Green Hell VR Review

 
Green Hell... What is it?

This is a question I've asked myself many times over the last year, as this is a game that continues to pop up on multiple platforms, and I've seen featured in countless sales. I'll admit I was intrigued by the cover art showing a big cat attack, but reading the description made it seem like a game not for me. It was a survival game, which I'm not typically good at, and it seemed like a game better with friends. Well, needless to say I continued to overlook the game, and not give it too much more thought. But then something unexpected happened; I was provided a copy of Green Hell VR!

Looking at VR in the title, my initial opinion of the game completely changed. It went from "I'm bad at survival games" to "I can play Naked and Afraid in VR????" Previously I had gone through The Forest with some friends in VR, and that experience was pretty amazing, but there is no denying it isn't the most realistic survival game out there. I know this sounds contradicting (considering I'm not great at survival games), but actually being "in" a realistic survival setting in VR did sound like a very fun concept, but there weren't really many games out there that offered that. Well, finally Green Hell VR is here to make up for that.

So yes, the game I initially avoided suddenly sounded much more appealing to me simply because it was now in VR, and jumping in I was excited to see how surviving in this world would actually work. Well, what I discovered was much more of a game than I even imagined, and had me kicking myself for not giving the original "flat version" of the game a chance as well... 

To be blunt, Green Hell isn't a game you should be overlooking, and Green Hell VR is for a must have for all virtual reality fans. Even if you are not a fan of survival games like myself, this is one worth giving a chance.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Green Hell VR is not that simple of a game. There is a lot going on here, and I could never possibly cover it all with a review. Thankfully the game has built in guides and notes to help you along the way, but I'll at least cover the key points of what makes this game tick. 

Full disclosure however, I have not 100% completed this game, nor have I seen everything it has to offer. It is continuing to receive updates, and during writing of this review another major building focused update was released. This means the game is constantly changing (for the better), and the VR version is in fact behind the normal release of the game. So while they are "the same game," some content isn't shared between the two at this time, and playing in VR is a completely different experience on its own. VR requires actions not button presses, and with that freedom comes obvious changes to gameplay.

Also before we start I'd like to thank Incuvo for providing us with a review copy. To be honest, I'm not sure when I would've gotten around to trying this game out, so thank you for giving me that chance now!

The Story of Green Hell:

When beginning Green Hell VR, there are two options for the story. A "Before the Game" option, and the main story. While many may be lead to select the prequel first, the game flat out warns you, and asks you to avoid clicking it until you finish the main game. It spoils the main plot, is harder than the main game, and is basically an entire story mode on its own. In short, it is not the true start of this tale, and is basically a full game prequel. So, ignoring that option, choosing the main story mode will throw you directly into the main game, and into the shoes of the famous anthropologist Jake Higgins.

Jake has entered the Amazonian rain forest (the green hell), and together he and his wife Mia plan to investigate the Yabahuaca tribe that lives there. The game makes it clear from the start that this is not the first time the two have encountered the tribe, and, after setting up camp, Mia decides to head to the village alone. Jake isn't so sure about the idea of course, but one morning he wakes up to Mia already being gone, and receives a solar powered watch from her for his birthday. The two talk on the radio for a bit, which acts as a part of the game's tutorial, and the day eventually ends like usual... 

But then Mia goes missing.

 
Upon heading to the village himself, Jake finds himself being chased by the tribe, and eventually falls off a cliff. He then wakes up in an unfamiliar location, cut off from Mia, and forced to survive on his own. 

What happened to Mia? Why did the tribe attack him? What really happened in green hell during their previous visit? And why have they come back? So many mysteries and more await....

One unique thing about the story is how dialogue is handled in VR. Jake has a radio located on the left side of your chest (keep in mind we are in VR), and picking it up allows you to talk to other characters. Dialogue options appear to answer questions, but simply picking up the radio is often enough to start dialogue in general. Despite being alone in the amazon, there is a surprising amount of dialogue and story content, with the game's story mode fully focusing on the main plot.

Action cutscenes play out on a large floating screen, with in game cutscenes still taking place while you are "in" your body. Some of these scenes are set pieces which are actually played, and sometimes they are "otherworldly experiences" which give you visions, and alternate locations to explore and interact with. (The first of which occurs after making a drink and ingesting it.)

Notes and diary entries can also be found throughout the world, and there is a lot of environmental storytelling used as well. Even the pictures and notes hanging on the wall of the starting camp gives hints to what is actually going on, but it requires looking around and paying attention to your surroundings. With so much going on, and by being overwhelmed by being "in" this world it is possible to overlook such details, but the important pieces cannot be missed.

 
Additionally the game's story can be played in co-op, but Jake is the one and only true main character. This means players in co-op will hear their own dialogue and talk to Mia on their own, but players will still see each other and help each other through the adventure.

The Standard Gameplay:

Green Hell VR is a very interesting title from a gameplay perspective. Being a VR game, nearly everything is done physically, with very little button presses in-between. Your virtual hands are used to interact with the entire world, with buttons mainly being used to move, pause the game, and grip objects by using the controller's trigger. Outside of that, everything is done manually, and it is up to you to figure out how to do it.

To begin with, everyone has a back pack to store different items, there are four quick slots on your belt and back to store tools, a radio is located on your chest, with a journal next to it to help you out. Everything must be physically picked up to use it, but thankfully key items have an automatic return. (Tools and items do not.) Additionally a watch is located on your left hand, which displays important health information, a compass, and other key pieces of information to help you survive. 

The watch is a very useful tool, but the journal is your true lifeline in Green Hell VR, and something players will need to refer to quite often to start.

As a survival game it is up to you to craft all of your tools, dress all of your wounds, and figure out what is safe to eat and what you should avoid. The journal updates every time you find something new, and it goes into great detail on what it can or cannot be used for. For example, early on you get hurt and need to take care of the cut. There are no health kits here, and instead you need to figure out how to stop the bleeding and help yourself. Well those of us not familiar with surviving in the woods might not realize this, but there is a yellow flower with leaves that are nice and smooth, and those leaves can be used to wrap up cuts. The journal will remind you of this fact if you forget it, but other types of injuries will require different types of treatments.

Again, thankfully all of this info is updated in the journal as it happens, but finding the resources to save yourself is another story.

The world map is quite large and made up of multiple connecting paths, places to climb up, water to swim through, and plenty of trees or plants to cut down along the way. Wild animals roam the world and can serve as a food source, but the same can be said about you. Predators aren't going to stand by as a "meal" crosses their path, and those unprepared will find themselves being torn to shreds. Of course weapons aren't just lying around the forest to use, but by sharpening rocks or making makeshift arrows, spears, or axes, you might just stand a chance. All of these tools can break however, and they do take up inventory space; so it becomes a balancing act of what to take with you and what to leave at the camp, and sometimes being too over-prepared is just as bad as being under.

As for the non-aggressive animals, they too aren't just going to stand by as you hunt and eat them.

Of course harvesting fruits is also a viable option, but you never know when your next meal will be. And water? You need to find a running stream, or else you are going to get sick. Things like this seem pretty obvious in a survival game, but sometimes the alternatives are not... And that took awhile to get used to, with some "outside the box" thinking here and there.

Standard games train our brain to "know" how video games "work." VR games on the other hand flip those rules on their head, and make you consider how the real world works instead. By putting your hands together you can actually capture and drink fresh water, and by physically sticking objects together you can make something new. Once you realize this the game goes from "what is it telling me to do" to "wait, what CAN I do!?" And that is when the game really takes off.

(Apparently you can play music!)

Despite the journal telling you the basics of survival, it does not tell you everything that you can actually do in this game. Yes main building is done by selecting a "blueprint" and getting materials for it, but that's not even the half of it. There are so many things you can do in Green Hell VR, and a lot of it comes down to how creative you are yourself. It is meant to replicate the real world, and that is exactly what it does! Sure, there are limits, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to push them to see what is actually possible. This is just one of the areas where the game really shines.

The Core of Survival:

While the game's story mode has linear plot progression taking you from landmark to landmark, both it and the standard survival mode are about just that... Survival.

As mentioned before you do have to keep yourself fed, you need to drink water, and you need to get the resources to continue to survive. Setting up a camp is a must, building a fire will keep you warm and let you cook food, and you need to find a way to survive against whatever may show up. From wild animals, to hostile humans, to bugs like scorpions; you need to be ready for everything.

The core gameplay loop of Green Hell VR tends to boil down to this. You wake up in the morning, you eat food, drink water, and then get your things together. You can use a map to help plan out your trips, but you need a clear idea on what your daily goal will be. Be it cut down trees for firewood, or finding materials to craft bigger and better shelters, or to find items that can be used as medicine in case something were to happen; it is up to you (and your friends) to figure out what needs done, and then find a way to do just that... Get it done!

(Collecting Rain Water)

 

Getting food, water, and medical supplies are not the only concerns in Green Hell VR, with a sanity meter also controlling your mental state. Parasites, leeches, poison, etc, all of this can lead to a loss in sanity, and will start making things a bit... Weird, to say the least. Voices will yell at you and make fun of you, strange hallucinations will jump scare you, and your vision will be blurred. Sleeping or being near a fire can help, but some food can cure you as well. It is an interesting extra mechanic on top of your other needs, and shows just how important mental health truly is; especially in a survival situation.

Thankfully the survival aspects of the game can be altered by changing the difficulty mode, and can nearly be fully turned off. The basics of keeping your health up will always remain, but threats and the rate of your vitals decaying can be greatly reduced. This is great for experiencing the story, but also removes most of the game's challenges. On the flip side the survival elements can be cranked up to the max, which makes resource management much more important, and makes fighting enemies a lot more challenging. This mode is for those who want a much more realistic experience, and requires putting all of your knowledge to the test.

Multiplayer:

As mentioned before, Green Hell VR is a game that can be played in both single player and multiplayer, but things get changed up quite a bit when switching between the two modes.

Players have the choice to either host or join a game, with the host retaining the save file for future playthroughs. The host is also the only one who can manually save the game, and can actually continue playing on that save in "single player mode." It is still separated from a single player save file, but can be played solo by simply not allowing other players to join.

(Billy didn't make it.)

 
The biggest difference with multiplayer however, is how items are handled compared to single player. In single player a death will result in restarting from the last save, but multiplayer allows you to keep going. Instead of restarting however, players who die will lose random items from their inventory. This can be an issue because some items in the game are unique and cannot be gained again, so a death causes them to be lost forever. Sadly there is no way to recover these items after dying, with the only option being to throw as much on the ground as possible before you die.

Outside of this difference, the game does play the same overall, with all players involved getting to work towards the same goal. On the other hand, more people means more resources are required, so food and shelter becomes a lot more important.

Should you play it?

Green Hell VR is a game I was very unsure of, but ended up having a lot of fun playing. While in the process of writing this review multiple major updates were released for the title, and plenty more are planned for the near future. This is an ever expanding game, and because of that I was unable to experience "everything" the game has to offer... And that is a good thing!

On its own, Green Hell VR is packed full of content, and gives plenty of reasons to return to it off and on. There are different difficulty modes and settings to make things easier or harder, there are multiple save slots to play with different sets of friends, or random people online, and there is an entire "second game" to play through after beating the original. The map is quite expansive, the crafting and building system offers plenty to play with (and also keeps getting expanded), and the game's story is interesting enough to keep guiding you along. Of course there is a pure survival mode if you simply want to live and survive in the world, but this can be done in the story as well; it doesn't force you to only complete story goals.

 
As for the survival elements themselves, the sheer amount of things you could do in this game was also impressive, and the customizable difficulty helped prevent it from being overwhelming. The journal helps teach you the basics of what you can or cannot do (and taught me about using maggots to eat away at infected cuts), and the game provides you with plenty of resources to keep yourself alive. It wasn't an issue playing on normal difficulty, but there were multiple times where something unexpected took me out. It wasn't really frustrating as it was more shocking (I'll admit I jumped every now and then), and it made me rethink how I would tackle that situation going forward. When playing with my friend Billy we learned of a puma guarding one area, so we simply avoided it going forward. First time however? Yeah, we didn't survive...

For anyone with a VR headset, I can for sure recommend giving Green Hell VR a chance. I was especially surprised with how good the game looked on a Meta Quest 2, with a Meta Quest 3 graphics update set to launch soon as well. The game also offered multiple control and comfort options for those who deal suffer from VR sickness, but they can also be fully shut off, which is a plus as well. The survival mechanics had a nice balance between being too realistic and being too easy on normal mode, and the ability to play in co-op was a huge plus as well. Base building is fun, and using tools and weapons in VR simply feels great. Of course a lot of this would apply to the non-VR version of the game as well, but physically being in this world makes a huge difference overall. Looking at it purely from a VR standpoint, this is a must have experience. 

VERDICT: Recommended

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co