Red Matter 2
Genres: Puzzle, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Story Rich, Atmospheric, Adventure
Release Date: 18-8-2022
Developer: Vertical Robot
Our verdict
8/10
- Difficulty: Medium
- Players: 1
- Playtime: 4–6 h
Red Matter 2 is a VR-only puzzle adventure from Vertical Robot, set in a Cold War that has spread across the solar system. As agent Sasha Riss you follow a distress signal through abandoned Volgravian research stations and mining complexes. Your controllers become in-world tools: you grab and scan objects, translate documents, hack terminals, repair machines and cross open spaces with a jetpack. It suits headset owners who want a polished, single-player sci-fi mystery.
On Steam it holds a Very Positive rating, with about 91 percent of 400 reviews in favour. Players tag it most strongly as adventure, VR, puzzle and physics, but also combat, which reflects the occasional shootouts and stealth sections mixed in with the puzzles. Only two written reviews exist: one praises the visuals and puzzles, the other reports trouble running it through SteamVR with Air Link on a Quest.
The campaign is short, and the median player logs around five hours, so the full price is steep for the length. Quest owners may prefer the native Meta store version. Buy it on sale if you have a PC headset and like hands-on environmental puzzles; skip it if you want a pure puzzle game with no combat.
Pros
- Controllers become scanners and tools you use with your own hands
- Detailed retro-futurist Cold War stations, sharpened for PC VR
- Jetpack traversal and physics puzzles add variety
Cons
- Requires a VR headset; one player had trouble running it via Air Link
- Occasional combat may not suit pure puzzle fans
- Short campaign for the full price
About
SCIENCE FICTION YOU CAN REACH OUT AND TOUCH
Red Matter 2 is a story-driven VR puzzle adventure set in a dystopian Cold War that reaches across the solar system. Become Sasha Riss and follow a distress signal from a friend believed dead—a trail leading through Volgravian facilities, buried experiments, and a mystery that threatens reality itself.
Built from the ground up for VR, Red Matter 2 turns your motion controllers into visible tools inside the world. Grab and inspect objects, scan and translate documents, repair machinery, hack security systems, and solve tactile environmental puzzles with your own hands.EXPLORE A SOLAR SYSTEM OF SECRETS
Journey through research stations, mining complexes, orbital facilities and stark off-world landscapes, all rendered with exceptional clarity, detail and scale. Volgravia's retro-futurist technology and Cold War history are built into every environment, rewarding the instinct to slow down, look closer and take in the view.SOLVE, INVESTIGATE AND SURVIVE
- Operate tactile tools. Scan, translate, manipulate and repair machinery.
- Read the environment. Solve physics and logic puzzles through observation and experimentation.
- Move through low gravity. Use your jetpack to cross open spaces and reach new areas.
- Uncover Volgravia's secrets. Hack terminals and examine documents to discover what happened—and what was hidden.
- Survive the unknown. Evade security and face occasional combat as the mystery closes in.
A FOCUSED, HANDCRAFTED VR ADVENTURE
Experience a complete single-player campaign built around atmosphere, discovery and forward momentum. The tension is eerie rather than horror-driven, with no jump scares. Comfort options include smooth locomotion, teleport movement and snap turning.
No previous Red Matter experience is required: the opening brings newcomers up to speed.ENHANCED FOR PC VR
The PC version brings Red Matter 2's world into sharper focus with:
- 4K textures
- Full-detail geometry with the highest-polycount meshes always visible
- Dynamic shadows
- Indirect shadows
- Custom Valve Index controller models that appear in-game when Valve Index controllers are detected
