VRChat - Create, Communicate, and Explore.

The Chatroom of the Future, Today!

A Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is still taking its baby steps into the mainstream. With headsets becoming more affordable and more developers jumping into the virtual space, it won't be long until VR finally has its killer app. For now, though, it's a niche technology that is finding its footing. One of the more interesting examples of what this early market looks like is VRChat.

Creating a Digital World

Chatroom's have long been a part of the online experience. It's only natural, then, that chatroom's would be a part of the virtual experience as well. VRChat takes the experience of the standard chatroom into the VR space, letting players create their avatars and worlds while interacting with other players.

.....feels like something out of late-90s Sci-Fi

There's no rhyme or reason to what you see here, just avatars and creations that spring directly from the imaginations of players. The core concept here is old, but it doesn't feel as dated as it should. VRChat is simply capitalizing on an idea that people have been waiting to see in reality.

Use Your Imagination

It's always good to set your expectations appropriately for a VR game. Even a great computer has to do a lot of heavy lifting to make VR look reasonably good, and VRChat is absolutely not the kind of game that expects every player to have the best specs. If you go into the game expecting AAA-quality graphics, you're going to wind up sorely disappointed.

The good news, though, is that the game doesn't look or sound bad. It's got enough options to let players create some fantastic worlds, even if they aren't photo-realistic. The most accurate thing one can say, though, is that the actual graphics don't impede the imagination of the players.

A World of Your Own Making

Giving this a game-play score that's this low is a little misleading. In truth, the average player that gets into VRChat is going to have a good time. The reality is that this has a lot more to do with socialization than it has to do with the quality of game-play. The dependence on user-generated content means that what's available is going to have little to do with what the developers made.

For better or worse, this is a game about immersion and not play.

Is this a bad thing? Not really. VRChat is a game about socialization and discovery, not about tight controls or exciting game-play loops. It's just wise for players to know what they're getting into before they put on their headsets.

One Small Step

VRChat is rough around the edges and could use improvement, but it's also incredibly engaging. It's not going to sell headsets, but it will probably keep people using them for quite some time. This may not be a game in the traditional sense, but it ties into the fantasy of virtual reality like few games on the market today.

TL/DR

VRChat is a virtual chatroom and world-builder that allows people to connect in virtual spaces.