CONVRGENCE VR Early Access Review

Here's a tragic story. Once upon a time, there was a little VR game called called Paradox Of Hope. An ambitious shooter made entirely by one person. It felt like a real passion project, a little rough around the edges, but with unique assets and a setting and gameplay not found anywhere else in the realm of Virtual Reality gaming.

The frightening feeling of the post apocalyptic underground was unmatched. Updates were consistent and over time it got better and better, less rough, my optimism and excitement for this game only went higher. Paradox Of Hope was called "Metro in VR" by so many for its underground metro tunnel setting and generally oppressive slavic vibes.

Then, suddenly, it was gone. Destroyed by a DMCA strike from an unnamed company, shortly afterwards an official Metro VR game was announced.

Metro VR was announced shortly after Paradox Of Hope was hit with a DMCA strike.

Now I'm no conspiracy theorist, but it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to see a connection here, though the source of the strike was never confirmed. Anyway, that's history, because the one person developing Paradox Of Hope, known as NikZ, has just released a new VR game into early access on Steam, called CONVRGENCE.

New Game, Same Dev

Now I'll be honest, I'm inclined to be a little more charitable to this game than usual because of what happened to this man. He had to create a whole new game just because a larger studio couldn't stand a little honest competition from one dev making a project by themselves. Not to mention I've still got plenty of Paradox Of Hope nostalgia that's been waiting for an outlet, and oh boy did CONVRGENCE give an outlet.

This game is a lot like Paradox Of Hope, and despite being pretty rough around the edges and having a new setting that (hopefully) won't result in legal action, still slaps.

Ambushing an enemy in CONVRGENCE.

So what do you do in CONVRGENCE? Mostly you collect stuff to sell, buy stuff, and use that stuff to avoid getting killed while you collect more stuff. It's a surprisingly entertaining system.

You've got a home base to store items and do your trading. You get tasks to complete to upgrade your trader level to be able to purchase better gear. Oh, and you can also clean your weapons, refill your water so you don't die of dehydration, eat some food so you don't die of hunger, pet your dog (more on that later), and add modifications to your guns.

Adding a laser module to a pistol in CONVRGENCE.

You can also smoke a ton of cigarettes if that's the vibe you're going for. As far as I know, there's no cancer mechanic in this game, which is good because cigarettes actually not the most cancerous thing you'll run across while you're raiding. There are anomalous artifacts as well that are highly radioactive.

I say raiding because that's how the game is structured. Once you're ready to hop over to your car and have a fun interactive driving loading scene until the procedurally generated level is created.

Each level is loaded while you drive this car in CONVRGENCE. A nice touch.

Then you fight and loot your way through until you find an extract and stand next to it for a few seconds. Then you're back in the base, sell your stuff, buy whatever you want or need. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and if you do die you lose everything, unless you have insurance, then you lose everything except for what's in your backpack.

Nothing in your backpack is ever safe.

The mutants are very deadly if you wake them up.

There are multiple different location types to go and raid with different enemies, dangers, and surroundings, and overall I'd say the gameplay loop is solid. It's very similar to Paradox Of Hope's Raid Mode, though unfortunately there's no story mode in CONVRGENCE.

That means this game does rely heavily on procedural generation, so it does have the downside of seeming a little repetitive once you've raided a location type a lot. You'll notice patterns, especially now that this game hasn't been around for long. I think like a lot of procedurally generated games with this problem it will become a lot less apparent when more possibilities are added for generation.

Right now there just aren't a whole lot of map pieces that can be picked, and enemies don't really patrol or do anything other than wait around until you get close to them. So, I think with some updates the amount of possibilities will become greater, and so the game will stay interesting for longer. As it is I became very tired of both of the level types after around 3 and a half hours of play.

There are multiple levels to explore in CONVRGENCE.

The Garage Collective didn’t pose a challenge at all after I got used to it, and the Underground levels are more of a stealth than a combat challenge, so right now they're really just an exercise in patience.

Why? Well because if you wake up any of these absolutely horrifying looking demon creatures, then all of them wake up, and it's not going to be a good time for you. I doubt it's even possible to win fighting five of these at the same time.

A humanoid mutant in CONVRGENCE.

The Best Dog In VR Gaming

Speaking of possibilities there are a ton of different guns to unlock and buy, but your most important companion and weapon will be your dog. Yep, look at that good boy.

This big guy is probably the best dog ever implemented in a Virtual Reality Game.

Look at that good boy.

You can pet him, whistle at him to tell him to attack enemies, and also sometimes he pees, which is hilarious. Oh, and your dog can also dig up items from time to time.

He also functions as an early warning system, growling when he senses an enemy nearby and is ready to attack. I'm honestly not sure why the dog is in this game. The constant companionship makes the whole atmosphere a lot less tense, especially coupled with the fact that enemies won't surprise you because the dog will point them out even if you don't hear or see them.

You can always choose not to bring the dog if you don't want to though... but it's kind of hard to give up the advantage of having them.

So I love the dog, but I'm not exactly sure if he's the best fit for this game. Still, I'd like to see CONVRGENCE come a little further along before I really manage to say no to this adorable mug. Still, I don't think I've ever seen a friendly dog in an environment as openly hostile looking as that in this game.

You can pet the dog, and they are very helpful.

Even outside of the underground labyrinths, the sound of gunshots is very common, and so is the chatter on your radio directing various units to fight to the death. There's stuff floating in the air and some notes I've found talk about aliens and mutants of terrifying caliber. The feeling of CONVRGENCE is bleak.

Now keep in mind CONVRGENCE is in early access, and so a ton of enemies, locations, and features are yet to be implemented, and there are a fair amount of bugs and jank to be overcome. If NikZ's track record is anything like it was with Paradox Of Hope though, we'll definitely be seeing a lot of fixes, expansions, and improvements coming to CONVRGENCE.

Hopefully to the combat more than anything, the combat is kind of janky. The enemies are all stiff and unrealistic looking as they switch between animation states and hardly seem to react to the dog biting their crotch. It's early access. You know the drill, but I'm optimistic it will get better.

Fighting a bandit with the dog in CONVRGENCE.

If you're interested in picking up this game it's 19.99$ on Steam, and you'd be supporting a solo indie VR developer with a good track record and terrible legal luck.

If warm and fuzzies aren't enough to get you to fork over 20 dollars, and I wouldn't blame you if they weren't, then I'd recommend waiting to pick this game up, but definitely wishlist it. This is a Virtual Reality game to watch. There have already been several dev diaries posted to the store page, and major updates will be included in an article here, at Realty Remake. Enjoy!