Analysis: Bonelab Is Disappointing...

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Thank you INTO THE AM for these Elevated Everyday Graphic Tees! Get yours now and get 10% off site-wide when you click the link below: intotheam.com/DragonShirts Man...I hate having to make this video but it was at least fun hanging out with every one over on twitch. If you want to hang out in the future, give a follow! www.twitch.tv/jarek4gamingdragon

[@thisaccountisuseless864]

The campaign is painfully short as well compared to boneworks. As soon as it starts to pick up and become really enjoyable, it ends, leaving you underwhelmed and wanting more.

[@Pocket-Pilferer]

Only about 3 levels that weren’t tutorials were good and even then they didn’t have that same “charm” that the levels in boneworks had

[@DoctorTheo]

I think they might have done that on purpose to promote mods

[@thisaccountisuseless864]

@@DoctorTheo a game for £30 that’s advertised as a full sequel should have a sequels worth of new content. Not just sandbox and mods.

[@flarfo348]

i remember getting like halfway through bone works thinking i was about to reach the end and then learned i had like 7 more levels to go through lol

[@DoctorTheo]

@@thisaccountisuseless864 You also have to remember that this game was also made for Quest 2, I feel like a majority of development was making this game avaliable for that platform

[@CoolSs]

i think the big problem that people didn't learn the simple lesson HL2 did more than 18 years ago . Introduce the mechanic--> then introduce an obstacle that needed to be solved by the new mechanic-->the mechanic become part of the natural gameplay . then comes the most important part . Is testing and seeing if those mechanic work as intended without being frustrating or pointless and can be figured out in timely manner . i think bonelab as base platform for modding and stuff is great +the new cool technology but they kinda neglected the gameplay . you can't win them all and modding is probably the best call .

[@Haddedam]

Game designers have learned it like hl2 learned it from older games. Its just that bone series is more of a how not to design a game lesson.

[@thekorekoi]

The reason they didn’t introduce the gameplay mechanics is because this is supposed to be a boneworks SEQUEL. If you played boneworks before this you would be playing the game and having so much fun because the game feels natural

[@archsteel7]

@@thekorekoi ... But they designed it for quest users, who specifically couldn't play Boneworks the first time. And even if it was purely a sequel, Half Life 2 is a sequel to Half Life and still fucking teaches you the mechanics. That's terrible game design. Also, the game is riddled with things that feel practically designed to screw over Boneworks fans. Like those gacha balls the game doesn't tell you how to open which any boneworks fan is immediately going to assume needs a reclamation station. I can't be the only person who came to Bonelab from Boneworks and then spent the entire first level carrying those gachas in a bucket waiting for the reclamation bin.

[@naenaemister5048]

half life 2 vr get better ima

[@zeyfuller]

@@archsteel7 I was carrying them in a garbage can lmao

[@thatghostlyal8422]

On the quest while it doesn't look as good at all. The fps is insanely consistent and I've never had any dips in fps

[@iccey6905]

it's the best looking game on quest, besides saint and sinners LOL

[@firemaker1258]

@@iccey6905 I’d say Blade And Sorcery and Into the Radius look better on Quest than Saints and Sinners. Saints and Sinners is seriously downgraded from the PC version.

[@iccey6905]

@@firemaker1258 i mean it's ur opinion, but in my opinion blade and sorcery nomad looks pretty avarage but even though it's avarage the performance is terrible.Into the radius might look better but i dont have it

[@thatghostlyal8422]

@@iccey6905red matter 2

[@Red_24]

@@firemaker1258 bro have you seen blade and sorcery? It looks like ass no matter what. Love that game but saint and sinners looks way better. Unless sorcery got a graphic upgrade which would be sick as hell.

[@Starzoh]

I literally had to look up a walk through for the moon base level because I couldn't tell where the hell I was supposed to go. Some of those avatar levels really tested my patience but I otherwise enjoyed my time with bonelab. I never completed the original boneworks so hey if it gets ported to bonelab that would be awesome

[@SolisFactor]

Bruh there is a map at the very beginning of the level telling you exactly where to go

[@Ozzianman]

@@SolisFactor I did not notice the map because the previous levels gave me no reason to actually pay any attention to the surroundings of the starting area. Even if I knew where to go, it is still a pointless map. It's filler in every sense of the word.

[@lttrickster5643]

It’s a puzzle and action game what do you expect other than having to do puzzles and fight enemies.

[@baphomathedude8057]

@@SolisFactor counter argument. No maps were pointed out before, and most people just get the spawn gun and start exploring.

[@nicoyad]

They now updated the avatar levels and they are much better Edit: I also think some guy made a way to play the boneworks campaign on bonelab

[@bou222]

Quick note, when you pick up a ball with two hands, white arrows do pop up, showing a pull apart motion. I feel like I am the only person who noticed this. It is there, have a look next time you pick up a collectable ball. Although it only appears when your arms are aligned a certain way by the way. You'll see what I mean when you try it.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

It never showed up for me, it showed up for my friend occasionally, but neither of us knew what to do then either.

[@BrightPage174]

I saw the arrows and tried shaking them. Didn't understand what to do until I fell with one in my hands and it popped

[@obviouslykaleb7998]

i feel like the issue with that, is that you have to hold it with both hands. if it were a larger, more cumbersome object to hold, then perhaps it would be a good system. I haven't played Bonelab in a while so i can't say whether or not it appears with or without both hands, but i know i never once held that tiny little ball with both hands except when opening it (but i did have the foreknowledge on how to open it).

