Mark your calendars! In a few days, on Thursday, September 29, will be released the long-awaited sequel to Boneworks, named Bonelab. As a reminder, boneworks was originally a tech demo that, under pressure from gamers, became a puzzle video game (in the form of FPS) in its own right. Originally released in 2019, boneworks impressed us with its physics engine, which allowed a level of interaction and realism quite rare in VR, long before a certain Half-Life: Alyx.
It’s on his account Twitter that Brandon J Laatsch clarified that the game is ready :
Here is a summary of the story:
Sentenced to death, you play as an outcast who escapes his fate. You then discover a path to what appears to be an underground research facility. A series of challenging experiences and discoveries await you. It is in the city of MythOS that you will try to find out the truth about your situation. You’ll have access to a variety of locations, including arenas, obstacle courses, tactical trials, sandboxes, experimental modes, and user-generated levels. Collecting objects, avatars and clues in these places will allow you to progress this oh so mysterious story.
Another video from gameplay is availablesee below:
Bonelab will surely not appeal to everyonebecause if it follows its big brother, the scenario will remain in the background. It is mainly the puzzles and its different ways of solving them that will keep you glued, all carried by a particularly successful sound environment. Like boneworks, the developers announce that this game is not intended for the first comers in VRthe gameplay being quite realistic and not user-friendly. Mean by this that you will not have the same automation or facilities as on many other titles, and that it will take a few hours to take full advantage of it.
You will also have noticed, no images of the standalone version (Meta Quest) were shown, which looks somewhat disturbingespecially since with the release of RedMatter 2 (see our test), gamers might get used to no longer seeing or simply not wanting any more difference in treatment between standalone games and their PC counterparts VR (see Green Hell VR), and especially not to a drastic drop in graphics (ex: The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners who is really beautiful on Quest 2). We therefore look forward to seeing what the standalone version of the title is worth, praying that the port will be successful.
If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, you can treat yourself to a Meta Quest 2 to the Fnac, Darty or Amazon for €449.99. You can also find good PCs for gamers there.