Disclaimer:
I had originally played this game 2 weeks prior to release at the devs HQ and is thus based on a less polished version of the finished product. I haven't had the chance to play the full game yet due to lack of VR googles. I played the first two levels of the game.

Space Rift greatly captures the "space feel" (for lack of a better word) a VR experience is supposed to give you. Twisting and turning through outer space gives an exciting rollercoaster-y feeling and I'm already dreading the day this spell will lose its magic. I was positively surprised by how well the controls worked. Your navigating your cockpit (and by extension your menu) by looking around and targeting certain screens (e.g. for selecting weaponry, reading logs, change settings). This works well and goes with the flow of the game. This "looking" mechanic extends to combat as well, where you aim at enemies by looking: I was scared it would be more finicky but it actually was really fun. Next to combat and exploration there is a salvaging element to the gameplay: during missions you can salvage asteroids for resources to upgrade your ship and weaponry.

When I played the game it was still a bit glitchy. The only thing that really bothered me however, was, that the character models of the NPCs looked awkwardly tiny and just bit of (maybe, because I was sitting? I don't know). Also the lip synching sometimes randomly didn't work or kick in at all. However, I don't know what has change from the version of two weeks ago until today.

I give this game a thumbs up (cautious though, see disclaimer). It shows huge potential for full fledged games in VR's future (while most VR experience still have an aura of tech demos).

This game has an awesome atmosphere. It feels like watching a movie at some points. The music is great.
It also has a higher difficulty than most vr games. It's one of the few story-driven VR games there are and that alone is awesome.
It does have some slight problems that probably will be fixed though.

As I'm writing this I'm two hours into the game, but haven't reached an ending yet.

Enjoyable flying/combat. This game is not meant to be compared with ED; It has very simple intuitive controls and simple gameplay which follows a linear but entertaining story. Few suggestions based on my short experience so far: it would be good to be able to remap the flight controls (I am lefty and it would be good to be able to switch trust/fire). It would also be good to have a full mission debrief with some statistics like accuracy/resources gained, etc.

I really hate to give this game a negative review, because when it works it's super awesome. That being said...

- I couldn't start a new game when I ran out of probes. I tried, and it just kept giving me a " wrong button" beep at the start screen.
-Fair enough, I deleted my save games. Then it just wouldn't load.
- OK. I get it. Delete local content and re-download the game.
- Bupkiss. The game still hangs on "Starting" and even when I kill that screen Steam says it's running.

I has a huge sad. The 30 minutes I played were awesome. Devs need to fix this ASAP. Do not recommend (yet.)

Updated! - See below for my previous review.

I am greatly dissapointed to have to change my status from thumbs up to thumbs down. I had high hopes for this game. However a game breaking glitch prevented us from continuing after the 5th mission or so. That was not what made me change my mind though, the fact is the devs responded and fixed it in a timely manner - which was great!

However, upon continuing to play once the glitch was fixed, I would realise the shocking fact that that mission was in fact the FINAL mission of the game which abruptly ends on a cliff hanger with a "To be continued" message.

I don't know if it was intentionally glitched to hide that fact or not. But what I do know is that this game that costs $20 only lasts less than 2 hours. Note that my time is just above 2 hours, but I spent a good portion of that replaying the last mission trying to get past the glitch before it was fixed.

Everything I posted in my previous review is still true, but I was under the impression that I had only seen a small portion of the game. It turns out I had seen about 95% of it.

I am extremely dissapointed ... but recommend that you wait until this goes on sale to pick it up for around $5, because what there is is pretty good.

sigh...


My Previous review.

Solid gameplay backed up by a strong narrative component.

THIS is exactly the kind of game VR needs.

The voice acting is decent, the character models are passable.. but it actually puts YOU into the pilot seat AND in the briefing room. You get to follow the characters story while also flying around a space ship and blowing stuff up, mining asteroids and exploring deep space wreckage.

This game is the first step into taking VR from "experience gameplay" to "story driven gameplay" and it works beautifully. Sure its still not a AAA experience, but what we need for VR is MORE of this and it definitely deserves your support. I highly recommend it.

On the upside:
- The story concept is nice and hasn't been done to absolute death - but it's clearly inspired by games like Red Faction.
- There seems to be some decent banter between MC and the AI and i'm sure it helps drive the story
- The voice acting isn't entirely atrocious.
- Controls are simple, intuitive and responsive.

