Budget Cuts, the long-awaited VR stealth game from Neat Corporation, releases in just a few days’ time on May 31st. The review embargo for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive adventure just lifted, though. Despite having spent a lot of time inside the game, we decided against publishing a review straight away. Why?
Well, simply put, there’s a lot of bugs, and some of them are too big to ignore. There’s a fun core game in Budget Cuts but, playing on Rift through SteamVR, we encountered bugs where objects would fly out of our hands, knives would stick to our heads when thrown, and even levels with regular hard crashes that, frankly, made progression a massive slog. Neat Corporation did warn us that there were bound to be bugs, but it’s hard to properly judge the game in its current condition. But the team still has a few days to fix some of these issues before you can pick it up, and it may well be that the Vive/Oculus Home experience differs from what we’ve tried, so it’s only fair.
Rest assured, when the game does work, we’re having a lot of fun with it. This take on VR sneaking isn’t perfect, but there’s a real rush to zapping through office spaces, keeping your head on a swivel in search of threatening enemies. We’re not quite ready to call Budget Cuts VR’s very own Portal, but there are some ideas here that remind us why we love this platform so much in the first place.
We’ll bring you our full review as soon as we can but we want to give Neat Corporation a chance to address the issues we’ve encountered before dishing out the final verdict. Stay tuned.
Budget Cuts, a first-person stealth VR game, has been eagerly awaited since Stockholm-based indie studio Neat Corporation first released a free demo in 2016. The demo, which quickly became a breakout success in the early days of consumer VR, demonstrated a unique portal-teleportation mechanic, that, when married with the ability to throw knives at robot guards, spelled an instant hit—at least from a basic gameplay perspective. Two years later, the full release of Budget Cuts lands this Thursday, May 31st TBD and hopefully will definitely been worth the wait (see updated below).
Developer: Neat Corportation Available On: Steam (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift) Reviewed On: HTC Vive, Tested on Oculus Rift Release Date: TBD
Update (6/14/18): Following an indefinite delay announced one day before the game’s original May 31st launch date, Budget Cuts officially launches today (June 14th) at 10 AM PT (your timezone here). The delay was related to performance issues that some had reported during the game’s pre-release review build. However, we didn’t experience any major issues ourselves, and had published our initial review prior to the last minute delay announcement. As our team is at E3 2018 this week in Los Angeles, we haven’t had a chance to compare the pre-release review build to the release build, though the developer says performance has been improved on lower end systems. As soon as we’re back with VR headsets in hand, we’ll dig into the release build and update this review if there’s any noteworthy differences in our experience. That said, the review as presently printed represents the game’s pre-release review build as originally provided to us.
Gameplay
Cubicles, fluorescent lighting, copy machines that don’t work: offices can be a depressing place, but what’s even more depressing is when you find yourself in a boring, cookie-cutter job that’s slowly being automated away. But like Neo’s impetus to escape The Matrix, you soon find yourself receiving a strange phone call telling you to get the hell out of there, lest you wish to meet the same fate as your other human colleagues: reported to Human Resources to never be seen, or heard from again.
The Morpheus to your Matrix is Winta, a helpful voice on the other end of the fax machine who sends you instructions, clues, and guides you along your way as you uncover the truth behind the megalomaniac Texan owner ‘Rex’ and his obsession with squeezing the most out of his business. Humans, I learn, simply aren’t apart of the equation anymore, as an army of docile drones fill the workplace with canned banter like “You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!” and “Don’t you just hate Mondays?”
Image courtesy Neat Corp
These aren’t the droids you’re worried about (or looking for), because in Rex’s palpable paranoia, which is constantly broadcasted over the office-wide loudspeaker, he’s peppered the office with military-grade security bots that tote revolvers, along with a keen sense of awareness when you’re in their line of sight. Thankfully, Winta has provided you with a number of “letter openers” (read: sharp throwing knives) and a translocator gun that lets you teleport around the sprawling office space like Nightcrawler, popping in and out of existence as you navigate the giant building’s many corridors and ventilation shafts. A preview portal lets you check if the coast is clear before committing to the jump, but the portal can be seen by anyone who looks your way.
