"Half-Life Alyx" did not surprise me back in 2020. It was obviously low-budget and unstable in places, but I fell in love with its simulationist approach to VR. Physics-driven avatars bounced around on 3D legs, everything had weight and heft, and there were no invisible walls to stop you from climbing into the sparsely textured corners of the simulation. At times it was the kind of VR magic I dreamed of as a child.

Bonelab is both a sequel and a creator's sandbox. Moving around on virtual legs is a dizzying experience, but I was able to adapt. Despite some uneven pacing and a bit of physics junk (which seems inevitable in VR games with lots of moving parts), Bonelab is one of the most consistently exciting PC gaming experiences I've had with the Oculus Quest headset.

Whereas "Boneworks" was more of a traditional story-driven action game, "Bonelab" reworks its core into something like "Garry's Mod" for VR, weaving in a 5-6 hour story mode... VR was an early and popular Set in a weird alternative 90s era (think "Hypnospace Outlaw," but more haunted), the story is about breaking out of a conservative corporate-run metaverse and becoming a free-spirited hacker and modder. For the most part, you'll be doing the familiar VR running, gunning, fighting, and puzzle-solving, but by the end of the game, you'll be expanding into more creative territory.

The first stretch of "Bonelab" introduces the basics. movement (walking, climbing, jumping, no teleportation), basic physics puzzle solving (often with ample room for improvisation), and combat with melee weapons and firearms. Guns are (mostly) satisfying, shooting real-world bullets. You have to load the magazine, rack the slide, and stabilize it with both hands to keep it steady, or the recoil will cause you to lose aim and shoot bullets. Thanks to improved sounds and effects, the game feels punchier than Boneworks' shooters.

For a game that sells itself on physics-based brawling, Boneworks didn't quite fit in. Weapons were too heavy and characters were too weak. In Bone Labs, most avatars I inhabited could easily wield swords and clubs. Blunt-weapon attacks landed with satisfying weight, and blades pierced virtual non-physical bodies. Barehanded combat was even better, allowing for proper teaming and brawling. With VR, there is no need for pub brawls.

After the intro, Bonelabo gets a little experimental and holds off on the story to introduce a large hub that includes a physics sandbox, challenge maps, a mini-game mode for competing for scores, plus a showcase for developer-approved mods. The arena is an interesting distraction, and the tactical trial map provides satisfying John Wick-esque room-to-room combat, but it does slow the campaign down a bit. At this point, it felt like something fundamental was missing, but it does offer a glimpse of Bonelabo's long-term vision.

That something is kept under wraps until around the middle of the story. Just as the gravity gun re-contextualized Half-Life 2, this little arm-mounted device changes the way BoneLab plays, allowing you to switch between physically driven avatars at will for the rest of the game and beyond. In place of the typical starting body, there are six main avatars (ranging from a petite cartoon devil maid to a gangly, 6-foot-tall monster), and their impact on the gameplay is enormous.

Each avatar had physics and status based on its appearance, giving the player the feeling of inhabiting a completely new body. Thanks to clever proportional mapping (if the dimensions are entered correctly), each avatar feels like an extension of its own body, no matter how different from the real world meat sack. If set up correctly, almost all avatars can perform the same actions as touching a breast in real life. Even user-made models with more heterogeneous proportions can feel manipulable, but can feel like they are being controlled by strings rather than completely inhabiting their avatar.

Switching between bodies to solve problems is primarily the last spurt of the story campaign, where physics puzzles, parkour, and combat are most concentrated. It's not quite immersive sim-level freedom, but it's thrilling to change shape and solve problems. Shrink like a cartoon creature to crawl through vents, or blow yourself up into a knight in shining armor when you want to rummage around with your bare hands or move half-ton stone obstacles. The late game also leans toward the idea of being out of the virtual world and features the most varied environments.

Stepping into this fragmented metaverse probably would not have been as memorable without Michael Wyckhoff's expansive soundtrack (open in new tab). Airy synths are supported by brooding melodies and a surprisingly large number of varied vocal tracks; the talents of the eight vocalists are on full display, cementing Bonelabo's aesthetic identity.

The playful atmosphere reaches its peak in the final spurt. Instead of a dramatic boss fight, it ends with a climb on a windmill. If it were purely for the enjoyment of the story, it might have left me feeling unsatisfied, but for me, this was the beginning of the real Bonelabo experience. The real magic for me was revealed in the power of avatar switching back to the previous map. What once seemed purely linear is now clearly infested with secret areas and Easter eggs, most of which reward new tools, gadget items, and NPCs that can be summoned.

This treasure trove of secrets is Bonelabo's way of selling the fantasy of unleashing the confines of "normal" VR and becoming a cool creator or hacker. The other half is the inclusion of an invitation to the official mod community Discord channel at the end of the story, and by extension, the game's rapidly expanding mod repository (opens in new tab) Herein lies the true potential of Bonelab: the mod SDK is still only partially complete, and the game is still in the early stages of development. Despite the fact that the mod SDK is only partially complete (creating new AI and custom items is not officially supported at this time), players are already creating things that go far beyond what is in the main game: avatars with built-in weapons (open in new tab), water parks (open in new tab), vehicle-type rubber rings (opens in new tab), tons of guns, hundreds of new maps (some scripted, some sandbox).

Although not in Early Access, Bonelab is still a work in progress. Since its launch, there have been several updates to the mod development tools, as well as major updates to improve several levels. The game has also hinted at an entire "B-side" plot that does not exist at this time. Developer Stress Level Zero has promised to work closely with players on the future of Bonelab, and the end result is anyone's guess. I for one am glad to be at the forefront of such an experimental game and am curious to see how things will change over the next few months, or even how VR itself will change.

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