I've owned my Oculus Quest 2 for around a year now so I figure it's about time I show you some of the games I've been playing on it.
Today I'll be showing you Zenith: The Last City. While it's not the first VR MMO, it's considered the most complete and polished according to reviews. Which is impressive considering the studio Ramen VR only has 8 employees.
On paper it's just like every MMO that has come before it. Kill x amount of enemies to complete a quest for xp, progress to different areas once you level up, equip level locked armour, all in a rush to get to the max level (40 at time of writing).
If this was a conventional PC/Console MMO I would have played for no more than 20 minutes before realising it offers nothing new or innovative.
However
It being in VR changes the experience completely. The fodder that you used to click on mindlessly to complete quests now swings swords at you for you to block or dodge.
The dungeon bosses that used to tower above your character now tower above you.
Spell casting is not done by button presses but with hand movements, and every surface in the game world can be climbed with your hands then glided from by holding your arms out like a bird.
I climbed to the top of the starting area to take this screenshot. For some reason screenshots are much lower FOV than ingame
Classes
There are only two classes in the game for now, Blade Master and Essence Mage. Blade Master is armed with two swords that can be swung, used to block incoming attacks, or charged to unleash spells with gestures. Different spells can be selected and cast depending on the direction you swing your sword.
For example here I block an attack before using a whirlwind attack by swinging my charged sword downwards
Essence Mage is the ranged class. Two wrist mounted "launchers" fire projectiles at enemies. Attacks can be held for longer to charge a larger ball of energy for more damage.
As for spells, the launchers need to be holstered before hand movements cast different aoe magic attacks and buffs.
Within each class is 3 sub-classes. DPS, support and tank, each with different spells. The sub-classes can be switched between mid-game but each has its own level.
I've been playing as a Support Essence Mage but have been wanting to try Tank, however I would need to start from level 1 again.
The world
I'll admit the in game world settings are a little cliché. Fields, forests, mountains, beaches, deserts. But the cartoony and bright art style makes them enjoyable settings to be in. As the game is still in development surveys are sent out to players asking for suggestions on new playable areas and bosses so I would expect new settings for levels 50 and above.
Crafting
Weapons and armour can be crafted from enemy drops but they aren't anything too exciting. Higher rarity means more damage/armour/stats. But really it's just a race to level 40 to start trying to craft legendary gear with the stat bonuses you want.
There is an interesting take on consumables in Zenith. Ingredients such as fruit and herbs grow in the world and can be harvested. Then a kitchen station can be summoned from your inventory to "cook" the ingredients into stat giving meals. It can get very repetitive but hopefully a player marketplace will be implemented where people that want to skip this part can just buy them.
In summary
Pros
- Very fun combat
- Your character can fly, and in VR that means that you can fly
- VR brings a new social aspect to MMOs, there's more emphasis of there being a real person behind the avatar
Cons
- No PVP yet
- Very few equipment choices
- Some world areas can be very empty of players meaning group missions can't be completed
- The game is very grindy
- Very buggy and crashes more than any VR game I've played. Recent patches seem to be helping with this though.
- Battery usage is much higher than other games
Zenith: The Last City is available on Oculus Quest, PS VR and Steam.
If you'd like to play with me on Oculus Quest, my username is Sneezewart. I mostly play Onward and Zenith.
I was really intrigued when this launched and was contemplating trying it. Ultimately the player numbers was what kept me away. An MMO where barely 300 people are online at prime time (Steam numbers) will have limits.
If you've got a Steam set-up I would wait for an MMO that makes use of the better hardware.
Zenith is definitely designed for the Quest and will be limited by its hardware, I think the low population is part of that too.
I would personally would sell a kidney for Funcom to remake Anarchy Online in VR.
It looks great, especially because of this. It reminds me a bit of some Wii games.
VR games have always looked curious to me. A lot of them are great, but I feel like there's still some "big titles" to come out.
That's spot on. Because of the cartoony style it really does feel like you're inside a Nintendo game.
I think cost is holding them back. The hardware on the Quest limited developers in what they can build, but it is the cheapest and most popular platform. Meanwhile developers could build something incredible (looking at you Half Life Alyx) but there aren't as many users because it's much more expensive.
The next gen VR standalone headsets are going to attract the big titles I think.
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