Image captured by Road to VR
Other tools at your disposal: two gripping devices that take the place of your hands, and a magnifying glass-shaped viewer that lets you read the most essential bits of Winta’s messages, a nice touch to simplify the hand-written faxes, but not vital to the task at hand.
A quick pause before I get into the meat of the review. I have to say this: I loved the original Budget Cuts demo, and only wanted more of it, narrative be damned. But even then, Neat Corp has proven that it has storytelling chops too. I found myself exploring the facility, rifling through notes and learning about my colleagues that have disappeared before me, and laughing at the whole game’s quirky humor and tactful voiceovers. I didn’t need a fun and engaging story to enjoy ganking bots with my less-than-expert knife throws, but after playing, I can say this: expect more of Budget Cuts down the line, because there’s a big story to be told here, and I think I only scratched the surface in my nine hours of total gameplay. Now, back to the meaty bits:
I’m not ashamed to admit that in the beginning I had some trouble getting used to the way you change tools and access inventory, which hold five items of your choosing. While it took a little time to gain the muscle-button memory, Budget Cuts makes it clear that this isn’t a fast-paced, run-and-gun attack. You aren’t given an overly easy way to move and dispatch enemies because Budget Cuts is hard—and satisfyingly so.
Image captured by Road to VR
If you find yourself wishing for a silenced pistol, then you’re not playing the game right. There are no power-ups, no health boosts, no shields, and a single shot from a robot will send you back to your automatic save point. After multiple fails on a single level, it became clear to me that patience is more than virtue in Budget Cuts, it’s a necessity.
The game takes every violent situation, and makes it into a big moving puzzle; robots have standard patrol paths, and they usually stand between you and your objective; get a key card, door code, collect an item important to the narrative. Once you figure out the patrol path, you can swoop in and administer your three inches of steel, or you can challenge yourself by playing all the way through as a pacifist. That’s right, from head-to-toe, you can enforce your own Hindu code on Budget Cuts and complete the game without ever decommissioning a single robot. Ventilation shafts are plentiful, and only the quickest and most proficient teleporters can make it out alive.
The preview portal, which lets you look around corners before actually teleporting, presents its own dangers, as robots can see and shoot you through it. It’s an essential tool for figuring out where to go, and where your enemies are.
Image courtesy Neat Corp
Level design is typically multilayered, offering a number of ways to complete an objective, be it a through the three foot-tall ventilation shafts, or by ducking for cover behind the many cubicles. Neat Corp has also made it near impossible to cheat by limiting your view when you either teleport, or pop your head through doors or walls. The anti-cheat system forces you to adapt to the game’s environment, making you duck in ventilation shafts, and bend down to peer through grates. I’ll cover more of that in the Immersion section, but suffice it to say that I loved how the game forces you to be present, and not take the easy way out.
Core game mechanics aside, what remains is really more than the sum of its parts. Adrenaline rushes of a missed knife throw (causing the target to spin around and point a gun in your direction), the act of sneaking around and planning your next move, following breadcrumb trails to a missing key—it all works so well together, making Budget Cuts one of the smartest VR games to date.
Image courtesy Neat Corp
That said, I did experience some frustration with a few puzzles. If you have a hard time listening to instructions, Winta can’t help you, and she isn’t piped into your ear at all times—a good thing in my opinion.
Sometimes learning a new game mechanic, like unscrewing a grate with a screwdriver, can leave some logical gaps that may drive you crazy looking for the right solution. Fine attention to detail is a must with Budget Cuts, because once the office is splattered with robot blood and you’re still looking for that final key code, only your wits will save you.
Immersion
Budget Cuts is cartoony, but graphics aren’t really the most important thing when it comes to immersion. When everything works correctly, and there’s a sense of danger lurking around every corner, then you may find yourself cowering under a virtual desk for cover. You wouldn’t hide, or scream, or fumble through your inventory if you didn’t think you were in real danger.
Image courtesy Neat Corp
Therein lies the problem with the current generation of PC VR. Budget Cuts is a fiercely room-scale game that requires you to duck, take cover, and crawl your way through the world. This is great when you don’t have to mind the ever-present cable attached to your computer, which can take you out of the experience somewhat.
As a teleportation-only game though, I thought I would feel less immersed, but teleportation works extremely well given the game’s premise and objectives. For the anti-teleportation crowd: this game needs it, and gives you a good reason to use it.
Now for the bad: level loading times may be enough for you to hate taking a bullet, because you’ll sit around at a loading screen for about 20-30 seconds upon restart, and even more at the beginning of a new level.
Optimization is also a pain point. On Vive, I saw max performance, which had brief moments of jitter in more object-dense areas; not unplayable in the slightest, but less than I would have expected. For whatever reason, Rift optimization was worse, leading to brief moments of visible stuttering. For reference, my test rig has an Intel Core i7-6700K, 16 GB of RAM and a GTX 1080. I would have liked some degree of control over the graphical quality of the game, as there are no graphics options at all.
Some other less than impressive bits: textures sometimes popped in an out, some areas loaded slowly, and robots sometimes collided with the game’s geometry to comical effect after death. None of this is game breaking, but I worry the lack of user-controlled graphic options may make Budget Cuts even more jittery on lower-spec systems, provided there aren’t any behind-the-scenes automatic graphic optimizations tailored to your specific setup. I admittedly had a pre-launch press build, which came along with two caveats. 1) the version lacked 180-degree snap-turning for front-facing sensor setups (but will come in the launch version), only offering 360-degree sensor support. 2) And the press build was “bound to have bugs that we won’t see in the release build,” I was told. That said, I suspect the problem with Rift optimization will be solved at launch, or at very least in the first updates.
Comfort
Teleportation is by far the most comfortable of artificial locomotion schemes, making Budget Cuts among the most comfortable games to play for all levels. Room-scale locomotion, like peeking around corners and hiding behind barriers, is basically the most natural way to make minor adjustments. Once implemented, snap-turning for 180-degree sensor setups comes as a close second in terms of user comfort.
It’s also a very physical game too, ideally requiring the full use of your arms and legs. Crouching down to avoid detection and hobbling through ventilation ducts means you’ll be getting a quad workout to boot. Although if you are unable or unwilling to stand, much of the game’s objects are reachable from the height of a chair, so while there isn’t a bespoke ‘seated mode’, users shouldn’t have a problem playing seated, provided they’re well away from desks (or wayward children), and either use the 180 snap-turn, or have a spinning computer chair. Seated players may also have to play more tactically, since crouching around peeking around corners while seated isn’t as easy.
Budget Cuts (2018) is a room-scale VR stealth game from indie studio Neat Corporation. Launching on May 31st on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, we took the time to show you just what this objectively fantastic game looks like from the very beginning.
Banter from office drones is a near-constant in Budget Cuts, as the docile bots are designed to replace your human colleagues. It’s the military-grade security bots you have to watch out for, using your teleporation gun to sneakily zip around the vast office complex and dispatch the gun-totting robots before they get a chance to shoot you first.
For more info, check out our full review of Budget Cuts, which we gave a solid [9.2/10] for its killer VR game mechanics, its engaging story, and the adrenaline-soaked feeling that comes part and parcel with hiding under a desk, hoping to fly under the radar of the see-all, kill-all robotic enemies.
It’s not often you see a developer embrace bugs, but like us, Neat Corporation can find the humor in mechanical robots going haywire as they attempt to pick up a cup.
The Swedish developer this week posted a video of its highly anticipated VR game, Budget Cuts, ahead of launch on May 31st. Rather than an epic launch trailer with cinematic flair, though, the team instead decided to show off some of its favorite bloopers that cropped up over the course of development, specifically to do with AI.