[@pootassopick]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon did you have tooltips disabled?

[@autumnrain7626]

Never showed up for me on the Quest

[@xxrocketshark216xx4]

1:10 Absolutely positively one hundred and TEN percent agree; games have ZERO business being $70, ESPECIALLY on PC where everything is digital only. $60 or equivalent made sense back when games were all physical copies that had to be produced, distributed and sold through stores, etc etc, but it makes ZERO sense to charge that much now. Corporate greed at its finest if you ask me.

[@ZavalaGaming]

Oh you think that's bad huh? In Australia your 70 dollar games cost 100 ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS for a call of duty that will be replaced next year and abandoned

[@branpod]

While I agree they should still be $60, don’t platforms like steam take a pretty large cut of sales? I don’t think the cost of selling digital games is any less than that of physical

[@wtfimcrying]

people are willing to pay it lol. 60$ for most games is a good price.

[@aSkyclad]

Bruh, games have been 60 Dollars for at least the last 20 years. Which, friendly reminder, 60 dollars in 2002, taking inflation into account, would be almost 100 dollars today. Be thankful it's only an increase of 10 dollars

[@davixn]

@@aSkyclad ps2 games were $50

[@qweriop]

The soundtrack I think it's decent, it just misses something from boneworks. The composer made a youtube video about making the ost. He talked a bunch about how important he thought melodies were to the feel of the game. Boneworks had two recurring melodic themes: Bone theme, and Who am I. Even the tracks I didn't like all too much like subtle aggression had this melody that connected it to the rest of the music, even if I didn't realize that when playing the game. The ost for bonelab is good, it just doesn't feel connected like boneworks.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

There's a few tracks that do feel connected and they're easily the best in the game so yea, I 100% agree.

[@McOuroborosBurger]

I feel like Bonelab made compromises for Quest in terms of level design and maybe campaign length as well. For being 10GB Bonelab is great. However, Boneworks was a similar size install and despite slightly lower graphics quality had a more vast level design. I really don't know how well something the size of Runoff, Central Station, Tower, or Throne Room would run on Quest. SLZ also has a habit of doing 180s with their games going from Hover Junkers to Duck Season to Boneworks.

[@HughJanus81]

I saw a video the other day where somebody had supposedly modded the entire city of San Andreas into bonelab. It makes me excited for the mods to come.

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

It seems that, not only did SLZ make some big gameplay blunders, but they also set up a false expectation for what the game was supposed to be. I think it's pretty clear by now that Bonelabs exists mostly to be a playground for modding, and it's campaign and gameplay improvements/additions were secondary to that. But the game was marketed more like it was the other way around, with the campaign being the focus and modding secondary.

[@erichercules8748]

Boneworks is HL1 Bonelabs was marketed as HL2 but its more like Gary's mod with a few levels thrown in.

[@smart_lizard_3149]

If someone calls it „BoNeLaBs“, their opinion is immediately nullified, as they have no idea of the game.

[@sebaprime6411]

@@smart_lizard_3149 Bruh its not that big of a deal. Boneworks had an S so Bonelabs would make sense. A lot of people say Bonelabs while having played the game.

[@smart_lizard_3149]

@@sebaprime6411 they have played the game but they didn’t pay any attention.

[@erieriderschillingcorner1595]

@@smart_lizard_3149 i call it bonelabs cuz it sounds cooler

[@Ozzianman]

While I did enjoy my time with Bonelabs, I am still disappointed. I expected less jank, I expected a more polished player controller that took some clues from other VR games, I expected level design on par with Boneworks. I expected Boneworks but better. But this is a regression, they didn't pay attention to other VR games and iterate on their own system to improve it. One step forward, two steps back.

[@shadowfreaper8158]

add step for it running on quest

[@JustCantGetRight]

I wanted less jank and more challenging/engaging combat. Didn't quite get that unfortunately :(

[@theblobconsumes4859]

Yeah, that's also what I wanted. I like the sandbox elements that Bonelab has to offer, I just wish they marketed it as a sandbox version of Boneworks with improvements that happens to have an unfinished campaign, rather than a sequel.

[@JustCantGetRight]

@@theblobconsumes4859 I actually don't think it's improved over Boneworks. I went back just to get a feel for it and BW is indeed a lot less janky. Bonelab does run better though.

[@DastardlySnake]

@@JustCantGetRight oh wow , boneworks is less janky? Boneworks is the jankiest game I’ve ever played , put 20 hours in it, hated it. Was hoping Bonelab would be less jank

[@JustCantGetRight]

@@DastardlySnake oh yeah, it is jank AF, Bonelab is jankier.

[@shadowfreaper8158]

@@JustCantGetRight no its not their the same level of jank

[@Koniving]

Behind the building for the minecart ride is a wishing well. Listen to it. The wishes are made by discord users to SLZ. And apparently...a shitload of people wanted a roller coaster.

[@CRT_YT]

my opinion about the minecart level has went from "this level is garbage" to "i guess i can understand why" in 1 comment

[@blckspice5167]

When "gamers don't know what they want," a valid statement

[@gluipertje]

Problem is, the official sdk (one of the biggest selling points) is still in 'beta' which means you can only officially mod in avatars and very basic maps... So boneworks which is almost half the price has more campaign AND more modding capabilities (and more mods as of right now). Damn I really did not expect bonelab to come out this scuffed since boneworks one of my favourite games of all time.

