Bean Stalker

Bean Stalker
N/A
Metacritic
86
Steam
67.69
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$19.99
Release date
6 June 2022
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
86 (165 votes)

A world where danger lurks under every leaf. Where real heroes don’t only climb up, but climb down too. Evolve, loot resources, and craft to conquer higher levels above the clouds. Why? To beat the most dangerous enemy, the spirit of the tree, and become one of the legendary Bean Stalkers.

Show detailed description

Bean Stalker system requirements

Minimum:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 7 64 bit
  • Processor: Intel i5 9400 or AMD equivalent
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1660 or AMD equivalent
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 15 GB available space
  • Additional Notes: VR Headset and Motion Controller required
Similar games
Volcanoids
Volcanoids

Action, Adventure, Indie, Simulation, Early Access

$19.99 xDr: 80.87
Karagon
Karagon

Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie, RPG, Simulation, Strategy, Early Access

xDr: 30.00
Popularity
Reviews
Write a new review
RagingPoet
RagingPoet

Bean Stalker is an interesting and creative game, but awful combat drags it down and ruins all the fun.

Exploration/scavenging is hands down the best part of the game. Procedurally generated environments look alien and intriguing: there are some weird constructions and flora everywhere, that just beg to be discovered and looted. And the drawing distance is huge: from the top 5th level you can see everything down to the ground. It allows the game to create a sense of vertigo even in experienced VR users.
Traveling with climbing, jumping and grappling hook is ok, not great like something like Windlands, but functional. Permadeath adds stakes to climbing, even if it can be extremely frustrating at times.

During your travel you will inevitably encounter enemies and here the game turns to much worse. First of all, creature models, animations and even sounds are ugly. Add to that buggy AI with confused pathfinding, and the result becomes seriously painful to look at. Melee combat is one of the worst in recent games: hitboxes are huge and unfair, enemies damage you by just waving their limbs from miles away and there is no apparent way to block/parry in melee. Ranged combat is better, but still far from enjoyable, since you can't exactly move much while you are climbing to dodge enemy projectiles. And the combat gets even worse as you progress: enemies get more and more health, requiring several hits even from the most advanced melee weapons on the level. Then Desert environment introduces annoying flying ranged enemies and fat long distance cannons, and this is where I quickly lost patience and stopped playing.

TTV Hells
TTV Hells

Unbelievably fun and i suffer from vertigo so that's saying something, i have destroyed my carpet from my toes which apparently become talons when playing this but who cares. great game, highly recommend.

StephenPowellAF
StephenPowellAF

What a amazing game. I really hope they can get a Quest 2/PSVR2 release so that the game can sell a little more. I also feel like the death mechanics need to be looked at... I just died for the 3rd time and I don't know if I will ever go back to the game tbh... but it sure is cool

DDOS-_-ATTACK
DDOS-_-ATTACK

This game is really good but unforgiving.... do you cash out and go back to base or try to reach the top and lose everything.

Fun though!

Rhettic
Rhettic

It's creative. But is it good?

MyWy
MyWy

Not for me. Bean Stalker is too frustrating for me to be enjoyable. Don't let the bright, cartoony look fool you. It's brutal, light on instruction, and very trial-by-combat while you figure things out. The climbing mechanics do work well; I never did fall to my death unless it was my own fault. But then you lose everything and spent hours accomplishing nothing. Raise and repeat. No save spots until you return to base. Combat is terrible; you can mash or bisect an enemy ten times, but if the hit isn't detected, you don't hurt it at all. Somehow a bee's stinger has better range and accuracy than your dagger. The 3-dimensional combat is really interesting, though, and ranged weapons operate well.

HawynNinja
HawynNinja

This game hands down has the best tutorial of any VR game out there. Great flow through all of the mechanics and was very seamless. Inventory management in this game is going to pave the way for future games. It's insanely well done. Crafting is fun. Have spent a lot of time just in the home base messing around with friends. Co-op works well. Honestly having a great time playing with friends.

My only problem with this game is that it's hard to use with vive wands. You can't jump without also snap turning, and sometimes when you only want to snap turn, you jump. This game is also way more immersive with grip toggle off, but it is such a pain in the ass to hold grip buttons with vive wands. That's not the devs problem tho, vive wands are old tech in the VR world

Definitely recommend

MagnusTheWizard
MagnusTheWizard

What a fun and interesting idea. Highly recommended, especially with friends. The climbing works great, the gameplay is fun and the heights are incredible. The only problems I've had so far are hit detection with melee weapons, which feels a bit weird. I wouldn't call it a problem, but its a little strange you can't trade items in the hub with friends, maybe just a little box so I can share the spoils with friends would be great. Otherwise I highly recommend, fantastic game

Jack
Jack

While enemy AI may be a bit.. meh... I'm only on the first area still and climbing so it may get better! I will admit this game is freaking terrifying at times and it's a ton of fun to climb around. The only downside is the fact that there's nobody playing. I've tried hosting or searching regions for servers, but I've not seen anyone else yet. Best played with friends then, unless the game grows in popularity!
I will say melee combat is really hard, you'd need a full on spear to hit things without taking damage, and the hit registration is super picky. However the ranged weapons are great and you can kind of get away with using them most the time.

FUBAR
FUBAR

Janky, bugged and looks like shit but still pretty damn fun. Worth it on sale.

Peppylapoo
Peppylapoo

addicting hard co-op nothing shy of tons to do lots to explore and hours of gameplay

tempuskinesis
tempuskinesis

Fun, cool idea, and works well with VR. Needs a little bit of clunkiness hammered out but other than that worth it. Only real issue is it takes forever to load, despite not seeming to be too intensive, so I assume it also needs some optimization.

Fehute
Fehute

Tons of fun, this is the kind of thing that shines in VR

Bloodhound
Bloodhound

Great game especially with friends.

VReckItRalph
VReckItRalph

It feels claustrophobic and I don't understand why. Is it because of fog, or is it because of raw sounds? I would appreciate it if someone could agree or answer. That uncomfortable claustrophobic effect is a little causing nausea for me.

