The Light Brigade

For me, this game is the best PVE VR shooter with a truly thick atmosphere.
Pros:
- The gun management is spot on. Every interaction clicks and clacks satisfyingly, with a tangible metallic weight.
- Shooting feels incredibly impactful. Basic enemies go down with just a few well-placed shots, making each bullet count. While heavier units can absorb some damage, it doesn't feel excessive.
- The combat overall creates a sense of high stakes and demands skill. You must learn enemy types and their behaviors to survive. Even a low-level enemy can easily flank you while reloading behind cover and quickly empty their magazine, ending your run.
- There's a great variety of classes and weapon types to master and level up.
- The atmosphere is incredible! The sounds, the voices, the fog, the shattering glass and debris, that praying thing, and the Mother lady – it all blends together perfectly, creating a world that feels both magically immersive and physically real, responsive and impactful.
Meh:
- You're compelled to explore every nook and cranny of each location for resources, but the environments can feel somewhat dull and repetitive, making this process less enjoyable.
- Some classes don't feel significantly distinct, at least in the early levels.
- It's a rogue-like (lite). I personally am not a fan of the genre; I could only beat Hades and no other rogue-like games. So, be ready to power through every level again and again and again. They have some procedural locations, but others are not. I think I like this game in spite of that, so I encourage people to try it anyway, even if rogue-like isn't your thing.
Cons:
- The story, or rather the absence of one, is a letdown. The game initially hints at a narrative that will unfold as you repeatedly die and progress, but ultimately, your actions don't advance any plot. You only receive small bits of exposition about past events that led to the current calamitous state of the world, which isn't particularly engaging or emotionally resonant.
Conclusion:
As a standard flat PC game, this title would likely be quite average, and I probably wouldn't recommend it. However, as a VR experience, it ticks most of the right boxes for me. I've already sunk tens of hours into its fun and challenging action, and I definitely plan on playing much more. While I don't anticipate the developers adding a story to Light Brigade at this point, I wish them and their future projects success and eagerly await their next game!

This is one of the *great* VR games. It has the depth and breadth of a flat-screen stealth shooter but custom built for VR. Whilst it might be less of a masterpiece, I think of it along with Lone Echo and Asgard's Wrath as a standout, huge longevity fully developed game, rather than a tech demo or short experience.

HIGHLIGHTS

The WWII era gun-play feels extremely satisfying in VR, aiming, reloading, dropping the ammo during combat, reloading in a panic, shooting, controlling barrel climb, poking around a corner to snap off a few shots, all of it.

Similarly, whilst they are simple, working around the enemy fire patterns is a joy. Against a single rifleman, one just wait for a two-shot sequence and then you have a short window. Against a SMG wielder, similar, but with an extended burst. In this game you really *learn* the weapons, yours and the enemy.

The environment is consistently dark, sinister, malevolent. Whilst the limited view range frustrates some it contributes to an oppressive claustrophobia that traps you in the same slow cooker as your foes. I find it encourages me to adopt the cautious, creep and peek, prepare and ambush approach that works so well. When you do or receive something *good*, like a boon or blessing, the visual and audio effects really contrast, providing a uplifting beat.

Class variety is also good, mostly. Whilst only varying in their loadout, the weapons all feel different enough that learning to play a new class is a challenge. Things that work for A do not work for B. This is paired with a lot of meta-progression. This progression is *slow*, but that aligns well with the general longevity of the game.

Game is still being developed, with fixes and new content arriving periodically.

LOWLIGHTS?

There are or were reports of enemies being able to shoot you through obstacles. This does not happen as of the current patch (March 2025). There are some rare magic using enemies that can fire a sort of homing magic missile and these *can* curve around obstacles to hit you if you are exposed. They do not directly pass through however.

The pace is slow - most of the time. When you hold a weapon with one hand, you are considerably slower. When you hold a weapon in two hands you move at a crawl. It is perhaps unfair to call this a lowlight, it is more a caveat. Run & Gun is almost never viable here, unless you make it teleport and gun, in which case it is very risky but doable.

Your hardware may influence your play experience. All of mine is on a Quest 2 using a PrismPulse wireless connection to a desktop PC. On this setup the play is flawless and gripping and manipulating the guns and equipment like grenades and gun attachments feels natural.

I've played dozens of VR games ever since the Oculus CV1 was released, and I will say that almost all the games I've played don't come close to how addicting and fun this game can be. It is truly a gameplay focused adventure and I wouldn't doubt it if some of the inspiration was taken from the "In Death" VR game, which was a simple but fantastic game back in the day with endless generated dungeon levels and mechanics, enemy spawns and AI, and the "Holy" vibes similar to this game.
Pros:
- Weapons feel rewarding to shoot and the weight of the weapons feel fair.
- The sound is bright and just right for each interaction and reaction.
- The challenge ramps up as you beat each run and helps you consider taking your time and be aware of your surroundings for better strategies.
- The roguelike/roguelite features are very good so far.
- Praying mechanic is a nice little gimmick for the game and adds to the charm and story.
- Graphics are passable but that alone is not the reason to buy this game. The gameplay interactions and gameplay loop alone is worth the price.
- If you like WW2 weaponry, this has you covered if you have that sort of itch.
The "Cons" list below is only small gripes I have with the game but it certainly isn't a deal breaker
Cons:
- Only a small handful of enemy types that you see regularly throughout the runs you play through. I've only ever encountered the wolves and birds once or twice, while the rest of the time is just enemy soldiers and slightly buffed soldiers, which I suppose is fine for the time being.
- Where's my MP40? I know there are other smg's and auto rifles in the game but... C'mon haha
OVERALL, The Light Brigade is a fun and addicting time to be had and I wish more VR developers would consider the replayability of their games to be like this. The nice thing about this is that the developers are still hard at work adding in more and more features and biomes to explore.
9/10
Let us pray...
P.S. Seriously though, where's my MP40??

I have not completed a run at this point, but this is a good game worth the time to get into it. You must move slow and stay behind cover and crouch! Standing up in the open will end your game fast, which could get you wound up if you did not know. The guns that I have used so far are very different, and so they require different strategies to use, which adds to the depth. The shooting is solid with good feedback when you hit enemies and when your weapon is empty. The graphics are really simple, but serve the purpose well enough.
To be critical, here are some of the issues I have had - The levels are just about boring. You have too many of them where right as you go into the level there is a bottleneck where all the enemies just pour in. I have found the high ground to be far too much liability as it exposes you too much. Possibly this is different with the other classes I have not unlocked. Also, I have had a few run ending bugs with unkillable enemies and enemies stuck in walls that could still shoot me. Other than those issues, this is a fun game.
Edit: After a few more hours and understanding how to actually upgrade things like health and card rarity, I thought I would finally be able to beat the final boss. I was wrong. Like a few rouge like games, the final boss is a supreme run ender and not what I would consider "fair", at least on the entry level difficulty. After over 15 attempts, I have had enough. Still a good game, but getting a full run done on easy isn't anywhere near easy.

It's THE vr roguelike shooter to go.

It has everything you want. Great weapons and VR weapon interaction, pretty big variety of classes, challenge.
Also the decarations and the atmoshpere are top notch. Just give it a shot.

At first I was pretty skeptical and found it kinda hard, but once I got the hang of it I could barely put it down, much to my eyes’ dismay. On top of that, there are tons of settings that make the VR experience highly customizable.

An absolutely addicting roguelike game. The world is quite unique.
If you have a headset and you are into rouge like games. Give this a shot.