We love a good puzzle game here at XRSource, and Meta Quest has an abundance to choose from. The latest to join this scene is CM Games’ UnLoop, a time-altering, avatar-copying puzzler where the only way to succeed is to help yourself. Once again, our review partner at 131XR has taken its time to review UnLoop, finding a game that’s well worth your time.
UnLooping this VR game
In UnLoop, you play a spy trying to infiltrate a remote space station. Whilst doing so, you become trapped in a temporal anomaly, finding that you can now copy yourself multiple times. This comes in handy to overcome the various defences inside the station, being able to collaborate with multiple versions of yourself to bypass security.
This isn’t the first time in VR that this copying mechanic has been used. The Last Clockwinder is probably the most renowned puzzle game to employ this feature, and so do the likes of We Are One. Yet UnLoop manages to add its own unique gameplay take, differentiating itself from these others with its puzzles and design aesthetic.
UnLoop Review
With its retro-futuristic ’60s vibe, UnLoop delivers a colourful experience focused on puzzle solving rather than action. Early puzzles revolve around opening a sequence of doors, throwing cards between your various copies to delve deeper into the station. As you’d expect, the deeper you go the more elaborate these puzzles become, with laser grids and more barring the way.
As 131XR notes in its review, while UnLoop doesn’t feature any sort of training mode, the mechanics are easy to pick up. The main one being the gun which you use entirely on yourself. There are no enemies in UnLoop, but to create a copy you essentially need to vaporise yourself to come back and perform the next task. This can be as many times as you like, however efficiency is key. Whilst you need to explore each area to figured out the most effective way to solve each challenge, time is of the essence. You only have a limited amount for each puzzle, so minimising your copies is crucial.
131XR finds that overall, UnLoop makes for a very enjoyable puzzle experience. There’s a decent amount of variety, with some more inventive than others. Like many other games in this genre, UnLoop does suffer from a lack of replayability. Once you’ve completed the game there’s not much to come back to. Until CM Games releases new content updates, which it has confirmed.
CM Games Tries Something New
Speaking of CM Games, UnLoop is a very different beast to what the studio is known for. When it comes to VR games, CM Games is most famous for its survival franchise Into the Radius. Into the Radius 2 is currently available in Early Access for Meta Quest and PCVR headsets on Steam.
UnLoop was born from an internal programme called CM Labs, allowing employees to turn their ideas and pets projects into something real. As we now know, out of more than 30 ideas, it was UnLoop that was greenlit for further development.
Like the look of UnLoop? Think it’ll be a launch day purchase? Let us know in the comments!