Other than that, it is intriguing with its different mechanics as well as its variety of gameplay. I liked the crafting/stacking mechanics best.

I am going to change my review if I get used to its uncomfortable feeling or whatever causing that is fixed.

Brainiakt
Brainiakt

Such a great game!! With tiny optimization changes in the future to smooth out a bit of inventory clunkiness (Maybe I'm just not stalked enough beans yet), it'll feel super polished! Every other part of this game is beautiful and amazing. Fear of heights am definitely getting better at here XD

eNon
eNon

A really unique co-op adventure crafting game. Really takes advantage of the play experience that VR can provide. They've created a largely vertical play map which necessitates interesting scaling methods using your arms. If you're familiar with "fling climbing" to throw yourself higher when climbing in other games, this game turns it way up. Once you craft a grappling hook gun, navigation up & down the stalks opens up and you really start to get into the worlds that the game offers. Having said that, you'll be falling long distances a lot, which is exhilarating for some people, but possibly sickening for others. I love the quirky nature of the bean stalk world theme and surreal art design and I'm glad to see developers diverge from overused fantasy tropes & themes that we always see. My only real complaint is that the voice announcer could be less jarring and aggressive sounding, considering you hear it so often. Or even audio sound cues rather than a voice. It would also be nice to be able to adjust your in-game hand rotation angle in order to make it more accurate to your real life hand, to make swinging swords feel more natural.

There are also a bunch of interesting light grid based puzzles in this game, which reminds me of a Tiger Electronics game that I had as a kid back in the 90's called Lights Out. I wonder if that device influenced the developers of this game. It was cool to remember that. Having said that, if you don't like having to do these type of logic puzzles to advance, you might become frustrated.

I just hope the PC VR market can support the devs vision right now, as it's a multi-player co-op that doesn't have matchmaking, so you need to already have friends with PC VR to play with.

Zell
Zell

Backpack full of loot, im talkin red crystals, cactus fruit, gold, the good stuff. ill lose it all if they get me. Standing on the edge of a withered stalk, there are too many coming and my health is almost gone, so I jump. Grappling hook in hand i take aim and somehow hit my mark. Extraction point located within 25 meters, hearts pounding, lever pulled, dodging fireballs and spiders i reach the red smoke, a hail mary dive for the handle, I live.. this time.

NeoTheFox
NeoTheFox

I love it, played it a fair bit with my friend

Still lacks polish in certain places, but hosts a great deal of content that makes up for that.
It's a very unique idea with an ok execution and very fun in coop!

Jack
Jack

UPDATE: That's a 7.5/10 at least! I really appreciate the developers reading my review. And not only that, they fix a majority of my problems a day after release! Amazing work, now I can sink hours into this game. :)

Review written about one day after release.
Incredibly neat concept, i'm a big fan of climbing in VR and this game is no exception. The map is also stunning.
As shown from my playtime, I haven't gotten far into the game, but I am noticing problems.
The combat in the game feels very lackluster, I am noticing collision problems with my weapon hitting enemies, sometimes just swinging through them. Also enemies like the spiders often clip through the tree. Bear in mind I am not far into the game whatsoever.
However, my biggest problem is going to be the handling of everything you hold. On the Index controllers (what i'm using), I can't seem to decide whether it is better to have toggle hold on or off. Normally I would have it off, just personal preference. But what I find is that every 10 seconds or so I let go of what i'm holding, which is VERY annoying. With toggle hold on, its more reliable but still drops what i'm holding out of my hand often. This also causes me to drop any weapons I have made or found frequently. My first time dropping my weapon I didn't even notice, thus continuing the game and losing it. I know this is not a personal issue, as I have no problem playing other games like B&S. I cannot speak for other controllers, but I imagine they are much more reliable as holding items is with the press of a switch or button.
There is no smooth turn option available.
I will continue to play this game to see what it has to offer. I will give it a recommendation, solely in the hope that they fix these quite major issues and that they continue support. But as of today, it is pretty difficult to recommend this quite buggy game to say the least for the price tag of $30.
I bought this game because I love climbing and it reminded me of a game I used to play a while ago, Grow Home. It gave me major nostalgia.
Also the first time that plant jumped on my face it scared the shit out of me, was not expecting that.
At the moment, its a 4/10 from me with much potential to grow, Simply fixing these bugs would bump it up to a 7.5/10.
I recommend getting this game if you are willing to wait for a few updates, but maybe wait for a sale as in its current state
you shouldn't buy it for $30.

Masamune27858
Masamune27858

HECK YA fun up the bean stalky

FrightGeist
FrightGeist

Only a few hours in, but this is something special. Definitely a bit of learning curve, but once it starts to click it's soooo cool and satisfying. I haven't even gotten to crafting guns and stuff yet, I'm still having fun just whacking bugs with my stalk climber things to compulsively grab crafting items for later. The verticality and intense traversal make it an awesome experience. Also pretty well optimized. It's one the few games that can run at 120-144hz on my machine. Look forward to seeing how it progresses, but it's still worth jumping in now in my opinion!

Update: have gotten further in and can craft guns now. The gun models are insanely detailed and original. Definitely craft a "simple grappling hook" because things don't have durability, you can just keep using the thing over and over to get around. My absolute favorite thing is to jump from 100ft up and then use the grappling hook at the last second to attach to something and not take any fall damage.

The only thing I ask of the devs is consider adopting a system like Walking Dead Saints and Sinners as far as how punishing death is. Like, instead of losing your whole inventory on death, having the option to restart the level (even if it's a different seed) while at least being able to keep your crafted items you started the level with like swords and guns would be nice. There can be a fine line between satisfying difficulty and just wasting the player's time.

Pox11223
Pox11223

So first thing off the bat.. I am honestly shocked that this is a early access when you compare this game to other AAA games that came out this year/last year that were played off as having "features" that essentially broke the game or just got patched and broke something else in the game..

getting close to 7hrs in and I have been having a blast. I can see eventually even though the beanstalk is always going to be different each game it will be repetitive. However I have been finding myself trying new ways of getting around to the point where the adrenaline is kicking in unlike any other game i have played.

you want a game that has crafting, combat with all sorts of critters ranging from the typical spider and bee to an autonomous cannon and some adrenaline action climbing/falling? Step right up and play this game.

