Windlands 2 is a unique VR platformer that, along with Astro Bot, will absolutely live past its release as a pivotal stepping stone in the development of future VR platforming games. That said, playing Windlands 2 long enough will coat you in sweat and give you a very nice LISS workout as many of its segments are liable to pump adrenaline through your veins.
Even though its main campaign supports up to four players in co-op together, it also offers time trials and PVP race challenges which make the Windlands 2 experience much more social and lively. This is assisted by the game’s mid-November release on Steam.
If you’re looking for a game to play this holiday season with friends, you might want to throw on a weighted vest and try challenging them to complete the deadliest racing challenge of them all — the Mountain Climb.
I haven’t had the good fortune to kick this thing’s butt myself, but it did leave me sweating after the full hour-long play session it took to get through the fourth checkpoint. And that wasn’t even with other players around.
That said, Windlands 2 is currently one of the more physically involved VR platformers around.
This is because it forces you to time your actions perfectly. If you miss a jump, you’ll have to respawn at the nearest checkpoint.
The Mountain Climb takes that to the next level by severely limiting the number of checkpoints available. Each of your jumps and each of your swings must activate with painstaking precision to get through the Mountain Climb’s extremely difficult trials. Otherwise, one bad move can set you backward.
A piece of advice for new players on the Oculus Rift version of Windlands 2: If you haven’t learned to suspend yourself lower on your swings, hold the A button (right grappling hook) or the X button (left grappling hook). Likewise, the control schemes should be equivalent on HTC Vive and Windows MR. Granted, you shouldn’t try this race if you’re a new player.
If you can get to the very end, send a postcard back to the rest of us because it is long, difficult, and arduous. Probably not as long, difficult or arduous as a real mountain climb across a real molten hellscape — but I digress. It’s the makings of a fun VR competition for you and the people you’d like to smush into a pit of lava.
As of November 16, Windlands 2 is available on the Oculus Store as well as SteamVR. Luckily for PSVR users, Windlands 2 will be releasing at some point in 2019 with all of the content currently available.
Will you be taking on the Mountain Climb in Windlands 2? Let us know in the comments.