Hands-on: Quest 3's mixed reality shooter Home Invasion is now boundless fun
The mixed reality shooter Home Invasion can now be played with Quest's Boundary disabled. I played it and had a lot of fun.
Home Invasion is the mixed reality mode of the VR game Drop Dead: The Cabin. It was released for Quest in October 2023, eight months after the base game's release. While the VR version offers relentlessly fun co-op action in and around a fully-immersive forest cabin, Home Invasion turns your own home into a cabin you must defend from an onslaught of zombies.
The mixed reality game has been continually improved since its release. Just before Christmas, a major update introduced a new enemy, difficulty levels, improved onboarding, and various mixed reality optimizations.
It's time to give your cabin a glow up!🎉
Design your room to your hearts content with the Boundaryless update out now!✨ pic.twitter.com/sLjqmawvPY
— Drop Dead: The Cabin / Home Invasion (MR MODE) (@DropdeadVR) April 9, 2024
On Monday, the Boundaryless update for Home Invasion was released, which disables Quest's Boundary system, allowing you to move freely around the house without triggering the Boundary. There are only a handful of mixed reality games that are allowed to have the Boundary disabled, and Home Invasion is now one of them.
The new update also introduces the Room Editor, which allows you to place the game's console and weapon rack anywhere in your room. These improvements were reason enough for me to finally give the game a try.
Make sure to set up your space
For the best gaming experience, I recommend that you carefully scan the room using Quests's Space Setup feature and draw elements such as tables, windows, and doors by hand. Home Invasion requires at least four walls, a door and a window. A table is no longer required, but recommended.
Using the Room Editor, you can anchor the console and weapon rack in a suitable place in the room, where a favorable placement can bring game advantages. Once this is done, you can finally get started.
The mixed reality game turns your home into a cabin, secured with wooden planks and steel doors. Through windows and openings you can see a dark forest and a beacon. You have to activate it with the console so that helpers can locate you and evacuate you from the zombie-infested danger zone. The problem: it takes ten minutes to be located, and the active beacon attracts the undead.
A frantically fun mixed reality experience
The zombies will attack your hideout and you, as well as the beacon. If the zombies manage to disable the beacon, the tracking countdown will stop and you will have to reactivate it at the console, taking up valuable time and attention you should be devoting to the attacking zombies.
The undead come in a variety of shapes and sizes, breaking through steel doors and boards one by one. Particularly nasty is the oversized leech that hatches from eggs in the apartment and bites into your arm, forcing you to shake it off before you can shoot again. Fortunately, there is a breather every few minutes, and new weapons and ammo appear in the weapon rack.
On my first attempt at the lowest difficulty, the fight for survival gradually degenerated into frantic chaos. I was being attacked from multiple sides, my ammo was running low, and the leeches were constantly jumping at me.
For me, Home Invasion is one of the better mixed reality shooters for Quest 3. I just wish I had more space in my apartment. It would add to the immersion and enjoyment of the game. If you're a fan of mixed reality experiences, you should give Home Invasion a try. And remember, it also includes a separate VR game that you can play alone or with a friend.
You can purchase Drop Dead: The Cabin for $25 in the Quest Store.
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