RedMatterisn’ta gameaboutbeinga
spacejanitor,butyoucouldeasilypretend
it is.Thissci-fiadventurecastsyouasan
interplanetaryspyina futurewherethe
ColdWarneverended.Dispatchedtothe
surfaceofSaturn’sMoonRhea,you’re
taskedwithinfiltratinga researchoutpost
belongingtotheCommunistRepublicof
Volgravia,and‘retrieving’(stealing)some
top-secretdocuments.Uponarrival,however,
youdiscovertheoutpostabandoned,
withmostofitscoresystemsoffline.
Youneedtogetthebaseupandrunning
againbeforeyoucanstartthieving,which
is wherethewhole‘spacejanitor’vibe
makesitsentry.RedMatterhasa chunky,
retro-futuristaesthetic.Initsuniverse,
humanityhascolonisedtheouterreaches
ofthesolarsystem,despitenotinventing
theflat-screenmonitor,andyouinteract
witha semi-sentientsecuritysystemthat
spitsoutpunch-cardsforyoutoread.The
Volgraviansdon’tfixproblemsbyalteringlinesofcode,butby getting their hands
dirtyandperforming manual repairs.
Assuch,maintenance-based puzzles
formtheprimaryinteraction with Red Matter’s
world.Yourfirsttask is simply to open the
loadingwarehouse door, which requires
youtofindtwofuses. One of them is located
ina storagelocker high on the warehouse
ceiling,andyouneed to manually operate
a mobilegantrywith big chunky levers to
getit.Asyoudelve deeper into the facility,
you’llneedtoreboot the power system, fix
thecircuitryofanelevator and restart the
mainreactorbyphysically pumping up the
waterpressureand opening up the valves.
Mechanically,Red Matter is
straightforward,largely using the touch
controllerstoletyou grip and manipulate
objects.Thatsaid,it does have a few neat
touches.Forexample, the documents
andsignagethatprovide hints to progress
arewritteninVolgravian, so you must use
yourspacesuit’stranslator to decipherCHECK
GAMES / VIRTUAL REALITY
Rick Lane plays space
janitor in our monthly
roundup of all things VR
REDMATTER/£18.99inc VAT
REVIEW
DEVELOPER Vertical Robot/ PUBLISHER Vertical RobotWhen the Oculus Quest launched
earlier this year, one of the big
questions was whether it would
support cross-play for users’
existing Oculus Rift libraries. Oculus
responded, saying cross-buy
support was up to the discretion of
the developer. As a result, some
games on Oculus devices support
cross-play, while others, such as
Superhot and Job Simulator, need to
be bought anew if you want to play
them on a separate Oculus device.
However, when it actually comes
to purchasing games, Oculus
doesn’t make it at all clear which
games support cross-buy and which
ones don’t. The answer is hidden in
a sub-category of games named
‘Quest and Rift apps’ that’s very
difficult to find on the storefront.
This situation is frustrating, as
players obviously want to save
money where possible, and cross-
buy is a pretty major feature –
developers who use it will want its
support made clear to potential
buyers. VR gaming is demanding
enough on the wallet without
storefronts obfuscating potential
ways to save money, and frankly, I
think cross-buy games should be
positioned front and centre on the
Oculus store.OPINION
CROSS AT
CROSSBUY