[@thekorekoi]

Wrong, actually. They are updating the sdk constantly and now has gun support and car support

[@gluipertje]

@@thekorekoi Hmm, not as far as I can see. Last update to the MarrowSDK was just today but with only some small patches, not gun and car support. You're probably talking about the unofficial melonloader (which was already in boneworks)

[@shadowfreaper8158]

@@gluipertje people use script extender to add things their already great mods

[@shadowfreaper8158]

@@gluipertje and your wrong the new update was a huge one

[@gluipertje]

@@shadowfreaper8158 Uhh, recent bonelab or MarrowSDK update? And yeah melonloader has added support for bonelab but that has nothing to do with SL0 and their promises of official high-level modding capabilities.

[@goop1354]

I'm so glad someone else feels that same way as I do about bonelab. Bone works is one of my favourite games period. When bonelab was announced I was ecstatic but when I played it it let me down. In boneworks the campaign feels like you just played a movie. The campaign of bonelab is just boring and is just like a tutorial on how to switch characters. The levels are confusing (especially the moon level and how to access the main story) and didn't feel like they put their heart into the levels. I can agree when he said that the feel of the levels just aren't there, in boneworks the whole game feels almost eriee and wired like there is some sort of mystery to it, bonelab is, well, I'm not even sure, the levels don't even feel like they are from the same game as each other let alone a game that came after boneworks. After competing the game I almost refunded it because I was so disappointed I also felt like the the story wasn't complete like there was almost a second part. Boneworks took me 32 hours to complete, this game took me 6. Im not saying that the game is bad or the story is bad I just feel like it could be improved easily with an update by adding more content to it. It's a good game but if you are going to buy it just for the story because you liked boneworks (like I did) this game might not be for you. Also the soundtrack is WAY worse then the boneworks soundtrack. It also made me sad that bonelab didn't have the little store thing where you put ammo into and get weapons at the start of each level

[@jacobhu4431]

I disagree with the price being fair, the game is lackluster, and if the community are the ones making the game, you can’t ask for 40$ if your game *needs* modding to be a playable product. Modding being a selling point is fine, it adda more, just look at blade and sorcery, but that game is still a blast without mods (trust me I was around for U5) . I mean if you have spent the last few years locked in your vr headset using an anime girl avatar in vrchat you’ll probably praise the game because you can put your avatar in the game? Honestly I’m a “little” annoyed about spending 40$ for a tech demo. I mean I’m sure some absolute chad will mod all of boneworks into bonelab, which would make it bearable for me. Anyways leaving rants at 1 in the morning might not be a great idea but hey too late now!

[@vallis1339]

It's a playable product without mods. It's just short. And 40 is budget price anyways.

[@bruhtholemew]

The whole focus on mods for this game is why I didn't buy it. I just don't see mods reaching Alyx levels, especially without steam workshop. It wants to be a VR gmod, but gmod had years to build up, while Bonelab comes off as begging modders to help justify the $40 price. "Look guys we have mods!" What mods? So far the unfinished SDK has only allowed for mods you can already get for Boneworks. Everyone says "mods are coming" yet nobody who's saying it is a modder.

[@shadowfreaper8158]

wow that's stupied without staemworkshop a game can't have good mods what stupied point

[@muskratt5947]

📠

[@comicsamsthegreat]

My main 2 issues with Bonelab are that all characters are too strong, shotguns should have more recoil and humanoid enemies should be harder to pick up as normal avatars and that the level design is such a downgrade from Boneworks in every game way from actual design to environmental storytelling

[@necrowmancerowo]

Honestly agree with what you said about avatar swapping, and while I personally love random stupid weeb shit, I feel like the anime one, and maybe a few other odd and pointless ones should’ve been like scattered/hidden collectibles. Maybe also add unique gameplay quirks to some of them, making those odd avatars a bit like Halo 3’s skulls. Regardless, I do wanna try an anime girl challenge run of this game. Lol

[@necrowmancerowo]

@Average whiteguy I mean, valid, but that also supports my argument for the fluff avatars being collectibles. That makes the point of them being there _to be_ collected. Plus, if you call the collectibles something like ‘profiles’ and include a game modifier like no slow motion, melee only, or something to make it like Halo’s skulls, then the fluff content suddenly has some meaning. Kinda just my idle thoughts, but I think it’d be an improvement.

[@itsmeblue9]

what made is so disappointing for me is that the story was the main thing i was excited for. i was expecting bonelab to be a true sequel that would drastically continue the story of boneworks, but instead all we got was a short series of minigames with the only real story expansion being found on clipboards scattered around, or implications of a continuing plot

[@mrthadthebad1]

When I told people of my negative opinions of the game they were like “well it’s a modding toolkit not a story game so” like bro 💀

[@Cluelessfawkes]

Must admit having loved boneworks, half the game felt like demos and the other half felt like just when it started going in the right direction and goes to a full stop, I didn't hate but I wanted more in the campaign though the pump action shotgun made me smile every time

[@Bulbman123]

There's actually is a picture on the wall where you pick up the first capsule/ collectable, it's still kinda vague though, it shows a picture of the capsule with an an arrow pointing away at each end.

