Craft Keep VR Preview

When I was checking out the Steam page for Craft Keep VR, I’ll admit that my curiosity got the better of me. It bears all the signs of being a more difficult time management game -- people come in, want stuff made, you do so. Although that kind of game hasn’t really appealed to me in the past, the VR angle was certainly interesting.

This was my first ever VR experience, and I have to admit I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It was using the HTC Vive and I only almost punched someone twice. Hopefully the damage done to the Excalibur Publishing offices has been repaired by now…

Craft Keep sees you opening up what amounts to a crafting bench in various places, eventually unfolding a larger quest to help slay a dragon. Or, at least, it will when it’s out. It’s just entering Early Access, so there is obviously work to do moving forward, as well as a possible future PlayStation VR release.

In the build which I played there were two story areas to try out, as well as a scenario mode and a firing range. Thankfully, I was growing somewhat accustomed to the VR by the time I reached the firing range, so found the crossbow pretty easy to use. Wearing a headset, the last thing you would think to do is to close one eye so that you can aim through a scope, but when I did it was pretty accurate -- shot the wooden target right in the eye. There was also a handgun to try out, but I’m doubtful it will be in the main game.

The scenario mode lets you choose which types of people will come by the keep, as well as what your equipment will look like. It seemed like that is where the Steam Workshop would shine if it were to be included at a later date.

As previously mentioned, you have a crafting bench. The first thing you have access to is a cauldron which allows you to mix potions for customers who want them. Some customers will provide everything you need, others will require you to buy materials which cost gold -- which the previous customers will obviously have paid you.

Eventually you unlock a forge -- toss in a nugget of metal, wait a few moments and remove a boiling pot of metal. You have several styles of mould available to pour it into, and all it needs is one whack with your hammer to forge it. You then need to insert it into a hilt, and can add an enchantment (such as fire) by carving some runes into it, and waving a magical gem over it. Unfortunately, those were the only two that I got to try out. You can later make arrows, but I was provided with some to try out the crossbow.

As my first VR experience, I really enjoyed it. There’s a camera (which also allows you to take selfies) so that you can take pictures of cool stuff and share them, as they’re also saved to your computer, which I thought was a great idea. My main complaint about VR has always been that it’s a very lonely way to play games, so this goes some way to address that.

The gameplay is easy enough to get to grips with, and I can see how it is going to improve as it gets further along in development. As a sequel to Shoppe Keep, it’s another very interesting premise from developer Arvydas Žemaitis. I asked whether Craft Keep would include enemies as in Shoppe Keep, and it was confirmed that although you won’t leave your workbench, you can fire arrows at barbarians as they run past having stolen from the locals.

It has a lot of great ideas, so hopefully it will be able to refine them into a sharp, enchanted, point.