seem to understand how to properly hold an axe, or a spear, picking it up in the most akward manner, forcing you to reintegrate as you’re being attacked. Chopping or stabbing doesn’t respond well either though, it’s just clunky and doesn’t feel natural or right.
Which is mostly the main problem, the controls. The game also is glitchy though, a baby got stuck in the air instead of going down the river in a boat, which I’m pretty sure broke the game and I was not replaying to find out, as the tutorial itself was irresponsive and took forever to get through.
The graphics outside of the glitches are fine though, not fantastic, but a nice art style and design with a clever character creator which in a first person VR game seems fairly pointless. My game seemed to break as I said, so I don’t know if the whole geneational thing is cool or not. A full glitch out is not promising, it ruins the immersion, and the fun. Bugs don’t always ruin fun, but in this case, they truly did.
I want to reccomend this game, I usually even when having done a bad review said that your experience might be different, that the style wasn’t for me… but that isn’t the case here. I want to play this game. I like the way it looks. I like the idea. I like the setting. I even like the actual gameplay conceptually, but the controls, the glitches and the bugs? I can’t even suggest trying it as that would be unfair.
But hey, take a look yourself, try to kill that Dire Wolf with a spear that misses even when the control says you aimed perfectly. Try to not step in that fire. Try not to have that blade disappear everytime you pick it up. Try to do something and then have it do something else. Go ahead, be a cave man.