[@Axolotl720]

That was added in a later patch

[@obviouslykaleb7998]

i think something quite telling, was a line spoken in one of the gameplay showcases just leading up to the release. I think it was Node, the same people who did the gameplay showcase for Boneworks, but in the gameplay showcase and interview, the (lead?) dev said something along the lines of "so we thought, why not just release it now?" In other words, the game's just underdeveloped. I think it's released early because of the emphasis on modding that Boneworks didn't have; letting the playerbase create stuff earlier than they would otherwise, but $40 is quite a lot of money for something mostly unfinished. It's certainly unpolished, but I have faith that they'll help the rougher bits as development continues. Edit: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWaYq4OPqbqZotk at 12:20 is about where it is

[@awesomefox555]

And they did, a lot of the issues and bugs were fixed on update 1 alone.

[@obviouslykaleb7998]

@@awesomefox555 but not to the level of Boneworks. Not yet. Considering it cost 40$ at launch, that's rather steep.

[@TijnvanGimst]

My biggest problem with bonelab was its campaign. Boneworks gave you this huge amount of player freedom in levels such as Warehouse, streets and timetower. These levels placed realistic scenarios in front of you, since there wasnt 1 way to play through these levels. Bonelab on the other hand only has linear levels. There is not a single nonlinear level in bonelab's campaign. Not a single level where i can choose my path. Not a single nonlinear open level.

[@awesomefox555]

Because this is an experimental game for quest and boneworks was a story focused game for PC. They aren’t the same so stop comparing the two

[@TijnvanGimst]

@@awesomefox555 bruh💀 i'll keep comparing them as much as i want stfu

[@Snikabarz]

@@awesomefox555 well then they shouldn't have advertised it as a sequel to boneworks

[@Chilledintheshadows]

The weeb avatar was funny to me especially on the parkour rooftop map.

[@Justin-sl3sb]

For the capsule opening, honestly just make it open when you throw on the ground. What's everyone going to do when they pick it up? Play around with it, find nothing working, throw it on the ground. Even you threw it in the video. It even looks like a pokeball. So many of the things that I don't like about this game aren't necessarily bugs or campaign content, it's these little design decisions that just scream "they didn't think this through." I also had two scripting errors when playing. On the minecart rails shooter, the minecart just didn't spawn. So I spent a good 15 minutes just wandering around the subway trying to pry the doors open. The game is so cryptic and bizarrely unwilling to communicate to the player that I genuinely thought it was intended. The next was with the void plug, I had no hook to use, so I just pulled it with the heavy. While we're on the subject of the heavy, I found myself using the heavy whenever I needed some significant muscle. Or tall if I needed more fidelity to boost. Which begs the question... why does strong exist? Like, what purpose does he serve that isn't outclassed by another avatar? Why is it that an avatar whose name is "strong" isn't even the strongest? Hell, he isn't even the 2nd strongest. Which sucks, because he's the only one with an actually good tutorial level. He actually has one of the only good tutorial levels in the entire game, since SLZ seemed to have an agenda that they need to minimize the amount of tutorials present within the campaign. No matter the price, no matter the cost. The last thing that irks me is the story. The story you experience seems to be divided into one of two things. It will either be atmospheric storytelling, otherwise known as the best type of storytelling. Or it is self-aware storytelling. I really really like the atmospheric storytelling. But the other one? You know who likes self-aware storytelling? The people who write it. You know who doesn't like it? Everyone else. It feels corny and artificial, and it feels like they've just plastered it all over in places that could've been better serviced by an actual story telling device, not just one of the developers talking directly to the player. That breaks immersion like a femur in a hydraulic press. Not that this game had much immersion after the tutorial levels anyways.

[@BitlBlox]

I'd reccommend switching to the beta branch on steam. Has a lot more hints, changes to certain maps (pillar climb included), and it adds an instructional poster for capsules on the wall

[@CRT_YT]

i dont see why he couldnt just wait for the update to fully release, (which, it has now fully released)

[@RocketPillow]

@@CRT_YT Reviewers aren't don't usually review games way after the release. The game was released first, not the update, so the game gets reviewed with its flaws and all.

[@CRT_YT]

@@RocketPillow no mans sky

[@Daynger_Fox]

Ive been stuck after you get to the hub. Im SO frickin glad you told me how to PLAY THE GAME.

[@heyyitsultima]

This is probably the most interesting review of Bonelab I have seen in that I don't disagree with a majority of the points made and was genuinely surprised to find you saying the $40 price tag is acceptable when most reviews bash on that price tag. There are a couple I do disagree with however, and they're relatively small but... 1) The music. This is an entirely subjective thing and so didn't make me dislike this review any more, but I do disagree that Bonelab doesn't have as good of a soundtrack as Boneworks. For me, I think it was overall a more engaging and better soundtrack. Each time I loaded into a level and heard the level specific music start, I got a tingly feeling that made me want to explore and mess around more in each level. The Bonelab hub song is the first that did this for me, and that trend didn't really stop until the game was over. Again, entirely subjective but I really do think the Bonelab soundtrack is shockingly good. 2) The lack of the Steam Workshop support. This is something I was initially annoyed by as well, but then realized that they basically had an equal built into the game itself. In fact, although it's not currently enabled as they flesh out the SDK and patch the game, you can enable it yourself! And with third party services you can have the entirety of the mod(dot)io page available for click to install from within the game itself. This makes it genuinely better than Workshop imo, and is entirely platform agnostic. So eventually it won't be as big of an issue for mods that aren't more advanced, which would also be the case even if they had included Workshop support. Overall this is one of the more positive reviews of Bonelab I've seen and while the game definitely has a ton of issues, I still love it and am glad to see that others are appreciating aspects of it even if they're disappointed by it. I think if it hadn't been so hyped up by VR specific content creators, if it had been more properly advertised, and if some more time and effort was spent on making the campaign just that little bit better (such as introducing avatars sooner, making levels slightly less linear, making the tutorial a bit better about explaining some things) that the game would have seen far more success, and it already is a very successful game. All in all, this was an entertaining review to watch and despite me literally going "WHAT?!" when you said the soundtrack was disappointing, it was refreshing to see a take like yours which bordered negativity and positivity in an interesting (to me) way.

