Mannequin, an asymmetrical VR multiplayer game from Fast Travel Games, is a breath of fresh air in the immersive gaming space. Enemies essentially hide in plain sight, the game is challenging whether you have 1v2 players or a full round of 2v3, and it’s one of the best examples of collaborative play that I’ve seen in VR.

The sci-fi storyline behind Mannequin is just enough to be fascinating and set the stage for the game, yet knowledge of the story isn’t essential to your survival. Basically, aliens are behind anomalies that have frozen specific sites in time, turning the humans there into motionless statues. Understandably, this has caused chaos around the globe and special Agents have been dispatched to hunt down the aliens, referred to as Mannequins.

Following an early access period that began on May 4, Mannequin is now officially launched on Meta Quest Store and Steam. Here are a few of the features I’ve been most impressed with:

2v3 Asymmetrical Gameplay

The asymmetrical team balance has two Agents on the hunt for the Mannequins and they use EMF readers to assist their search. Ammunition is limited, however, and if you accidentally shoot a frozen human, it jams your gun. This allows the Mannequins an ideal opportunity to lunge forward and add you to the frozen victims with a single touch.

As a side note, over the past eight years, I’ve spent more time in VR games than I can register and while the increase of headset sales has mitigated some of the early challenge of not having enough people to play with, it’s something I always consider with multiplayer games. One of the most impressive aspects of Mannequin is the fact that it really doesn’t matter because the game is equally fun with two or three people as it is with five. Also, backfill works well and it almost goes along with the storyline since you might think you have only one Agent hunting you or two Mannequins posing as humans, but if you don’t pay attention to who’s in the site, you’ll end up regretting it.

4 Enriched Maps

Each of the maps is unique and offers advantages and disadvantages to both Agents and Mannequins. They’re not overly simplistic or overly decorative and it’s obvious that the developers at Fast Travel Games have found a great overall balance for an excellent gaming experience. The various unique maps also support the storyline of the game in a creative way, where you wish you could hang out there a bit longer and discover more about what’s going on in these locations.

As a player, you can choose a particular map or jump into a public match and take your chance on which site you end up in. For me personally, I enjoy all the maps so I just jump in and see what fate hands me!

Steam/Meta Quest Cross-Play

Exclusively for Meta Quest 3 players, Mannequin offers cross-play so whether you’re on standalone or PC, you have access to the entire player database. It’s easy to add friends and create custom matches or queue up in pubs and make new friends.

Custom Modes

You’ll find some additions to Mannequin’s custom matches in the full release, including Infected Mode. The devs suggested this when I jumped into a match with them recently and it was incredibly fun, but also slightly terrifying – in a desirable sort of way. After all, you’re roaming around a world where things have gone horribly wrong and you’re in danger regardless of which side you’re on, but the last thing you want is to be infected.

Collaborative Gameplay

As I mentioned earlier, Mannequin has one of the best examples of collaborative play that I’ve seen in VR. While you technically can roam around and perform your Agent or Mannequin duties on your own, you’re more likely to succeed if you cooperative with your teammates. Communication is vital, but you can also use quite a bit of natural gesturing (for those who prefer to remain muted) to get your point across in this game.

Recently I ended up in a random match with a young person from Texas. I happened to be recording and when I was watching the footage later, I was impressed with the amount of collaboration to achieve our goals. Obviously every match doesn’t have quite this level of cooperation with complete strangers, but I’ve spent many hours in game and since the matches are set up as best 3 of 5, people usually catch on pretty quickly that it’s better to work with your teammates.

Fast Travel Games

Fast Travel Games has an incredibly talented group of developers responsible for the creation of critically acclaimed VR titles such as Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice, Apex Construct, and Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife.

Mannequin is the company’s first multiplayer VR title.

“We took a risk to create an original story that truly pushes the boundaries of what VR can offer,” said Oskar Burman, CEO at Fast Travel Games. “We can’t wait for VR and gaming fans to experience the intense hide and seek gameplay while being immersed in one of the most dynamic and visually stunning environments that the team has developed.”

I fully expect to see more awesomeness from this team and look forward to seeing the community’s reaction to Mannequin. If you see me in game, however, let’s hope we’re on the same team!

Resources

• Quest Store page link: https://www.meta.com/experiences/7028027297235918/
• Steam page link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2409260/Mannequin/
• Discord community: https://discord.gg/mannequingame

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(This article was initially published on XR Update.)