Nock: Hidden Arrow Reviews

(Played with Oculus Rift.) This is by far my favourite archery experience of the three or four I've played. I've always been partial to stealth gameplay and this does it quite well. Firing off arrows feels natural and is left-hand friendly. The arrows move smoothly - no jerking around as you try to line up a shot. The addition of an optional shot preview line is great for people new to vr archery or for lining up a crucial long distance kill. Stealth and exploration are aided by magic light orbs that you can pull from your waist and held to illuminate your surroundings or thrown to distract and lure enemies. When used as a light source they can be silently extinguished by returning them to your waist. Movement also felt great to me - the movement direction is based on the direction your hand is facing, not your head, so you're free to look around as much as you want while walking. Arm swing and head bob movement are also options, as is teleportation. I've encountered four enemy types - two types of goblins, one with sword and shield and one with a slingshot, orc warriors and a minotaur. Goblins and orcs can be felled with a single headshot but the minotaur appears to be a bit tougher. Or maybe I've just never managed to score that perfect hit. The environments are dark and moody with great sound design. Enemy footsteps are clear among the ambient noise, always letting you know when you need to tread cautiously. I really wish more indy titles put this much care into their work.

I think that the motion controllers on the Vive are perfectly suited for 'Bow and Arrow' games and while there are a wealth of them, this is one of the better ones, even in early access. The game still needs some variety but what is there is quite solid... AI not too smart but still they make sure you have to get that shot right or you'll pay for it. The teleport locomotion feels spot on, maybe you can spam it a little too much when running away but otherwise very good. Well worth the money, hopefully it gets more enemy types and some hallway eye candy!

A.I. pathing and animations need serious work. They weave nonsensically like a derailed train. It looks and feels awful. You get 1 stealth shot, then maybe 1 more before they reach you, which will inevitibly land in the tiny circle of armor they have. It's a better and more consistent strategy to wait until they walk up to you, full stop, and get ready to swing. Guaranteed headshot. While effective, this is incredibly dull, but it's infinitely better than taking shots at range. Decoys are a neat concept but should have just been built into arrows, preventing the need for over-the-head reloading, which is clunky and not guaranteed to work. Arrows should just always be in hand, functioning as a torch. This would let you make more dynamic lighting. Visually nice. I love that the decoys and arrows give off light. The sounds are very thematic, but the footsteps need to fade and be quieter the further away the monster are (if this is already in place, it needs to be heavily cranked up). I keep thinking things are behind me when they're in front of me further into the level. Overall, this level of polish is something I'd expect from a free game. Worth a playthough if you can catch it on sale. The dramatic elements are spot on, for the most part. The formal elements need some help.

Some of the worst load times (the game will spend more time loading than playing) I have ever encountered make this completely unplayable.

I've been waiting for this game to get an update, because I was excited for a VR dungeon crawl with archery mechanics, but it seems like it has been abandoned with the bare bones of both those categories... At least there are several movement options, and the archery mechanic feels good, but that's all the positives I can think of. The dungeon is just rectangular connections and the enemies zigzag to rush you (even the huge minotaur ones) which doesn't fit with what mass they should have. Even when firing directly where an enemy is running, after you release your arrow they can course correct and dodge it which is fine for a small goblin but an ogre shouldn't have that dexterity. When playing stealthily and using the decoys it is super satisfying to land a sneak headshot because there is no aim assist or path tracing, but once you miss here we go time for QCQ trying to fling as many arrows as possible. There is no snap turning so when you get surrounded you have to physically spin around while flailing to draw arrows which there is a good chance of them dodging even at point blank. The campaign says "more levels coming soon!" of course... Skyrim VR is a much MUCH better version of exactly what this was trying to go for, but that game has so much more as well, so don't waste your time on this.

This is one of those VR games where when you first start it up, you think it could be pretty cool. That is, if you get past being stuck in the intro loading screen. But when you really get into the gameplay, you realize just how bad it really is. There are only four levels in this game they all look EXACTLY the same, which is a confusing maze of dark empty dull corridors. There is also an issue with the enemies because they all zigzag quickly towards you if you are seen. You then end up firing arrows at point blank range because they are always right up in your face. There is also no way to manually save the game and you can only take a few hits from their extremely accurate arrow shots or hits from a sword until you die. So you are then forced to restart the entire level. This game has all the indications of an early VR game that has been abandoned by the developer. There are much better archery VR options out there such as In Death, QuiVR, Lone Archer, and Wrath of the Fire God.

Definitely an Early Access game. What I mean by that is that the game has it's pros and cons, but, to me, seems largely unfinished. Pros: + Strong dungeon-crawler-like atmosphere + EXCELLENT lighting + Good looking textures + Stealth focused gameplay Cons - Only two enemy types - Bow aiming is difficult - Hard to get the "distraction orb" to go exactly where you want it - Stealth doesn't always feel as "accurate" as it should be - Gets repetitive rather quickly - Despite it's strong dungeon atmosphere, it lacks "scenery" to make it feel life-like. What I mean is it doesn't feel lived in. These goblins are patroling empty corridors. It would be interesting to see living quarters, a dining hall, a weapons storage room, torture chamber, etc. So the game itself has a lot of things going for it in terms of it's visuals and direction but, in my opinion, needs several tweaks and additional content to justify a purchase. Especially since I got bored rather quickly, I feel the game needs another dynamic to keep the game interesting (maybe traps, additional weapons, additonal enemies, abilities, etc). Is the game worth it? That's up to you. If you think you can enjoy the game as it is, without caring about if future content gets added or not; then yes the game is meant for you. If you think the game could benefit from more "depth" and content then I would wait to see what the future holds.

It's okay but it just needs the arrows to be accessable faster and easier and smother. Smooth locomotion needs smoothing out. After you've opened some doors killed a few enemies thrown a few light balls you've seen all there is to do.

The look of this game reminds me of that 1995 pc game Stonekeep. That is it has the same redundant green halls and a unique look to the goblins. I wish like Stonekeep it had some more interesting sound effects with the goblins and rooms to explore and items to pick up between the green halls. I would say it is worth checking out for 9 bucks.

I had fun despite how early along this game seems. It's a regular stealth-archery game. So far it is basically just sneaking down hallways and listening for goblins. You then distract them by throwing a ball and shoot them with a well-aimed arrow if they don't see you, and panic if they do. Pros: -Light arrows look AWESOME, although they could use a unique sound effect maybe -Lighting design is creepy and effective -Kills feel satisfying -General scary feeling of not knowing what's around every corner. Cons: -Only a couple enemy designs -You can hear enemies walking around when they are on the other side of walls -Slain enemies make a noise every minute or so while just laying there, which is terrifying when listening closely for nearby goblins. Overall: there are a few bugs and simple designs that should be worked out in future updates, but the game has a lot of potential and is still creepy fun nonetheless. I recommend you give this developer some money and some time and I'd bet we'll end up with a fantastic stealth game.