Sentenced VR

Sentenced VR is one of the most interesting and unique ideas for a VR game I think I have ever come across. As the title suggests, this is a VR game so you will need a VR headset in order to play it. I have an Oculus Quest 2 and it worked fine with that and to be honest I have not heard anyone say that they had trouble getting this to run on their VR hardware. The game is only around an hour long, but the fact that this was made by just one dude is very impressive.

Off With Their Head!

The idea of Sentenced VR is that we take the role of executioner for this medieval European town. Our father had this post before us and now it is us who have to act out the justice that those who run this place seem fit. This is such a cool idea for a story and what I liked about it was that it did throw some moral shade your way. You may think that you will just chop, chop, and chop some more as these are all criminals at the end of the day, but things are not always what they seem.

Who Are You To Judge?

The clever aspect of Sentenced VR is how you get a bit of story before each execution and then we get to hear from the criminal as they plead their case, spit in the face of authority, or so on. It makes for a rather interesting dynamic where you know what your job is, but you may not agree with the person being beheaded for their crime or you may even think that they are innocent of what they are being charged with.

Swing And A Miss

As Sentenced VR is a VR game, we actually have to swing our sword to act out the justice that has been demanded. This works really well and was quite fun, but it is pretty much the only gameplay that you have here and you will be doing the same thing over and over again. Speaking of which, I wanted to refuse to behead a person and see what would happen, but it just made me replay the game from the start again! I am not sure if this was a glitch, but it made me hesitant to stand up to those above me, I guess that was the point. It only takes about an hour to beat, but I am okay with that as the game ends before you tire of it. Picking up money, sharpening your blade, and so on do add a bit of variety to the gameplay.

Nothing Dishonorable Here

That is actually a bit of a pun as the old timey medieval European town that Sentenced VR is set in reminds me of Dunwall from the Dishonored games. The game is not the easiest on the eyes, but for the most part, it gets the job done, the way the characters can look at you in the eye makes some of the beheadings that you have to do quite brutal actually. There is voice acting here and for such a small project, I was very impressed with the quality of the voice acting.

Pros:

• A VR game where you play as an executioner is a great idea
• I liked the setting of the game
• The bits of story and lore that we pick up are interesting
• I liked swinging the sword!

Cons:

• There is not much to the gameplay as you do the same thing over and over again
• I am not sure if the game glitched, but a choice I made meant I had to replay the 30 minutes I already had!