Red Matter Review (Emblem Parade)
Well. I was waffling on this one, because the atmosphere and concept are alluring. But it's just a mediocre experience overall and can't get my recommendation.
It's very short and sparse. There's just not much to see and virtually no exploration. Some reviewers are praising the graphics, but I found them to be far too simplistic. Puzzles are OK (there are only a handful of them), but they are marred by bad controls (I used Valve Index) and wonky physics.
Nobody has figured out how to let you move in large spaces in VR, and this game is no exception. It supports smooth motion, but that was immediately puke city for me. Instead I relied on the teleportation option, which has a somewhat innovative "jet pack" floaty animation. It also didn't feel very pleasant, but it worked. Well, in a clunky way that just made everything much more awkward than it would have been in real life or even in flat gaming.
The story is intriguing, but like everything else, there's far too little of it. It almost seems like a demo of a real game that never got developed. I have to add that I did not appreciate the fake Slavic language used to create a sense of "alternative history". Why not use real Russian? This weird design decision seems to serve no purpose other than to diminish actual history, because your native language is fully intact.
Perhaps Red Matter 2 will be better. But considering the high price of these games I am wary of trying.