Roguelikes are definitely an acquired taste. The idea of sinking an hour into a procedurally-generated dungeon only to die and have to start from scratch is jut not an appealing prospect to a lot of people. However, the best roguelikes ensure that players are rewarded just enough after each run to still make them feel like they're making significant progress. In Death: Unchained walks that line pretty much perfectly, making it an ideal virtual reality roguelike experience, though there are some hangups that keep it from being quite as good as it could have been.

In Death: Unchained is the Oculus Quest version of 2018's In Death, and provides virtually the same experience, albeit without players being tied to a PC or PlayStation 4. This gives players much more freedom in terms of movement, making it easier to do things like dodge incoming arrows by physically moving out of the way, but this freedom comes at a price. Visually, In Death: Unchained just can't match other versions of the game, which may be distracting for those that have already played it elsewhere.

Once players get over that hurdle, they'll be able to enjoy In Death: Unchained on the Oculus Quest just as well as they could with other versions of the game. The basic premise of In Death: Unchained is that players explore medieval architecture floating in the sky, killing hordes of enemies using nothing but a bow (and later, a crossbow). When they inevitably die, players are shuffled back to the Sanctuary starting area, but if they managed to unlock any achievements during their run, they are rewarded with things that will make it easier to progress further on their next attempt.

In Death: Unchained's progress is built entirely on unlocking achievements, many of which revolve around killing as many of each enemy type as possible. Some achievements even add new, stronger enemies to the mix to help balance out the game a bit, as players are rewarded with upgrades like damage boosts or a rapid-fire crossbow.

Taking full advantage of the Oculus Quest's Touch controllers, In Death: Unchained mimics what it's like to use a bow in real life, but without being aggravatingly realistic like some other VR bow games. Instead of having to fumble with arrows while they try to knock them, players can quickly pull the string back and let the arrows fly. Realism still comes into play with the fact that there are no cursors to help players out. To succeed in In Death: Unchained, players will need to master exactly how they need to aim their bow to hit their enemies and how they need to angle it for distance shots. However, this realism with the bow adds to the game in a fun way, as opposed to a frustrating one.

Throughout the game world, In Death: Unchained players will find things like explosive arrows and healing items that they can use to give themselves an advantage against the hordes of enemies that are relentlessly trying to kill them. They will also earn coins that can be used to purchase new arrow types at the helpful checkpoints that have been added to the Oculus Quest version of the game, which are also great for when players need to stop playing in the middle of a run. It's definitely a user-friendly addition and is much appreciated.

There are definite improvements in the Oculus Quest version of In Death: Unchained, including a hellish new level type called The Abyss, but there's also a missing feature that will likely bother fans of the game on other platforms. Besides physically moving around the environment, the only way to move in In Death: Unchained is by teleporting; there is no full locomotion movement option available. It seems like a missed opportunity to not relegate camera movement to one of the sticks, and allow for full locomotion movement with the other.

Unfortunately, this does make In Death: Unchained a little less atmospheric than the other versions of the game. Instead of players able to methodically move through its gothic, Dark Souls-like game worlds, they instead have to teleport around. This constantly reminds players that they are just playing a video game, and that combined with the visual downgrade makes it a lot more difficult to get immersed.

The blistering difficulty in In Death: Unchained should also be mentioned. Fans of the genre will likely have no problem with it, but others may want to think twice before investing in the game. It will take players a long time to really make any significant progress in In Death: Unchained, meaning they will be stuck going through the same-looking level (albeit with a different layout) for hours upon hours. Some players will enjoy the challenge and the slow, laborious grind, but as stated previously, roguelikes are an acquired taste.

In Death: Unchained has some benefits that help it stand apart from other versions of the game, but the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR versions have their own advantages as well. The slight edge may go to the older versions for the superior graphics and full locomotion movement, but if developers Superbright add full locomotion in a future update, it could make the Oculus Quest version the superior experience. Time will tell.

In the meantime, those looking for an extremely difficult VR roguelike can't go wrong with In Death: Unchained. Those that have the option to get it on another platform may want to consider doing that instead, but the Oculus Quest version will still get the job done.

In Death: Unchained launches on July 23 for Oculus Quest. Game Rant was provided with an Oculus Quest code for this review.