Got this at launch on Thursday after its hype train really ensnared most of the VR community.
Frankly, it's a difficult game to talk about, because it's both amazing and terrible at the same time.
Bonelab uses a pretty unique physics system (other than Boneworks, its direct predecessor that was PC-only), which is kinda like Alyx's if you dialed it up a hundred notches. It's easiest to explain with a few examples.
If you pick up an object in Bonelab, like a weapon, and try to swing it, the weapon won't instantly follow your real-life arms. The weapon has mass, so the character will try to swing and match your movements, but if you swing too fast, it'll probably screw up. It'll end in the same place but won't travel at the same speed/arc. So, if you're swinging a sledge-hammer, you've got to manually slow your speed down and pretend you're swinging a heavy object.
Similarly, your body has physics, so you can do parkour, and clamber around like in some other non-VR games; but it's really difficult and kinda glitchy, though apparently can be mastered with a bit of practice. Similarly, though, enemy bodies also have physics, and you don't just take damage for touching them - they have to actually attack you.
Close combat weapons therefore do damage based on a speed/mass at point-of-impact ruleset, a bit more like in real life than most VR games. They also have modifiers for if they're bladed etc. This means that a knife and a sledgehammer are physically different within the system.
This is pretty consistent, and it leads to some great moments. The best comparison is when you first played Half-Life 2, and used its physics-based objects system to solve puzzles or impede enemies.
You have these moments where you might round a corner and surprise two enemies; you grab one, use him as a shield and shoot the other, before flinging the first one off a ledge. Or maybe you have a sword, and you skewer an enemy, which, with it now imobilised, you can pull out a blunt object and repeatedly hit it until it shatters. You can pick up dustbin lids and hold them like a shield while running to get close to ranged enemies. These sorts of things.
On the other hand, there are some pitfalls that come from this. The physics often frustrates, with glitches when you're trying to do quite basic things. This feels weird as you don't think of VR games as requiring you to learn how to use your own body. I'm not totally sold on the idea; it can be frustrating when you get to moments where the game is quite difficult and you just want to do something simple.
But the world's ruleset is so consistent that you kinda have to not view it like a videogame. The levels, in many ways, are more like the shrines in Breath of the Wild, and that's probably the game I'd compare it to, despite it being more of an FPS. You have a set of physics-based tools and you apply those tools in fun and interesting ways.
I've only played about 4hrs of it so far, and only just unlocked the rest of the main campaign, but at this point I'm really enjoying it.
If you're looking at it like a pure videogame, I think whether you like it would be 50/50, based on if you can accommodate its quirks. But if you're interested in VR as a medium I would say this is an absolutely 100% must buy to see someone's vision for VR gaming, even if it's a vision you don't personally share.
Frankly, it's a difficult game to talk about, because it's both amazing and terrible at the same time.
Bonelab uses a pretty unique physics system (other than Boneworks, its direct predecessor that was PC-only), which is kinda like Alyx's if you dialed it up a hundred notches. It's easiest to explain with a few examples.
If you pick up an object in Bonelab, like a weapon, and try to swing it, the weapon won't instantly follow your real-life arms. The weapon has mass, so the character will try to swing and match your movements, but if you swing too fast, it'll probably screw up. It'll end in the same place but won't travel at the same speed/arc. So, if you're swinging a sledge-hammer, you've got to manually slow your speed down and pretend you're swinging a heavy object.
Similarly, your body has physics, so you can do parkour, and clamber around like in some other non-VR games; but it's really difficult and kinda glitchy, though apparently can be mastered with a bit of practice. Similarly, though, enemy bodies also have physics, and you don't just take damage for touching them - they have to actually attack you.
Close combat weapons therefore do damage based on a speed/mass at point-of-impact ruleset, a bit more like in real life than most VR games. They also have modifiers for if they're bladed etc. This means that a knife and a sledgehammer are physically different within the system.
This is pretty consistent, and it leads to some great moments. The best comparison is when you first played Half-Life 2, and used its physics-based objects system to solve puzzles or impede enemies.
You have these moments where you might round a corner and surprise two enemies; you grab one, use him as a shield and shoot the other, before flinging the first one off a ledge. Or maybe you have a sword, and you skewer an enemy, which, with it now imobilised, you can pull out a blunt object and repeatedly hit it until it shatters. You can pick up dustbin lids and hold them like a shield while running to get close to ranged enemies. These sorts of things.
On the other hand, there are some pitfalls that come from this. The physics often frustrates, with glitches when you're trying to do quite basic things. This feels weird as you don't think of VR games as requiring you to learn how to use your own body. I'm not totally sold on the idea; it can be frustrating when you get to moments where the game is quite difficult and you just want to do something simple.
But the world's ruleset is so consistent that you kinda have to not view it like a videogame. The levels, in many ways, are more like the shrines in Breath of the Wild, and that's probably the game I'd compare it to, despite it being more of an FPS. You have a set of physics-based tools and you apply those tools in fun and interesting ways.
I've only played about 4hrs of it so far, and only just unlocked the rest of the main campaign, but at this point I'm really enjoying it.
If you're looking at it like a pure videogame, I think whether you like it would be 50/50, based on if you can accommodate its quirks. But if you're interested in VR as a medium I would say this is an absolutely 100% must buy to see someone's vision for VR gaming, even if it's a vision you don't personally share.
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