Stabby on Meta Quest: Spectacular knife fight or dull VR brawler?
Stabby puts you in the role of an assassin, using virtual knives to take out your targets. I played a few rounds of this extraordinary VR multiplayer game.
The VR multiplayer game Stabby was recently released for Meta Quest. As a virtual assassin, you arm yourself with knives to take out targets or other players. In this hands-on, I describe how the VR online multiplayer game with its razor-sharp premise plays on Meta Quest 3.
Content
Stabby on Quest 3: Throwing knives and climbing as a VR assassin
In Stabby, I take on the role of an assassin who roams a gray cityscape armed with knives. My job is to find and eliminate targets as quickly and spectacularly as possible. To do this, I press the trigger buttons to summon my most important tools: two knives.
When I plunge them into my target, they get stuck and become useless. Fortunately, I have access to an unlimited arsenal of knives and can spawn new blades in my hands at any time. As I climb, I plunge knife after knife into the wall like an ice axe, pulling myself up.
Right from the start, I noticed the unusual movement system. Although I can jump with the A Button, the jumps feel more like flying with a jetpack. I can go very high and far, but the slight lag makes the controls feel imprecise. Landing on small platforms is also more difficult, as I still take a step or two when I land that I can't control.
Climbing walls with the knives also takes some getting used to. Since I can only use each knife once, I have to press the trigger again for each "climbing step". In hectic situations, this can get pretty annoying. It happened a few times that the knife didn't stick in the wall as intended, and I fell into the depth. Even when pulling up on the edge of a building, I sometimes ended up on the virtual tar several floors below instead of the roof.
Target or innocent bystander?
There are two different types of NPCs in Stabby: targets and innocent bystanders. To distinguish between them, I mark them with a non-lethal knife throw beforehand. Afterwards, they are outlined in color for a short time. Red outlines show me the targets to eliminate, green ones I'd better leave alone, otherwise I'll lose points.
I get particularly high scores for assassinations from great heights. To do this, I use a grapple gun to swing up to higher locations, where I occasionally find helpful data caches that reveal targets. If I stab one of these boxes, my throwing knives become lethal for a short time and all people in the vicinity are automatically marked. Some boxes, however, simply throw me in a high arc two blocks away. Tough luck.
Multiplayer knife fights in black and white
Before you dive into the multiplayer modes for up to six players, be sure to complete the single-player challenges. This is where you will learn all the game mechanics you will need for the sometimes fast-paced and hectic games. If you have problems with the fast and fluid movement, you can activate various comfort options such as tunnel vision or snap turn. However, there is no teleportation.
The reduced graphic style fits well with the fast gameplay. The city consists of gray cuboid buildings with only a few NPCs running around in between. This allows me to concentrate on hunting targets without getting distracted too much. The players wear different colored capes, which makes them easily recognizable against the gray concrete blocks.
Your opponents are fast moving, chasing the same targets, and usually looking for a confrontation. However, the multiplayer battles are only really fun when it comes to a 1v1 duel and the faster swordsman wins. It only takes one hit to take out an opponent. Most of the time, however, I was slashed in the back while spying on my next target. Frustration is inevitable.
To fight other players, I have a sword that I draw over my shoulder with a single grip. In addition to the human enemies, there is another danger: If I run into the red light cone of the patrolling drones, I am immediately finished.
My verdict after the first few rounds of Stabby
Stabby's gameplay is fast-paced and challenging. However, the (probably intentional) lack of precision in the controls doesn't always make it easy for me to navigate smoothly through the city. At the same time, the assassinations are supposed to be as stylish and quick as possible, which occasionally leads to frustration, especially when I slip on walls or miss jumps.
The developers want to make the game more addictive by adding new content — and they should. In its current state, I see little reason to continue playing Stabby. After just two or three hours, the gameplay feels repetitive and unrewarding. The game modes offer little in the way of innovative content, and stealth assassinations are usually thwarted by overly motivated human enemies, which slows the game down considerably.
- For fans of fast and chaotic VR action in noir-styled environments. But not very motivating in its current state.
Stabby is now available in the Meta Horizon Store for Quest 3, Quest 2 and Quest Pro at a price of just under $10.
Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
