Recent reviews by presents_for_free

this is a one of a kind game! if you like typing of the dead, non-standard RPG's or just well-written, made with love original games you gotta check this out

I think this map is far too large for 60 players. 100, maybe, but I find in most games it takes a ridiculously long time before I encounter another player. If you die, that's what feels like another 20 minutes of waiting between queuing and wandering the map before you get to fight somebody. With a shrunk map or a playercount increase, I'd probably really like this, but now it just feels far too slow. Also, no volume sliders is BIZARRE, the "squad eliminated" soundbyte is louder than anything else I've ever heard in a game.

lastly - no proper solo mode sucks. but i get it

This is my initial review, I may change it as I spend more time with the product.

TLDR: While there are some issues that still need addressing, I think this thing is a game changer. Went in with the negative expectations set by the bad reviews of wave 1 hardware/v1.0 firmware & software, and had them blown away. I'll be using Nofio for 99% of my VR usage.

I got my Nofio today, and just finished up my first session. Ran into some issues with setup. After plugging in the nofio base, all of my monitors would freeze, and I'd have to reboot. Think it had something to do with my USB drivers expecting the connection to be the OG index connection as I use extension cables, fixed it by reseating the connections and plugging in the base's USB after I turned it on.

Updated firmware, and got in. First thing I noticed: the people complaining about fan noise are blowing it WAY out of proportion. Literally could not hear the fan if any amount of sound was playing thru my index speakers. In total silence, it just sounded like totally normal interior background noise. It did not stand out to me as the fan itself, if that makes sense. Maybe the first wave of hardware was worse, mine was totally fine.

Next, compression. Putting on the headset, I was immediately impressed by the latency, bobbing my head around and moving the controllers, but looking up to the SteamVR menu, my heart sank just a tiny bit when my game library looked very, very bad. Compressed to ♥♥♥♥. Having a basic understanding of video compression and bitrates from my time streaming on Twitch, I assumed it just had to do with the variations in colors between all the game options. No matter what, the Steam Library pretty much always looked bad.

The first game I tested was the game I noticed had the worst compression on the library list, Stilt. Stilt is a very colorful, bright, cartoony platformer with a lot of motion. The dev and engine logos loading in in darkness looked perfect. Then, when the first menu faded in from darkness, six buttons on a bright pink/purple backdrop, compression ate it alive - for a moment. After about 1 second, the compression ceased. I had to really focus to notice it after it went away. Clicked an option, loaded into the main menu, which features a view of the the game's hubworld, and once again; 1 second of bad compression, and then it goes away. I could not get it to come back as I bounced around. The visual fidelity is about 90-95% what it would be tethered, I felt. The compression is there, but you really have to look for it.

Next, I tested Hellsweeper VR to give the opposite graphic style a swing; darker, less colors, grittier, more realism: and it also looked great. Compression specifically happens whenever a scene loads in from pure darkness, which most VR games do. Once a full scene's visual is established, it was very difficult for me to get the image to look bad. Violently swinging my head around, the image looked fine. I tried sticking my head in a dark corner to try and eclipse all other visuals with black pixels, but even that, turning around, the compression was totally fine. I don't understand how this worked at all lol. My guess is that the encoder knows what colors to expect once you're in a consistent scene? I have no clue, but it worked great.

Lastly, I tested Beat Saber. Same compression patterns, 1 second after a load, it looks a little messy, then recovers. It was a bit more noticeable in Beat Saber's dark background environments with very bright cubes, but it would always recover shortly after I'd notice it. Beat Saber was mainly to test latency, which, in the previous two games, I could not notice a delay even actively looking for it. I was able to clear two of the stock songs on Expert very naturally, However, there was one point where the audio and the visuals felt juuuust slightly desynced, not sure what was up with that. To be able to clear songs on a rhythm game though, the latency gets a huge thumbs up.

Now, the issues, besides the 1 second of post-loading compression. While playing Stilt, I noticed that the haptics in my controllers would randomly give out. Normally in that game when you contact the ground with your "leg", you feel it in your hand. Sometimes it just wouldn't, and would only come back if I gripped my index grip sensors. Couldn't find a consistent way to force this to occur, and I only really noticed it in Stilt, which is a haptic focused game.

