Attain is a VR action-platformer from nDreams that goals to let gamers run, bounce, and slide in a means that the majority VR video games deliberately keep away from. Does the sport’s motion gel nicely with fight and puzzles? Learn our full assessment to search out out.
Attain Particulars:
Developer: nDreams
Out there On: Quest 3 & 3S, PC VR, PlayStation VR 2
Reviewed On: Quest 3
Launch Date: October sixteenth, 2025
Worth: $40
Gameplay
As an action-platformer, Attain is about two core issues: motion and fight.
On the motion facet, Attain feels nice. The sport combines tried-and-true VR climbing gameplay with a small tweak to leaping that makes an enormous distinction to how the sport feels.
Moderately than simply urgent ‘A’ to make your character leap into the air, you as an alternative must maintain the ‘A’ button and do an arm-raising gesture (as if you happen to’re swinging your arms up for some further momentum earlier than a leap). It’d seem to be a small tweak, nevertheless it feels extra pure and immersive. You possibly can even do the movement with alternating arms to make jumps in fast succession, which I discovered enjoyable (though the sport didn’t appear to explicitly construct round it).
Between leaping, climbing on handholds, and utilizing a grapple software that you simply get a bit later within the sport, I felt like I had a ton of freedom and management over my motion, all whereas feeling fairly snug all through. That’s… till the spinning platforms appeared. Extra on that within the Consolation part under.
Then after all there’s the opposite core a part of the sport: fight.
Whereas the motion feels well-executed, fight design feels considerably scattered. Maybe most sadly, it doesn’t synergize notably nicely with the motion.
Core to the fight problem is the participant’s weapon. It’s a bow which has a number of particular arrow sorts. It’s enjoyable to make use of, however as a two handed-weapon, the participant has no entry to any of their motion talents besides strolling or operating on flat floor. A system of slow-motion—activated by drawing the bow whereas the participant is in mid-air—might have been an alluring mechanic to permit gamers to weave bow pictures into their motion.
However limiting the participant’s entry to motion throughout fight isn’t the one motive why a two-handed weapon is an odd alternative in Attain.
Along with enjoyable motion, the sport additionally permits gamers to seize onto partitions to tug themselves out and in of canopy (used to nice impact in two different nDreams video games: Fracked [2021] and Synapse [2023]). However… you possibly can’t actually use the quilt system successfully whereas additionally utilizing a two-handed weapon like a bow.
After which there’s the protect which the participant can throw, Captain America fashion. It feels enjoyable to summon, throw, and recall… however as soon as once more: a protect takes one hand to make use of, that means you should use it at the side of a two-handed bow.
The saving grace to the two-handed problem might have been the weapons which you could often steal off of enemies. However doing so requires utilizing a uncommon useful resource and weapons solely have three (sure, three) pictures earlier than they break. Sure, that restricted ammo not less than permits the stolen weapons to be pleasurable one-hit-kill powerhouses, nevertheless it additionally means you’re shortly again to the bow in your arms which finally limits the remainder of the sport’s fight.
This seemingly small problem (a two-handed weapon as your major technique of fight) sadly retains the sport’s fight from actually shining by fragmenting the roster of instruments that gamers should work with. I’m actually curious to see what the sport would really feel like if the participant’s predominant weapon was a one-handed crossbow as an alternative of a two-handed bow.
Between exploring, fixing puzzles, and combating, there’s loads to love in Attain. However the expertise total felt hampered by weak pacing. The speed at which new ideas, mechanics, weapons, and enemies are revealed felt too gradual, like the sport was being stretched out for the sake of size.
Attain took me about seven hours to beat, which included discovering a lot of the hidden upgrades and roughly half of the hidden collectibles. That size sounds fairly good for a $40 sport, however higher pacing would have made for a extra pleasurable expertise even when it meant a shorter sport.
Immersion
Fight could not have reached its full potential in Attain, however the sport has undeniably sturdy VR fundamentals which assist considerably with immersion.
Nearly each a part of the sport (besides tutorial and goal pop-ups) feels natively designed for VR. Your map, for example, will be projected into your hand by elevating your palm and holding the set off. Elevators aren’t activated with a button press however with an enormous floating dice that you simply pull into place with a satisfying *clonk*. Weapons have ammo indicators constructed into their design (as an alternative of a quantity floating within the air). You are able to do stealth takedowns by sneaking behind an enemy and ripping out their ‘core’. As a substitute of doorways with hinges, each door within the sport is a sliding door (which is so a lot better for VR usability).
And your complete ‘interface’ is constructed into your gauntlets. your arms reveals your well being, what number of particular arrows you’re holding, and extra.
Your complete sport feels diegetic at its core—the best way each VR sport should be.
Nevertheless, exterior of key objects, there wasn’t an entire lot of interactivity with the world. There was the uncommon movable prop, whereas the overwhelming majority of objects within the sport world are static and non-interactive. And whereas the environmental artwork course was sturdy, operating by means of so many utterly static rooms and corridors made the world really feel considerably empty and uninteresting.
The one respite from the numerous static rooms was the occasional improve station yow will discover by looking for out much less apparent pathways and more difficult puzzles. These had been enjoyable to hunt, however the upgrades didn’t really feel notably significant.
Consolation
Attain was fully snug to me all the best way as much as the final quarter of the sport, proper as much as the purpose that they launched platforming puzzles rotating pillars.
Clean rotation is probably the most typical set off of movement illness in most individuals. Utilizing easy rotating pillars because the core of the sport’s most difficult platforming puzzles is… nicely, it’s simply not a sensible alternative. When a puzzle is constructed round a mechanic that causes movement illness, falling again to the bottom and figuring out it’s essential climb up throughout again seems like precise torture.
I didn’t must play with vignette for any of Attain till I bought to the rotating pillar puzzles. After trying the primary rotating puzzle I used to be instantly uncomfortable sufficient that I wanted to take the headset off and are available again just a few hours later. After I returned to the sport I turned on the vignette setting which saved me from quitting the sport outright, however nonetheless didn’t absolutely forestall some discomfort.
I count on that sufficient individuals who play the sport will get movement sick from the rotating puzzles that nDreams should have an accessibility choice which merely removes them from the sport, or gives a solution to skip them.
One different notable consolation problem with the sport was additionally a difficulty of easy rotation: the sport makes an attempt to auto-rotate the participant to face some specific course once they’re climbing sideways or round corners. Once more, pressured easy rotation is just not snug for many individuals. After enjoying the sport for periods of an hour or so, I had a lingering sense of slight rotations in actual life that I’ve by no means felt after enjoying some other VR sport. I’d have fortunately switched this auto-rotation choice off, if the sport had bothered to supply a toggle.
‘Attain’ Consolation Settings – October sixteenth, 2025 |
|
Turning |
|
| Snap-turn |  |
| Fast-turn | |
| Clean-turn | |
Motion |
|
| Teleport-move |  |
| Sprint-move | |
| Clean-move | |
| Arm Swing-move | |
| Blinders | |
| Head-based course | |
| Controller-based course | |
| Swappable motion hand | |
Posture |
|
| Standing mode | |
| Seated mode | (not specific) |
| Synthetic crouch | |
| Actual crouch | |
Accessibility |
|
| Subtitles | |
| Adjustable issue | |
| Two arms required | |
| Actual crouch required | |
| Listening to required | |
| Adjustable participant peak | |
The submit ‘Attain’ VR Evaluation – Platforming Perfected, Higher Pacing Most well-liked appeared first on Street to VR.