The first time I grabbed a wall and physically pulled myself into cover, I understood exactly what Fracked was going for. This isn’t a military sim. It’s not trying to be realistic. It’s an arcade shooter that understands VR’s physicality — duck behind cover with your actual body, reach around corners to shoot, reload with a satisfying snap motion that never gets old.
The skiing sequence thirty minutes in sealed it. You’re hurtling down a snowy mountain, enemies popping up from behind rocks, and you’re steering by tilting your head while both hands are busy with weapons. It’s chaotic, ridiculous, and genuinely thrilling in a way flat-screen shooters can’t touch.
But here’s the thing — I finished the campaign in one sitting. Under three hours. And then I sat there, headset still on, thinking: that’s it?
What This Actually Is
Fracked is a native VR arcade shooter from nDreams that originally launched as a PSVR exclusive in 2021, came to PC VR in 2022, and finally hit standalone Quest headsets in 2024. You’re a reluctant hero fighting an interdimensional invasion in a remote mountain facility. The story is basically an excuse to move you between set pieces — which is fine, because the set pieces are genuinely good.
The cel-shaded art style, all hand-drawn textures and comic-book outlines, still holds up. It’s a smart choice for VR — readable at distance, stylized enough that dated assets don’t grate. On Quest 3 it looks sharp; on PC VR it looks better; but the visual identity works everywhere.
The Shooting, The Good Stuff
The cover system is the star. You physically grab walls, crates, and rock faces with your off-hand, then lean and peek to shoot. It feels immediate in a way button-press cover systems never achieve. There’s genuine tension in holding yourself behind cover while enemies unload, then snapping out to return fire.
Gunplay is snappy and responsive. You’ve got a pistol and SMG as primaries, with temporary pickups like shotguns and magnums in arena sections. Reloading is motion-controlled — eject the magazine, grab a new one from your hip, slam it home. It’s streamlined, not simulationist, keeping the pace up.
But look, I’m not gonna lie — the weapon variety is thin. Two main guns, locked to specific hands, no weapon wheel, no inventory system. No melee attacks, no grenades. After the third hour of the same pistol-plus-SMG rhythm, I was feeling it. The enemy AI doesn’t help — they pop up on schedule, take their shots, go back down. Functional, not clever.
Those Set Pieces Though
Where Fracked shines is its variety of movement. The climbing sections have you hanging from ice walls, one hand at a time, swinging across gaps while enemies shoot from below. It’s not as refined as dedicated climbing games — The Climb 2 does this better — but in context, as a break from shooting, it works.
And the skiing. The skiing is genuinely excellent. Head-tilt steering (on PC and Quest) or Move controller guiding (on PSVR), both hands free for shooting, bombing down slopes while the world blurs past. It’s fast, it’s physical, it’s exactly the kind of VR-native moment that justifies the hardware.
The Reality Check
This is a short game. Most players report 2-4 hours for the campaign. Mine was on the shorter end — about two and a half hours on normal difficulty. There’s no multiplayer, no meaningful challenge modes, no leaderboards. Some hidden coins exist but they unlock nothing. The replay value is basically “do it again on hard” or “get the platinum trophy.”
At $29.99, that’s a tough value proposition. I’ve paid that much for shorter experiences that stayed with me longer — but I’ve also paid that much for longer experiences I enjoyed less. Fracked is concentrated, not incomplete. Every minute is polished. There’s just not many of them.
Comfort-wise, it’s moderate intensity. Smooth locomotion is default, with snap or smooth turning options. The skiing and climbing have strong motion cues — if you’re sensitive to VR sickness, expect to feel it during the fast sections. The game offers vignetting and comfort options, but this is fundamentally a fast-moving action game.
Who Should Play This
Fracked is for VR owners who want a polished, kinetic afternoon. It’s for people who loved the set-piece moments in bigger games and wish someone would just make those for three hours straight. It’s accessible, beginner-friendly, and delivers immediate satisfaction without setup friction.
Skip it if you’re looking for deep systems, narrative weight, or multiplayer longevity. Skip it if you need your $30 to translate to ten-plus hours of entertainment. And maybe wait for a sale if you’ve been in VR for years — the Quest port in particular, arriving three years after the original, can feel slightly dated compared to 2024’s standout releases.
But if you want a couple hours of genuinely exhilarating VR action — if you want to ski down a mountain shooting at helicopters, if you want to hang one-handed from an ice wall picking off soldiers — Fracked delivers that specific fantasy with style. Just know you’re buying a great afternoon, not a great month.