Vox Machinae

I dabbled with Vox Machinae a while back and thought that it was pretty neat, but they recently added in a single-player campaign so I went back to it and I am very glad that I did! This is a mech style game that can be played in VR! It is worth noting that you do not need a VR rig to play this as it also can be played on your PC in the “normal” way too. I wanted to share my thoughts on the new single-player campaign as well as the game in general.

An Invading Force!

Ok, so the plot of the single-player campaign in Vox Machinae is certainly not going to win any awards for originality. However, as someone who gets a kick out of sci-fi stories, I thought that the setting and premise were both pretty cool. The game takes place in outer space in an area called the Serus System. We ply as a guy who works for the Horizon Corporation’s security squad and we are basically a mech pilot. Things get kicked up a notch when this invading force appears and we have to fight them off and discover where they came from and what they want.

Brains And Brawn!

I will admit that the gameplay of Vox Machinae took me by surprise. I thought for sure that this would be a balls to the wall action kind of game and it kind of is. However, there is far more depth here than you would think. There are tactics and strategy at play here which you have to take into account. You can pick from five different classes of “Grinders” which are the giant mechs in the game. You also have a lot of choices when it comes to each mech loadout as well. The actual action is a lot of fun and this really does make you feel like you are piloting a powerful mech. However, there is a learning curve here and I think that it is one of those games where you really have to stick with it to get good and appreciate what it is trying to do.

Fun With Friends… Real And Imaginary

For quite a while Vox Machinae was only offering multiplayer action. It can support up to 16 players when it comes to the multiplayer and you can fill this up with bots if you do not have enough people. You have different game modes and there is no separation of VR and non VR players, everyone gets to play together. You have a decent selection of game modes here too. I have a couple of friends who love mechs and we had a blast with this game, especially when we were on the same team. It can be hard to find a match that is full with real players, but the bots do a decent job of filling in.

Pros:

• The new single-player campaign is a fun sci-fi style romp
• In VR, you do feel like you are in a giant mech which is cool
• You have different classes of mechs that you can customize
• There are plenty of fun multiplayer modes to enjoy

Cons:

• There is a bit of a learning curve before the game gets really fun
• I do not think that I would play through the campaign a second time