What you need to know
- Stress Level Zero dropped a trailer for Boneworks' sequel Bonelab, revealing a release date of September 29, 2022 for the Meta Quest 2.
- Bonelab builds upon the physics-heavy gameplay of Boneworks, pushing the graphical and computational limits of the Quest 2.
- Players can shape-shift into one of several different characters at will, using an impressive arsenal of weapons and skills to dispatch enemies across the game's campaign.
The long-awaited sequel to Boneworks, Bonelab, is finally coming to the Meta Quest 2 on September 29, 2022. Developer Stress Level Zero has been hard at work on the new game in the Boneworks universe for several years now, and the fruit of their labor is shown off in the action-packed 4-and-a-half-minute trailer below.
Aside from the fast-approaching release date, the trailer also shows off a barrage of gameplay elements that we haven't yet seen up until this point. While players might start off playing as a single character, reaching down to the virtual forearm of your character and pulling a string brings up a quick-switch character selection tool.
From the looks of things, players will be able to choose from around half a dozen different characters to utilize throughout the game, each of which features their own abilities, size, and weight. Additionally, it looks like each character has their own set of weapons and powers that they can use. While some are smaller and faster to fit in vents or outrun traps, other characters are stout or heavy and can lift extremely heavy objects with ease.
Boneworks made waves in the VR industry back in 2018 when the first tech demo debuted, wowing VR gamers with the concept of a fully articulated virtual body that responded to physics in a semi-realistic way. Since then, many games have adopted full-body IK physics, as it's known, including some of the best Quest 2 games like Contractors. Stress Level Zero's developers have also been involved with Hover Junkers and Duck Season, two other highly rated VR games.
The #Bonelab GoKart represents a significant milestone for Marrow. While seated, you are simply a fully physical player jointed to a fully physical vehicle. No cheats, pure simulation. pic.twitter.com/BLoF3rTWYRSeptember 17, 2022
Bonelab looks to recreate the original PC VR release's impressive physics even on the Quest 2's mobile processor, and looks like it's packing in plenty of enemy variety and unique mechanics, as well. Just last week, the developers showed off a particularly interesting go kart portion of the game — which can be seen above — and definitely ensures that this is a game that will likely only be comfortably played by those of us with strong VR legs and little to no chance of motion sickness.
