The VR Prop Hunter Strikes a Convincing Pose

Mannequin is the asymmetrical, VR-multiplayer game inspired by Prop Hunt. It has arrived at Quest App Lab. Read on for our full impressions.

I’ve always seen VR multiplayer as a risky proposition for developers. It’s hard enough to create a game that has a loyal player base on flatscreen platforms, let alone VR. It’s still possible – there are many great examples of Ghosts of Tabor in Garry’s Mod. But it is more difficult. Reminiscent of Rec Room in Garry’s Mod, I believe Mannequin could be a hit.Gorilla Taghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adAL6sKB8Z4Walkabout Mini GolfDeveloped by Fast Travel Games, this isn’t the first time I’ve tried Mannequin – my former colleague Harry Baker and I both went Prop Hunt at Gamescom 2023. The game’s progress has been amazing since the initial demo. It is clear that the lobby, graphics and gameplay are much more refined. The tutorials helped me re-acquaint myself with the game. I played the first two games as an alien.

Mannequin is based on the premise that strange crystals are forming around the world and have frozen any humans in their vicinity. The emergence of Mannequins – strange aliens that can change shape and blend in with their surroundings – coincides. This is all you need for a multiplayer video game. The following is a PvP 3v2 match using a Best-of-5-Rounds format. After each round, the map will be reset. Mannequins are able to pose as human frozen figures in order to blend with your environment. They can then kill Agents by a simple touch. The multitool is a device that can be used as a scanner or an EMP weapon to search for Mannequins. For my hour-long review, I had a Fast Travel Games representative – UploadVR’s former editor, Jamie Feltham – along with Bryan Ruffy (

) and Sonya Haskins (hands-on). Because we didn’t have five players, this turned predominantly into 2v2 match-ups as we played all four maps, followed by a surprisingly tough 3v1 match where everyone fought Jamie.

Mannequin uses artificial stick-based locomotion–there’s no teleportation movement here, and that’s ideal since it wouldn’t fit gameplay. The simple control scheme makes it easy to jump in. Your scanner will also be able to fire a Gauss Detector, which scans a smaller area and highlights any shapeshifters nearby. Alongside shapeshifting, Mannequins can dash by holding the right trigger.

Freezing in place conveniently highlights where the map’s three energy extractors are, and these offer both teams a strategic advantage. Draining the first extractor gives you a Mannequin an extra speed boost, while draining both gives it a shield. This allows your Mannequin to survive one shot. If you fail to remove two extractors in three minutes, Agents will be able to see through walls. You can only use six EMP charges, which means you cannot be overly aggressive with your triggers. However, placing the charge in an extractor will recharge your weapon. It’s a challenge to line up the Mannequin in such a way that you don’t look out of place, but winning feels great. It was important to balance the scanning of my environment with choosing shots as an agent. Navigating these maps to find aliens is similarly tense and a slight delay between swapping functions can make you vulnerable.

Should a Mannequin get shot or an agent get touched, your teammates have a very limited window to revive you. You can’t respawn if you die. Once you’ve died, you won’t be placed in spectator mode. You can explore the map and communicate with your teammates via voice chat if they cannot reach you. You can also ping certain locations by pressing B, a useful touch when voice chat isn’t an option.Ruff Talk VRMannequin is a strong example of a simple idea well executed. Fast Travel Games has a lot of work to do, but they’ve already delivered a VR-friendly version of Prop Hunt. I’ve left this preview feeling very optimistic about what’s coming next.VR Fitness InsiderMannequin launches today on Quest App Lab for $19.99 with a 50% discount code

. The

version is in the works.