Battle Talent: An Awesome Free VR RPG on the Quest 2
Do you like Virtual Reality RPGs? Hack and slash VR Games? Fighting in Virtual Reality? You like Blade and Sorcery? Hell, maybe you even like Gladius or Gorn. Well then you will love Battle Talent, a VR Hack and Slash Action RPG that you can get through the Oculus/Meta Quest App Lab for Free. Battle Talent is definitely a contender on the Quest 2 when it comes to fantasy VR combat, and as far as price goes you definitely can’t beat free.
Skeletons Goblins and Elves Oh My!
Battle Talent is a high fantasy Virtual Reality game, even more so than Blade and Sorcery. Sure Blade and Sorcery has magic too, but there it’s nothing but humans to fight. Here in Battle Talent we’ve got Goblins!
Skeletons!
And… well other stuff, but I won’t spoil everything for you. Battle Talent, by it’s own description, is an action game focused on “combat fantasy” and “physics”. You can knock enemies around, up into the air, and parkour around yourself. Though for the time being you’ll have to do so mostly in underground corridors. The high fantasy of Battle Talent VR does not extend to the setting. The arena and maze modes all take place in the “Tomb” setting, which is mostly stone walls and ancient pottery.
Don’t let that get you too down though. Battle Talent’s main menu is a Tower among the clouds.
From here you can buy upgrades with coins (which you get from bashing up enemies). These upgrades are insane stuff like the ability to tear enemies in half or knock them upwards with your weapons ridiculously far. Mostly they add new weapons to the game that will then appear on enemies or in chests. Instead of having a “Normal Sword” now you can experience the joy of cutting a Goblin in half with a magical Wind Blade. That is a combat experience I haven’t found in any other game on the Quest 2… or Steam… or PCVR for that matter.
Not your Grandfather’s VR Fighting Arena
Outside of a couple of tutorials the levels of Battle Talent boil down to two types. Arenas and Mazes.
Arenas are basically what you would expect if you’ve played other Virtual Reality Fighting/Combat/Action/Hack and Slash/Whatever else they’re called games like Gorn or Gladius. You, the player, are dumped with a couple of weapons into an arena, and enemies start to pour into that arena and try to murder you before you murder them. If you’re still standing and they’re not, then you win.
Now the concept is basically the same in Battle Talent but its a little more spicy in a couple of ways.
First of all there are traps. At least in the first arena level you can take out some of the Goblin and Skeleton hordes before they get to you by pressing a button and watching a gout of flame push them off of a narrow walkway and into an abyss. There are other traps too, like in the maze levels. All sorts of flame, dart and spike traps litter the hallways and rooms to surprise you or your enemies. Something to force you to pay more attention to your surroundings and watch your step, or something to lure a skeleton into.
The other thing is that after a sweaty hack and slash session taking down the enemies trying to swarm you (Battle Talent can end up being kind of a workout) a final big enemy will appear, a boss if you will, and boy are they tough.
If you defeat them, then you win the level! Battle Talent is a challenge. You need to block incoming attacks, make attacks where the enemy is not blocking, and watch your back all at the same time. Especially when the number of enemies goes up, outnumbering you more than 4 at a time, the action can be very intense. So defeating the boss feels like quite the accomplishment… even if there aren’t very many levels for now. Just two arena options and two maze levels, but don’t worry. Those two maze levels will keep you occupied for a long time.
Mazes Monsters and VR Roguelikes
While the game is still in development the real meat of it is not found in the Arena. Rather the roguelike… or roguelite gameplay of the mazes is where Battle Talent shines as a Free VR RPG. Most similar games have fighting, but are really lacking on actual character progression, character choice, or other basic RPG mechanics. There is no strategy to craft, role to play, or “build” to create in Gorn or Blade and Sorcery, just a choice of weapons.
Well in Battle Talent you get to choose your weapons, and how those weapons are enchanted, and what powerups you take for your character, and whether or not you take curses, and what magic gems to use, and so on and so forth. Whether to lure your enemies into traps, blast them with magic, or pelt them with arrows from far away is not only dependent on what weapon you have but also on what your statistics are. Sometimes you are even forced to make those choices based on what is available to you. You know, actual RPG stuff. Good luck finding that elsewhere on the Meta/Oculus Quest 2.
Mazes generally start you off with a weapon, possibly enchanted, or maybe a spell. Then you advance through the hallways of the maze, fighting sporadic monsters and finding upgrades. These can be a simple chest with a nice weapon in it. Or they can be a choice of enchantments like more Mana, more Health, or more melee damage or ranged damage, and more.
Over the course of the maze you craft your strengths and weaknesses for the run based on what you find and what you prefer. Found a spell early on and keep getting Magic Damage plus runes? Looks like you might want to try spellcasting this run. Not into that? Well you can always hold out for melee damage runes later on, but that might make the run even harder.
This is what Battle Talent does that no other game on the Quest 2 does, it forces you to make tough choices and then fight in combat based on those choices. Speaking of combat, there’s tons of it in Battle Talent’s VR mazes. While the hallways are sporadically filled with enemies, they lead to junction rooms which contain waves of attackers for a brief arena fight. So your mettle is constantly tested, and your mind too.
Each of these arenas, big or small, will have something unique. Maybe some spike traps in the ground, or a modifier to the combat inside. There’s a popup when you enter the arena, magic does more damage, traps do more damage, something like that. Once again Battle Talent says, “You can do it your way if you like… but maybe try something a little different, and this fight will be way easier.” As someone who has learned to love watching spike traps launch goblins into the air, I can say I’m glad that I listened.
More to come
Battle Talent is a great VR Fantasy Action Game, or whatever you want to call it, but it’s not done yet. It has and is still receiving updates. Also, it’s not only on the Meta/Oculus Quest 2. I tend to emphasize the Quest 2 because I just like not having wires hang from my face, but call me crazy. You can find the demo on Steam as well, also for Free. There are even mods in development for the game. The Developer of Battle Talent is on Twitter as well if you want to hear more about the game.
As always thanks for reading Reality Remake, and have fun in Virtual Reality.