Roboquest VR shows promise with compelling FPS roguelike mechanics, and we recently previewed the PC VR version.
Out of Flat2VR Studios’ six upcoming games, Roboquest VR is easily my most anticipated title yet. I’ll admit that I wasn’t familiar with the flatscreen Roboquest before last year’s announcement, yet the comic book-inspired art style and roguelike gameplay immediately had me intrigued. Now that I’ve gone hands-on with the fast-paced FPS, I’m impressed by what I’ve seen.
Testing this during GDC 2025 with a Pimax Crystal, a futuristic world soon greets me followed by hordes of mechanical foes, and I briefly tried the flatscreen version’s demo for comparison after getting home. Your goal involves navigating procedurally generated environments and taking down bosses, facing some fearsome foes along the way as an upgradeable guardian. After selecting my weapon, I soon got underway across three runs.
My demo was limited to the first biome with little story context beyond destroying these robots, and it’s faithfully adapting the flatscreen game so far. Swapping from mouse and keyboard to motion controls feels great, and some welcome changes include manual reloading. It’s a straightforward process that involves using a face button to empty the clip, grab ammo from over your left shoulder, and slot it in. Nothing too in-depth, but does what you need it to.
Roboquest VR is playable across four difficulty options, and the action certainly feels intense on higher settings. There’s strong enemy variety in the earlier areas, ranging from on-foot troops, aerial drones, and giant bug-like bots with giant laser cannons before reaching the area’s boss. Each robot also suffers from obvious weak spot syndrome, where hitting the red eye deals additional damage.
Two failed playthrough attempts were needed to find my footing, though the action feels great once you get into the swing of it. Roboquest has a way of making you feel badass as you take down these enemy troops. Whether that’s sliding by pushing the right thumbstick in and shooting through these waves or grinding across the rails, you feel stylish knocking them down one by one.
Different weapons spawn on different runs. So far, I’m not quite as sold on the weapon variety, though I understand Roboquest VR is adapting the existing game’s arsenal. The bow and arrow doesn’t feel great to use; it’s rather fiddly and slow when you need speed. However, throwing a hand axe like Kratos does and calling it back can deliver some great kills. That’s also true when blasting through foes with a powerful shotgun or slicing them up with a katana.
It’s clear many UI aspects were still a work-in-progress as development continues adapting the flatscreen game, so I won’t discuss the presentation too much for that reason. However, Roboquest VR remains a frankly gorgeous game with its vibrant cel-shaded art style and while I’m unsure of the PC specs used, the PC VR build’s performance ran smoothly.
I’ll reserve further judgment for the finished release since there’s still more work to be done, but the core gameplay feels like a strong fit for headsets. There’s a satisfying premise that quickly got me invested and if Flat2VR Studios gets this right, I can see Roboquest feeling right at home in VR.
Roboquest VR arrives this fall on PlayStation VR2, Steam, and the Meta Quest platform.
