Have a Vive and want a full game experience? Pick this up. Bought it for Vive and were frustrated by the controls? Update it and load it again - it's like a brand new game.

FIrst for the people who tried it and walked away because of the "In Prgoress" controls. The 1.02 patch released today adds the ability to point a controller in the direction you want to go while free-looking. You can D-pad move or teleport, your choice, on the fly. And most importantly, the game interface now supports the Vive controllers. This was HUGE for me. No more clicking through your inventory one at a time. No more guessing which item will come up. No more crafting nightmares. No more trying to remember which button does what, because it's all look at the screen and direct select what you want. On top of that, your PDA is now functional by pressing the buttons with the other controller for the objective screen, sleep, status, and even zoom. This pretty much addresses every problem I had with gameplay, that turned exploration into a chore as I fumbled for light or tried to refill my canteen or get some shuteye. Instead of rushing through the game to finish, I now want to explore every nook and cranny and with this new control scheme I plan to do just that. So - if you bought SP for your Vive but quit because it made you want to stomp your controllers, update it, fire it up and give it another go. It's totally worth it (especially since you already bought it, right?)

If you don't have it yet, the new VR additions make it a must buy VR experience. There aren't any other real adventure/exploration games out there yet. Bear in mind this isn't a shooter but more of a dungeon crawl. It's closer to Tomb Raider than Mass Effect. There's no combat, only traps and enemies to avoid, and an environment that's trying to kill you. But it's a way cool environment, with islands and caves to explore, ancient catacombs, some really interesting plants and animals and an interesting mystery that almost works until the end.

But Solus Project put me on an alien planet. I can't think of higher praise for a VR title. I believed I was on another world with its own weather, climate, tides, etc. I wanted to explore, and by the end of the game as I started firguring out where things were and how things worked, my little base camp on top of a cliff started feeling like home. Even with all of the issues I had with the ocontrols prior to this current version, I had to keep going. Just when I was getting tired of the beach, I found the caves. I got tired of seeing the caves, here come some ruins... And after the ruins? The game kept throwing new things at me right about the time I started thinking "is this all there is to this game?" Right now, I don't think there's another game that can touch it for absoulte immersion.

As for the gameplay itself, like I said, think Tomb Raider over Mass Effect. The story moves along like a lot of other standard adventures with written and audio logs. What interaction you have with plot elements are all scripted but flow well. There's a survival element which is fun at first but can become a drag, though the longer you explore the stronger you can get and the less you have to do it (plus now you won't have to fight the lack of an inventory screen - made surivival a HUGE hassle.) There is also a minor horror element to it, more psychological than anything and there are some hugely effective moments as you start to think "Did I just see that" which later turn into "Oh ♥♥♥♥ I AM seeing this and it's kinda freaking me out..." There are one or two jump scares as well, which if you're not careful will make you jump through a virtual door and run into your physical wall. This too, is high praise for a video game but no joke, I heard a noise behind me, turned and saw something nasty charging me and tried to leap out of the way on reflex and smacked right into the wall in the real world. Again, high praise for making me forget I was in my living room.

The game still has some flaws... IMO the story doesn't have a solid ending, it's possible to abuse room scale to get through locked doors, and there still aren't loading screens in VR which mean you see your VR lobby in between levels.
Also, if you're not into exploration, this isn't the game for you because that's the hart of this game: wanting to see what's around the next corner. Solus Project delivers that in spades, and with this latest Vive patch it's finally a top tier VR experience.

This game was suggested for me by my Steam Queue, and by the trailer alone I knew this was my kind of game. Gladly I wasn’t wrong. I am a big sucker for Sci-fi stories, and very recently I have been finding out I’m a fan of survival games. This game is a delightful mix of both elements.

I have to mention that the Story part is stronger than the survival one, but just one bit. This, however was no problem for me, since I enjoy a good story. And this game kept me on the edge of my seat while I was figuring out what happened in the planet I crashed into.
Talking about the planet, the atmosphere of the game is amazing, climate is always changing and even when most of this changes are dangerous for you, are still a sight to behold. This is one of the things this game doesn’t lack, great visuals enhanced even more by a great use of soundtrack and sfx’s.

Now, there is a horror-survival side of this game, however I wouldn’t call it much “horror” as it is creepy, which at least in my opinion, it’s 10 times better. Because the times you can get scared in this game does not rely on cheap jump-scares. But in its ability to keep you “uncomfortable” in an environment that you are not familiar with, and why would you? It is an alien planet after all!

This element of the game intensifies as you get deeper into the dark caves and unveil secrets which I won’t spoil any further!

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There is however, an issue that it’s worth mention for AMD Fx users such as me. Apparently there is a “hiccup” with this processor and the audio used for this engine (Unreal 4) which causes the game to freeze at some points when the game is loading. Which is obviously a minor inconvenience.