Oh and theres talk of multiplayer later in the next couple of months so you get to hear your friends scream and go splat on the ground. what could be more fun that that?

Cashash
Cashash

I am currently 3 hours into the game and I can honestly say this game is fire and whats even better is that it will only get better (probably) since its an early acces game. I cant wait for the multi so I can mess around with my friends.
There is a lot of crafting in this game, lots of different types of weapon,tools and enemies.

I am really excited for this game's future...

I will definitely write about the desert map when I get there, will keep you guys updated. Also waiting for the new arctic map which will come out in novermber as the devs said on their twitter page.

10/8.5 so far, I recommend this game.

Nrzloork
Nrzloork

Nice game so far (1h), I enjoy the climbing and exploration! Haven't crafted or fought a lot yet.
But you have to be able to stomach free control and heights, otherwise you might experience discomfort.

Edit: A demo has been released by the devs!
For anyone on the fence:
According to a dev comment in the Discussions section, they're releasing a demo level in the coming weeks

󠀡󠀡
󠀡󠀡

This game is fantastic! I played more than 7 hours so far. I finished the boss in the tropical map I will go to the desert map next. There are a lot of weapons,resources and crafting recipes. The climbing is very smooth... I definitely recommend this game.

L4g34s
L4g34s

Interesting concept. A bit disappointing that quest rewards can be pretty bad(Not as in they give too little, but as in they can give pretty useless items).
Day-night cycle isn't bad, but it also pretty much isn't(except for in the third area). Also, there isn't any reward for quickly getting around the bean stalk, you have all the time in the world, so if you're being too cautious and don't want to go collect resources at night, you can just stay where you are and wait for dawn.
Also, given that you can launch yourself using the grapplers, I'd say the grappling hook being an item unlocked in the first area is pretty bad design-wise. Sure, it's range is limited, but it can greatly increase mobility around the tree at no cost, and no cooldown. Perhaps it should have a limited number of uses, so it doesn't break the unique part of the game. Add to that the fact that the grappling hook can be used to negate all fall damage, as you will always decelerate when reaching the hooked area, so a fall from any height can be easily avoided by just shooting anything nearby(including the ground itself).
I'm glad you can't keep just a little bit of potion in a bottle to use it forever.

Still wondering what is the cannon "puzzle" in the third world supposed to be. I have yet to get a reward good enough to justify crafting a key.

Pretty fun game overall. If you don't have space to swing your arms around, you should probably not play it though, since you will have to use melee weapons.

MangoSun
MangoSun

Bean Stalker: GOTY

I play a lot of VR and have a fairly decent collection (IMO). This is at the top for me with games like Skyrim and Into the Radius. Beautiful free-roam with a twist, well a few twists, up and down, and left and right, it's great and I can't get enough of it. No Kidding, this game is something special. Only 7 hours into it and I've finally completed the first boss (took 3 attempts). It unlocks the Desert map but I'm not quite ready for that yet. There's more grinding to be done on the Tropical Stalks.

The crafting aspect is challenging because you have to get to an extraction point in order to keep what you've placed in your backpack, which means you have to go up and then back down after pulling the extract point lever. As you get to higher "floors" they become unlocked and you can start from that point while in your house. The higher up you are, the more difficult the game becomes (simple, right?). New enemies appear like the little 3 headed Mario looking plants and hawks, gas releasing plants, bees, spiders, bigger spiders, etc. I have no clue what's on the desert map but I'm looking forward to finding out. Also the Arctic map is released in November and this is still early release.

All-in-all this is a must have for curious beginners and advanced players, the grappling and parkour mechanics alone make this game stand out among many of the greats. I'm excited for the future of it. Hell, I'm excited playing it right now. Keep up the good work VR Storm.

Oh and I do have a request if at all possible. If you could please release this on the Quest 2 store that would be great. The single player would sell like hotcakes and throw in the future promise of multiplayer? Solid gold. I truly believe in this game that much.

Update: This is more of a request than an update as I feel it would be a game changer for me. If the devs are reviewing these, I would love to be able to toggle between blade slammers and the simple grappling hooks on the left and right side hip slots. Maybe as an option after two of them are crafted? I just think it's more practical to keep the climbing tools close and at the ready and to be able to drop them quickly and grab items off my back. It would free up those two back slots to where I can drop down from zipping and climbing around to a seamless experience of pulling out the shield and sword or whatever else I'd like to place for combat. It's difficult to do sometimes when I keep the simple hook in the left back slot and rarely use the left handed blade slammer then have to open the backpack to switch between different things, all the while being attacked by, sometimes, many many evil creatures and plants.

ObeseCatLord
ObeseCatLord

It's pretty fun so far, but honestly kind of stressful. It's perhaps not recommended if you have a fear of heights or spiders as you are burdened with the knowledge that one mistake is all that's needed to fall to your death. That said the loop of exploring, getting better equipment, and climbing higher is really nice. It needs some QoL changes (Why do evacuation lines randomly appear at the very bottom of the level?), but it is getting new content at least.

Omni
Omni

Short Version

I'm only 4 hours in (though nearly done with the first map) and I already have a lot of great things to say about the game. Climbing is very fun and tense, and the enemies and hazards in this game can downright scare the pants off you. The quality of the art design and aesthetics also surprised me.

Long Version

This game really came out of left field for me. I don't remember where I heard about it, but I imagine it's under the radar for most people. So I was very shocked at the level of quality that comes through in the gameplay and visuals; I really love its steampunk aesthetic and overall feel. That said, if you have a fear of heights, spiders, wasps, or other creepy crawlies, it might be a bit much for you. The game is surprisingly scary, despite the bright and colorful world.

Climbing around the beanstalk with your climbing claws (I think the game calls them "blade slammers" or something?) feels just excellent, especially when you add in the grappling hook later on. It is, as previously mentioned, kind of scary to do. This is partly because falling to your death is a thing, and you lose all the items you collected on that run when you die (but not any items you brought from home). Despite the beanstalk being randomly generated every time, I have yet to run into any impassable areas.

