Tunnels VR Review

Tunnels VR from developer Nomad Monkey is a Meta platform-only horror game that will resonate the most with those with claustrophobia. The developer has big ambitions for the game with plans for single and multiplayer experiences. The Multiplayer will be free to play. You can play with friends and strangers. In the online co-op mode, you can work as a team to survive. Or you can betray them and lead them to your death.

The game takes place entirely underground in an abandoned gold mine. The story is barebones. You play in first-person view as Jim, who is a veteran demolition expert. The townspeople hired you to seal the abandoned mine. The mine has a history of missing people, teens mostly, and some gold diggers. It is a dangerous place, and the town wants the mine shut down for good.

If that isn’t spooky enough for you, Jim is on his own. His only contact with the outside world is via walkie-talkie. Things go quickly awry as you literally plunge deeper into the mine and into a whole new level of terror. Jim must work his way back to the mine from the caverns he had fallen into. This requires crawling through tunnels and overcoming environmental hazards. Hazards such as scaling heights where one slip can leave you skewered on stalagmites below. You will also zipline over bottomless chasms. Or jump over them. You must also swim deep into the dark waters of underground lakes.

But wait. There’s something more in the dark. Creatures. Some are familiar, like rats that screech in the dark all around you. But there are also other creatures. Unknown creatures that look like lobsters but with heads like those of the face huggers from the Alien movies. And they move fast. Your only defense against them is the light of your flashlight. A light that is powered by the batteries found in the mine.

Good Game Setup

Jim has only your wits to survive with. Can you help Jim escape with his sanity, and maybe yours, intact? It is all up to you. For an indie game, it’s a simple and tight setup. The game leans into our fears of the dark and tight places to amp up the tension. There’s nothing more creepy than crawling down in a dark tunnel way. The enclosed space decreases your mobility, increases your vulnerability, and heightens your senses because of limited stimuli. Sounds are not just heightened, but also unreliable. Not just what they may represent, but also for where they are coming from. In the tunnels and caves, the acoustics play tricks. Something may be further away or, worse, closer than you think.

Alas, it is also the indie nature of the game that undermines (See what I did there?) many of these elements. The graphics are very Questy as we VR Gamers say in the VR world. They look primitive by today’s standards. The detail is low, as are the textures. You know you are in a game. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but in a virtual game where horror is the desired outcome, it’s also not a good thing.

On the plus side, the sound of the game is very good. Aided by the dark, the screeching of rats and the snarls of the creatures are enough to set you on the edge. As mentioned before, in an underground world, it is difficult to pinpoint where the noise is coming from. Is it in front? Is it behind? Tough to know, and that is a very effective tool at making one pause. It’s also worth noting the voice actors’ respectable conveyance of emotional undertones.

Where the indie side of the game really hurts, the game is on the control side. Actions lack polish. They also lack a tightness of control. Trying to coordinate the running and jump actions is an exercise in frustration. You have to time the button press of a jump with the run action which involves physical swinging of your arms, while pressing forward on the left joystick. Additionally, the lurching nature of the run animation makes it doubly difficult to determine when exactly to press the jump button.

Funky Flashlight

My biggest beef with the game is the flashlight. In an underground environment, a working flashlight is paramount. Especially when it is your only defense against the creatures. When I pick up a score of batteries, I expect a decent amount of use out of the flashlight before having to look for more. However, the game design appears to control artificially when the flashlight will function. It’s hard to say, as there is no way to know how much battery energy you have at any time.

There is an option to perform the crawl movements either physically or with the joystick. If you are a diehard for true VR immersion, you may find mimicking a crawling motion with your arms fun. It got old for me quickly and I switched to using the joystick quickly. Too bad there isn’t a similar option for the run action.

The net effect of all these game control issues is frustration. It is one thing not to feel comfortable in a game because of the story; it is another because of not having your actions carried out appropriately. Tunnels VR left me feeling I successfully overcame an obstacle not because of skill on my part, but more so because of dumb luck. That does not make for an enjoyable game experience.

Tunnels VR Review – Frustrating Frights

Lou Sytsma