You can see the game’s pedestrian workbots, which usually traipse around the office-like levels in mundane fashion, lose their marbles over glitches. We’re especially fans of the times in which they all seem to be impersonating Homer Simpson’s chicken dance on the floor.
Budget Cuts was recently delayed by a few weeks, so it’s good to see that Neat Corp is confident enough in the final product to poke fun at some of the hiccups it’s faced along the way. The game has players sneaking through a facility patrolled by robots like these using an innovative teleportation mechanic.
Look for Budget Cuts to arrive on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in just over a weeks’ time.
Der lange erwartete VR-Titel Budget Cuts sollte nach einer eineinhalbjährigen Entwicklungszeit eigentlich Mitte Mai für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive auf SteamVR erscheinen. Nun meldete sich das Team des Indie-Entwicklerstudios Neat Corporation zu Wort und verkündete eine erneute Verzögerung der Veröffentlichung auf den 31. Mai 2018.
Budget Cuts – Veröffentlichung am 31. Mai 2018 für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive auf SteamVR
Das Action-Indie-Spiel Budget Cuts wurde erstmals 2016 angekündigt und sorgte dank des innovativen Gameplays für Aufsehen bei Spielern und Kritikern. Entsprechend sorgsam konzentrierte sich das Entwicklerstudio seitdem auf die Entwicklung des Spiels und lies knapp eineinhalb Jahre Zeit ins Land ziehen, bis eine Veröffentlichung zum 16. Mai verkündet wurde. Kürzlichverkündete das Entwicklerteam von Budget Cuts auf Steam jedoch eine weitere unvorhergesehene Verzögerung der Veröffentlichung des VR-Stealth-Titels von ungefähr zwei Wochen.
In einem offiziellen Statement bittet Entwickler Ciwiel um Verständnis der wartenden Spielerschaft und erläutert den Grund für die Verzögerung: “Aufgrund von unvorgesehenen Hindernissen im Entwicklungsprozess müssen wir den Release-Termin des Spiels verschieben. Der neue Termin ist der 31. Mai 2018. Der Grund dafür ist einfach: Wir wollen den Titelin einem Zustand veröffentlichen, auf den wir stolz sein können und der den Spielern durchgängig Freude am Spiel bereitet. Dabei sollen sich unsere Entwickler jedoch nicht vollständig aufarbeiten. Wir sind sehr dankbar für euer Verständnis und freuen uns auf die Veröffentlichung Ende Mai.”
In Budget Cuts dürfen sich Spieler wie Geheimagenten durch unterschiedliche Level schleichen und Portale nutzen, um ungesehen voranzuschreiten. Dabei gilt es diverse Aufgaben zu lösen, wie beispielsweise Sicherheitssysteme auszuschalten oder feindliche Robotergegner die Schaltkreise auszuknipsen.
Erste Einblicke der damaligen Alpha-Version des Spiels konnten wir bereits vor einiger Zeit mit der HTC Vive testen:
Budget Cuts soll am 31. Mai 2018 auf Steam für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive für ungefähr 30 Euro erscheinen.
It turns out we won’t be playing Neat Corporation’s long-anticipated Budget Cuts next week after all, but we still won’t have to wait long.
The Swedish developer this week announced that its VR stealth game has suffered a small delay, with release moving from May 16th to May 31st for both Rift and Vive. On a Steam blog, the developer explained that this was down to “some unforeseen obstacles”, though the team didn’t provide specifics.
“The reason is simply that we want to release Budget Cuts in a state that we’re proud of and know will be enjoyable throughout the entire game (without killing our devs in the process),” the studio noted.
We’ve been waiting for Budget Cuts for over two years now, so two more weeks won’t kill us. The game sets players sneaking through a robot-patrolled facility using one of the most convincing and immersive teleportation mechanics we’ve yet seen in VR. We finally got to go hands-on with the game back at GDC in March and it looks like it will be well worth the wait.
“Neat Corporation is being tight-lipped about what the later game involves, including what environments we might encounter,” Senior Editor Ian Hamilton wrote. “What I saw though in our tiny slice of the game was what I imagine most people who played the demo want — a deeper world with smarter, more reactive enemies and refinements to all of the game’s innovative user interface ideas.”
