Virtual reality has come a long way since the Oculus Rift consumer model launched in 2016, but the medium is still missing its killer app. There are plenty of great virtual reality games available, but there’s nothing that makes the investment a must for gamers. Boneworks doesn’t quite fit that bill as VR’s killer app, but it is a huge step in the right direction and a highly innovative game that should pave the way for more ambitious VR games in the future.
Boneworks in its current state feels more like a tech demo than it does a full-fledged video game. The appeal of the game is interacting with the world and not so much progressing the story or solving its puzzles, which feel half-baked at best. Boneworks also suffers from some technical problems that make it seem a bit unfinished at times, but even so, the game’s innovation in the VR space simply can’t be denied. It’s something that those with VR headsets should try because while its execution is a little off, it shows where VR can go next.
The immersion in Boneworks is undeniable, with the game giving players unprecedented control to experiment with the game world. Every object has its own physics and can be messed with; if players walk into a break room, they can pick up each individual pop can on a table or even flip the entire table over itself. Some of the most fun that can be had in Boneworks is just simply picking things up and seeing what can be done with them. The level of interaction in the game world makes Boneworks stand out compared to other VR games, and should make the game worth a the price of admission for any virtual reality enthusiast.
Fans of Valve’s Half-Life and Portal games should also consider giving Boneworks a look. The game is clearly inspired by those titles, from its aesthetic to its physics-based puzzles. Boneworks leans hard into its inspirations, going as far as to have a Gordan Freeman-esque crowbar readily available for players to use as well as having Companion Cube-like weighted crates for some of the puzzles.
Boneworks’ gameplay mainly consists of solving puzzles, but combat is gradually introduced and becomes more advanced in each stage. Every enemy can be a legitimate threat in Boneworks, so it’s always nerve-wracking getting in close for melee kills, but luckily players will find themselves properly armed before too long. Loading guns requires popping a clip into place and then pulling back the chamber, which is another way the game manages to feel more immersive than most.
Weaponry is kept on the player character at all times, with players having to manage their inventory space in real-time. They can bring up a menu that makes things a little simpler, but it’s more immersive and fun to reach behind one’s back to put an axe away or physically grab a pistol from its holster. The only downside to this is that the game doesn’t always read what the player is trying to do, so an attempt to put a gun away may just see it fall to the floor. There’s also an issue where the game reads trying to pick up an object in front of the player as them trying to grab a clip, which leads to a lot of forgotten clips landing on the ground.
Combat isn’t always a huge part of the Boneworks experience, but it’s fun when it does happen. The combat encounters feel just as old-school as the rest of the game, which will appeal to some fans but others may find themselves wanting more depth.
Unfortunately, actually playing through the game is where Boneworks becomes infinitely less interesting and oftentimes kind of frustrating. Some of Boneworks’ Half-Life style physics-based puzzles are designed in a way that players can literally make it impossible for themselves to continue without starting over. For example, an integral object that players need to utilize could fall in an area where it can’t be retrieved, and players are just stuck until they restart.
It’s not always clear what Boneworks players need to do to proceed, though, so players may not realize that they’ve made it impossible to complete whatever puzzle they were working on, leading to hours of confusion. The level design doesn’t help either, with Boneworks perhaps taking too much inspiration from 90s first-person shooters in that regard. It’s not uncommon to find oneself stuck in an object after miscalculating a jump, for example, and players may also find themselves getting lost in the game world. Pretty much all the environments look similar to each other, which sometimes makes it difficult to figure out where to go next.
Boneworks’ levels are all mostly similar from an aesthetic standpoint, with most stages having the same drab suburban corporate office-look to them. This is done as part of the game’s commentary on corporations and as part of its clear Portal inspiration, but a bit more visual variety in the stages would’ve been greatly appreciated. As it stands, going from one same-looking level to the next can get dull, especially during extended playthroughs.
The biggest downside to Boneworks, though, is its sometimes sloppy technical performance. It’s not uncommon for players to get their arms stuck at weird angles, and we also experienced one frustrating glitch where we wound up permanently stuck in the crouch position. Boneworks has some excessive load times (understandable as its levels are all fairly large), so having to reset a stage because of the crouch glitch or a puzzle getting screwed up can be especially frustrating.
Despite its frustrations and some half-measure design, Boneworks is still a game that is easy to recommend for VR fans. There’s a lot about its immersion that other VR games could learn from, and hopefully build an overall better game around. If nothing else, its Valve-inspired visuals and puzzles may hold some fans over until they can get their hands on Half-Life: Alyx. In the meantime, Boneworks is the kind of game that people can use to show their friends some of VR’s more exciting capabilities, though it’s a little rough around the edges to be something that one will want to spend all their time playing.
Boneworks is out now for PC-compatible VR headsets including HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Valve Index. Game Rant reviewed the game on PC using an Oculus Rift S headset.
