Green Hell VR TEST: what is the PC VR version worth?

After having made very good press when it arrived on the Meta Quest At the beginning of April, Green Hell VRthe publisher’s Amazon jungle survival game Creepy Jaroffers a beauty on PC VR. The studio Incuvospecializing in video game ports, repeated the feat of again bringing the license to virtual reality, on more muscular machines this time. Note here that PC version VR differs from the stand-alone one in many pointsto start with separate development teamslaid off in order to focus solely on their respective platforms.

The title spoils our retina from start to finish and immerses us in a unique atmosphere.

The challenge was therefore not the same. We could test the version Questcut to turn at best with the means at hand, namely the chip Snapdragon XR2 of Qualcomm. Possible point of comparison with the PC world VRIThe title had been completely redeveloped to fit in a standalone headset, while boasting of welcoming as much as possible, the maximum of visual effects, decorative elements as well as rather clean textures. To do this, the developers made call for technology SpaceWarp App in order to make the most of Quest and the result is also really successful, placing Green Hell VR as one of the current showcases of autonomous experiences. However, the team in charge of this development, for obvious memory and performance reasons, also decided in the gameplay and shrinks some plots of the map.

On the side of the developers harnessed to bring the title to PC VR, things are less sad. The package was put for faithfully reproduce the original version of the game, namely on a flat screen. We therefore find visually an identical rendering, a gameplay unchanged, a story still as well put together and the original mapexcept that Green Hell VR is a virtual reality experience and has adopted its level design accordingly, with all that this implies in terms of immersion and interactions. The title spoils our retina from start to finish and plunges us into a unique atmosphere, that of the Amazonian forest, oppressive, loaded and humid, almost suffocating. No concession seems to have been made on the visual rendering, whether at the level of dynamic shadows, lighting, reflections on textures as well as on the rays of light, which let’s face it are of the most beautiful effect. Watching the day go by has something magical, almost bewitching, especially when the sun rises and sets over the canopy, lulling the jungle and its waterways in orange light.

Green Hell VRin its new guise, offers sublime environments teeming with vegetationbigger and teeming with details, making the version Questyet very successful, like a fairly bland copy of the game. This time, we really have to pay more attention to where we set foot.

Somewhat different gameplay

Faithful variation of the original game obliges, the title is complex and demanding, as long as we have chosen one of the difficulty modes inviting survival. If you found the version dreadful Questyou will not be at the end of your troubles by throwing yourself headlong into this new version, something that we have done… But Green Hell VR immediately called us to order.

The survival guide that accompanies us is much more complete and offers many additional objects and structures to craft.

Even if in the background, the very essence of survival is respected, things are somewhat different in terms of our interactions and our habits. For example, we must examine ourselves from head to toe, looking for the slightest ailment, where on the Quest we could only inspect our arms. Hunting also evolved and marked the appearance of fishing and traps. We can also become sedentary by creating real makeshift camps just like the scouts. New resources can be collected for crafter always more things. Additional tabs are appearing in the Survival Handbook to welcome all this small world and open the way to the creation of real structures to shelter us and protect us from predatorswhile benefiting from the proximity of a river, a source of food and clay, necessary for certain constructions. Survival in self-sufficiency takes on a whole new dimension and invites the player to settle down and shape his haven of peace, especially since we can also grow our own plants… Note also, among the countless new possibilities, the appearance of chests to store your equipment and resources. Isn’t life beautiful?

The design patterns are also quite different and will ask to harvest more resources. But the difference does not end there, the way itself of designing the objects is no longer the same and has somewhat disappointed us. We found it less intuitive and engaging. On PC, it is necessary to display a table of crafting on which we arrange the elements to recover a finished object. Handling is therefore much less engaging and successful than on the Meta Questwhich favored the crafting by hand. For example, we could make a bow by cutting the ends of a branch ourselves and tying a rope at both ends.

It’s the same for the backpack, also very similar here to the original game and therefore complex to handle and store in virtual reality. It’s a bit of a shame compared to what could have been done on the autonomous, simple and effective porting. In this case, we have to wrestle with countless slots and storage pockets, and the main compartments are a pain to store. You have to play Tetris to most efficiently store all of our objects and resources, and each of them occupies a defined size on an imaginary grid. And when fully opened, the backpack takes up a lot of space. To finish, it is not as easy as the mouse to grab the elements.

With between 10 and 15 hours of playand even beyond depending on your level of survival, Green Hell VR once again gets away with the honors, this time, in its PC version VR. The experience remains intact, as does the story, and it must be said that visually, the title is ultra convincing.. We are here in front of a copy VR of the original flat screen game. The sensations are just multiplied thanks to the support of virtual reality which sublimates the feeling of oppression and presence in full immersion in a dense jungle which does us no favors and even prides itself on reminding us of it (a little too often?) . We regret that the crafting and the backpack are not as well thought out as on the version Questbut we can forget this detail in view of the novelties offered with respect to the latter in terms of possibilities. the role play makes even more sense with the architectural fiber that now inhabits us and we find ourselves living our life as Robinson, sedentary and lost in this immensity, in search of a new autonomy. We would like to remind you that the title still offers different game modes, varying the level of difficulty in order to satisfy the maximum number of people, but will prove to be more complex and demanding than its counterpart Quest for the simple and good reason that this version is faithful to the original game. However, we sometimes regret the choices of the studio team Incuvowho want too much to sweat the original fiber of Green Helldespite its good intentions, serves the interests of the VR with interactions not always detaching enough from the version flat.

Read also: Green Hell VR TEST: get ready to experience hell on Quest 2