Some videogames can take quite a while to develop depending on the team, with some taking years to build. Neat Corporation announced its virtual reality (VR) title Budgets Cuts in January 2016, prior to any of the main head-mounted displays (HMD) launching. Then in March the studio demoed Budget Cuts at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018 revealing 16th May as the official launch date. Today, however that date has now slipped to the end of this month.
In a Steam posting Neat Corporation has said: “Due to some unforeseen obstacles in the development of Budget Cuts, we’re going to have to delay the release date of the game.
“The reason is simply that we want to release Budget Cuts in a state that we’re proud of and know will be enjoyable throughout the entire game (without killing our devs in the process).”
Gamers who’ve been following Budget Cuts and are keen to see the title arrive for Oculus Rift or HTC Vive won’t have too much longer to wait as the launch date is now 31st May, 2018.
Budget Cuts is a full roomscale designed experience where you play a secret agent employed by a secretive company to infiltrate other firms. To do this you’re provided with a teleportation gun which can fire you through windows, down corridors and even through vents. It’s in these smaller space where you’ll have to actually duck down and squeeze through, finding hidden corridors and other spaces to sneak into.
VRFocusgot some hands-on time with Budget Cuts, saying: Budget Cuts has lost none of its charm over the last two years, and with an estimated run time of around 7 – 8 hours should provide a decently sized, novel experience. VRFocus has enjoyed what it’s seen so far, we’re keenly awaiting Neat Corporation’s VR launch in a couple of months time.
If any further details are released in the run up to launch, VRFocus will keep you updated.
It’s always nice when a promising looking title disappears then remerges bigger and better than before, but that’s exactly what Neat Corporation has done with stealthy, spy inspired experience Budget Cuts. First announced way back in 2016, the studio released a teasing demo for HTC Vive owners on Steam. It’s only been during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018 that Budget Cuts has returned with new screenshots and an actual release date. VRFocus managed to get some hands-on time with the HTC Vive version of the virtual reality (VR) title and its shaping up to be one of the indie hits of 2018.
VR has its fair share of action oriented titles, letting players march around shooting things until they turn to mulch. Budget Cuts is different, being all about creeping around, trying not to get spotted. Playing a spy, the object of the campaign is to sneak into rival companies and steal secrets using a variety of high tech gadgetry.
The main device on hand is a teleportation gun. While movement in VR has certainly moved onsince 2016, with teleportation no longer the defacto choice for comfortable travel in VR, in the case of Budget Cuts the system is neatly woven into the gameplay design, enhancing the stealthy approach. It’s not quite like any other teleportation seen in other VR experiences as it tends not to be instant. Instead the gun fires a ball which can be bounced through holes, around corners, basically anywhere where there’s a gap. Upon this blue ball landing you’re given a magic mirror of sorts, a viewing panel that lets you inspect the area before teleporting, ideal for scoping out enemies before making the decision to move.
As mentioned this is ideal for sneaking into difficult or tight areas, being able to squeeze into vents or maintenance rooms. This is another part of Budget Cuts’ charm, you need to be prepared to get limber. If your trying to teleport into a vent and you’re standing up then it’s not going to work, requiring a hands and knee approach just like a normal super spy.
In the section VRFocus played there was no hand holding or linear gameplay. Given free access to wander around just about anywhere – some doors were locked/didn’t open – it was all about learning the surroundings, finding out what led where until a route presented itself. This inevitably turned into find a key card to unlock a particular door, rudimentary stuff which is likely to get more complex as the levels progress.
With no actual guns or weaponry to hand finding the first security robot then required evasive manoeuvring until some sort of implement presented itself. This turned out to be a pair of scissors that could be flung like a throwing knife. This kind of thinking on the fly rather than having an inventory full of items did make for a far more intense and enjoyable experience – you can obviously store items should you come across a deadly stapler.
Budget Cuts has lost none of its charm over the last two years, and with an estimated run time of around 7 – 8 hours should provide a decently sized, novel experience. VRFocus has enjoyed what it’s seen so far, we’re keenly awaiting Neat Corporation’s VR launch in a couple of months time.
If it feels like it’s been some time since we’ve heard anything of virtual reality (VR) stealth-based videogame Budget Cuts, that’s mostly because it has been. Announced in January 2016, the title developed by Neat Corporation is the studio’s take on first-person sneaking around but in a VR environment.
Since a busy early period in that year though, things have been relatively quiet. Last year was devoid of pretty much any news on the title at all. Though that didn’t stop a number of outlets listed Budget Cuts among our ‘Most Wanted’ VR videogame titles at the end of 2017. As we put it at the time despite its absence from the VR stage its initial demo was such that it hadn’t dulled interest. VRFocus guest writer Stephen Davies noted that it was: “one of the best VR experiences available, at that point, the demo for Budget Cuts simply wowed everybody that it came into contact with.”
Budget Cuts sees you take on the role of a spy under the employ of a company specialising in space-time technology. Players are tasked with sneaking into rival facilities using a variety of hi-tech gadgets, including a short-range teleportation device that allows you to move around the environment (hopefully) undetected.
Despite the lull in proceedings Neat Corporation have been busy behind the scenes, and now at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2018 we have both new assets and news relating to the development of the title. Most importantly we at last have a release date – May 20th 2018, and confirmation that the title will be heading to HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift, which is advised to be operated with two to three sensors set up. Support for two front facing sensors has also been confirmed. Being designed for room-scale VR there is, unfortunately, no version for the PlayStation VR.
Budget Cuts will run at around 7-8 hours of gameplay and, VRFocus is told, and will retail at $29.99 (USD). You can see additional screenshots below. VRFocus will bring you more details about the title as we get it and be sure to check back regularly for all the latest coming out of GDC 2018.
Die 2016 erschienen Demo zu Budget Cuts schlug hohe Wellen und vermutlich auch höhere, als der Entwickler David Jagneaux damals gedacht hätte. Um den hohen Erwartungen gerecht werden zu können, gingen nun etliche Monate ins Land, doch im Mai soll das Warten ein Ende haben, denn Budget Cuts soll in diesem Monat sein Debut auf der Oculus Rift und der HTC Vive feiern.
Budget Cuts erscheint am 16. Mai 2018 für Rift und Vive
Upload VR konnte die GDC-Demo des Spiels bereits testen und berichtet, dass sich konzeptionell nichts verändert hat, jedoch wurden alle Mechaniken und Darstellungen verfeinert und ausgebaut. So sind in der finalen Version nicht nur ein großer Teil der Objekte untersuchbar und beweglich, sondern alle Einrichtungsgegenstände lassen sich nutzen. Selbst ein Besen zum Kehren steht für ganz fleißige Menschen bereit.
Aktuell verrät Neat Corporation noch nicht, wie die weiteren Abschnitte im Spiel aussehen werden – die Spielzeit soll rund acht Stunden für einen Durchgang betragen. Da jedoch nur noch wenig Zeit bis zum Release ist, sollte es bald neue Informationen geben.
Am 16. Mai soll Budget Cuts für die HTC Vive und die Oculus Rift auf Steam und im Oculus Store erscheinen. Rund 30 US-Dollar beziehungsweise Euro werden für das Spiel fällig werden.
VR has its fair share of action oriented titles, letting players march around shooting things until they turn to mulch. Budget Cuts is different, being all about creeping around, trying not to get spotted. Playing a spy, the object of the campaign is to sneak into rival companies and steal secrets using a variety of high tech gadgetry.
In the section 
Since a busy early period in that year though, things have been relatively quiet. Last year was devoid of pretty much any news on the title at all. Though that didn’t stop a number of outlets listed Budget Cuts among our ‘Most Wanted’ VR videogame titles at the end of 2017. As we put it at the time despite its absence from the VR stage its initial demo was such that it hadn’t dulled interest. 