On the downside:
- The minimalistic cockpit is great for visibility, but people who struggle with sim sickness will struggle with this (i'm not one of those people)
- The scale of objects is so odd that it's almost comically huge in some instances yet curiously far too small in others. So the sense of presence, the feel of being somewhere i'm not just... isn't there. The desk in the opening sequence looks like it's for a toddler - everything just looks wrong.
- When you DO get close to something it only highlights the horrible texturing and general lack of detail.

If the scale and textures were improved i would seriously revisit this game. As it stands now, there's nothing here that isn't done better in two other games - EVE Valkyrie and Elite.

**Update. I just finished the game! Way too short at a little over 3 hours played! It was fun while it lasted, looking forward to it being more open ended in the future. I did think that the game would have A LOT more play time, as it was not an early access game. You should be able to get more than 3 hours worth of play (just over refund time on Steam) for the asking price. This is probably more appropriate at $5 -$10 if it is going to stay this short! So thumbs down for now.

But here is my review up to 2 hours playing (thinking there was much more to come):

Did I just purchase this game totally by accident and discover one heck of an awesome game? Well, that is just what happened. I just launched the game in VR, and was like Holy Sh@@! I can't wait to jump in the game! AND THEN my friend called, and all I could think about was the wah wah sound that Charlie Brown makes, and that lasted for an hour, yes, really. Anyways, as soon as the phone call ended I started playing and played until nearly 1 AM, I have to be up at 6, so I will play another hour after leaving this review.

Suggestions: Use a gamepad. It is so much easier to control.

What is the game like? In some aspects, the mission briefings remind me of XCOM. The flying reminds me of Wing Commander and Descent combined, with some physics like you would see in Battlestar Gallactica on a massive scale. I wholeheartedly love flying in this game. Shooting is easy and I like the default controls. I didn't even realize you can change weapons. BTW look at the monitors in the game, and an A or something will pop up, even for the one that says menu on the screens, they are not just art. One changes your weapon...

I like mining for things, I love the graphics, I was blown away totally by how addictive it is. The sounds are great and I had no crashes during a 2 hour marathon.

The price is soooo worth it. Easily the best purchase yet I have made for VR. I wonder about its longevity, but time will tell. I will certainly get my money's worth!

Nicely done!

Updated review (please see below for my original review):

Whilst I do really like this game, I must point out that it is very short, and I feel £15 is a bit much for an incomplete game so I cannot recommend it. I've seen demos that are longer than this. The content that is there is fun and really well done but it's just so short. I hope more content is added in future updates because as it is I would think twice about buying another game from this developer.

I don't see how it can be ok to release a story based game where part way through the story you end the game and pop up 'to be continued...' message. Are we expected to buy another game or DLC to finish the story?

Original review: This game came out of the blue for me, I had not heard of it up until a few days before release, and oh what a refreshing change it is to see a VR space game with an actual story and characters. Space Rift looks good and has great presence, there is a section where you are in a hollowed asteroid and as I reached above my head to flick the switch to trigger the scanner, I felt I was there.

The audio and voices are well done and it all feels very smooth. There are upgrades to buy for your ship and I'm actually looking forward to doing a few missions to earn some funds for more upgrades.

Overall, in the time I've played it, Space Rift feels like one of the better VR games around.

Sigh...okay, regrettably I have to join the "thumbs up" to "thumbs down" team too.

On the plus side, the game is beautifully crafted, with an engaging storyline and some wonderful enironments that really take advantage of VR (though it still drops out to the plain "SteamVR" environment during loading, which is a bit of a shame). Alos, when there was a bug it was fixed same day, so excellent response time.

On the other had, it is WOEFULLY short for the price. Regrettably this is more of an issue because it IS so good...and because it is so obviously unfinished. I wanted MORE dammit. I also feel cheated because I feel it should have been marketed more clearly as "Episode 1" or something, so you at least had a chance to know you weren't going to get an ending.

I've defended other games (Inside) on the basis of their artistry and storytelling. But this combination of an EXTREMELY short game and the feeling that I was misled into buying it as a complete title, when it's actually just "Part 1" has left a bitter taste.

Whether or not I buy part two will depend entirely on the price as a result.


Original review was;

Really was enjoying this until one of the missions seems to bug out...Gravidas Station...I find the escape capsule, but then it just says "awaiting objective"....anyone got a fix?