The Worst Game Of 2023 Was So Awful That It Got Removed.

“Krispain Hero VR: Roguelite Dungeon Shooter Simulator” was released at the very end of 2023, just a few days after Christmas, with minimal fanfare. It seemed as though Sony’s PlayStation Store team had set the date far in advance and then forgotten all about it. Surprisingly, the game bypassed Sony’s strict QA system despite numerous issues being immediately apparent. During a stream, I even questioned it out loud whether Sony was aware of its release.

In the very same stream, i even questioned if this game would be removed from the PlayStation Store, well, it actually disappeared from the store eventually – when, I don’t know actually but the rest of the announced VR games (Run Or Die VR and Spaceship Impostor VR) from the same publisher (Midnight Works) also vanished. 

Neither the publisher Midnight Works nor Sony has commented on the game’s release or its subsequent removal.

The most intriguing aspect of the removal of “Krispain VR” is that, unlike the other two games, the publisher has even removed it from their website portfolio. I can no longer find any information about it anywhere.

KRISPAIN – THE GAME(?)…

The video at the end of the article describes everything nicely, but I know most of our readers prefer written reviews over video so I will talk about the game a bit here too (even if I really don’t want to).

The first thing that hit me while loading up the game was the awful loud sound, the disgusting loading picture and the god damned awful menu, everything looked like some pre-alpha stuff that one put together in a hurry to have something playable for an early project plan meeting, as a developer I can accept stuff like this but not as a paying customer.

It is not that I expected this game to take me by storm or anything, but I like to give everyone the same chance and to be honest, I expected more from “Midnight Works” first VR release than this thing they dumped on the store.

From One Negative Point To Another…

Things improved once I found the “music” volume slider and adjusted it to a level where the noise became tolerable to my ears, now I had one plan, to enjoy my brand-new purchase.

Strange menus with odd spelling mistakes couldn’t stop me from starting the game, and for a brief period it felt almost as if the game was playable, i say almost because my gun wasn’t working as it should, shooting felt random and inconsistent and it didn’t take long before frustration kicked in.

What the video doesn’t show is that everything is random, yes, including your gun and after playing the game for a few hours I must admit that some of the guns are actually fun to use (when they work, that is).

There are 3 types of enemies in the game, and there are 2 types of pickups in the game (ammo and health), neither gives any feedback whatsoever that you picked them up and maybe worst of all – there are no spawn patterns which means they will most likely pop up when you need them the least.

There’s no game-over screen, and there’s no information given about where or how far you have come either, everything is a guessing game.

There’s only “click turning” and no full locomotion option, heck there’s no “comfort options” at all to speak of.

I can name a positive thing or two though, the game has a platinum trophy and has the most excessive description of every trophy seen in a game since No Heroes Allowed! VR.

The Verdict…

I suppose it’s safe to say that the final verdict on this game won’t be favourable. However, I still hope this Moldovan/Romanian studio continues its VR endeavours, and I’ll likely support them. That said, I sincerely hope they avoid using the PS Store as a dumping ground in the future. The sad reality is that even if this game were free, it wouldn’t receive a higher score.

KRISPAIN VR is the worst game I’ve tried in decades.

A Little Video Clip…

I made a video a month after the release (in January 2024). Since then, the only thing that has been fixed is the trophy syncing on the server side, which means you can now unlock them properly. This might eventually make for a valuable platinum trophy, especially since the game has been removed.

PS: I recently discovered that Run Or Die did indeed launch on PSVR2 some time ago. Although it has been removed, unlike Krispain, it still remains on the publisher’s page. Perhaps this indicates that it will eventually receive a new release date.