Help Yourself - Oculus Quest
6Help Yourself (Pre Alpha)
Flat Head Studio
Oculus Quest
Through SideQuest
This is a very, very clever puzzle shooter, that has gameplay in common with both the classic Super Hot and Braid.
You are tasked with solving a puzzle on each screen, being faced with robotic foes who seem intent on your eradication and continually track and shoot you until they are either successful or the timer has run down. Now, and this is the clever bit, at the start of each puzzle you will see possible teleportation pads in front of you, select one and the timer begins. Then as well as dodging the enemies shots, you can shoot back, however, the gun and its magazine will not always be together in front of you. To solve the puzzle you will have to pick up the gun or magazine and toss it across to where another teleportation pad is, then you can either choose to wait for the timer to end or deliberately get shot, the puzzles become increasingly more complicated as you progress meaning a number of restarts are required to complete a puzzle.
The visuals although very simplistic, feel stylised and in keeping with Super Hot's cell shaded characters and scenery, minimal colours or scenery, but what is here is meant to draw your focus, it all looks sharp and clear.
Controls and tracking work on the whole well, you can dodge in coming enemy fire, pick up ammo or guns in front of you using the grip buttons and then throw and release by letting go. I did have one small issue where to slide the magazine into the gun you almost have to touch controllers and at times I did, which with a more aggressive gaming approach I can imagine knocking them together.
As the puzzles get harder you will find yourself planning everything out in your head and then attempting to put into practice, some levels have limited ammo, so missing a robot is not an option, but also with multiple targets it almost becomes a memory game so that you do not waste ammo by shooting the same enemy twice.
The game is currently in Pre Alpha and it is a very unique experience that I am looking forward to seeing develop. Deserves attention, go on Help Yourself by down loading this now.