Vendetta Forever is the answer to a question many VR gamers have had for years: where is the SUPERHOT VR sequel?
In December 2016, the world was graced with SUPERHOT VR, a bespoke VR version of the hit time-controlling first-person shooter from earlier that year. It blew everyone's minds and sold more copies than the non-VR version after only two years on the market.
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The latest data we have is a few years old but shows that SUPERHOT VR has made the company well over $50 million in revenue, making it one of the best-selling VR games ever. Yet, here we are nearly a decade later and somehow still have no official sequel. It's still one of the best Meta Quest games despite its age because, for lack of a more modern term, it very much feels like the "Mario 64 of VR."
Thankfully, nDreams and Meatspace have answered the call and created Vendetta Forever, a game announced at the 2024 VR Games Showcase, which includes a demo you can play on your Quest right now.
LO-KILL-MOTION
The game's entire premise revolves around a cute pun on the word "locomotion," a word that's normally used to describe how you move in a VR game. SUPERHOT VR was purposefully limited in this area as it was intended to be playable by anyone, regardless of whether the virtual motion in VR makes you sick or not. Players in that game only physically move their bodies. It's not possible to virtually move your character with a joystick.
However, VR gaming (and its gamers) has evolved significantly since the original SUPERHOT VR release. Essentially, all of the top-selling Meta Quest games in any given week task players with moving around virtually, whether it's using a joystick, like in a traditional game, or moving yourself like a monkey with your arms in Gorilla Tag.
Vendetta Forever upgrades SUPERHOT VR's gameplay by introducing a unique locomotion mechanic: grabbing fallen enemies weapons to warp to them.
Vendetta Forever upgrades SUPERHOT VR's gameplay by introducing a unique teleporting mechanic that should keep even ultra-sensitive players from feeling sick, yet, still gives them a more modern feeling of freedom of movement. From what I can tell, it's the next-generation version of Bang Bang Slice (Alpha), a game from the same developer that was released in 2022.
Vendetta Forever's locomotion feels like the perfect hybrid of Pistol Whip and the lesser-known Rogue Ascent.
The developers briefly describe it as "shoot to kill, kill to move," which means that when you kill an enemy, they drop their weapon, allowing you to teleport to the weapon by remotely grabbing it. It's the simplest mechanic you can think of, yet it evokes a powerful feeling of badassery that's eminently important for a game like this.
In fact, Vendetta Forever's locomotion feels like the perfect hybrid of Pistol Whip and the lesser-known Rogue Ascent, one of the best hand-tracking games. There's a slight slow motion triggered as you teleport, but it's not like the time-moves-when-you-move mechanic of SUPERHOT. This feels faster in an almost superhuman way.
Here's an illustration so you can better understand it:
There are over 60 levels and more than 50 challenges throughout the game.
It's one of those amazing classic arcade-style mechanics that gives you room to improve over time, meaning you can replay levels to your heart's content and get a better score as your skills improve. What's particularly impressive is that there are over 60 levels and more than 50 challenges throughout the game, meaning there's a lot of replayability value here.
Scoring is similar to Pistol Whip in that you'll compete with friends on online leaderboards, and a modifier system similar to Pistol Whip is included in Vendetta Forever, as well. It's also impressive just how difficult some of these levels are, especially if you're planning to get anywhere near the top of the leaderboard.
The playable demo consists of 5 levels, each of which carries a very different theme, set of weapons, and even color scheme to differentiate itself.
One of the levels in the demo sees you at a Russian Roulette table, complete with a pistol. This particular level tasks you with taking out the entire table of bad guys as quickly as you can. My best time is 1.6 seconds so far, and I felt pretty good about that time until I looked at the scored leaderboard.
Even in the early access demo — which was likely only played by a few dozen folks — I was in 9th place at that time. I could hardly believe it until I dialed down into the score and realized it wasn't just clear time or kills that got you points but also if you got hit, got headshots, etc. It's a lot to happen in 1.6 seconds, but boy, is it exhilarating!
And the weapon variety is second to none, too. One of SUPERHOT VR's coolest mechanics is being able to pick up anything and sling it at your opponent, or even punch them when there's nothing else to use, then steal your opponent's weapon to finish the level. Vendetta Forever turns that up several notches with over 50 weapons — 33 of which are types of guns — even including throwing knives and katanas.
Enemies slice apart like the fruit in Fruit Ninja, and throwing knives and ninja stars can be thrown in one or three group increments, meaning you can take out up to three enemies at once with a single throw. It's the perfect way to make you feel like you're a top-rated assassin or spy in a way most games fall flat on.
I don't know what is taking Superhot Team so long to make a sequel, but I'm glad at least some other developers are taking up the mantle.
After you've quenched your thirst on the demo, it won't be too long of a wait til the final game, either. Meatspace and nDreams are targeting an October 2024 release for Meta Quest 2, 3, Pro, and PlayStation VR2.
