“VAIL” a VR (virtual reality) game developed by AEXLAB launched Feb. 15 on the Meta Quest store and on Steam. The game features its primary mode, artifact, being a 5v5 search and destroy style gameplay. Similar to flatscreen games such as “Counterstrike” and “Call of Duty”, “VAIL” wants to become the standard VR e-sport.

Having a rocky history with the infamous Unreal Engine 5 update and their NFT projects alongside the game, many people have put this one to the side.

The core mechanics of the game are solid. The absolute best feeling VR game with smooth and snappy gunplay. The game includes great physics with objects feeling real and interacting with the environment. The overall gameplay loop is fantastic and an absolute blast to play. Its physics based guns feel amazing and what should be the standard for VR guns. Grenades and throwable utility feel natural to throw and can prove to be deadly with a good arm. The style of the game is also unique. However, to some it feels bland and boring due to its heavy use of brutalist architecture. Youtubers even say that it feels like a “concrete convention”. AEXLAB has seemed to take the art style in a different direction with the newer maps having a more colorful design.

The game does have major faults. The performance at times, even on overkill hardware, can stutter. AEXLAB says they are actively working on improving performance one map at a time. Quest versions of the game have the same problems with performance drops hurting the overall experience. The bugs in the game are sometimes game breaking with some destroying audio and forcing players to restart their game.

With “VAIL” being released during its 1.0 update, they have added a progression system with weapons being unlocked through leveling.

Overall, “VAIL” is one of the most promising VR shooters. It has its own issues, but it has promising gameplay and design.