Wingsuit: Romsdalen Impressions - Feel The Rush In This VR Gliding Sim

Developer Ninja Whale Studios has been recreating the thrill of wingsuit gliding across snowy mountaintops in virtual reality for the past decade or so, and its latest game takes you to the scenic cliffs and grassy valleys of Romsdalen, a real-life location in Norway.

Wingsuit: Romsdalen first released a playable demo in February, before launching in full three months later. It can be played with a traditional controller, but the game’s VR support puts the player right into the action as a would-be glider soaring across a massive open-world landscape.

Wingsuit: Romsdalen’s campaign features multiple starting points, each with a list of achievements you need to perform in order to gain points and advance further. These challenges include flying through a course of rings, reaching a certain score, or uncovering hidden secrets like UFOs or whale balloons.

You only need to complete a few objectives to unlock the next drop point, but you can always come back later to fulfill some of the ones you skipped the first time around. Keep in mind that many of these challenges will be incredibly difficult to complete, especially when you are starting out.

Once you initiate a dive, you hold your arms up at a neutral level (which you set during the initial start-up) to glide. To steer, you need to tilt your head to position yourself, raise and lower your arms to climb or dive, and even press one of the upper triggers for a sharp turn. Getting the hang of the VR motion controls can be tricky at first, but there is a decent sense of adrenaline as you speed across the sky.

Diving can increase your speed at the risk of plummeting to the ground, while climbing is useful for stabilizing your fall. The speedometer on your arm keeps track of how fast you are going, and beeps when you are at risk of losing control. You can also perform midair tricks by tilting your arms toward your head or raising one while lowering the other. This will earn you points, and the closer you are to the ground when you perform a trick, the better your reward will be.

Once you are ready to end your run, you can pull your parachute by pressing the lower triggers. If you end up hitting the ground too fast, your character will suffer a brutal end - one you can avoid by landing on a pile of boxes or slowing your descent with the parachute. Completing runs will also grant you Experience points, which you can use to unlock new wingsuits. Each wingsuit has its own stats that influence how fast you can go and how easily the suit can handle turns.

Wingsuit: Romsdalen has a Line Creator mode, which lets you chart your own course (literally) by gliding across a map and placing rings with the press of a button. After you wipe out, you can choose to test out your newly formed path or upload it online for other players to try out for themselves.

Graphics are pretty solid for the most part, recreating the snowy peaks and lush green valleys of Romsdalen while being accompanied by the rustling sound of wind as you glide through the air above. However, it should be pointed out that flipping and barrel rolling can be pretty disorienting. There is also a small blood splatter when your character crashes into the ground, but thankfully it isn’t too graphic. Still, your character hitting the ground with a hard thud again and again can be tough to watch at times.

It can be hard to get a handle on Wingsuit: Romsdalen's gameplay mechanics at first, and you should be prepared to grind a decent amount while unlocking new drop points. That said, the game does provide a thrilling sense of gliding through the air, though you might want to avoid it if you are particularly prone to motion sickness.