Vendetta Forever Review: Minimalist VR Shooter Mostly Hits The Target

This article was originally produced and published October 23rd, 2024 independently by UploadVR. After this article's publication, nDreams requested and was granted that this article be pinned on our homepage as part of their Vendetta Forever promotional campaign for October 2024. However, nDreams did not request this article in advance, nor did they influence or contribute to any opinions contained herein.

Vendetta Forever delivers a rapid-fire action shooter that mostly hits the mark on Quest and PS VR2. Read on for our full review.

Creating a good action game requires many considerations but above everything else, you should feel powerful. That's especially true with VR's sense of presence. Whether that's on rails action like Pistol Whip, more calculated slow motion like Superhot VR, or slicing enemies in Asgard's Wrath 2, it doesn't matter; clearing missions should leave you feeling like a badass. Inspired by action cinema, Vendetta Forever largely succeeds in that endeavor.

What's immediately clear is how gameplay is stripped to the bare essentials. That's demonstrated well by the briefest tutorial I've ever seen in a game, which tells you everything you need to know in mere seconds. Most of these 60 missions take less than a minute to complete, which doesn't seem like much, yet the bite-sized approach works in its favor.

Levels are designed around the imaginatively named 'LO-KILL-MOTION' mechanic. Use whichever starting weapon you've been given - guns, pencils, shurikens, whips, and bottles are just some of your 50 choices - and teleport to enemies you've killed, taking their weapons in the process. It's a unique approach that suits the fast-paced gameplay with welcome level variety.

Common level objectives include not getting a hostage killed, taking down a VIP target, or finding an exit. My highlights include an imaginative pitch-black mission where enemies are only illuminated by gunfire or footsteps, while the excellent skydive level could've been pulled out of Mission: Impossible. From Indiana Jones to the satirical "birds aren't real" conspiracy theory, the game's influences are far-reaching.

Missions often require killing enemies in a set order due to the movement mechanics, and a quick button press can rewind you to a prior location if you mess up. Vendetta Forever's levels can feel like puzzles dressed in FPS clothing that need strategic thinking. When you've got multiple enemies ready to shoot you after a poker game, who do you target first in that split second?

It's a refreshingly straightforward approach but some levels aren't particularly well balanced. One level involves crashing through the ceiling and shooting enemies on the staircase as you descend, a cool idea that's simple enough on paper. However, even with time slowed down, surveying the entire scene and swapping weapons after running out of ammo as you descend - not every weapon grab teleports you to an enemy location - can get overwhelming.

Only a handful of stages caused me any real problems but those instances become frustrating fast. One mission involves a rooftop standoff where your only means of stopping a rocket heading towards you, which becomes frustrating as my bullets keep missing, and throwing the weapon towards it doesn't always work. My eventual success required significant trial and error.

60 short levels mean you can finish Vendetta Forever in a few hours, but the moreish gameplay is highly replayable. Ranked online leaderboards add a competitive edge, there's a hidden videotape across each level to find and a range of modifiers can tailor difficulty well. Iron Heart gives you damage immunity at the cost of a heavily reduced score, while removing aim assist or choosing a higher difficulty all increase the score multiplier.

What's particularly striking is how Vendetta Forever doesn't focus heavily on its presentation, and that's not a bad thing. In keeping with the developer's philosophy, the stylized visuals are incredibly stripped-back while providing just enough detail to look good and the action is enhanced by an energetic soundtrack. Real-time shadows and lighting improvements give PS VR2 a slight edge thanks to VRMonkey's great porting efforts, but everything looks great on Quest 3.

Vendetta Forever Review - Final Verdict

Vendetta Forever shows the benefits minimalist game design can offer, using only the bare essentials to deliver a satisfying action game. While you won't need ages to see everything and some levels can be frustrating, there's a clever puzzle game disguised as a shooter with great replayability. It's a strong debut from Meatspace Interactive that's worth exploring.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.