One thing that got me into PCVR was the sheer amount of shooters and one in particular being Stand Out VR, but this was a battle royale. So, I am always looking for new shooters and Ghosts of Tabor was taking an approach that is currently not a available in VR.
Given this I had a lot of excitement around Ghosts of Tabor, as this was bringing a game in the ilk of Escape From Tarkov – which I really wanted to play, but never did as I was invested in VR.
In its current state Ghosts of Tabor has a solid foundation for the team to build on, but there is a number of issues that keep me from visiting regularly and without friends. But, we will get to these later.
Firstly, as mentioned the team at Combat Waffle Studios have gone with a game in the ilk of Escape from Tarkov. This will see you enter the map with the idea of looting and escaping the session with as much as possible. Standing between you and your mission is other players and squads – meaning your task isn’t always going to that easy. However, there is a element of risk for reward, as maybe you decided to team up with other players/squads to make sure of a successful extraction. But, then comes the risk they will betray you last minute to claim all your loot before they extract themselves.
If you successfully extract, you can then keep the items you want if you find guns and attachments you like, or choose to sell them in order to generate cash for the Tabor Market. Which is a market place where you can buy anything to help you out in the field and help you survive your next run – but these are locked behind levels on what you can buy.
But, you don’t want to be spending your Tabor credits like crazy, as you have to take into account if you die in the next run, anything you took in will be lost. Meaning your are either going to have to go in with something else you have stored in your armory or return to the Tabor Market and buy everything again – including armor and even your backpack.
Now, where this sets the aforementioned solid foundation, my issues at the moment come in the form the bugs that currently affect the game too much for me. With the main offender that deters me from playing regularly being the disappearing backpacks on spawning (that you have normally stocked up with health and some ammo).
Also, I find the weapon angles are slightly off, and when trying to aim down iron-sights or red dots, it seems I have to hold the controllers or gun stock slightly higher and angled weird from what is represented in game. To the point I have tried to stick with one gun, and learn how to fire from the hip.
There are plenty of places to explore within the map – but item placement doesn’t seem to rotate enough. Meaning when I have played with people who have put plenty of hours into the game, they normally know where to go to find a weapon or to find health and where to avoid as experienced players probably have it covered.
With the size of the map the visuals can leave a lot to be desired, but personally this is not the most important thing in a game like this – and I would much prefer a larger map over super crisp visuals in a shooter that is build around the premise of Ghosts of Tabor.
First Look Using HTC Vive Pro Eye & INDEX CONTROLLERS
For the purposes of transparency, this first look was created using a code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press code does not affect my judgement of the product.
SUMMARY
The foundation of Ghosts of Tabor is solid, but in its current early access state it has a few too many annoyances, that makes it hard for me to fully enjoy my time in it. I really only find myself going in with people I know to squad-up with, and find it hard to play without someone I know – as they can distract from the issues I have found with the game. That being said I will keep going back each update, because as I mentioned the foundation for a solid VR shooter is definitely there and the game is still in Early Access – and being worked on constantly to make improvements ahead of full release.