[@ryanwood6754]

I gotta disagree on the worth £40. I've played both vr and non vr games that were way more fun and had tons of content for cheaper.

[@naenaemister5048]

i feel like i was lied to with the ads but i skipped so much of the puzzles by mistakes due to the fact i was thinking boneworks and it’s set pieces felt subpar and several times i had to restart after sitting around for 40 minutes cause i thought i was just making a mistake

[@theblobconsumes4859]

This feels like development hell. There's no way this game didn't go through dev hell. I hope they modify the campaign to take in the criticism. Just remove the useless levels, rearrange things, and we have something a lot better. And of course, fix the issues with what's around it.

[@Al_animates]

bonelab's campaign feels like a setup for your character, in boneworks you sorta see the bone-verse's setup(even tho duck season did some of that already) as arthur does his lil thing but now you are an original character, you can make your own character who was thrown out of fantasy land and is shown a whole new world, if they were to release a dlc to expand on this story it could be promising, when the hand came down and i grabbed on to it i said "oh this is gonna be good" but then bam the story's over i also thought it was cool how they incorporated modding into the story so now if you make mods or avatars you are sort of becoming apart of the lore.

[@CRT_YT]

as arthur does his lil thing???? its FORD bro

[@mark-gj4mb]

unrelated, but I feel your anime rant. If you want really good anime then I recommend Monster. It's a really good anime that has none of the tropes you would expect. Also the English dub is fantastic if that's your thing

[@kronos7662]

The crane is still broken by the way, the only way I was able to fix it was by climbing all the way up to it and glitching it out so it could fix itself. It’s ridiculous how this hasn’t been patched yet.

[@CRT_YT]

hey what do you think of the recent update?

[@stevensonsteven5965]

I also feel like they spent more time on optimization, the sdk, and the avatar functionality rather than the campaign. The campaign does seem like kind of an afterthought.

[@vladioanalexandru4222]

it's weird how boneworks runs better for me with a 3070 ti at 120 fps while bonelab stays at 90 or lower fps. I should mess more with the settings.

[@TristanTheVRGamecat]

The music when you opened the elevator was also really on point in my opinion , tbf the soundtrack taken outside of the game as in just listening to it has some awesome tunes

[@ADHD_God5489]

Out of all the levels in bonelab. The pillar climb is the most annoying thing I had ever experienced in a vr game. Majority of the time when I'm playing the pillar level (played the game on quest) my left controller will not work at all, which causes me to either restart the game or going back to the menus. And i don't want to explain how many times I died from those blue flying things. I fucking hope they get removed.

[@greatygoodyguy]

Extremely late but bonelab still has so much potential. An extremely great port of tower from boneworks was modded in and its amazing (mod is lateworks/soon to be labworks and I say only tower because the rest of labworks is unfinished/not as great but hopefully it will be lol.) I played boneworks tower and then the bonelab ported one and the bonelab one was just so much better overall. It ran better and just played better because of bonelab's upgraded physics and interaction. It also felt like I had more freedom with the avatars and vehicles and way better mod support. And the infinitely better multiplayer mod Fusion just makes it so much more enjoyable. This game can help people make crazy custom campaigns and levels especially when the sdk gets updated this year. Just imagine a vertigo 2 esc story campaign with bonelab's physics, interaction, and multiplayer. This game outside of campaign allows so much freedom and better improvements to boneworks in terms of modding and overall fun factor. People don't realize how much polish went into upgrading the whole marrow engine system, bonelab feels instantly smoother and more rigid. But because of the low tier campaign, slz is getting overly hated on and it really just sucks. They've made such a good framework and system that is honestly so extremely good but some people may never come back to this game/studio no matter how good it gets. And it will probably get good, this studio has done amazing things in the past and can do amazing things in the future, especially with the rumored campaign rework... Edit: I also have like 400+ mods in bonelab and it still loads and runs the same as it did without them. I love this games optimization. If you had >50 mods on boneworks it would start lagging worse than the game already did, and it would take longer to even start up the game.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Problem is the game launched unfinished. We're almost a year after launch and it's still not how it should have been on launch.

[@azy7trillion886]

An expansive story dlc could definitely be a saving grace

[@wtfimcrying]

yeah no lol

[@azy7trillion886]

@@wtfimcrying how mf

[@TheWarmotor]

Wow, I had the opposite issue with the PC version. I ran Boneworks at ultra settings and my rig chewed it up, Bonelabs I'm playing on MEDIUM to maintain 90fps and not get ASW artifacting. This is the first game I've ever had to pull down from max settings. I figured they'd optimized it for cell phone hardware and let the PCVR version suffer... sounds like I might have another issue?

[@Spaceman500five]

It ran way better for me and I think most people. If I were you I would troubleshoot a bit or wait for a patch. Maybe other people had the same problem.