That being said, I can testify the devs have been working hard to find out the source of this problem and facilitated a patch for us AMD fx users, which can easily be found in the discussion forums.
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Anyway, even with all that, I still recommend this game because you can tell how much work was put into it. One of my best gaming experiences in the latest years.
And an even stronger recommendation if you are Sci-fi fan like me.

Pros:
- Engaging story
- Great use of visuals, sound and music
- Lots of secrets to discover
- Big areas to wander around and explore

Cons:
- Audio glitches (for AMD Fx)
- Survival can get a little too easy some of the times (For hardcore survival players)

With the most recent update adding a worthy method of artificial locomotion... I can finally give the game the thumbs up it deserves.

I have never played anything like this before but I really like this game. The graphics are fantastic, especially the sky box. Sounds and in-game information are scarce, but this can be seen as part of the desperate situation the protagonist finds himself in. The puzzles are more on the easy side and the bigger challenge is to find out what to do next, which is not always obvious. The story is decent and keeps you going if you let immerse yourself into the game but the end was a little underwhelming. Nonetheless, the 23 hours I played this game were well spend!

Great game in the Vive. Super atmospheric, very long (especially compared to made-for-VR games). Lots of exploration with some survival that isn't terribly complex. With the new updates the VR impelentation is now quite good. Inventory has been fixed in VR and you can choose between walking with touchpad or teleportation.

I've been enjoying this game since launch. Initially there were a lot of issues around controlling the game in VR and it was not in a state I would recommend. After several updates the game has been cleaned up a lot and controlling the game in VR is now a lot better. On the Vive it still plays like gamepad controls have been mapped to the motion controllers with the controllers acting more as a cursor, and you still have to press buttons to have held objects interact with anything, rather than using physical interactions. But overall it is still a good experience and mostly intuitive.

The game is a single player campaign in an open world, with a set of linear objectives. There is a mystery to unearth on this alien world, and all the while you need to survive. The world itself is believable and well designed, and both artistically and technically gorgeous. The meat of the gameplay is in exploration of its world and occasional puzzles, which usually revolve around using an item you found on something. The game is heavily reminiscent of adventure games such as Riven or The Dig, in its world, atmosphere and game mechanics. There are also survival elements such as having to deal with hunger, thirst, hypo/hyperthermia and sleep, but these didn't really add much to the gameplay. There is a slider to tune them down to a minimum if you find them too difficult or annoying.

I have not yet finished the campaign and am about six hours in. I'll update this once I'm finished but for now I feel I can already recommend the game, particularly for VR users looking for a campaign with a good amount of content for the price. Right now, particularly for the Vive there is a lack of long form content and this certainly fulfills that role nicely. When you also look at the game's price this is probably the best game from a content point of view - you can easily pay double what the developer is asking for other VR games that will end up with half the playtime.

This is the game I keep coming back to on my Vive. It feels like the most complete game out there currently in VR when most others are short experiences or tech demos.

The type of exploration and atmosphere is pretty much right on with the experience I was hoping for with VR games. This is one of those experiences where I forget I'm in my living room with a screen strapped to my face.

The dev is very active in updates, VR support has gotten better and better. I hope other developers take notice and follow the lead.

I did not finish the game, yet. But I am on my way to do so. I am not a VR user, and my opinion is for non-VR potential purchaser.

If you read this, you probably wonder if you should buy this game.

TLDR : exploration + immersion + background story + PvE + next-gen graphics + very few bugs = this game

Pros:

If you like survival-oriented game, with some puzzles but mostly exploration, fantastic landscapes mounted by orbiting planets in the sky, powerful meteorologic events and being the last hope of humanity... You will dig into this game.

If you want a 'pew pew' game with moar guns and ghillie suit... Forget it :D You are in the wrong place.

This game is a combination of Myst + Alien Story + last-gen graphics + No bugs so far... It's an adventure you want to know, an adventure you want to live.

Cons:

Initially the games asks you to make a decision (what outfit you get) but this is the only decision you will ever make (or maybe not, but +50% done and this was the only one...).

It has no RPG feature at all. No skill tree, no experience... Only secrets (stats booster) you find by exploring. I was hoping for more choices ala 'make a decision on what happened and live with it' but it never happened again. The fact there is no RPG element is not a downside, but letting you think there might be is a little bit when you look backward (or you just forget it and move towards that light source). In the end the path you take is the path everyone takes. I think once the game is finished you might not want to replay it. This is not FTL.

Conclusion:

200% worth the price. My hat for the devs. Such a small dev team, but such a competent dev team. 6 of them can do what a team of 30 can never achieve. Good work!

bravo i love the walking function! awsome cave diving, and deep game play, more plz!!!!

I have played this on HTC Vive with a 980ti as graphics card.

I think the game is incredibly good, I can't recommend it enough for playing in VR. Probably the best VR game that exists at this time. It is very immersive, great atmosphere, has good graphics, cool visual effects, an interesting plot. Once you get into it, it is difficult to stop playing. I havent had as much fun with a game in years. It is like playing the main character in a great scifi movie.

Besides being a good game it is also quite cheap, well worth the money!