Glider Island: Surprisingly fun little experience, if barely a game. Not the tech demo it may appear at first glance; it's got a bit of Pilotwings 64 and simulation in its DNA. I bought it for the controls and was not disappointed. The first VR option is HMD-pointing. It's good because it incorporates head tilt i.e. vestibular sensory information, but it kind of defeats the purpose of being able to look around while in VR. Then there's using the controllers to put your hands on the bar to turn, and the implementation is pretty great. Push to dive, pull back to go up, independent asymmetric movements for turning and banking- I don't know how realistic it is, but it works and motion sickness was low, going down to virtually none when I threw my head into it as well.
As a game though, it's ludicrously hard. You're expected to fly through 150 or more rings on a single life- and apparently before a June patch this was necessary to unlock each next level! However playing the second and third levels, they have easter egg-like effects that show a level of care... which no one would've ever seen in the developer's original vision. And even Pilotwings added a camera and thermals to the gliding sections. Nevertheless, it's definitely worth the $4 sale price if you're a Pilotwings fan. If you're really into gliders you also get access to the alpha of their next project, a more advanced simulator.
Windlands: Ambitious game that I don't enjoy very much. The game surprised me on multiple levels- one that it didn't really make me sick, two that I didn't enjoy the grappling as a Bionic Commando/Spider-Man 2 fan, and three with some bizarre design decisions. But before I rag on this game, I really do respect how they've gone for a bold locomotion style with little compromise.
So the first crazy decision is that there's a platforming section before you ever get your grappling hooks. Which is fine design in principle, starting out without your gear- but the free running and jumping causes way more motion sickness (for me) than grappling! It's not just simple platforming, you have to make precise running 30 foot jumps or you fall to your doom, and then there's a Mario64-esque wall jump room you have to get through, where it's easy to fall back to the bottom. Practically a motion sickness cocktail. And when you actually get your grapplers, the first jump is essentially impossible if you were foolish enough to pick "advanced ropes;" with "simple ropes" it's trivial. I didn't enjoy either option- simple is like Bionic Commando, with instant retraction; advanced they tried to model slack/elasticity but it felt off and much less effective than simple. Beyond all of this, there's nothing special about the graphics, world building, exploration, etc. So I guess Windlands receives the honor of being my first Steam refund.
