Vermillion - VR Painting Review Summary

A beginner-friendly oil paint sim with intuitive brushes, but a broken browser, unfair EULA, and crash-prone data loss hinder the experience.

No mess or supply cost: The app eliminates the need for physical supplies, cleanup, and costs. It is seen as an affordable and mess-free alternative to real painting.

Beginner and non-artist friendly: The app is very easy to learn and accessible, allowing even non-artists or beginners to create satisfying paintings. It lowers the barrier to entry for painting.

Intuitive brush controls: The brush mechanics include stable strokes, instant cleaning, various brush types, and intuitive rotation and grip. The haptic feedback and audio are also praised.

Realistic oil paint simulation: The simulation features extremely realistic brushstrokes, paint mixing, and oil paint physics. Users feel it closely mimics real canvas painting.

Immersive VR experience: The VR experience is highly immersive and considered one of the best VR applications available. It provides a relaxing and passionate workspace.

Insecure broken browser: The in-game browser shows a security warning and fails to load popular sites like YouTube, Teachable, Google accounts, or Twitch, making it unusable for login or content viewing.

Index controller issues: Index controller support is buggy. Touchpads are ignored, brushes switch accidentally, and the game crashes when using Index knuckles with a Quest 3, though it works fine with Quest controllers.

Unfair EULA art rights: The EULA grants the developer royalty-free access to user artworks, and users who value owning their creations find this policy unacceptable and are leaving the app.

Crashes cause data loss: The game crashes or forces exits which lead to lost progress or corrupted save files. Users report losing an hour of work or having their save file become unusable.

Few layers unnatural brush: The 4-layer limit is too restrictive for complex projects, and brush interaction with the canvas feels unnatural, making detailed painting hard to get used to.

Paint with Bob Ross tutorials: Users can paint alongside built-in Bob Ross tutorials within the VR environment. This enables learning and recreating his techniques without physical supplies.

VR oil painting simulator: The app is a VR painting simulator that mimics real canvas and oil painting, featuring an in-game browser for Bob Ross tutorials. It provides an immersive experience for practicing and expressing creativity.

Realistic color and paint mixing: The app includes color mixing on a palette that behaves like real life, allowing for accurate and realistic blending. This adds depth to the painting simulation.

Undo brush strokes functionality: The app provides an undo feature to reverse brush strokes. This allows users to correct mistakes easily during painting.

Brush pressure and angle simulation: Brush simulation includes pressure and angle sensitivity, as well as paint loading mechanics. These physics affect how paint is applied to the canvas.

PC crash issues: Players on PC, particularly those with a 7900XT GPU, have reported crashes. This suggests potential compatibility issues between the game and specific graphics hardware.

Quest 3 controller crashes: Crashes have been experienced when using Index knuckles on Quest 3. This indicates a specific integration problem with certain VR controllers on this headset.

Brush palette framerate drop: When moving the brush towards the palette, framerate drops occur. This points to a specific performance problem in a common game interaction.

Older PC driver issues: Older computers may encounter issues due to outdated or incompatible video drivers. This suggests a need for better driver support or legacy hardware testing.

Good optimization found: Some players find the game runs smoothly, indicating that optimization is successful on certain hardware configurations. This is a positive note about performance.

Great for beginners and VR artists: The app is a low-cost, high-quality way to learn oil painting techniques like wet-on-wet, especially appealing to Bob Ross fans, beginners, and VR users. It offers a relaxing, immersive experience with realistic mixing and brushwork.

Perfect entry point for oil painting: Multiple reviews explicitly call it an ideal starting point for oil painting, citing its low cost and forgiving digital environment. It removes barriers like cleanup and expensive supplies.

Excellent value for money: Reviewers consistently state the app is worth its price, offering good value due to infinite virtual supplies and a polished painting experience. It is seen as a bargain compared to real-world art costs.

Bob Ross fans will love it: Bob Ross fans appreciate the ability to paint along without mess, using virtual canvases and brushes. The app captures the joy of his style in a clean, accessible form.

High replay value and engagement: Many users express a desire to play repeatedly, use it as a go-to creative outlet, or show it off to friends. It fosters a long-term engagement with painting.

Community fair range: $18.00 - $22.00.

Session length: 2.0h.

Vermillion delivers immediate enjoyment from the first tutorial onward, with no learning curve or friction; players describe it as fun and accessible even for beginners.

Therapeutic Relaxation Seeker: Guided painting with relaxing ambiance, often following Bob Ross tutorials at a slow pace. Motivation: Stress relief and mental well-being through creative flow. Stance: buy.

Beginner Hobbyist: Experimenting with mixing colors and following simplified tutorials, often showing results to friends and family. Motivation: To experience oil painting without real-world cost or cleanup, and to create something personally meaningful despite low skill. Stance: buy.

VR Dev Supporter: Exploring the app's features, engaging with the community, and providing constructive feedback to support ongoing development. Motivation: Supporting a solo VR developer and encouraging continued improvement of creative tools. Stance: buy.

Active developer and Discord community: Active Discord community, developer streams painting sessions, listens to feedback, and provides quick fixes.

VR headset and PC required: VR hardware is required, and a good PC is recommended; some users play via Virtual Desktop on Quest 2.

Paint real paintings from tutorials: Beginners can create real paintings, skills transfer to physical art, and the potential for hundreds of hours of use.

Tool not a game: The app is considered a VR painting tool rather than a game, providing a creative space for art.

Realistic physics and cozy settings: Realistic paint physics simulation is paired with limited but cozy environments like a lakeside cabin or Victorian room.