Boneworkshasbeendescribedas‘VRHalf-
Life,althoughthatdescriptiondoesn’tworkso
wellwhenHalf-Life:Alyxexists(fullreview
comingnextissue).It’salsonotentirely
accurate.StressLevelZero’sphysics-based
FPSowesa lottoValve’smasterpiece,buta
bettersummationwouldbe‘VRGarry’sMod’.
Boneworks’storytakesplaceina game
that’shalf-finished,a deliberatechoicethat
letsthedevelopersbringtogether
Boneworks’broadrangeofmechanics.You
playasArthurFord,headofsecurityfor
softwaredeveloperMonogon.Somehow,
Fordbecomestrappedinthecompany’s
digitalcityMythOSandmustmakehiswayto
thecity’sclocktowertoresettheprogram.
Boneworks’Half-Lifeinspirationsareclear
earlyon.Notonlyis oneofthefirstweapons
youpickupa crowbar,butthegame’slooming
concretebuildingsanddistantlyblaring
alarmsalsofeellikeBlackMesaandCity 17
blendedtogether.Thereareevencreepy
spider-botsthatleapatyourface,essentially
roboticheadcrabs.
Morebroadly,thegameblendsexciting
gunplaywithphysics-basedpuzzling,suchas
usingplanksofwoodtocreatebridgesor
pullingleverstomanoeuvrea crane.MostofREALITY
CHECK
GAMES / VIRTUAL REALITY
Rick Lane tries
tethering an Oculus
Quest to his PC, and
throws himself into
the Half-Life-inspired
worldofBoneworks
BONEWORKS /
£23.99incVAT
REVIEW
DEVELOPER Stress Level Zero /
PUBLISHER Stress Level ZeroFireproof games’ The Room series has
brought the studio enormous success, first
on mobile and then on PC. Now Fireproof
is bringing its escape room-style puzzling
to VR, with The Room: A Dark Matter.
Set in 1908, A Dark Matter puts you on
the trail of a missing Egyptologist who
disappeared at the British Institute of
Archaeology. It’s a typical Room scenario,
set in a single location filled with clever
puzzles and lots of objects with which
you can tinker. You’ll be gazing into crystalballs, following footprints and fiddling with
strange mechanisms, all with VR-enabled
touch controls.
First-person puzzling can be tricky to
pull off in VR. Being stuck on a puzzle is
frustrating in a normal game, and being
stuck with a box strapped to your face only
compounds the frustration. The bods at
Fireproof know their onions when it comes
to puzzle games, however, so hopefully
they can build a game that has just the right
amount of complexity for VR.NEWS
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT?