Sky Runner is the new name for a game which caught our eye with its masterful use of the Quest 3's spatial mesh as a gameplay element.
We covered Bomber Drone's initial App Lab release and its notable use of room-mapping as a gameplay element last month and the developers have been quickly shaping the title with new updates. The Flat2VR-backed game has been re-branded to Sky Runner and brings with it new features including a track editor.
From Bomber Drone to Sky Runner: What’s New?
Sky Runner continues to build on Bomber Drone's use of Quest 3’s room mapping, transforming living spaces into dynamic battlegrounds or rescue scenarios. One mission might have rockets and laser blasts illuminating your room, or you might swoop in for a high-stakes rescue or carefully maneuver in the role of an aerial firefighter.
Bomber Drone’s App Lab release featured a limited variety of mission types, initially offering five scenarios focusing on aerial dogfights, strategic bombing runs, and complex hostage rescues plus a free-roaming outdoor mode. Sky Runner moves the title forward by broadening the mission variety, adding more diverse scenarios that keep the gameplay fresh and engaging but is lacking the ability to play outdoors. The original missions are still there, with Bomber Drone's game mode offering a more intense and strategic gameplay option, but it would be nice to see the less restrictive outdoor mode used with the new editor to create large custom tracks to challenge yourself or friends.
Exciting New Feature: Track Editor
A standout addition to Sky Runner is the new track editor. While currently still in a very basic state, this editor allows for placement of checkpoints throughout your play space. Using the spatial mesh and established boundaries the Quest 3 creates during a room scan, If space permits players can effectively set up a track that fills the entire 15x15 meter maximum distance of the boundary system.
At the time of this writing Sky Runner can be played in one scanned room only. With the recent addition of multi-room Mixed Reality introduced with the v66 Meta XR Core SDK in July, having the ability to stretch the experience throughout an entire house would be a nice addition so hopefully we see this capability incorporated into a future release.
Visuals That Pop and Enhanced Control Systems
Sky Runner retains the vibrant visuals that we praised in our initial impressions of Bomber Drone. The game’s graphics look stunning against the Quest 3’s color passthrough, featuring high-resolution textures and detailed virtual elements. Explosions are spectacular, missile trails are vivid, and environmental interactions are seamless, enhancing immersion.
The revamped control system is another key update. Sky Runner offers customization options between an amateur mode, which uses intuitive hand gestures for control, and a pro mode, which emulates traditional joystick piloting. While the beginner-friendly mode simplifies the learning curve, pro mode caters to experienced drone pilots. It would be nice to see more customization of flight controls in future updates, as currently there are only limited options available in the demo.
What We Can Expect
Sky Runner's demo at Gamescom solidifies it as a mixed reality game to watch, and it's becoming a strong contender for inclusion in an update to our Best Mixed Reality Games list. Sky Runner is setting a high bar for future titles in the genre with the engaging gameplay already apparent.
Stay tuned for our full review once the complete release of Sky Runner is available.
You can grab a copy of Sky Runner here:
