Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Aug 28, 2022

  I'm over 40, and haven't practiced martial arts in 20 years. I'm obviously not in the shape I was in two decades ago, but I heard this game can burn some serious calories. They weren't wrong. For the week after I got this game, I was exhausted and sweating all over, but I was having fun. Now I'm still having fun, but I no longer feel winded after throwing a few punches. My physical speed, stamina and endurance have increased--but there's a downside. You're going to need to give your muscles a chance to rest, or they won't have the energy to adapt in time for your next session. Eventually you might be able to go at it every day, but if you want to make any progress in this game (or in the real world), you're going to have to take days off. I'm only playing every other day or two now, but my performance is a lot better. 10/10. Would Yaa-taa(!) again
• gamedeal user

  Dec 14, 2022

  As a martial artist myself, I am big into martial arts VR games, and this fantastic work is truly one-of-a-kind. In fact, Dragon Fist raises the bar for martial arts games in VR. The game makes you feel like you are in a kung fu movie, without the nonsense phoney "game mechanics" you'll see in titles like Creed VR (which I consider to be the worst VR game I've ever played). But before you understand why Dragon Fist so good, you must understand it in context. So I'll compare it to a masterpiece of VR combat: Thrill of the Fight.

  Comparison with Thrill of the Fight (TotF)

  Movement TotF is an incredibly realistic boxing experience for VR. It restricts your AI opponent to stay inside your play-space, so you walk around your physical space without having to think about any button presses or locomotion. It's nice for people with small spaces, and those who have problems with motion sickness. Dragon Fist: VR uses what you'd expect from a video game — flexible locomotion. Use the playspace as much as you want, and use the thumbstick to walk (and jump), swing your arms to run, etc. Depending on what type of player you are, this may be preferable, especially because Dragon Fist has unique environments, and movement can be fundamental to your play style/fighting style.

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  Combat system This is what makes TotF shine. It is the best workout in VR, and I believe it has the best combat in VR. Even developers who tried to copy it (eg. "The Fight") have failed miserably. Its strength is the intuitiveness of its UX, and the complexity of its behind-the-scenes math. One of the unique facets about TotF's combat is how they accommodate hooks (punches from the side, not straight-on), which I haven't seen any other VR game adequately replicate (Creed VR doesn't even have the concept of a hook punch, which is pathetic for a boxing game). Dragon Fist takes a completely different approach to combat, but I don't want to bury the lead: It's good. It's not realistic like TotF... but it absolutely works. Since you have free locomotion, the developer made knockback a key part of the game, as well as how you manipulate your hand movements when you strike, the locations of where you strike, the various meters (recovery, health, special ability, etc.). I must mention that thankfully, there is no artificial stamina meter (which is another idiotic design choice from Creed VR). If you swing your arm in real life, your character will swing it (...unless one of your foes used a special ability to paralyze it temporarily!). The downside of the system is that you'll need to take time to learn how things work. But there are two major upsides to this system. Firstly, it increases how strategic your fights are (eg. need more room? Try open-palm to their rib-cage. Do they have a weak-spot you can exploit? Poke it with your fingers). Secondly, somehow the developer has managed to include the badass special moves that video games are known for, without sacrificing the fundamental game mechanics that make the fighting feel realistic. This is in fact so rare that I must say: Thrill of the Fight and Dragon Fist: VR are in a league of their own. No other martial arts VR games match them in terms of the combat systems (note: I'm not talking about games with weapons). It's not even close! And yet, if you want to play in a more realistic fashion, you can absolutely do that in Dragon Fist. You can turn off things like knockback (or just reduce it), or play without any special abilities, etc. The variety here is exceptional.

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  Enemies/AI This is what loses people with TotF. The enemy AI is good, but everyone's essentially doing the exact same behaviour. There's nothing unique about any character. The biggest difference is that Thai boxer ("the Spider") is taller than everyone else, and his reach makes things interesting; and one character is Southpaw (left-handed), which adds an interesting dimension. Otherwise, the last two characters have an annoying dodge mechanic that the others don't. That's it. I just mentioned all differences. In Dragon Fist, not only do you have a HUGE variety of characters, but each one looks and plays differently. Each has different perks/weaknesses, and the most impressive thing: They have completely unique fighting styles! Each character's fighting stance is wildly varied, making things really exciting. Hercules (the largest character) takes up a tiny bit of space until he springs into action, the Snake-style fighter makes that hissing sound which means "Oh no! I need to protect my eyes!" or else you're going to be sorry. These visual/audio cues keep you on your toes. In fact, you are even able to play special modes where you can fight MULTIPLE enemies at once. This is a welcome and unexpected addition that for some reason, many games simply don't include. My favourite mode is actually "Arcade," where you never get a chance to rest — you just fight for as long as you can.

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  Variety If it wasn't clear already, this is one of the many places where Dragon Fist shines. Are you tired of seeing the the same ugly stadium with the same referee and no music, fighting the same few people with the exact same moves? After putting in probably hundreds of hours into TotF, I can say that I am. (Note: the developers of TotF are working on a sequel, so let's not blame them for the lack of updates on the current game). So even though TotF has a better combat system (for my taste), they haven't been able to retain me the same way Dragon Fist has. Just a taste of what you get with Dragon Fist: <*>Various DIVERSE game modes (including one where you can custom to your needs... amazing!!) <*>Crazy amount of enemies... all of whom are different in look, style, and stats <*>Tons of environments (which have unofficial little mini-games in them) <*>Special abilities (which you can turn off if you don't want them... but they're fun) <*>Support for haptic vests & full-body tracking <*>A soundtrack that really puts you into the fighting mood! <*>Ability to fight against multiple enemies (not sure what the max is... I think 6) <*>Extremely intricate (not lazy) combat system, which enables there to be actual strategy beyond "punch face hard" <*>One of the best VR workouts (not as physically demanding as TotF, but still excellent) Also, the solo developer is incredibly responsive to the community, and he is trying to work on exciting additions (eg. pvp & co-op... our fingers are crossed!... but he can't promise these yet) which we're all rooting for.

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  Bottom Line

  I look at Thrill of the Fight as the benchmark for all martial arts VR titles. Overall, I would say these titles are basically equal in terms of quality for a game, but their fighting styles are radically different (which is a great thing for the industry). In fact, there's no reason why they can't coexist in the VR martial arts enthusiast's library of games. But I'll end on this note: TotF remains the champion of VR workouts, and it will be TOUGH to beat that. But the fact of the matter is... I have played TotF only a few times since I started really getting really into Dragon Fist: VR. The immense variety and constant surprises that I still discover in Dragon Fist keep me coming back for more, and it's likely that TotF's sequel is the only thing that would be able to pry me away from this phenomenal kung fu game. But hey, if we can get co-op... then I'm definitely going to keep coming back to the dojo ;)
• gamedeal user

  Mar 5, 2022

  A Kung Fu simulator for VR! Holy fuck is this fun! It's cardio-intensive and you will start sweating after just one fight. You can pick your own character from a wide variety of choices. You power up your special move, which has it's own hand/arm position, by blocking opponents attacks. My character, whose name I forget right now, can send a wave of damage flying through the air by slicing her hand. It's very realistic but has a slight magical touch to it in regards to the special moves that each character has. There's an obvious Street Fighter / Mortal Combat / Tekkan influence going on and it's great. There's a thorough training tutorial you can do and the game makes it easy to get started even if you've never done Kung Fu. I have done other forms of martial arts but I've never done Kung Fu and this almost feels just like sparring with a real opponent. The best part is you can do it in your living room wearing whatever you want! Below is a video of me fighting Moon. Now I can say: "I know Kung-fu..." https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2773413732
• gamedeal user

  Jan 23, 2022

  Punched my wall extremely hard while screaming "HIYAAA". 10/10 would play again.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 11, 2022

  EVERYBODY WAS KUNG FU FIGHTING
• gamedeal user

  May 1, 2022

  This is the best fighting simulation in VR! It's literally like being inside Street Fighter, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat! The 40 different characters and fighting styles are a major workout at any level, but the harder levels really make you work for it. I'm a fitness trainer, and in one 90 min session, according to my watch, I burned somewhere around 800 calories. With full body tracking and multiplayer in the works, this is one of the best games in the virtual reality line up! Thank you Dev Ben Olding!!!
• gamedeal user

  Dec 26, 2021

  The Thrill of the Fight and Creed Rise to Glory had a baby, then proceeded to raise said baby on Kung Fu movies and Old School Arcade Fighting games. The result is Dragon Fist: VR Kung Fu. Screenshots and Videos do not do it justice. Play the demo for yourself and decide from there. It's a small download but told me all I needed to know in terms of what the game was going to feel like. Awesome game that I totally recommend!
• gamedeal user

  Apr 26, 2022

  This game made me racist
• gamedeal user

  Dec 30, 2021

  I hate to be the lone dissenter here. I honestly really wanted to like this one, but somehow this game really disappointed me. First - I love the VR boxing game 'Thrill of the Fight'. Despite the aged graphics, it does a good job of simulating boxing. It is still one of my favourite games now even though it's more than 5 years old. Second - I used to practice Wing Chun kung fu and karate, so I was super stoked when I saw this game. I thought it would be like 'Thrill of the Fight' but kung fu... Is it? No. You use the left thumbstick to move around, and the right thumbstick to jump and kick. There is also a dash button and a special attack button. All the button pressing and thumbstick pushing is a bit difficult to carry out while making a fist or doing a finger jab, and frankly, it holds back the VR immersion. (With TotF, all you had to do was focus on punching and blocking.) Additionally, your opponent can move you also by blocking your attacks or by striking you. While your virtual self goes flying, your brain's vestibular system knows you aren't actually moving, which further reduces immersion. The loss of immersion gets really bad at the end of a match or if you are stunned or knocked out. In these cases, you go to an out of body camera. No worse way to break immersion than that. (TotF had none of these problems.) Then there is also the special move which is also just not particularly realistic. Neither are the health bars. tl;dr It's an arcade game, not a kung fu simulator. Don't go in thinking that this game will be the kung fu version of the Thrill of the Fight. The other reviews that claim this are inaccurate.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 17, 2021

  https://youtu.be/eh5_00mpayg Never lower your eyes to an enemy! This game is pure gold. 10/10 Kung Fu action to the maximum.