What is Bonelab?
Bonelab is a sandbox VR game that focuses on "experimental physics action" and it was released on September 29th, 2022. It gives players the realistic physics systems that is missing from most of the VR games, meaning most of the in-game enviroment is very interactable, collideable, and even destructible with enough force. It is quite a big deal as most VR games in the past have failed to simulate physics properly, either due to limited hardware capabilities, being difficult to implement successfully, and so on, leading to things such as players being able to clip through walls, objects the players are holding such as a sword passing right throgh something instead of getting caught on it, and the environment being there just for looks only.
Bonelab of course is not perfect in its physics simulations either, but is definitely one of the best on the market right now, and has also improved quite a bit in some aspects from its predecessor, Boneworks which was released back in December 10th, 2019. At first glance, there are two major updates Bonelab has over Boneworks. The first change mainly would be that while Boneworks was only released for PC VR, Bonelab was released for both PC VR and the Meta/Oculus Quest platforms, reaching an even wider player base than before. And it was done without having a significant downgrade for the Quest version despite the much more underpowered hardware in the Quest headsets. The next major change would be that Bonelab now has official mod support built right into the game which gives easy mod access to all players, something that Boneworks didn't have although there were mods being made for it. In addition to giving easier access to modding, this should also serve as a platform for modders and creators to build and create experiences right within Bonelab. It would be far easier than building a VR game from scratch especially with all the tools and utilities available in Bonelab and having access to its physics engine.
Below are the trailers for Boneworks and Bonelab respectively to get a better idea of what these games are like, and how they may have changed.
Why is Bonelab a good use of VR?
At the moment, the VR industry is pretty much in a rapid development and race that is starting to pick up some pace in terms of hardware such as:
The recently released Pico 4 which is now a direct competitor to Quest 2 that has been monopolizing the standalone VR headset market for years
Haptic VR suits and gloves that can lets users feel things inside the virtual environment on their body and can even track motion such as the Teslasuit
Haptic VR gloves such as HaptX that gives tactile and force feedback to the user as if they are holding something for real when they hold something in VR
Body tracking solutions from both the community and companies that are getting better and cheaper such as SlimeVR and HaritoraX
VR treadmills that lets players move around in the virtual environment by actually walking such as the KAT Walk C 2 and Omni One
However, as far as I am aware, there are no other commercially released VR games that explore realistic physics simulation to such an extent like what Bonelab is doing, something that could fully take advantage of what all the additional hardware that are becoming increasingly available could offer.
Just imagine that you are someone with a good VR headset being powered by a PC with the latest graphics card, a fully fitted body-tracking haptic VR suit and gloves, and a VR treadmill. Now, if you are someone who knows quite a bit about VR games, think of this: how many good or decent games do you think are available out there that could take FULL advantage of all the hardware you have now? To my knowledge, I probably could count such games on one hand.
As important as hardware is, there should be software that could take full advantage of it too for us to really know what really is possible in VR, and what really works and what doesn't. This will in turn give feedback to hardware developers, maybe even giving them a vision of which direction they should take for their hardware research and development in the future that could actually be beneficial for everyone.
In addition, if Bonelab is really successful and have shown the world that realistic physics simulation is good and could work, it would put pressure on other developers or competitiors to keep up, and motivate or encourage them to start innovating.
Therefore, in this aspect, I belive Bonelab is a good use for VR in terms of the experimenting, being a driving force towards VR physics simulation, and having some possible impacts on both the hardware or software aspects of VR (although it is hard to tell just yet as it hasn't been too long since its release).
Below are two videos that talk about Bonelab before it was released and a review of it after release from the same creator, which should be worth a check.
Who is Bonelab for?
From the reviews so far, Bonelab seems to be the most hyped up game ever mainly for:
Most VR enthusiasts, especially those that have been craving for realistic physics simulation after Boneworks
Those wanting a VR sandbox game where they can do or create whatever they want
Those who likes to do some crazy stuff or "stunts" with VR and barely gets motion sick
However, for casual or new players, the game might be too intense due to its physics simulation and such that could easily cause motion sickness and make people uncomfortable. It even is rated as "Intense" for the Comfort Rating on the Meta Quest store.
Below are videos to show what I meant by some crazy stuff or "stunts" with VR.
Some Issues with Bonelab
A have talked about some goods and bads about Bonelab in earlier sections, but let me recap with a few additional details.
First, Bonelab has one of the best, if not the most realistic physics simulation in a VR game on the market. It has given an amazing experience for those that seeks for it. However, with how intense the game can get, it has a huge drawback on the comfort that could easily make the user motion sickness and cause safety issues. This could potentially injure people if not enough care is being taken while playing it.
Second, Bonelab is available on both the PCVR and the Meta/Oculus Quest platforms without significant downgrade on the game. Even on the Quest version, the game retains all its functions and the physics simulation, mainly with just lower graphics quality and how many objects there can be in the virtual environment. This could be seen as a huge benefit as the game now reaches and even further and wider audience than it ever did with its predecessor Boneworks, letting those with just standalone VR headsets play a somewhat PCVR level game. However, due to making the game available to both platforms, there were some issues and bugs with the game at launch as the developers are now having to maintain both versions of the game. In addition, I imagine that making such a game compatible for a platform with less powerful could have come with some costs even on the PCVR version to keep the game consistent for both versions. This could have bottlenecked the game from what it could have truly been if it was just developed for the more powerful platform.
Last, having such a hyped up game that the enthusiast community have been craving for could possibly have turned away some talented creators and developers from creatingand working on something else that could have become revolutionary in the future due to wanting to develop mods and experiences for Bonelab or feeling like they can't compete against such a monument of a game it is right now. However, this is just my speculation.
The game is still fairly new, so not much can be said, but we'll see how it turns out as it keeps getting updated and as more mods and experiences are developed and created for it in the near future.