Detached (PC) Review

In fairness to Anshar Studios, there is no hidden agenda. The intensity of the experience is put front and centre in all the descriptions both on the Steam page as well as the Oculus Store. This is a brutal and intense ride for the stomach.

The first thing to note is that there are a number of control options, ranging from a pointing style, which is probably the most 'stomach friendly,' all the way to the rather gut-wrenching full throttle movement, in which the analogue sticks on the Touch Controllers act as the thrusters and rotation.

In one sense, it is hard not to admire this approach, as the majority of developers play it safe with the teleportation mechanic, sacrificing immersion for the sake of comfort. On the other hand, it is hard to see the type of person who won't feel that tinge of head spin after smashing head first into a wall.

For while normally the perspective of a headset and thrusters would be enough to 'ground' a VR experience in order to allow the brain to compensate for movement, here things are quite different.

The physics engine at play is remarkably accurate to the sensation of being an astronaut. Now, if you can handle this, it is a wonderful scope into a feeling only a select few humans would ever be able to experience. If not, it ends up entailing almost constant perspective rotation while trying to compensate for the delayed thruster 'float.' Even the addition of an 'eagle eye' view, which restricts vision in the more intense g-force moments, does little to alleviate the nausea.

The investment into getting good enough to avoid sickening spinning loops and twists is also quite a high barrier to many. It does get quite fiddly navigating the left Oculus trigger for thrust, the other left button for break, while using the right for rotating. Although having sampled some of the more expert YouTube playthroughs, it is clear that patience and endurance is rewarded.

It is a shame that so much time has to be dedicated to the mechanics of Detached because the ambiance and atmosphere generated is second to none. No other representations of space in virtual reality have managed to beat the feeling of stepping out of the abandoned station that makes up the setting here.

The feeling of gently floating past rocks and debris the size of buildings is a truly memorable one that is hard to get over. Graphically, in space the game shines, with stunning visuals and the light of a star and planet that makes a spectacular impression.

It is at this point that every bit of investment in both financial and bodily terms for VR seems to make sense. The beautiful musical score and the atmosphere generated by sound enhances this feeling. It is just a pity this tantalising playground is a mere glimpse and merely interludes between the more mundane.

More than once the temptation to just stop and admire the view of the cosmos got in the way of any advancement of the single-player portion of the experience. It is deliberate that it is described as a 'portion,' for despite the introductory cut-scene set-up of an abandoned station and a search for a missing crew, there is little narrative complexity or development.

Separated into hubs or sectors of various size, objectives stick fairly rigidly to exploring enough to find the power nodes to open airlocks and advance further the search for the missing crew.

It would be more interesting if the areas to explore were generally more varied. However, the awe-inspiring views of space referred to earlier are sadly missing in the rather plain and functional grey rooms, which act as simple puzzle conduits. There is very little character in these generic science-fiction rooms.

There is a lack of any protagonist, with the main threat being the looming oxygen and fuel bars, which tick down within the helmet perspective offered. It was extremely rare that these presented any tangible danger, giving a rather limp sense of dread. The introductions of weapons and other abilities also seem to tempt at something more complex than the reality ever seems to match up to.

The other offering available is a competitive PVP mode, which pits two players against each other online in a 'capture the flag' style offering based on a similar premise to the single-player, searching the map for power nodes and retrieving them. The cool addition here is that weapons obviously come into play in a more pronounced way, and using rockets to impede the competitor is excellent fun.

The only danger with multiplayer is the slow progress on adding new maps, with a very limited selection (only two so far), and it is debatable how long the player base will stick with Detached in order that it continues to have a thriving multiplayer scene.