[@TheWarmotor]

@@Spaceman500five I've already finished the single player content... in like 3 days. Not much of a game, and for all the hype the engine is pretty much just unity with a wonky physics layer on top... I just noticed that the glocks are the same unity store stock assets that they use in Contractors. When the really good mods start rolling out, I'll reinstall.

[@BrightPage174]

I love the game but I can't imagine how bad the situation would have been if there wasn't any mod support

Hey everyone! Watch out for your notifications for this and other channels! KZbin has removed mine for this (was set to all) and I missed a lot of Jarek's content! Beware! Keep up Jarek! Huge fan from Brazil!

[@TijnvanGimst]

My biggest complaint was the leve design. In boneworks you had freedom. Freedom in levels such as streets, timetower or warehouse. Bonelab doesnt even come close to the quality of level design boneworks had.

[@matthewhuff2226]

My performance in boneworks was almost flawless and shit in bonelab. Odd how it was the opposite for you

[@spooder5002]

I ripped open the quarantine door with a war hammer somehow

[@retro1x201]

Boneworks ruined VR for me, in a good way I can’t play games that don’t have the level of interaction that BW had or atleast attempt it bonelabs is alright I bought it on my quest and I enjoyed it but I think I still prefer BW

[@Duckamoly]

Hopefully whatever game SLZ is starting production of soon will live up to Boneworks. I like Bonelab in it's current state, but it's not the best as a SEQUEL to Boneworks. (Not that it necessarily was meant to be.)

[@lynxovski]

I guess they forgot the lessons Half-Life Alyx teached.

[@missa2855]

Did they ever learn them? Boneworks is pretty much the complete opposite of Alyx. And personally I prefer Boneworks.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

To be fair, it'd be difficult for boneworks to have learned from alyx because it came out first which is impressive because it's better than alyx.

[@bananawingz8624]

Another thing I think that’s worth noting - trying to crouch while moving just doesn’t work in bonelab. They introduced this system that allows you to change between seated and standing on the fly and it really messes with the crouching. The movement somehow felt jankier than boneworks. I was so excited for this game bc I love boneworks but I don’t even touch bonelab anymore. It’s just worse boneworks, idk what SLZ was doing this whole time. If they added official multiplayer or some big upgrade from boneworks, I’d be okay excusing the other stuff but as it stands, this game is a let down.

[@zyker2156]

I agree with everything but the OST, I think the action tracks are fantastic in Bonelab but I agree that ambient tracks are far less memorable. Vulture, Fistfight Fugue and Hall Vortex are some of my personal favourites.

[@ReconZ3X]

Honestly Bonelab should've been a DLC/Expansion for Boneworks. Every video I watch on Bonelabs have almost the exact same issues with the game almost verbatim, issues that Boneworks just didn't have at all.

[@Bafo117]

hey man, are you gonna make a video about hrot?

[@chemergency]

Looks like a fun time but definitely not as polished or focused in its design as Boneworks was, probably will pick it up on sale.

[@Mr.SpicyIce]

pick up when more worthwhile mods come out. the game is fantastic but also completely trash. pick the game up on a major sale not a 10% sale.

[@bruhtholemew]

@@Mr.SpicyIce "When" more like if. Can't really trust that modders will care about or buy a sub-par game.

[@Fyshtako]

Yeah, I refunded just short of the 2 hour limit.. I just wasn't feeling the campaign and I can always rebuy it later, I just don't have the money right now to be buying things for the promise of future modded content.

[@Dirvinator]

5:55 there is no link to your older video

[@jordancox559]

THANK YOU. THANK YOU JAREK. MY BOY. you have worded this EXACT the same as I would. Flawless. I'm going to post this video anytime I need to explain why I was majorly disappointed by bonelab.

[@krazy8799]

i refuned the game cuz i thought the beginning was the campaign 🤦‍♂️

[@ApertureAce]

Bonelab is like the Half-Life: Blue Shift of Boneworks

[@NPC_GENERIC_ENEMY_INFANTRY]

As a man who's made numerous mods on Boneworks for my friends and everything, and has played the game through in the double digits, I agree with pretty much every point here. Especially the music and avatars. However, me and my friends kind of feel like this is just Boneworks copy pasted with better post processing/graphics options, and added modding support, for an extra 40 bucks. Keep in mind Boneworks has been out for 3 years, so I guess you could say we felt it should have had much more packaged along with it day one.

[@kl41256-p]

I’m a person who doesn’t own a proper and dedicated PC, so downloading mods is gonna be a big no-no for me. I would like a VRChat avatar in this game and bc I don’t have a PC, this is a me problem.

[@brawler5760]

Hey since Twitch is killing itself, will you ever stream on KZbin?

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

No, that's significantly worse. Twitch doesn't get me a ton of money, it's for convenience and organization.

[@catubz]

Yea… After playing the game, I kinda realized that it wasn’t as crazy as people made it sound, but still very good

[@stevensonsteven5965]

18:32 all but one level is done

[@juggernautpanda1138]

I didn't even realize these were 2 different games.

[@shadowenix6282]

I feel the same way, just also I feel the physics are more "elastic" even playing as ford things dont really feel heavy. As well as my weapons and objects always clip inside of things, overall this isnt a bad game just needed some more time in the oven and maybe less of the god awful minigames Boneworks was loved and didnt have them why did they have to be here now?

[@kl41256-p]

Also SLZ should add a mod manager and add the feature to download mods straight from the manager.

