An addictive roguelike that still has some room to grow.

Become a hero and overcome your limitations, in one of the latest roguelike releases for virtual reality (VR).

Created by Vaki Games and released May. 22 for the Quest series of headsets and PCVR, Quantum Threshold puts you in the seat of a wheelchair bound warrior who is fighting back against a rogue artificial intelligence (AI).

Roguelike and rogue-lite games are obviously not new to the VR space, with games ranging from absolutely stellar – The Light Brigade – to completely unplayable – The Foglands. While many VR games releasing in this genre try and do something different, the vast majority of them tend to set their thinking just outside the box. This ends with a title that looks or feels marginally different but ends up playing basically the same as another.

What Vaki Games does differently with Quantum Threshold is put you in a wheelchair.

This game is a fully seated experience – something that is quite rare in the VR space. Sure, there is usually a seated mode for most games, however, you will come across some like Crisis Brigade 2, which really doesn’t accommodate playing sitting down.

This is one of the few games that are made to be played seated, and it’s done quite well.

Here, you get to sit and feel what it’s like to rely on a wheelchair for your movement. Now this is a fancy motorized wheelchair – and it takes some practice to get a handle on the mechanics. But what really throws players for a loop, is contending with the limited range of motion you have while you’re in the chair.

For instance: when you’re playing a standing experience game and you get surrounded, you would probably just turn around and try to cover yourself from all angles. Right?

Here that’s not totally possible because you’re limited in your ability to turn and look behind you thanks to the chair. Vaki Games did a great job creating an immersive experience where you feel what it’s like to be in a wheelchair, including having to understand your limitations and how to move forward despite their presence.

In Quantum Threshold, you appear to be the last chance to push back against ‘Hate Corp’ and the AI that has overrun everything. As you make your way through numerous different settings including malls, night clubs, and a train station – among others – you will have to contend with enemies of all different types.

These “techno wraiths” as they’re referred to in game, use to be human before they somehow became digitized monsters. This isn’t really explained – but unfortunately there’s a lot of missing plot information here to give a good sense of the player’s motivation.

Either way, you’ll have to go up against many different types of enemies of all shapes and elemental types – not really all types, there appear to be poison, fire and electricity though. There are also boss fights you’ll need to take on, each presenting a unique challenge for you as it bars your path forward.

It’s a good thing that there’s a lot to help you fight back against the enemies you’ll face on your journey. Equip yourself with an arsenal of different weapons, upgrade your chair to survive longer, and find game changing abilities, as you attempt to make your way through.

While each run essentially starts the same way – and you’ll currently find a good amount of predictability when it comes to enemy placement – you can forge your own path forward, choosing different route and finding secrets that can help you get an edge over your enemy.

There’s a good variety of weapons to choose from including pistols, shotguns, rifles and SMGs. You can equip two to take with you in your home base – though at the start you’ll only have one pistol unlocked – but weapons with both common and unique modifiers can be found as you progress through each run.

You can purchase more weapons with the currency you collect when you’re out on a run – but keep in mind there’s more things to spend on than just guns and their accessories.

Your wheelchair is very future forward – it does have two weapon holsters built right into it after all – but there’s more to be done to make it, and you, a potent weapon. In your home base you’ll find a station just to the right of your gun rack, where you can purchase upgrades for your wheelchair. These greatly improve your survivability by increasing your overall health, health regeneration and other aspects of your character.

But wait, there’s more.

In addition to the obvious upgrades you can purchase in your home base, there are additional ones which can only be found during your run. Because it would make it too easy to tell you where these are – and you really should explore the world of Quantum Threshold – the locations of where you can find upgrades like grenades, radar, and shields among other items, are scattered around the levels you’ll roam.

Creating the game in this way – where you have known and hidden upgrades that you stumble upon – is quite well done. This is because a game which already tasks you with adapting to your limitations, adds an additional layer of thinking on your wheels, by disrupting your ability to spend wisely.

Were you saving up to buy a new gun with some attachments, or maxing out your health; well, you can do that after every death before you head out again on your next run. What you may not often get the chance to do – because it’s buried deep in a difficult level – is return to the place that sells you an interesting ability.

Oh, there are also some extra powers you can get, but these are tied into what could be considered minigames which are scattered around.

Now let’s get down to the gameplay.

Control your wheelchair by grabbing the controllers at the end of your armrest. Once one or both are in your hands, use the thumbsticks to move around and the triggers for a speed boost. It’s definitely easier to control the chair when using two hands, and you can get more speed when both are used simultaneously. Of course, this limits your ability to shoot and move as you’ll need at least one hand on a gun.

Shooting is as you would expect, just grab one of your guns and use the trigger to shoot. There is no manual reload option here, instead, you can either use the ‘B’ or ‘Y’ buttons or flick your wrist with the gun to reload.

Now let’s talk about the graphics, because they do vary.

The world around you is very retro, with a punk-style arcadey look to it. Your chair, guns and hands all look great, and the world on each run has detail and looks pretty nice – although things do look a little flat and explosions look like they would in a game from the 90s. The overall esthetics fit nicely with what it is and give Quantum Threshold a nice edge.

Now, let’s talk about some of the issues before we call it a day.

There is a lot you’ll have to learn on your own here as the tutorial doesn’t really do a good job of explaining things. For instance, you’ll get a rundown of grabbing guns, reloading and moving around. However, there’s no information telling you that a screen door that says open, can be triggered by pointing at it with a barely visible red line that appears from your hand and using the trigger. One may assume that you can hold your hand there to activate it or even to be able to tap on the screen, but that would not be the case.

Other issues include enemies getting stuck in walls, enemies just appearing out of nowhere from random trigger points, a too easy to set off position reset system, and a lack of explanation on how special abilities unlock.

All of these things are small issues. Nothing is game breaking, if anything, the biggest issue is simply that there seems to be some underbaked aspects of the game – mostly surrounding how players are taught what to do.

The only real gripe to have against this game is the fact that there’s a 25-minute timer on each run.

Now, this timer isn’t a problem; it doesn’t go off prematurely and it certainly hasn’t done anything beyond end what could only be described as a stellar run.

The issue then? They don’t tell you that this is an aspect to the game.

In fact, if you’re not good enough to last that long – and your runs end early and often – then you may never even realize that this is a thing.

Vaki Games has put together an engaging and overly addictive roguelike that immerses you in a futuristic world – all while you’re sitting in the comfort of your favourite chair.

While the development team has noted that there will be updates to fix issues in the near future, a game this fun could have been delayed just a little, to ensure that some of the basic elements were included.

Quantum Threshold, was reviewed on the Quest 3 after receiving a key through PressEngine.