Quantum Threshold from Vaki Games uses a wheelchair as both a means of locomotion and a weapon.
This game’s unique premise stands out right from the start. You quickly realize that you’re not playing the typical run-and-gun FPS-style hero here, but instead will need to learn how to navigate in this world via a motorized and weaponized wheelchair that might even make Professor X a little jealous.
One of the standout features of Quantum Threshold is its ever-changing battlefield. Each new run feels fresh thanks to the game’s roguelike elements that ensure every session yields new loot, challenges, and enemies. This all comes together nicely to blend the game’s sense of chaos and need for strategy into a compelling loop that made me want to grind harder with each new cycle.
Your progress isn’t lost upon death but instead, Quantum Threshold places you back inside a hub-world where your hard-earned Hate Corp credits can be spent on upgrades to your weapons and chair. Then you can test your newly updated firepower on the practice range, allowing for better accuracy and longer runs over time.
Combat in Quantum Threshold quickly becomes intense as you make your way across this post-apocalyptic landscape. Wheeling around enemies and dispatching them with various weapons and cool chair upgrades shows that this wheelchair isn’t just a mobility aid. It’s an extension of you, and your ticket to continued survival. The game’s locomotion design forces players to confront and adapt to limitations they might not feel completely comfortable with at first.
When I started playing, I found myself getting frustrated that I had to control the wheelchair with a single arm while also trying to hold a weapon in my dominant hand. After 40 years of building up traditional FPS muscle memory, it was difficult for me to disconnect from that and realize I was going to have to approach this game differently. Not being able to quickly strafe or slide tightly around corners with precision was something I had to rewire my brain into realizing I could no longer do. These actions wouldn’t even be possible to pull off while seated in a wheelchair in the real world, so why would it be any different here?
The more I spent time in this game and thought about it, the more I realized those limitations I’m feeling reflect real challenges that many with mobility impairments might face every day. I was experiencing something like their experience, even for a short time in a VR game like this, and this created a newfound appreciation for Vaki Games’ thoughtful design. Now I’m seeing the need for more wheelchair ramps almost everywhere I look.
Visually, Quantum Threshold’s cel-shaded graphics look great on Quest 3 and 3S, and the game presents a good sense of depth and scale. It’s mesmerizing seeing a huge hunter-killer drone hovering overhead, scanning the ground with its laser beams, looking like something out of James Cameron’s Terminator movies with 8-bit style pixelated explosions popping off all around me.
However, as we’ve seen with other titles released on Quest 3, it seems as if Vaki Games elected to make compromises that somewhat limit the potential visual polish and performance Quantum Threshold could have achieved. That is, if it had been solely designed and optimized for the Quest 3, and not held back by compatibility with the now aging, but still market-saturated, Quest 2.
One complete loop – 8 minutes of gameplay.
In a storefront crowded with many typical first-person shooter style experiences one would expect, Quantum Threshold stands out by bringing a fresh take on the shooter genre while shining a light on accessibility through high-stakes and action-packed VR roguelike FPS gameplay. The subtle way in which Vaki has integrated the accessibility angle has me seeing this as more than just a game now.
This title has shown me a nuanced take on some of the real-world challenges faced by many. Quantum Threshold’s approach, which turns seated VR into a VR wheelchair that’s used as a vehicle of destruction, is not just a clever game mechanic. It also shows how VR developers can bridge worlds by overcoming limitations in the most imaginative ways possible.
