As VR continues to grow in popularity, more and more of our games are trying to replicate popular traditional games and provide the immersive and multiplayer experience that only VR can provide. Contractors Showdown is my latest VR obsession because it offers two of the best battle royale games on the market: Call of Duty: Warzone and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
Visually, the game is reminiscent of the look of PUBG in all the right ways. The map is absolutely massive, but the developers didn’t have to cut model details or make the map sparse to fit Meta Quest 3. Even with this massive map, it can support 60 players at once—three times the number supported by Pop: One, the system’s most popular battle royale game.
If you had told me a year or two ago that a battle royale game of this scale would be coming to a standalone VR headset, I’m not sure I would have believed you.
Even the basic gameplay loop feels straight out of a PUBG match. You’ll start each round on a military transport ship flying high above the island. When the hatch opens, you can choose to jump out at any time and pull your parachute to glide to your preferred starting point.
Weapons and support items are scattered around the map, most commonly in buildings or crates. All weapons look and feel extremely realistic, including unique reloading mechanics that feel good but aren’t too complex. It’s a happy medium between the deliberately simple reload mechanics of Population: One and some of the truly realistic (and often annoying) reload mechanics found in some of the best Quest games.
If you had told me a year or two ago that a battle royale game of this scale would be coming to a standalone VR headset, I’m not sure I would have believed you.
The livestream above will give you a good idea of what to expect from the game, but I recommend starting with the timestamps 12:20 The outcome of a round can be seen right from the start.
You will feel and appreciate how when the anchor reaches the edge of the plane and finally jumps out Lots of This island is.
In many ways, this game delivers the more realistic multiplayer shooter experience I was hoping to enjoy in Ghosts of Tabor. While this game is a masterclass in VR design, it required more time and patience than I wanted.
Contractors Showdown sits squarely between that game and Population: One, offering the chance to play with 60 players without feeling like you’re without a chance if you don’t put dozens of hours into the game each week.
The mechanics sit somewhere between realistic and easy to understand, while the perks and rewards system encourage players to keep coming back.
There are some clunky parts at the moment, but I imagine those will continue to be ironed out as the game gets closer to completion. The inventory on the body was a little confusing at first, but it only took me a few rounds to figure it out.
Likewise, the game’s semi-complex wearable computer system is a little daunting at first, but offers unique and fun ways to deliver perks and abilities like air strikes or drones during matches. Additionally, a perks and upgrade system adds rewards for players who keep coming back, encouraging regular play.
If you want to try it out for yourself, the free public beta runs until March 17th (so not much time left at the time of writing). Register on the Contractor Showdown website.
We still don’t know a final release date, but based on the time I’ve spent playing the game over the past few weeks, I’d imagine it will land within the next month or two. I’m excited to see more quality games like this coming to Meta Quest, and can’t wait to see what the final game will look like!