Straylight Review (Meta Quest 2)
by Dave Whitman
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve put on the glasses and stepped back into the world of VR but Straylight gave me a good reason to dust the old thing off. As a sucker for any experience that can make me feel like Spider-Man, I jumped at the chance to play. Though not exactly the sort of game that you will be casually swinging around, Straylight sets you up with courses to master leading to harrowing paths as you lasso your way around a system of planets while being teased and tested by an ominous voice above.
The objective of Straylight is simple enough. Using specially powered gauntlets that allow you to connect onto a path of orbs, you swirl and whip your arms to propel your way to checkpoint gates. After you’ve reached the final gate, a new path will open guiding you to the level’s exit, a giant portal to slingshot your way into. Periodically you will be hearing a voice above you, someone who is watching your progress as you move level to level, taking pleasure in not only your constant series of deaths but the frustration that they know is building up in you, doing what they can to get in your head so you suffer more and more.
Though not a large game, coming to an end after 11 main levels, you will be spending more time than you think in some levels. While the first third of the game starts off easy enough, mainly letting you get used to the traversal , once you reach close to half way and onward, the challenges only get more and more difficult. Beginning with large purple orbs, the round variety acts more as a simple obstacle while the shiny polygonal orbs are immediate death if touched, sending you back to the last checkpoint you initiated. I say this meaning, if you were to die, you would respawn at the last checkpoint you were at, not the last one you activated. You will eventually come across levels where the paths overlap and some checkpoints are higher than others. If you were to die and the last place you went through was all the way at the bottom, then that is where you will have to work your way back up from.
Others consist of large red gems and later on, circles to pass through, some towards the end even spinning. It can be very challenging the farther you get into the game but there is a sense of satisfaction when overcoming a segment that felt like it took me five times as long as the entire last level itself. Which for me was akin to an Elden Ring Boss relief. Aside from the courses and challenges themselves, there are five cubes spread through each level to collect. Doing so will unlock causes to replay some levels, including time trials, ghosts to race, and tiered times to beat for bronze, silver, and gold.
Straylight was a fun little adventure to take a few hours away. It took me too long to grasp the controls when it came to propelling myself but had a good enough time overall. Giving me a nice arm workout, Straylight is an interesting puzzle platformer as you learn to maneuver around multiple obstacles and prove the sinister voice above that they are so, so wrong. Thankfully Straylight doesn’t overstay its welcome, though prepare for some harder than expected paths ahead. Straylight gets a 6 from me.
