Tentacular

Overall, this is a real charmer of a game. It plays with the real scale of a world in VR to create an engaging experience. Oft times I found myself smiling like one would with a Nintendo Mario game.

Tentacular shows how well VR can be done once you stop limiting it to exercise, combat, and rhythm-based genres. The puzzles are simple to understand, and the presence of a timer doesn't make it frantic. Your floppy tentacles and the finicky physics can lead to some frustration, but all of your tasks are still possible. The presence of room scaling and analog stick movement makes the title accessible for many setups. It's all done with an adorable aesthetic and a runtime that feels meaty — even before you include the playground. Tentacular is a fun experience for VR fans who are looking for something calming, different and fun.

Even with the minor annoyances of forced intricacy, Tentacular should find itself as a must-play game. The detailed world-building makes for a wonderfully immersive experience, the tasks vary enough to never become tiring and the game has bags of charm and charisma from character relationships. The life of a kaiju might not be easy, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

I very much enjoyed the gameplay but most of all the story was so touching and the sense of discovery as you peel back the mystery of the kaiju’s origins is very well done. If you need a break from constant destruction, Tentacular might be the fresh sea breeze for you.

The cute visuals give the impression that Tentacular is one for the younger gamers. And to an extent it is, with the simple controls and some of the levels being ridiculously easy to complete. But the puzzle element to some of the levels and the exactness required for some of the movements of the two tentacles can mean that there is a requirement of deftness to much of the game. Although the story is somewhat lacking, it doesn’t take away from the gameplay. In essence, each level feels like a mini game that has players using the controllers in different ways. As a result, the gameplay never feels old, and indeed, as I was playing through the levels I was intrigued as to what the next level would bring. And combined with the knowledge that the game fully utilizes the 360-degree capabilities of the VR headset, it makes Tentacular a worthy purchase for those with the hardware.