[@HashiriyaR32]

12:51 I really need to watch those two titles mentioned...

[@brawler5760]

Cowboy Bebop is something of legend bro.

[@RLMiLLHA]

Agree with alot of this. Levels feel like their made by different people, and the quality control seems off. They seem rushed and broken at times. The "short/cat" avatar level actually pissed me off. As it felt like a big waste of my time to figure out. The avatar tech part of the game is pretty impressive. But some of the other content/levels feels like a really early years Unity indie game. 😅 Really hoping future modding will give this game a breath of badly needed fresh air.

[@ColdSnailVR]

The gocart thing sucks for the light character. I’m pretty sure ANY other character (probably not heavy) feels A LOT better.

[@NesLightGun]

I'm gonna be honest, the only disappointing thing that I see in bonelab is the character unlocking levels. The rest of the game is not perfect, but really really good. I do miss boneworks alone in a huge world kind of atmosphere, but bonelab feels like it is trying to cater a lot to modding.

[@R77ification]

Tbh I'm kinda iffy with the idea that you kind of HAVE to mod the game to make it good. Sure, its 40 dollars. But you are spending 40 dollars on what is supposed to be a game, not a modding kit. Feels like the "we made it easier for you to fix the game for us" wave Bethesda has been riding on for years. Idk maybe I'm just a pessimist.

[@shadowfreaper8158]

this a indie company it this game is better 99% of vr games

[@nondayz593]

@@shadowfreaper8158 It's a game on a shelf with a price. I don't care how small the company is, bad design is bad design.

[@shadowfreaper8158]

@@nondayz593 the games good story is a mix bag but modding is amazing and sandbox is designed great

[@nondayz593]

@@shadowfreaper8158 It's not the story, it's the level designs. They are freaking terrible and only good in the beginning and the end. The middle part is so much of a slog I can't believe it's designed by the same people who made Bonework. Modding is more like a band aid on a greater wound, because now _why make a good game when the community can make it for you amr?_

[@shadowfreaper8158]

@@nondayz593 am ok with it like how many vr games are like bonelab/works not many and the community being able to run wild with the engine is great

[@goodguy7548]

I hate how small bonelab levels are in comparison to boneworks.

[@therocket3953]

Should I play boneworks first before playing bonelabs?

[@shadowfreaper8158]

ya has a beginning tutorial to help new players

[@MemeMarine]

........Bonelabs has a campaign?????

[@Ozzianman]

Yes! When I came to the Bonelab lobby i went "Is that it!?" Out loud because I was streaming over discord to some friends. Almost quit until I actually found out about the stupid crane game.

[@phm2d585]

Hey Jarek, How about a "How good is Clive Barker's Jericho"?

[@dougersonify]

As soon as the campaign picks up it ends. You had to do so much boring and dumb shit to not even get the payout for it.

[@stevensonsteven5965]

I feel like the hub should have been one of the last levels of the game. It doesn't seem right to put it at the very beginning

[@sodaspider130]

I know this is just a tech demo of a game, but hopefully it leads to more immersive games in the future

[@caseyhall2320]

Work should be done to make Bone Labs fully compatible with the Thunderstore mod manager. It's basically Steam Workshop without Steam (also better, but that's imo).

[@toprem4037]

3:40 - VRChat does this, not that VRChat is really a game in the same sense as this is.

[@ElephantsDoingCrack]

15:48 This one track that you played hit hard. In that one section, all I felt were memories of the first time I played Boneworks with my friends and a lot of nostalgia. It is funny because that was two years ago. God damn Boneworks is one hell of a game

[@waltermisery451]

Jarek, you gotta just make a video on the Old Blood pack. I see you did a video on Crimson Metal, as shite as it is I would love for you to check out the other 2 delightful treats, "Doomed" and "Dark Places"

[@Rexxie44]

Yeah... I have pretty much the same views as you do. Functionally this game is a worthy successor but the story is very hit or miss. They give the model swapping too late in, the set pieces were largely mundane and like a chore, and idk, while it does have new environments they introduced, I didn't have that same methodical feel from the first game. The soundtrack was okay, but it wasn't very fitting for the game I feel. Not like how the first game at least. I do like the continuation tracks however, those were clever. I just wish they could've been more memorable. I did like the home level's track though, felt pretty moving as you were coming back. But yeah, idk I feel like the levels were an after thought in some way. Imma just wait for the old games levels and I'll be happy.

[@lukasgroot]

Jarek I don't wanna be that guy but you promised a Stalker review, any idea when? :) Can't wait. 6:34 could be a bug in that game, I mean feature.

[@Chonkems]

I really don't like the downgrades they made for the Quest. I really wish they didn't make any deals with Oculus for this game, it would've been better to not release it on Quest, but then the Quest users would be butthurt. To clarify: I don't like how they made nullbodies look worse, and how the weapons are much more simplified in their physics, since you can no longer reload if you don't hold both the gun and magazine at the same time.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Nullbodies look the same to me and gun reloads work the same. You can still drop the mag and use the bolt catch and every thing.

[@Chonkems]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon Nullbodies in boneworks were a wiremesh with orbs below, and mag eject wasn't a thing without mods for Boneworks. They also ended up changing how mags work, they're less physical and more trigger based now, so you can't do crazy shit to reload your guns anymore.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

@@Chonkems I don't know if this is a platform thing but none of that is true. Without mods you can still drop your mags in boneworks. I've noticed no difference between the two games on both wmr and valve index.

