Throughout this review, I use the word "OK" to describe a lot of the elements of Journey To Foundation and that's it, this game is just OK
I just finished watching the second season of Foundation on Apple TV+ so I got pretty excited when Archiact replied back to my request and offered me a review code for Journey To Foundation on Quest 3. This universe, based on Isaac Asimov's iconic Foundation series, makes for a great watch on TV and I couldn't wait to well, experience it in VR. After finishing the game, Journey To Foundation is just an OK VR title, nothing too special and nowhere near the expectation I'd set in my head for the game.
Journey to Foundation places you in the role of Agent Ward, part of the Commission, tasked with uncovering a kidnapping plot amid the growing unrest facing the Galactic Empire. What surprised me the most is how big is its emphasis on narrative-driven choices. Just like in the TV series, there's a lot of talking involved. Conversation is essential, with dialogue trees presenting response options that impact later interactions. Will you kill a character who knows that you are a mole so that you are not found and continue your double-agent agenda or will you spare him and possibly get caught? Will you just throw someone out of an airlock to prove your loyalty or will you spare them and you know they might help you out later? Will you be loyal to the Commission and Empire or defect and help out the Foundation?
Your character, Ward, is a "mentallic", someone who has special psychic powers. This power of yours allows you to gain more insight during conversations. Once you do that, new dialogue options become available to you that in turn will affect how your story progresses. I really liked this aspect of the game cause I wasn't expecting it, but also as it gave me this sense of some sort of "role play", be the good guy or be the "bad" guy. I was really excited to see how my choices would alter my journey. Now, you have the ability to skip through dialogue, but if you do that, you will kinda miss on what is probably the best part of this game.
When you are not engaging in conversations, the rest of the gameplay includes a little bit of climbing and hacking terminals, some optional stealth and a lot of shooting. You can play either seated or standing, with both teleportation and smooth locomotion available and no matter what combination you choose, they all feel good.
Shooting feels just OK. You only have a blaster and as you progress through the story, you get different mods that allow you to change it up on the fly from being a pistol to a burst fire gun, shotgun and rifle. Once I got the rifle variant, I just kept using it as most of the time I could kill enemies with one headshot. You just hide behind cover, poke out a little bit, aim and just shoot until the enemies are dead. It's not a complicated combat system and the enemy AI will not rush you or I don't know, throw grenades to flush you out, they will get behind cover and shoot you, duck again, rinse and repeat. Later in the story you also get a psychic power where you can kill an enemy if you can "lock" into their minds for a couple of seconds, but I found just shooting at them to be way faster so I didn't really made much use for this power.
As for the presentation, visually the game has its moments. The first time you open the Prime Radiant, that environment is striking. By the mid point in the story you visit and infiltrate, I don't remember what it was called, but it was like a Church of Something and those environments, both inside and outside, looked pretty good. Then the other parts where you go through spaceships or mining operations, they look just OK.
I mean, until now I've used the word "OK" to describe a lot of the elements of Journey To Foundation and that's it, this game is just OK. The main story is intriguing and is the best thing of this whole package, but at the same time it involves a lot of staying static and talking. And while that might work great for a 2D experience, it doesn't really feel at home in a VR game. Having said all that, if you are a fan of the source material, you will find much to appreciate in this standalone journey through Asimov's vast lore. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a Quest 3 using a review copy provided by the developer.Journey To Foundation is available now on Meta Quest, PSVR2 and PCVR.
