The game ends quickly. I stretched it over three play sessions but was done in around four hours.

Arguably, that’s enough. Edge of Nowhere’s enemies are not that smart and the game’s visuals and environments are not that varied. Its gameplay doesn’t get all that deep and at times seems to go on auto-pilot, a sign that the developers hadn’t figured out how to give players full control at all of the game’s potentially coolest moments. It all feels like a prototypical first-generation game, the kind of game where the developers’ creativity feels clipped because they surely spent a lot of their time simply figuring out how to develop on a new platform.

It’s only right near the end when the game’s levels use the vast scale of VR graphics to portray interestingly complex structures that are worth craning your neck to take in. It’s only in the game’s last few combat encounters that it feels natural and necessary to start turning your head to glance at the patrolling enemies on the side as Victor sneaks past an enemy in front of him. It only feels near the end like the developers were getting comfortable pushing the player into tactically tougher situations in VR. More of that might have helped beef up Edge of Nowhere but would have also stretched a story that feels ready to end when it does.

VR is for now a rich person’s delight. The PC I bought to run a Rift cost $1500. The Rift itself cost me $600. Oculus comped me Edge of Nowhere, but it’ll run most players $40. If you pay this right now, you’re paying for experimentation on a new platform. You’re playing in the first generation. And you’re playing the attempted answers to lots of difficult technical questions.

Edge of Nowhere’s primary question is whether a perfectly standard type of video game is worth putting into virtual reality. There’s nothing about it that demands it be experienced in VR. Given how frequently the player must simply look ahead to keep their focus on the lead character, there’s barely any gameplay impact. But the sense of scale that VR provides a game like this is remarkable. The comfort with which you can play this game is an example for other VR developers to follow. Yes, it is good and satisfying and even spectacular to play a traditional third-person action adventure in virtual reality.