Finally, my biggest issue. Audio is inconsistent. During all the games I played, especially Beat Saber and Stilt, I noticed the sound would occasionally screw up, and for half a second or less would sound like the headset was underwater, as if a low-pass was being applied to the sound. On top of that, a 2-3 times throughout my 1.5hr session, the audio cut out entirely, and I had to wait a second or two for it to come back. Very jarring, but not a dealbreaker.

Overall, I am happy with the nofio. The 1 second of compression after a load from a pitch black scene is totally negligible: if it's that bad to you, roleplay a little bit, I guess: close your eyes during loading and open them shortly after you hear the load finish, haha. Having purchased this over a year ago, I was very scared by all of the negativity from the folks who received theirs earliest, but I think the v2 firmware must've improved things a lot.

I would give the Nofio an 8/10 at this time, although it feels odd to grade it on a 1-10 scale. Basically, it's great, but the kinks still need to be ironed out. It's very close to being the best wireless solution on the VR market, only losing to actual standalone headsets like the Quest. Very excited to see future improvements as more updates roll out!

DAY 2 Update: New issue, HMD screens went completely red and required a full restart of the head module twice today. :\

its fun, but i really dislike the way you queue. the most fun modes, punch royale, deathmatch, and crab hunt seem to never get rolled, im always playing cupcake bs and king of the hill, which feel luck based: movement is so slow you kinda just lose if ♥♥♥♥ doesn't drop near you. if i can play a mode thats just the ones that prioritize defeating people, i will change to a thumbs up

multiplayer does not work, couldn't play with a friend

bought on launch, took too long to play, this is INCREDIBLE. the combat is near flawless and feels exquisite, but to my surprise i am just as wow'd by the presentation. tons of VR games before have tried the style of cutscene this game uses, but i have never felt anything for any of them. always comes off as a slideshow stuck in your face. this one is different, the slick art combined with the actual full 3D environments used as backgrounds fully immersed me in the grimy world this game throws you into; and it is all beautifully tied together by the UK grime soundtrack, which caught me COMPLETELY off guard. the soundtrack being so good was completely unexpected, it should honestly be more of a selling point used for the game.

fantastic, can't wait to play more. buy it

This game is worth it until you clear the construction zone. I loved this game until that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ misty segment. I was on your side, Pontypants. But I genuinely think you designed that segment of the game *horribly*. I get it, it's a difficult game, that's in the title, and the difficulty was real and fun to overcome for 90% of the ride. The moment that segment begins, the next 4 obstacles are so bizarrely difficult and INSANELY execution intensive out of NOWHERE, it completely kills the game's pacing. It requires you to perform maneuvers that the game never demands or even implies prior to it. Not only that, it is solely frustrating, and not *stressful*, which defeats the whole point of this game. You do not incur any risk attempting to clear this brick wall, which in a different scenario could absolve it of it's poor design, allowing you to try again and again, but instead, it makes it EXTREMELY boring. I attempted it for hours, eventually clearing it, not enjoying a second of it. I cleared the wheel jump, the supposed hardest maneuver in the game, and cleared the next sequence of obstacles, but fell at the very end due to misclicking out of fatigue. At that point, I fell out of love. You won't change it, I'm sure, but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, I don't think I've ever experienced something in a game that was so difficult and so unrewarding to complete. ♥♥♥♥.

Lots of potential, but at the moment, in my opinion, the progression is very flawed. For a game that wants to be incremental, it's far too active: I find myself very annoyed that as I scale up my production, automation elements become even more expensive to implement. They're also not very strong, you need SO many of the entropy machines to make the automation even slightly efficient. Where I expected the massive amount of clicking this game makes you do to start to decrease, it never did.

Love the mystery and visual design, though. Maybe one day it will be more fun.

very fun horror title! had me tense and scared to an intensity i was NOT expecting whatsoever. turns out cars trying to get you is a very scary and believable threat for a game! story was so-so but the gameplay more than makes up for it. try it!

this game is very fun! the art style is charming and the gameplay engaged me far more than i anticipated. reminds me of a Really good flash game