This is one of the only "open world survival craft" genre games made for VR out there. The only other ones I can think of are The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, and Song in the Smoke. This one does a great job of it. You'll know what you want to collect while out in the beanstalk, because the crafting books at home list what is needed to craft each item. You also have a smelter for ore you find, and craft things by hitting the parts with a hammer. Both are fun VR touches.

The game creates a lot of fun moments, like fighting off a swarm of giant wasps to raid their nest for honey, or the mad dash to the extraction point when you are ready to end your run. I expect it'll take me at least a couple more hours to finish the first map, and there are 3 more (one currently unreleased). With that in mind, and the fun and quality of the game, I'd say it's worth the asking price. Cooperative multiplayer is also in development, which increases its value even more, and maybe will make it a bit easier to deal with the scary stuff.

I may come back to update my review after I've clocked some hours.

ehjort1891
ehjort1891

Omg! So much fun! The sense of scale and height is incredible. I'm surprised at how well you can grab the stalks. Makes hanging out amazing! Please devs, see this one through to the end. A real gem!

One criticism, attacking enemies needs some better collision. Seems I'm always not quite reaching the enemies with swings. Swing 3 times fast, only detect 1 hit.

Veszmadar
Veszmadar

Really like it, but the sense of scale and height is brutal!
Not for VR newbies!

The only problem i had, that when i reach out for something (like take out something from a pot), the game somehow calculates the body and pushes me back. Its weird, but a small thing.

Recommended!

Turbozsemle
Turbozsemle

Yes please, more!
This is very intense on someone, who is affraid of heights.

SophieSophieSophieSophie
SophieSophieSo…

Gonna conquer my fear of hei- OH GOD THAT'S A BIG SPIDER, AND WHERE DID ALL THE BEES COME FROM?!

10/10 would fall to my death again.

󠀡󠀡
󠀡󠀡

Wow this game really surprised me. Its very unique and has really cool mechanics.
The climbing is nice and smooth, the amount of crafting recipes this game has is just unbelivebale. The team definitely did a great job. I cant wait for multiplayer.

Nekorama
Nekorama

Cool game idea! Extremely huge levels, I was exploring one level for an hour. This game feels fun, engaging and rewarding. Crafting is on point, I really enjoy putting the materials together manually.

ProteinPapi
ProteinPapi

I dont think I ever played a procedually generated vr game before so this was surely new for me.

- you never play the same map twice it's always different
- there are a lot of recipes in this game (potions,sowrds,guns,explosives etc...)
-the climbing is very pleasing
-has some cool puzzles and quests

One thing I should mention is that this game has a lot of palying hours and I never got bored. i recommend it!

Tupa
Tupa

The game plays very nicely and the climbing feels right. There are quite a few items and enemies in the game. Great game even compared to not early acces games

God hates Anime
God hates Anime

played it only for a hour so far, but in that hour I had really much fun! the levels are really huge and even with someone like me who has a far of heights, this is really, really fun.
I did encounter some problems while playing though like you have to turn your physical body while climbing because you can't use the control for switching perspective (only while climbing though) and the second problem was that I played the tutorial and got stuck at a point (the one where you have to craft the sword and hit the table with the crafting hammer) and everything I did couldn't reset it, I tried it so often to a point where I just quit the tutorial. But overall 9/10 so far

Zlondrej
Zlondrej

I've played only hour and half, but I'm already sure I'm going to enjoy my time playing this game and it was worth the money.

This game reminds me a lot of Grow Up and Grow Home games which are ones of my favorites.

It's a bit shame that this game is so easy to miss.

Kenny Log-ins
Kenny Log-ins

such a cool concept. climbing the stalk and hanging from one hand while foraging with the other is super fun, plus the heights genuinely make my palms sweaty.
unfortunately i get very poor frames, which make me a little motion sick (only VR game I have that does). eager to check in every few updates and see if it gets more optimized, because the gameplay is a joy.

hilightnotes
hilightnotes

A fun, unique VR climbing & crafting game. Successfully creates an immersive and mostly cohesive experience. Climbing system feels great, good sense of progression, terrifying sense of heights (careful looking down...).

I tend toward's games that have story and emotional focus. Bean Stalker has neither, but this is one of the few more 'game-y' games that I've enjoyed (and it can get you feeling things like fear, relaxation, and determination at different times!).

The developers seem committed to the game, although I think their goals are different from what I'd like to see grow (they're focused on adding multiplayer last I heard, which I don't care much for. I think they should focus on polishing what they have, adding new areas, and improving the role-playing aspect, for example adding a female character option and better voice acting and world building).

Bought on sale for $14, would recommend.

The Land Gull
The Land Gull

I get the same kind of satisfaction from this game as i get from games like terraria. Not super similar in gameplay but more the general gameplay loop.

Aneen
Aneen

Much Recommended, I have not played long at all, mainly because I do have a bit of a problem with spiders. So it was hard to overcome the spider fear obstacle but as soon as I did it became night. I'm not sure if there's more danger at night or if the music and the eerie surrounding sounds are just dynamic, but i found myself standing still until I was in the main menu. This game may look simple on the outside, but its GREATLY different when you actually start playing. Highly Underrated, if your into dungeon crawlers i would definitely give it a try. Don't let my 0.6 hours played sway your decision i was so into it that i did become scared, as if my life was really in danger. Or maybe im just a wuss, either way this game has ALOT in store.

Alyx
Alyx

More eyes need to see this game. Only a few hours in and I am already excited for more.

Seanith
Seanith

Get out of here, Stalker!

I mean, Into the Radius VR and AB Aeterno VR are good, but...only Bean Stalker is the B.E.A.N. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

CookieHunter
CookieHunter

Wow! I've only just got into this game but I love what I see so far! This game has climbing, crafting, fighting, and puzzles and I'm less than two hours in! Get this game! Well worth full asking price.

Buddhamind
Buddhamind

Yup this is nice. I like jumping off branches and shooting the grappling hook to get to a new point. Will update later.

