Accessible now for Pico headsets and arriving later this month on Quest, Vive XR Elite and PC VR, Gamedust treads acquainted territory in The Misplaced Station. Learn on for our full Yupitergrad 2 overview.
It is chilly in house. Fortunately, I’ve my anger retaining me heat, so I believe I will be advantageous.
Fifteen minutes in the past, I walked throughout the house station to the easy puzzle I simply accomplished. I can inform from the tone of the dialogue that I am nearing the top of the sport. I can hear it. I may also say that this recreation will not quit simply.
What’s that?: A sequel to the 2020 puzzle-platformer Yupitergrad
Platforms: Pico 4, Quest, PC VR, Vive XR Elite (Overview performed on Pico 4)
Launch date: Accessible now on Pico 4, coming to different platforms.
Developer: Recreation mud
Value: $24.99
My mission, maybe the penultimate one, has simply been handed down. It is easy: “Attain Life Help.” I open the map and hint the limitless maze of corridors and passageways throughout the expanse of the decrepit house station till I discover my goal. I swear softly. It is a lengthy very far… and precisely I simply obtained from there.
The sort of backtracking is a typical prevalence in Yupitergrad 2: The Misplaced Station. Accessible solely on Pico headsets proper now and coming to Quest, PC VR, and Vive headsets later this month, it is a sequel that retraces acquainted paths in additional methods than one.
Right here we go once more
The Misplaced Station begins instantly after the occasions of the primary Yupitergrad, with a brief sequence connecting the 2 outer house tales earlier than gamers soar proper into the motion. The similarities between the 2 video games rapidly turn into obvious, and followers of the primary recreation could initially discover themselves stricken with a gentle case of déjà vu.
Trapped in an deserted house station, gamers will traverse mysterious corridors filled with devious obstacles. Accompanied by a caustic and sensible AI companion, you’ll start to wander the station on the behest of the mysterious onboard pc system.
The narrative supplied by these characters exists solely to create a collection of straightforward missions. Whereas these often contain puzzles or fight encounters, they largely serve to information gamers via the labyrinthine passageways of the large house station. After about six hours of lighthearted puzzle-solving, the story culminates in a predictable confrontation, full with playfully harsh dialogue and an underwhelming boss combat.
Spider-Mario
As with the primary recreation, your traversal methodology is the apparent selection of deep house strolling: the plunger swing.
Armed with a pair of retractable plunger gauntlets, gamers will swing via winding passages like a low-gravity Spider-Plumber and use gestures to affect pace and course. Yupitergrad’s swinging physics are effectively applied, with an deliberately “floating” really feel that matches throughout the context of the gameplay.
The plungers may be upgraded and geared up with a small array of weapons and booster jets, which give larger management whereas swinging and turn into the first traversal methodology in some zero-g sections.
It is a responsive and intuitive motion system that works effectively for navigating platform hazards, which embody transferring lasers, big spinning followers, monumental jumps, and extra. Overcoming a treacherous mixture of traps by combining exact timing with pinpoint accuracy to flee dying is, at first, fairly rewarding. Nevertheless, for probably the most half the challenges are simply overcome. With a restricted vary of hazards to cope with, the gameplay rapidly turns into repetitive.
That repetitiveness is barely compounded by the bizarre quantity of backtracking concerned when transferring between targets. The way in which the missions are arrange will imply that gamers usually retrace painfully winding paths to get forward. The scale of the station makes it infuriating, and the inevitable shuffling turns into an insurmountable frustration lengthy earlier than the sport is over.
Dive me tender
A fantastic novelty of Yupitergrad 2 is the fight, which mixes with the platforming sequences. Every gauntlet may be upgraded with a railgun or minigun, and sometimes sections of hall will give method to giant anterooms crammed with enemy drones that have to be dispatched earlier than you’ll be able to advance.
Whereas an admirable addition, the fight is not significantly nuanced – Yupitergrad 2 is unquestionably not an motion recreation. With solely two weapons and restricted enemy sorts, it would not examine to different grappling hook-based motion titles like Swarm or Useless Hook. Nevertheless, when seen as one more impediment within the recreation’s roster of house challenges, the fight remains to be a transparent winner for the sequel.
Sadly, Yupitergrad 2 additionally loses one of many authentic’s most satisfying parts: the time trials. Along with the marketing campaign, the unique Yupitergrad additionally supplied numerous quick programs for gamers to compete on for the quickest time. It was an excellent mode that supplied great replayability, pushing the title far past the one-and-done nature of its marketing campaign. With out Time Trials, the explanations to return to Yupitergrad 2 after the marketing campaign are sadly non-existent.
Sound of silence
When it comes to graphics, this sequel maintains a constant artwork course with its predecessor and makes use of the identical common cell-shaded artwork type with daring, rugged strains and a muted but versatile coloration palette that matches the setting. A transparent visible language is used to make sure that the sport world may be understood at a look, with object colours clearly denoting particular performance.
Regardless of the clear inventive course, Yupitergrad suffers by the hands of its topic. The limitless passages floating within the inky void of house don’t create a diverse panorama, and the environments turn into very related in a short while.
The sport makes use of an atmospheric soundscape, hanging a stability between empty and unobtrusive with relative finesse. The music is suitably subdued, offering industrial ambient electronica with simply sufficient Soviet-era swagger to suit the context with out going kitschy. The sound design is totally practical, informing the participant of their environment and matching the tone effectively.
Efficiency swings
On Pico 4, Yupitergrad 2 additionally suffers from noticeable body drops – extra widespread in fight sections when the environments are bigger and the scene is crammed with many transferring objects. Whereas they’re inconsistent all through the whole recreation, they are a severe distraction after they happen, and even extreme sufficient to turn into nauseating.
Yupitergrad 2 overview – Consolation
Talking of nausea, it is value stating that Yupitergrad 2 is performed solely with synthetic locomotion. Due to this fact, some gamers would require a degree of resilience to nausea and movement illness.
Contemplating the extreme movement system, there is a surprisingly small vary of consolation choices: toggling between snap and clean rotation is the one change obtainable, with no choice for vignetting. Gamers inclined to VR movement illness ought to strategy with warning.
Yupitergrad 2 Overview – Remaining Verdict
Yupitergrad 2 gives a easy platform journey that fails to ship a fascinating expertise. There’s numerous positives – the motion mechanics, the combo of puzzle and platforming, and even the addition of primary fight – however they’re all let down by design choices that lengthen the marketing campaign earlier than making it satisfying.
With restricted selection unfold throughout a extremely giant and repetitive setting, Yupitergrad 2 finally ends up feeling a bit homogenous and exhausting to suggest. These in search of a platforming journey may simply be higher off selecting up the unique.
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