Drop Dead: The Cabin [Quest 2] | REVIEW

A creepy cabin in the woods, a bunch of vicious zombies, a ton of different weapons, and a co-op partner to help you out… sounds like the perfect recipe for a virtual reality shooter, right? Drop Dead: The Cabin certainly nails its concept and offers a genuinely thrilling multiplayer experience, though be warned: the difficulty level certainly isn’t for the fainthearted, ESPECIALLY if you’re planning on playing solo.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Drop Dead: The Cabin sees players waking up in the woods and wandering their way into a mysterious cabin, with it clear that they’ve ended up as part of a deadly experiment that involves zombies. Their goal? To survive the waves upon waves of zombies that attack, all whilst completing minor objectives that’ll help them move between areas and call the help required to escape from the horrifying undead threat. It’s not a story-heavy experience so you shouldn’t expect some deep narrative threads, but there’s enough going on to keep things interesting and ensure that the experience is about more than just shooting zombies.

The core gameplay loop of Drop Dead: The Cabin revolves around two player co-op survival, with players having to grab any weapons and ammo they can find to stave off the enemy threat, with Research Points awarded each time a player kills a zombie. There’s a decent selection of weaponry to find, with a good variety of guns to use as well as melee weapons for when you need to get up close and personal for that kill. On the other hand, ammo can be a bit scarce, so players have to pick their shots carefully and keep themselves well supplied if they want to survive through the overwhelming odds.

Thankfully, there are plenty of supply crates around to refill your ammunition, though these require those aforementioned Research Points to unlock. However, Research Points also have to be spent to open up new areas to explore or access the items required to survive the ordeal, so players have to spend them wisely to balance out game progression and keeping their supplies healthy. It demands some clever thinking, but with each player having access to their own set of Research Points, some careful planning and co-ordinated spending can be the difference between life or death in the cabin.

“It’s a tough game, but it’s the desperation to survive, to preserve ammunition, and to kill of any threats coming your way that make each playthrough so entertaining.”

Of course, it’s all well and good to kill zombies, but players also have one big objective in place: to keep the cabin powered up to complete the call for help. Fortunately, there are fuel canisters found in your surroundings that can be used to power the generator… if you can protect it. Whilst it’s a tricky task to simply find the fuel canisters in the first place, players will also have to protect the generator from the zombies and make sure it’s in ship-shape. If it gets damaged? You’ll have to repair it, leaving yourself vulnerable to enemy attacks. With an abundance of zombies to fight off (and some which are more powerful than others), it can become a daunting task where you can expect to die a LOT.

It’s what makes Drop Dead: The Cabin so thrilling to play though. As I mentioned, it’s a tough game, but it’s the desperation to survive, to preserve ammunition, and to kill of any threats coming your way that make each playthrough so entertaining. Whilst it’d be easy to try to stick to one spot to kill enemies, the need to grab fuel canisters or look around for supplies means you’re forced to explore, putting you in more deadly yet exciting situations where you’ll always be on the go. I really enjoyed it, whilst knowing where and when to spend your Research Points adds an extra element of strategy to the experience where one wrong decision can be a gamechanger.

It also helps that killing zombies is a lot of fun. It always feels good to pull off a string of headshots and prevent zombies from breaking into the cabin, whilst smashing one over the head with a frying pan feels equally rewarding – especially when you get them from behind when trying to help out a co-op partner (you’re welcome). The shooting mechanics and controls are solid too, and whilst I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few clumsy moments when trying to react quickly and grab weapons from my body, it’s something I got used to quite quickly. The ever-increasing variety and difficulty of the zombie threat keeps things interesting, so even when you THINK you have the situation under control, all it takes is one unpredictable zombie to throw a spanner in the works. It’s just really, REALLY fun, whilst being able to play in co-op with a friend makes it even better (even IF the clash of visuals with the Meta avatars does look a little jarring in-game).

Check out some screenshots down below:

It is tough as nails though, with PLENTY of deaths suffered during my time with the game. In fact, my first couple of hours saw barely any progress, with my co-op partner and I constantly finding ourselves overwhelmed and strapped for resources during the early attempts. And don’t even TRY playing solo, because believe me, it’s really tough. It could be argued that the tutorial could have done a bit of a better job of explaining some of the in-game mechanics (whilst the limited weaponry available at the start means that one player will always have to use an inferior gun), but it’s also one of those experience where you learn more as you play. Fortunately, there’s a progression system in place that sees you earning experience points to unlock permanent bonuses and upgrades along the way, so there is a rewarding sense of progression to be found even IF you’re dying a lot during those earlier playthroughs. It gets easier the more you play – not only because you’ll have a better idea of what you need to do to survive, but also because you’re better equipped.

It should be noted that the game could feel a little repetitive at times, especially since there’s just one map to play on right now. Whilst there are some aspects that change up between playthroughs, it could make the experience feel a little predictable – especially during the opening moments when you know exactly what to expect in the cabin as you try to build up some Research Points. In fairness, I’ve put plenty of hours into the game and not found myself bored at all when playing so it’s obviously doing something right, but it could have done with a little bit more variety just to spice things up a little and keep players invested.

Developer: Soul Assembly
Publisher: Soul Assembly
Platform(s): Meta Quest 2 (Reviewed)
Website: https://soulassembly.com/games/