Zebulon
Zebulon

I spent a few hours here and I enjoyed it. The somewhat frantic climbing and switching gear mechanics are great. AAA titles could learn a bit about gameplay from this one. Nicely done!

Eyemon
Eyemon

Not recommended in its current state.
Even though the concept seems fun and the climbing was fine I had several issues:
- seems like the optimization needs work: I had a very long initial load time and framerate issues.
- tracking: i kept seeing my weapon go through the bees instead of squishing them
- might try again at a later time in the dev cycle

Edit/response to dev:
Thank you for taking the time to respond!

I'm running:
Ryzen 5 5600x
AMD Radeon R9 390 (8gb)
16gb RAM
On a lenovo explorer (WMR)
Running from an SSD

I know the GPU is quite old but I play Blade and Sorcery, half life: Alyx, boneworks, etc without issue. I'm also used to playing VR on 60 fps so it must've dipped below that quite a bit.

Concerning graphics settings I just used the default it starts with. I can't go back to change them now since I reluctantly refunded (I don't foresee much playtime the coming weeks and didn't want to miss the window...)

Another issue that I forgot to write about before:
When playing with WMR the tbstk press opens the steam menu. When I came to the point in the tutorial to 'run' by pressing the tbstk I was stuck. I changed the settings but this required a restart. On the restart however, the tutorial was skipped so I had to bumble around a bit trying to figure it all out. Not the worst thing but was slightly annoying.

Festive Applejuice
Festive Applejuice

Rip my neck from looking up for hours

The Crzy Potato
The Crzy Potato

I know i dont have a lot of hours but i will edit this since i do not have a lot of time. However, all i gotta say is these are passionate devs!

LegoKnockingShop
LegoKnockingShop

I keep popping back to check on this, there's been Halloween and Xmas updates which feels shitty for an early access game to be doing throwaway seasonal content instead of working towards the finish line. Harsh? Maybe but It's hard to sympathise when this is still such a frustrating mess to play, at least on Index. There may be a gem behind all these blockages to playing the game, but there's a few key things that need to be fixed before I'm going to invest any time -

1 - Dropping things in your backpack is unreliable at best. Watching an item fall away to the void below you is no fun. And that's just during quiet times. When I'm under attack it happens every single time.
2 - The world constantly pushing me away, end up chasing the beanstalk surface across my playspace because it's inches out of my virtual reach and keeps moving away. If I crouch, it just pushes away below me so now I'm crouched hovering in the air. It's disorientating, feels like a major fail ATM and is a major discomfort trigger for me (any many others I would suspect). It seems wholly unnecessary, and I can't understand any consistent rules to it - at other times it's happy to awkwardly position me inside the stalk up to my waist or clipping through my head. It also means it's a crap-shoot trying to grab something physically, it's ALWAYS more reliable to use the force grab than just grab something that seems in reach, which is a crazy approach for VR and not intuitive.
3 - Those climbing hooks, they disappear from your hands when you least expect them to, and appear in your hands when you try and grab things that's nowhere near them. It's infuriating. I'm guessing the first part of this is the grip settings on Index; I've been trying to tweak but I shouldn't have to be guessing what experience you devs intended, you should be setting this shit up for me.
4 - The looong loading, with horrible headache-inducing graphical effects, stuck screens (a different one for each eye!) and no real feedback to say it's doing anything ('waiting....') until about 90s in when it suddenly starts another sloooooow load, which at least doesn't make me feel sick. It's really bad, I don't know another game with a worse load experience for the user, VR or otherwise.

Once the devs fix these, I'll be happy to play this, it seems like it might be a great and unique VR experience with lots of content, but please, these interaction issues really need sorting out as a priority. I suspect we'll see Valentines / Easter / Multiplayer stuff first though... would love to be proven wrong.

gchristy_1
gchristy_1

I had been watching this game closely and decided to buy during the winter sale. For the amount of content in the game, it is well worth the asking price, let alone when it does goes on sale. Currently there are 3 massive worlds to explore (with a 4th planned). The game play and mechanics of the game are quite unique and unlike any other VR game I have played. The game allows you to collect resources and craft new items/weapons as you continue to explore the worlds and make your way to the top of the beanstalk on each level. The game is a bit demanding (understandably due to the massive worlds and impressive graphics) and takes a long time to load the world but the devs have done an amazing job with this game and are very responsive to questions/bugs/issues. Updates have also been frequent.

thisisnotmyrealname
thisisnotmyrealname

Hard to say enough good things about this exciting and elegant game. It has the terrifying, expansive heights of To the Top, but with a whole deeper level of gameplay. It makes great use of Index controllers, with natural, easy to learn controls for crafting and play, with a beautifully designed tutorial.

The only points of improvement are that sometimes it's easy to not place something in the backpack, usually by pulling the hand away from the zone before releasing the grip. Would be nice if there was a slight grace period after contacting the backpack zone where releasing will place in inventory. Inventory can also be tricky to manage in combat once you have more than two additional weapons or grappling hooks. The choice of assigning a tool to shoulder slots is a strategic one, so it makes sense to have some limits, but it would be nice if it were easier to manage, say, two grappling hooks and two weapons.

Colind8
Colind8

Haha yes I'm hanging on for dear life on a plant hundreds of feet in the air.

graham.creeper
graham.creeper

Absolutely awesome game. Been playing single and multiplayer with my brother and were having a blast. Multiplayer is very buggy though but it just came out so that's to be expected.
THINGS that need to be fixed:
In multiplayer there needs to be a shared resources chest or just group chest/group inventory.
In multiplayer you need to be able to craft items for other people. i've made countless swords and weapons for my brother but hes unable to see or use them. putting him at a huge disadvantage to the monsters I'm fighting.
Also get rid of the feature that both players or all 4 need to be alive in order to leave. If he dies which he does a lot unless I can travel all the way down to him and reheal him if I happen to have a potion that is, were screwed. Because hes dead I cant revive him and i cant leave so i just have to kill myself and lose my progress.
Theres way more bugs that i don't have time to mention but that doesn't take away fro the amazingness of this game. I'm 5 skyscrapers up swinging and fighting monsters and that expearance alone is worth the cost. Each biome is different and ive only just begone. I highly recommend you get this game. And hopefully with enough attention this game will rise to the top of the VR leader boards and grow into a polished masterchief.

I like it so much that im going to buy another copy for my brother once the free trial ends lol.
Hey Dev if you see this comment please work on bug fixes first and new content later on. The game is already huge its just the bugs that are holding it back.

Teh_Bucket
Teh_Bucket

game is ideal for VR
- physically active
- input mostly motion dependent
- menus are almost entirely motion interaction
- spatially, all 3 axis are used constantly
- immerssively takes you to another world

CONS:
- I don't like the progression/grinding elements but they are pretty light and the game is enjoyable without items
- Still has some significant occasional bugs, if it's frustrating to lose progress to a bug, wait for now

Zinx
Zinx

This game will flick your bean.

Lycake
Lycake

Cannot recommend. Sounds like a great concept and idea, but the execution quality is on par with a hobby project. Apart from the clunky gameplay, combat and user interface, Vive support is terrible:

Controling this with the Vive Wands is an awful experience. The tutorial tells you to press buttons like "A" on your controller. Have fun figuring these out. The angles when holding something is completely off and the choice between toggle and hold for the gripping is both terrible. Holding grip on the Wands will give you hand cramps, but chosing toggle will mean you will toggle EVERYTHING you grip, which in this game is a lot and feels terrible. For example, when putting wood into the forge, the item vanishes from your hand, but the grip is not released and you have to use the grip button on an empty hand to untoggle so that you are able to grip again. Stuff like this is happening constantly. It just feels like there has gone no care into the UX.

So.. if you feel like you can stand the hobby-project-like quality that so many indie VR games these days have, you might be able to enjoy this for a couple hours as long as you don't use Vive Wands. Otherwise, stay away from it

DaSmota
DaSmota

i bought this game to play with my friends its amazing i really enjoy the climbing stile and the RPG style as well i like that there are quest and checkpoints along the bean stalk. if you and your friends are thinking about getting this game you should get it

badillin
badillin

Excellent rouge like game, a bit tough and maybe needs a bit more guidence on its mechanics...

I can say i enjoyed the gameplay, you climb a... quite tall bean stalk, every certain height up the trunk there is a base, in between bases there are branches that expand out the trunk, the farthest you go out the branches the more and better crafting items you can obtain.

Each base serves as a checkpoint, after you reached it (and then the exit) you get to keep all the items you found, but if you die you lose everything in your inventory.

The crafting items allow you to create weapon, items and whatnot...

While i liked the overall mechanics, i really despise excessive grinding in games, and the way to obtain crafting items... is grindy.

Outside of that, the game excels at climbing mechanics, the sense of height really is there, and you feel safe as you climb (as safe as it can feel when climbing and fighting bees and spiders at the same time)

There is a real challenge and it feels great to reach the base and exit.

The game certainly needs a few polish in some areas, like the recipies are all over the place, and items could/should be way more plentiful.

I can recommend this game for anyone with no fear of heights bees or spiders with a sense of exploration, really worth your time even at this early access state.

The SpiffyWiffy
The SpiffyWiffy

I want to recommend this game I really do but the main part of the game (the climbing) is far to slow and restrictive, I want to sprint and throw myself around like Stormland or swing on grappling hooks like Jet island but this game as it stands is the annoying climb the ladder they wish wasnt in other vr games.

Shebang!
Shebang!

Hell yeah I recommend this game, this is one of my fav VR games and something that is a really fun and unique experience compared to almost any other games you'll play. You've got monsters, climbing, crafting, harvesting goodies, and now even multiplayer -- this game is not nearly as popular as it should be.

inotpurple100
inotpurple100

i bought this game with a freind hoping to play play but every time we opened up the game we were in the ground and couldnt move. but it looks really fun

Kragadraga
Kragadraga

At time of writing have only beaten the boss of the first stalk, but the game is very unique and enjoyable. Have really wanted a satisfying climbing game that actually uses tools instead of just grabbing walls like spiderman as fun as it is and this game hits the spot. It can feel a tiny bit repetetive for sure but the charm is enough to keep me playing and there's something very fun about just whacking a giant spider while hanging off the underside of a beanstalk screeching for life.

Tigershadow
Tigershadow

Great concept.. really takes advantage of what VR can offer with a unique take on world & level design. Actually gets my palms sweaty. Clean and thoughtful controls, UI, inventory system. Love finding small indie gems like this.

ФThiryФ
ФThiryФ

Stalk the bean
Flick the bean
???
Profit

Oatsmaster
Oatsmaster

I love falling to my death in VR and getting neck pain from looking up. 10/10 would fight a companion cube again.

ProxyERGO
ProxyERGO

Great game unless.... you have acrophobia, arachnophobia or just a fear of scary crawling monster jumping on your face.

Bob Loblaw
Bob Loblaw

This is an early review, I have not seem the first boss yet. The learning curve is steep. Looking up so much with a weight strapped to my head almost made me give this a thumbs down, but I kept coming back for short sessions, to try to make a little progress. Most gameplay elements are unexplained, left for the player to discover and figure out. The crafting, progression, and home base are really well done. It's a great and unique adventure.

edit: The first boss was awesome, the second beanstalk is humbling me more than most games do these days. The novel elements keep rolling in- almost every outing there's a "what the hell is that thing I see that over there" moment. Adventures like this, feeling like I'm in fantastic places, is the reason I switched to VR gaming years ago. This game is a true gem.

edit: Finished the third boss. I'm sad this adventure is ending for me. The constant progression and boss battle design were outstanding. A gaming experience to remember forever.

Saturn
Saturn

I'm not sure how this game doesn't have more players. It's one of the best multiplayer co-op experiences to be had in VR. I've only beaten the first and second boss and the boss mechanics are surprisingly good. The second boss is one of the best boss fights I've ever seen in a game.

The crafting is pretty good. It doesn't feel super hard to get the next thing available. If anything some things could cost more than they do honestly. Like 5 Iron and 5 Cobalt and 2 Red Stones for the Viking Axe? Considering a few revolver bullets take 2 Iron and 2 Red Stones, 5 of each for an entire Viking Axe seems super low.
When I saw "Looter Shooter" I assumed it had a more "Borderlands-like" gear system than it does. It's very basic where you make melee weapons, guns, ammo or potions and there aren't any upgrades, you just gather the stuff for the next weapon.

If I were suggest anything for the devs to do aside from bugfixes it would be this:
Even just a slightly more in depth gear system would go a long ways, even just like a +1 Stone thing that randomly drops from enemies and can be used to make a weapon slightly better. (Make it so Desert Enemies drop upgrade stones for Weapons from the Desert crafting book, etc.)
This wouldn't just increase the hours of entertainment to be had from the game, it would solve one of the biggest issues I noticed while playing the game... the fact that most enemies don't drop anything when you kill them, so killing stuff kind of just feels like a complete waste of bullets and time.

If enemies occasionally dropped a rare material you could use to upgrade the stats equipment it would add a ton to this game, giving you a reason to actually go out and kill enemies.
Right now it feels like the optimal way to play the game is to run past most enemies, which obviously isn't ideal.
Compared to adding another biome or something this seems like a low effort thing to develop.
Oh yeah, and if you do add semi-rare upgrade materials as enemy drops, please just make them float wherever the enemy was killed. Having to chase every rare material down the beanstalk and into the abyss would not be fun.

Craftable armor would be nice too, even if it just lowers damage by a very small amount, or negates poison, etc.
It's not that it's hard enough to really need armor, I only ever seem to die from falling or invisible enemies, but it would give people one more thing to work on as far as crafting.
I noticed there are different armor models in the game already but they are purely cosmetic and you start with them... so it's like "Why not just make these armor models craftable and make them lower incoming damage by like 5%-10%?". You could just drag the armor onto your character creation manikin thing to equip it.

To people worried that this is a slow paced and physically exhausting climbing game: It's not. You get a hookshot with infinite ammo early enough in the game that you don't spend very long climbing the slow way. The hookshot makes the game super fun, and the long range hookshot is like overpoweredly good, capable of launching you hundreds of feet, but it doesn't have infinite ammo.
When you get good with it there is a trick with the hookshot where you can grapple onto something and let go mid grapple and you keep your momentum and go flying absurdly far. I'm not sure if this is really intended but I hope the devs leave it in or even embrace it, because it's fun when you can nail a launch just right and go flying hundreds of feet into the air and do a super hero landing on the top of the beanstalk.

For people wanting to play co-op: If your friend dies you can give them food to revive them, and if they fall they get a tombstone where they fell to revive them at.
Each player is given their own copy of each resource most of the time so you don't step on each-other's toes too often.

The only major issues I ran into playing with a friend for 5 hours was some desync issues with enemies (Bees, Spiders, Flame plants) that seems to be invisible for one of us but could hurt us both, so one player would be dying to enemies that were invisible, or fireballs shooting out of nothing where a flame plant should be. If I were the dev I'd definitely prioritize fixing this first, because if this was fixed it would be a very solid game in every regard.

I had some culling issues too, where large sections of the beanstalk all over the place would be culled when they were visible and directly in front of me. Restarting the game fixed it but the issue happens regularly.

Another thing I'm not too sure about is it seems like we almost didn't have enough ammo to beat the first boss, and if you run out it locks you in to the fight and it seems immune to melee attacks even if you hookshot up to it and hit it. So I guess you just give up and die and come back with ammo if you don't kill it before running out? I think I killed it on the last bullet I had left.

One last request:
When you pick up an item and your inventory is full even just a subtle sound to let you know the stuff you're picking up is being dropped back on the ground would be super nice.

I hope this game succeeds. It seems like it could get big if the invisible enemies in multiplayer thing was fixed and it got into the hands of a popular twitch streamer.

Solear
Solear

I've played through the tutorials, it's fun and have good game mechanics, I've not run into any serious problems during the tutorial. Unfortunately I was not able to play the first "real" level since loading into it crashed the game on my laptop. Hopefully it will be fixed, I'm looking forward to playing this more.

RsCheesey
RsCheesey

Great VR game wuth friends. It can be very chill and relaxing and intense a minute later. Highly recommend

anime is for retards
anime is for retards

Game is listed as being playable seated, but you actually can not. Impossible to reach for items on your waist.

DebrisHauler
DebrisHauler

Really nifty game here! You've got melee and ranged combat. Procedural worlds, Multiplayer, crafting, and climbing. It's interesting how you can set your own goals on any expedition and make it as short or long as you'd like before targeting one of many "extraction" locations to end the expedition. Seems like one of the last big PCVR games before meta kills the market.

WickedKae
WickedKae

What a surprising game. I had always wondered why no one was capitalizing on the climbing aspect of VR. This game is pretty damn good and I could see it becoming very engaging long term depending on how they support it.

So you climb up a bean stock, that's it. BUT you get to find materials to craft lots of other cool stuff that lets you fight and navigate the beanstock. It sounds lame, but in practice it is addicting. Lets hope they continue to add stuff here. Lots of potential

Duarc
Duarc

$10 for a VR climbing/survival CO-OP game, unheard of.

KogleruTTV
KogleruTTV

This is a very interesting game. It's not just about climbing but fighting monsters as you climb as well. Its quite entertaining especially if you like climbing in VR. I can see how some people might not like it but over all its a really cool game. Its got a complex crafting system and tons of weapons and all sorts of things to do. Definitely a cool game.

< BB >
< BB >

Not perfect. But it has a fun formula, and definitely worth the small amount of money they're charging.

Gays in space
Gays in space

Great game, but please add a arachnophobia mode, I'd love my wife to play with me but she cant

Smokey The Bear
Smokey The Bear

Encountered 3 game-breaking bugs before I even got through half the tutorial. First time booting up, my head was stuck in the ground and controllers didn't work. Then the tutorial was telling me to sprint but never progressed after I was sprinting in circles for 3 minutes so I had to restart again. 3rd time, crafting resources disappeared during the crafting tutorial so I couldn't progress past that.