[@Chonkems]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon I always thought it needed mods? Do you mean the button press drop or the mag flick which is a byproduct of how the auto eject works when the mag gets close? Edit: just checked, the magazine thing is a problem with HP G2 compatibility. So that seems to be the issue. Mags in Bonelab seem to work differently if you use WMR runtimes.

[@missa2855]

My most major issues with the game are tied to control surfaces... Issues like wonk index support and scuffed physical crouching. Though that has been confirmed to be fixed by their discord moderators. Looking at the files there are a lot if sound snippets and settings that have never made it into the final product leaving me wondering if someone decided they have to release the game in a rushed state... Idk if it is just my dislike og Meta making nr wanna blame them, but I kinda feel like they had a hand in it.

[@papis802]

I couldn’t tell if the jank was part of the game or actual jank

[@robertlauder303]

Great video, man. I hope stress level zero watches this. I think this game was really meant for the quest. If the quest never existed neither would this game.

[@goxy287]

Okay I had to come back now that I played it, the cat in the space part is so terrible, and even more the gokart, keeps flipping over getting stuck under shit, why is it controlled with the thumbstick. My god rest of the campaign is okay but this part is absolutely dreadful garbage, how did they mess it up so bad, boneworks campaign was great. I didn't actually mind the roller coaster it wasnt nearly as terrible as the gokart tho

[@brawler5760]

12:48: Based

[@EXILED4LIFE]

The Light avatar was broken for me and I was never able to switch to it. The gocart level left me with the cat.

[@horrorfan1978]

if only you knew how bad the state of modding was for this game :P

[@goxy287]

While I don't think I agree with all of it, the music I think is good and I think the game has a lot of polish actually in the feel of the weapons and general mechanics, it does feel like this game is sort of unfinished and went too much into the "techdemo" direction. If only it was structured a bit better, it would've been perfect. I still like it a lot though.

[@goxy287]

It feels like instead of making the game a bit clearer than boneworks which was already a bit too vague in some aspects, they made it even more confusing. It works once you know what to do and how to do it but before that its quite frustrating and janky. Instead of improving that they made it as if everyone is a boneworks pro, not a great strategy if they wanted to captivate the wider vr audience on quest etc

[@priceys6090]

Exactly how I feel about the game, absolutely loved Boneworks but this game just isn't it, then again they literally say at the end of the story that it's a modding kit basically. I'll probably return in a few months when modders have finally made the game I guess?

[@suntannedduck2388]

The music is great from what you showed. Moving to other avatars makes sense but if they are going to have it return or make some weird design then yeah it's a bit pointless. I do think the 'look what you look like' and certain lacking gameplay focus sucks. Make a game with fun mechanics it's why I like 90/00s era gaming then walking and doing boring tasks. Who cares about visuals as a character of they can move well, play out gameplay changes areas why not go into it not fit a we have this avatar checklist and barely any use for it. I know nothing about the games and only seen them through your videos so. Your playing a video game not an interactive or VR movie experience it's clearly got problems. No one is buying Boneworks or Bonelab for the visual variety of avatars like it's a Fornite who are these developers and publishers who are so stuck in such a mindset or artists going we want to do that. Marketing teams can be a pain but if Devs aren't talking to each other here or something had to be changed or put in or it wasn't getting enough time/depth added whoever was directing it clearly didn't step in or let it happen because yeah a lot of weird decisions. The anime/weeb part was an 'okkkkk' like couldn't care less if people like anime or not, it's a game make it have purpose then visually something there. I'll gladly agree on that don't need to hear anime preferences just how it is wasted or good potential of the game. Not going to get stuck on that like other anime fans do. XD It isn't a skin so make it have a purpose indeed. I agree with the wind/fans or level design around a floaty character than a heavy grounded one that would be cool. I have a problem with developers that have barely any ideas or good designs but the purpose isn't close to what I think it should be that has more use than a more weak one suited to the type of level it is. Minecraft mob votes suck because the use cases suck compared to the location and design. As a recent example while other games have better ideas not tied to dumb lack of programmers with good ideas and instead designers or artists or just those people than their position that don't get it and need marketability for whatever reason or programmers with too much basic logic behind it, hobby IRL and other nonsense that doesn't translate. Why would you want a mob that gives rewards I see getting abused because of noticeably three times and the reward could be good (cheaty) or trash and how the mob sees it to suit it with personality compared to a helpful one that makes sense and people mod the game to have assisting characters and we still don't have it. Hmmmm. Sigh. Some Devs suck at ideas they have skill to code/design but they have basic ideas and you wonder how they got hired if their ideas suck so much and like-minded people also suck and only gamers get how the momentum the ideas mix together well and they want to have some BS meaning or other nonsense in it like it's baffling sometimes. It's a video game not a visual showcase/tech demo/social night out or like you said with VR Chat it can be used in some cool ways but it's mostly a social experience than a game. The 'don't be afraid to make it arcadey or gameified' is the thing I always notice with games and wish they got into more than just not making sense in a weirdly less creative or marketable or otherwise disconnected way to the flow of the game and the parts that count. There is Pikmin and Zelda and Mario being related to Miyamoto and then there is elements that suit the games they aren't just a basic adventure in Zelda or only strictly gardening in Pikmin when it has many different elements that work around it's concept but Mario games have problems with Toads and concepts just being bland. Half Life games I can't tell enough but won't deny it's probably there subconsciously I just don't need to think about it because it's just so well made.