Welcome to the very first fully fledged RPG made available for the Virtual World; except that it’s not fully fledged and it’s definitely not the first. Either way, Vanishing Realms is a great game for fulfilling your RPG needs and your need for fitness.
What is Vanishing Realms?
Vanishing Realms is one of the very new RPG Virtual Reality games out of the VR market. The entire point of the game is to beat the Undead King and kick him out of the sacred temple. The only problem is that there is a horde of enemies waiting for you that will fight you with swords, arrows, and magic. The game is quite long compared to other VR games and it will take a couple hours to beat.
Graphics and Visuals Score 5/5
The graphics and visuals are the best that the Virtual Reality environment can provide. Fire looks like actual fire, enemies will get up in your face and mob you, and arrows travel in real time. You feel like you are an actual hero traveling through the environment. The only part that breaks this experience is that you still have to teleport everywhere because devices that allow for walking in an environment are still not cheap.
Hardware Requirements Score 4/5
The game is rather accommodating considering all that it provides. You will need a Windows 7 or newer operating system with an i7 core. The need for an i7 core is undoubtedly because of the large amount of logic in the game. You will also need a GTX 970, 2GB of space, and around 16GB of RAM. While not the cheapest to obtain, it is certainly understandable why you would need this in this game.
Fitness Score 3/5
The game does not focus primarily on one aspect of exercise, but because of the gaming mechanics, Vanishing Realms gives you a roundabout workout experience. You will need to dodge sword swings while also swinging your own. You will need to hide behind cover in order to block incoming arrows. This causes you to fight out intense battle scenes, but the only part that this game lacks in is the running aspect. This can be changed if you order one of the many omnidirectional walking pads, but this can be expensive. Therefore, while it does provide exercise in many aspects, there’s still more that can be added to make it better. Bottomline: This game is going to get you moving with swinging, dodging and jousting motions you’re not normally going to find in any other VR game. You’re still bound by the limits of the tech in that you aren’t swinging real swords (or carrying the comparable weight), but this game is a standout from a fitness perspective because of how much movement it makes players do.
Gameplay Score 4/5
The game is easily adaptable and sucks you into an environment that allows you to play in an RPG, something many have dreamed about for years. While Virtual Reality is still in its infancy, this shows great promise and for $19.99, it is well worth the price.
Overall Score 4/5
If you’re all about defeating monsters and following missions, this is the perfect game for you. This is an early access video game because there’s only two chapters currently available. The developer hopes that this will turn into a series of Chapters and hopes the community will point out bugs and disappointments so that they can fix it. This is a great game for those who want to jump into the world of role-playing and feel as though they are the character.
-Tommy Mertell
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