VR interaction seems very basic & clunky. You can't climb with your hands, so you use these tools like ice-picks. The only problem is you have to hold on to them. There's an option for toggle-grabbing, but that also applies to resources you pick up, so you have to press the grip button to pick them up then grip again to put them in your backpack instead of just letting go. If I turned off toggle-grab, I found myself letting go of the icepicks during climbing and it didn't feel intuitive at all.

The only option for sprinting is to hold down the left thumbstick, which is notoriously bad for them. Oculus & Index thumbsticks have enough drift issues without making us constantly press the thumbsticks while moving them around.

Refunded after 23 minutes of play.

MightyMarlin
MightyMarlin

Stalking beans has never been so terrifyingly fun

megatronman
megatronman

I am very happy with this purchase and look forward to playing more. Crazy vertigo sensations this gave me (awesome!) It will remind you of your fear of heights or falling. After getting more used to it, the game becomes fascinating figuring out how to climb, survive and collect needed items. Kudos to the developers and team behind this. It's a Masterpiece of good times!

Plastic The Bag
Plastic The Bag

This game is fun, for the first 30 mins, then it becomes tedious.

Pros:
- Climbing is fun
- Co-op
- Gathering resources is fun at first then tedious

Cons:
- Buggy you constantly drop your climbing picks and fall
- When you fall there are no check points, and you cannot revive yourself
- You have to start from the bottom if you fall and have no checkpoints or lives
- It lacks any real purpose other then to get a shoulder workout.

KevinderAlibaba
KevinderAlibaba

Bean Stalker - A reasonably simple VR RPG, wrought with bugs and in dire need of quality of life buffs, skinned onto a fun and interesting procedural world that makes excellent use of Z-Axis play to create and overall enjoyable VR co-op experience.

Progression is fairly linear. The enemy scaling curve pretty much keeps you on a track where you have to fill your backpack, go home, craft the next weapon you can, and hope it's enough to get you to the next checkpoint. The enemies aren't particularly challenging and are artificially made more difficult by simply being bullet sponges to early weapons. They are laughably easy with even slightly more enhanced weaponry. The way the scaling is set up, there is not so much of a skill element to combat as there is simply weapon scaling.

I would very much like to address the claw mechanic that this game has - dear devs, if you are listening - Simply remove them. They are not a good part of this game. Here's a couple reasons why:

1 - They don't do anything. Seriously. They make it so my hands turn from useless grabbing garbage hands into useful hands that can fight and climb. But, instead, just.... let me climb by hand? Why not? Why do I need these horrible claws to climb? Additionally, let me punch enemies! This is the kind of thing that VR is all about! Interaction with your hands! Why do enemies just pass through them? Why can't I "touch" the enemies in some way, without just a weapon attacking them? You literally have jumpscare plants that leap onto your face, and you have to PULL THEM OFF BY HAND (which is exactly what I would expect!) so I know the hands can do more! But seriously, my hands alone should be enough to do what the claws do. Make it so your hands have some sort of claw built on to the gauntlets that will stab the stalk if you really want to preserve the mountain-climber feel.

2 - They are always on your hip holsters. You know, those places that VR games typically let you store the equipment you choose. You can't remove them, you can't replace them, and they are made almost entirely obsolete as soon as you make your first simple grappling hook. At that point, most of their purpose is just to readjust your angle on the branch to use your grapping hook again. Once again, seriously, why can't I just replace my claws for two grappling hooks? I don't need them to also be worthless melee weapons, I always have a sword on me that actually does damage. Really, I don't even have time to consider a melee weapon that takes more than one hit to kill the most basic enemies in the game. Just punching them would fit more thematically in terms of combat. Please, PLEASE allow me to at least remove the claws from my inventory if you are going to shoehorn them into this game. Putting a grappling hook on each hip instead would be more useful and then I wouldn't have large and cumbersome garbage that takes up too much VR Real estate around my body.
Remove the two backpack weapon slots and replace them with hip holster slots, so you can still only have 4 pieces of equipment with you at a time. Or make it so your hips can only hold small items, like a simple hook or a potion. Potions on your belt would also be 1000x more useful than these clawhooks.

My final gripe, holy crap the inventory management is bad. It's clumsy, it's too large, and the max stack size for any resource is 10. Having 7 stacks of 10 wood in my chest takes up way too much space in the world just to communicate "you have 70 wood" - it seems like there isn't a limit to your chest storage, so why does it need to be in individual stacks in my storage? Why can't I just have 1 wood object in my chest, a stack that can go up to 9999 for example, that I can only pull a single stack of 10 from at a time? This way, your inventory could still do stacks of 10 (which I believe is too low) and you could still limit how much can be gathered from a single climb in the exact same way. Streamline your storage system. It's clunky and it takes up too much space.

Overall, I really enjoy the game. It hits a lot of the looting, crafting, resource harvesting, and progression points that feel nice in a game. The VR element is well-considered and it makes for a fun VR experience. Especially with friends who can revive you if you die - which you will, early.
Please, devs - don't let your need to have these claw hooks be a detriment to the game. It makes your game clumsier and less convenient to navigate in - and the navigation is what makes this game. Combat isn't super interesting, but climbing a giant beanstalk with grappling hooks is a ton of fun. I sincerely believe this game has nowhere to go but UP and has the potential to really be a titan in VR titles - but only if the devs don't let their perception of flavor interfere with a smooth play experience.

ZMG
ZMG

i really enjoy the core gameplay loop. climb, loot res., craft weapons, fight monsters, climb higher, loot better res., craft bigger weapons, fight bigger monsters...

the
the

Not as polished as I would like. Not too terrible on sale.

Baxhacks
Baxhacks

I can't put my finger on exactly why I dislike it, but it just didn't "click" with me. People say its good, and I'm glad they like it but it's just not fun to me.

StarwindVR
StarwindVR

The most fun iv had with a game in a long time! If you didn't get past the first boss you probably didn't play enough to review this game there's alot more going on then you notice in 30min. The game doesn't hold your hand and leaves lots to surprise you. Its a must play if you like Roge Like games and can take the heights!