I’m convinced that the people who made this game are either serous Spider-man fans or they just really hate conventional methods to get around town. Why else would you use a series of chains suspended from they sky to get around? We couldn’t think of a good reason, but we’re sure that Chainless is a must try for anyone looking to get fit with VR. Here’s what you need to know to get really good at this game, get a solid cardio blast and hit some muscles your last gym-bound workout forgot for the last 10 years. You can thank us later.
What is Chainless?
Chainless is a video game that is set in prison. There is a phone that begins the entire sequence of your escape via a bomb on the roof. Then you must use the chain that drops down from this in order to climb out and be introduced to the main game. This is your tutorial, but it’s cleverly included as a fluid setup for the game. Once you’re on the outside, the entire purpose is to swing from chain to chain in order to go as long as you can go.
Graphics and Visuals 3/5
This is another one of those games where the graphics are not supposed to be impressive. With that said, the game has a very light-hearted style to it and this is further bolstered by your beginning sequence, which is full of dry comedy as you just listen to the guy on the phone instead of climbing up the chain. It’s not winning any awards for graphics, but it is a solid entry into the gameplay.
Hardware Requirements 3/5
This game is surprisingly needy when it comes to RAM, needing 8GB of it and the only reason I can think that this is needed is for the continuous need to hold the chain artifacts up in memory. The rest of is standard and expected as you need an i5-4590 3.3 GHz with 200MB of space.
Fitness 4/5
This is where the game truly shines because it times your progress after your escape. The game gets even harder the further you make it. In Chainless, you are your own competition. Unfortunately, this can also be this game’s one bad point because unless you have someone else that uses your VR system, you can only play against yourself and we all know that things can get boring when it’s just you and the workout. That’s why we love training partners and personal trainers. If you need to have an incentive, this game will likely fail you after about 20 minutes. This will change later on though as they are working on multiplayer. How does it work your body? This is another game that’s forcing you to swing your arms and reach beyond your normal range of motion. We wish it was real enough that your arms would be supporting your body weight, but that’s not where this game is at right now. For now, Chainless is a solid upper body blast and cardio alternative and you’ll get whatever you put into it.
Gameplay 4/5
The game is easy enough to pick up and play, but you will get bored of it very quickly. There’s a ton of comedy to it, little Easter eggs you can spend time to look for, and has multiple environments to play in. This game could definitely be a regular fitness game for most VR players out there, but I also see this lacking in having any incentive. Perhaps the developer could add in the option to play music from the game as people swing from chain to chain. This would make it more of a workout game than an escape game, but we’ll just have to wait and see what they decide with any updates.
Overall Rating: 4/5
While it isn’t perfect, Chainless is better than most of the games that are out there. There’s certainly some areas of improvement that can be made, but the main theme of the game is actually done. For only $4.99, it’s definitely worth the price as-is. The game will undoubtedly be improved in the future and, as a basic concept, it puts forth a really great idea that will force you off your butt and away from just passively walking through some of the other games out there. We’re waiting for some solid updates to really amp this game up to the next level!
