Boneworks

Boneworks (stylized in uppercase) is a virtual reality (VR) game developed and published by Stress Level Zero. It was developed using the Unity engine and supports all PC-compatible VR headsets. It was released on Windows on December 10, 2019, sold on Steam.[1] On February 20, 2020, it was released on the Oculus VR store with a temporarily exclusive sandbox level.

Boneworks
Developer(s)Stress Level Zero
Publisher(s)Stress Level Zero
Director(s)Brandon Laatsch
Designer(s)Alex Knoll
Composer(s)Michael Wyckoff
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseDecember 10, 2019
Genre(s)First-person shooter, action-adventure, Puzzle-platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Boneworks revolves around having realistic guns and a complicated physics system. In the game, the player must escape and battle their way out of a virtual city, revolving around realistic physics interactions. All objects in the world can be manipulated by the player according to the object's real-life size and weight.[2][3] Small objects like cups or hammers can be easily picked up one-handed while larger objects like crates or axes take more effort to be picked up.[3] Weapons in Boneworks are very physical, with manual weapon reloading and hefty melee action to replicate how much effort the action would take in real life. Players can also pick up small enemies and throw them or bash them into a wall; enemies can be simultaneously grabbed and shot.[2] Levels in the game have many ways of accomplishing them, such as stacking boxes together or climbing a ledge.[2] The game encourages all ways of completing puzzles, even if it means cheating or solving them in an unintended way.a

Plot

Boneworks starts in an introductory tour designed as a history of VR interaction. The player plays as Arthur Ford, the head of security for a fictional company named Monogon. The story mode of the game has the player traversing a digital city developed by Monogon, called MythOS City. MythOS City is built upon the advanced framework engine Boneworks and is sustained by the artificial intelligence operating system, MythOS. The virtual world is built upon "void energy", an unstable, yet very useful energy, recently discovered by the same company. It is Arthur's mission to reset the system clock as the city is on lockdown. Along the way, he fights rogue AI enemies and holographic soldiers. It is implied that the lockdown was caused by Arthur in a beginning cutscene by using a virus hard drive from a rival company called Gammon.[2] Boneworks is said to have a very complicated story, and still has connections to Stress Level Zero's previous video game, Duck Season.

Development

Boneworks was shown in a tech demo in 2018,[4] and the game reached a playable, completable state in October 2019,[5] and was released on Steam on December 10, 2019.[6] On February 20, 2020, it was released on the Oculus VR Store, with a temporarily exclusive level.

Reception

The game has been compared to Half-Life in its aesthetics and puzzles.[3] The game was praised for its developers having created an "incredible engine for a captivating VR adventure", and has been called "one of the best VR gun-adventure games on the market". Physics manipulation in Boneworks has been described as entering the "uncanny valley". The game has been criticized for its bugs, where the player's limbs can become stuck in game objects, as well as the content not being paced well and a lack of a good plot.[3] It has been described as a "VR physics playground".[7] The game has been described as being "conceived as a combat showcase first and a story-driven epic second – the Narbacular Drop to Valve's Portal.".[2]

On the release day of Boneworks, it reached the top of Steam's top-selling and top 100 player count lists of that day.[8]

The game was nominated for "Best VR/AR Game" at the Game Developers Choice Awards.[9]

References
  1. "Boneworks VR adventure launches via Steam". Geeky Gadgets. December 11, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  2. "Boneworks Review: A Great Sandbox And A Good Game". UploadVR. December 10, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  3. Machkovech, Sam (December 12, 2019). "Boneworks review: An absolute VR mess—yet somehow momentous". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  4. Lang, Ben (March 1, 2019). "Stress Level Zero's New VR Game 'Boneworks' Revealed, Striving for "Hyper-realistic" Physics-based Interactions". Road to VR. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  5. Feltham, Jamie (October 15, 2019). "Boneworks Can Now Be Played From Start To Finish". UploadVR. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  6. "BONEWORKS on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
  7. Melnick, Kyle (December 10, 2019). "Boneworks Just Set A New Standard For VR Gaming, Available Now". VRScout. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  8. Baker, Harry (December 11, 2019). "Boneworks Hit #1 On Steam Top Selling List On Release Day". UploadVR. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  9. Shanley, Patrick (January 8, 2020). "'Death Stranding' Leads Game Developers Choice Awards Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
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