VHOLUME Review Summary

Fluid movement and a praised atmosphere with excellent soundtrack are undermined by a lack of story, disconnected levels, and performance issues.

Movement is fluid and responsive: Players consistently note that movement feels intuitive and responsive, emphasizing satisfaction and enjoyment. The fluidity of movement is a key positive aspect by many.

Atmosphere is highly praised: Multiple clusters highlight the game's exceptional atmosphere, describing it as extremely good, excellent, and unmatched. This consistently strong feedback indicates a core strength of the game's immersive environment.

Soundtrack and music are excellent: The ambient soundtrack and musical score receive high praise, with players calling it amazing and perfect. This contributes significantly to the overall atmosphere and enjoyment.

Game is fun and addictive: Many describe the game as extremely enjoyable, exciting, and addictive, with a gameplay loop that keeps them engaged. This overall positive sentiment reflects a strong fun factor.

Parkour mechanics stand out: The parkour system is called out as a standout feature and is considered the best of its kind, comparable to a favorite in the genre. This highlights a successfully implemented core mechanic.

Lack of story and lore: The game lacks a full narrative with lore, ending abruptly with just a 'thank you for playing' message. Players also note that the story fails to become a real narrative, lacks continuity after early levels, and ends before the intended destination.

Levels disconnected and confusing: Levels are disconnected from one another, lacking continuity, and often disorienting due to non-linear design and absence of signs. The camera can also fail to focus on the goal, making players get lost, especially in complex areas.

Developer prioritizes quantity: The developer seems to focus on quantity over quality, leading to inconsistent map engagement and a sense of overdoing content. This is complemented by many levels feeling unfinished or broken.

Missing content from demo: Some content from the demo, including certain levels, is removed or not available in the final build. Features like underwater levels or gravity-driven space levels shown in the trailer are absent, making the final game feel incomplete.

Game is short for price: The game feels short relative to its price, with core maps lasting only around two hours. This, combined with minimal story and lack of content, makes the overall value questionable.

Parkour is core gameplay: The game is widely described as a first-person parkour and movement-based platformer, featuring running, jumping, wall running, sliding, and no combat system. It is often compared to Mirror's Edge and STRAFTAT, with movement being the central focus of the experience.

No combat or stamina pressure: The game lacks combat systems and stamina or time limits, allowing pure movement and exploration without interruption. Some reviewers note the game lacks features beyond the parkour, focusing entirely on the locomotion.

Speedrunning and time trials: The game emphasizes speedrunning with beat-your-record style loops, time trials, and gold-level targets, allowing players to optimize their paths and techniques. Fast-paced movement and competitive time challenges are key aspects mentioned by multiple reviewers.

Brutalist dystopian environments: The game features a distinctive brutalist visual style with concrete gray walls, megastructures, and bizarre monolithic environments, creating a unique atmosphere. The setting often includes dystopian mega cities and surreal, maze-like level designs.

Leaderboards and ghost challenges: Leaderboards with player ghosts serve as a major challenge and navigation aid, letting players compare times and race against asynchronous player replays. Community and workshop maps also maintain their own leaderboards, extending competition.

Performance issues across platforms: Several reviews report poor optimization, including frequent FPS drops, heavy performance demands, and stutters on the first level. This appears to affect a range of hardware, from low-end laptops to high-resolution displays.

Camera shake causes motion sickness: A player experienced motion sickness due to camera shaking, similar to effects seen in the game Reflex. This suggests a need for adjustable camera stability settings.

Game runs well overall: One review explicitly states that the game runs very well, indicating that performance may be acceptable for some users or configurations.

Recommended for parkour and speedrunning fans: Multiple reviewers recommend the game to fans of parkour, speedrunning, and first-person platformers. This cluster consistently highlights the game's appeal to movement-focused players.

Strong general recommendation to buy: Several clusters explicitly recommend buying the game or strongly encourage downloading and playing it. This shows overall high satisfaction and a positive recommendation from reviewers.

Recommended for movement game enthusiasts: Several reviewers suggest the game for players who enjoy movement games, quoting 'worth the value' and recommending it to friends for its affordability. This indicates a strong value proposition for movement genre fans.

Recommended to try demo first: Some reviewers advise buying the game or trying the demo first, suggesting a risk-reduction approach for potential buyers. This indicates there is a demo available and is helpful for decision-making.

Recommended for Mirror's Edge fans: Some reviewers specifically recommend the game to fans of Mirror's Edge, citing similar movement mechanics. This indicates the game will appeal to players who enjoy that style of traversal.

Story completion: 1.6h.

Players find the game immediately fun and addictive, with fluid movement and strong replayability from the start.

Competitive Speedrunner: Intense repetition, route optimization, leaderboard chasing, using ghost replays to compete asynchronously. Motivation: Competition and self-improvement through time trial leaderboards. Stance: buy.

Chill Explorer: Slow-paced exploration, enjoying atmosphere and scenery, solving puzzles, hunting secrets, playing at own pace. Motivation: Relaxation, immersion in atmospheric environments, and discovery. Stance: buy.

Creative Modder: Creating custom maps and models using external tools (Blender, Unreal), playing community-made levels, uploading to Workshop. Motivation: Creative expression and contribution to the community via user-generated content. Stance: buy.

The Windows <8GB VRAM cohort is negative based on the single snippet indicating poor performance at high resolution with limited VRAM.

Windows <8GB VRAM: negative. The only provided snippet, from a user with 4GB VRAM at 5120x1440, reports low FPS due to lighting and shader issues.

Frequent Mirror's Edge Comparisons: Many reviewers compare the game's first-person parkour movement and flow state to Mirror's Edge, noting similar style but with a more arcade direction. Some also reference CS:GO surf or bhop for the movement feel.

Developer Background Notable: The game is made by developers known for BABBDI, VHOLUME, and STRAFTAT, with several reviewers noting their prior successes. The developer is praised as the Lemaitre brothers, known for quality games.

Demo Available and Effective: A demo version is available and received positive ratings, with one reviewer noting it convinced them to buy the game before release. The demo appears to be a strong selling point.

Good Value Pricing: The game is considered inexpensive, with multiple reviewers noting it was priced under $10 and provides good value for the content. The short completion time is offset by replayability.

Workshop Support and Community Maps: The game features strong Workshop support, allowing community maps and custom content creation. This extends replayability, though one reviewer notes the level editor requires Unreal Editor rather than an in-game tool.