Marrow Marrow is a VR arcade arena shooter that makes for intense sessions thanks to its aerodynamic grappling hook and fast-paced movement.
Video games that go at a breakneck speed are nothing new. Quake, from 1996, is one of the pioneers of the FPS genre that made mouse and keyboard players move their wrists as fast as they could. Years later, Ghostrunner and its unforgiving one-shot deaths made for precise and quick ninja-like movements. In the virtual reality space, flashy action games like Vendetta Forever or Action Hero evoke that high-octane movie magic. Stripped down to the basics of arcade action, Marrow Marrow marries these concepts with a singular precision.
Marrow Marrow is so fundamentally snappy that it drives home how effective that is. The menu, for starters, reacts quickly to the player’s choice. Because the graphics are legible but simplistic, loading times are nonexistent. The arenas in which you spawn feel like abandoned industrial buildings. Each enemy, taking a page from Doom, feels demonic. Minotaurs, flying heads, eight-legged freaks, unnerving worms—you name it. Luckily, the lack of distinct facial or bodily details takes the edge off verging into horror.
What makes it a winning formula is undoubtedly its gameplay. Marrow Marrow features intense close-quarters encounters. Each uneven arena is made to run, jump, and dash around it. Through 9 verticality-filled levels culminating in one final boss, players must shoot and dodge their way around it. Armed with a grappling hook in one hand and a weapon in the other (depending on which you choose as your dominant hand in the settings), every area spawns three rounds of enemies. Once you are able to defeat them all, three power-ups appear, and it’s on to the next stage.
Never too complex, simple variations in the gameplay keep things engaging. For example, there are seven weapons to pick from. Each of these, from machine guns and shotguns to a railgun, will define your playstyle. The aforementioned roguelike power-up at the end of each level helps make all runs unique: faster movement, double jumps, or increased critical hits are among the many choices on offer. A nifty shoulder gun with 7 different but devastating heavy ammo types, like rockets, also unlocks the more you play. Finally, four difficulty settings are on deck to test your abilities.
Combining lightning-speed running with heightened jumping and wall running makes zooming through each area a blast. The grappling hook pulls at an extraordinary pace to escape from narrowly being surrounded by the violent vermin. 8-bit sound effects sprinkled over the raucous electronic music solidify the fast-paced arcade vibe Marrow Marrow is going for. The better you perform and the more you multiply your points before being hit, the more competitive your score will be. Featuring leaderboards at the end of each run, the inspiration to compete against fellow speed maniacs is latent.
Easy to play and difficult to master, Marrow Marrow delivers flexibility in which players can express their playstyles in the arena. Various weapons to mix and match paired with random upgrades at the end of each level on the way to face the final boss make it an exciting venture. Quick movement and reaction speeds will determine whether players are up to the task, or they may go back to try again until they triumph at last.
Marrow Marrow is out now for Steam and Meta Quest.
