Practisim VR

Developer is no longer supporting this game

When this first came out it was pretty awesome. By today's standards for VR shooters, it's very dated. It hasn't received updates in almost 5 years...its unfortunately a dead game.

So far... Its ok.

Biggest complaint so far, Stage builder. I spent about an hour trying to figure this out. Shooting on the Quest 2 is great. Building on the quest 2 is a bit terrible. I cant access more than a single menu for targets. And the placement system hardly even works. I literally tried every button and every stick. The menu is completely missing on the quest 2 and impossible to build ANYTHING on. Also adding pre made matches would be nice to see a preview. Some of these are terrible and you dont know until you load it. Be nice to see how bad they are before loading them to a "match play list". But REALLY needs to update the "builder" section for quest 2 users. Teleport, and select are about the ONLY functions that work. That's 2 functions of MANY needed to make the builder usable.

So far the base game is decent. But its some what what I expected from a indie/small dev type game.

Feels good, shoots ok. Some bloom. So even if your on target is perfect the POI is off especially during rapid fire. Being 0 recoil I kinda get this. But at the same time being a trainer why punish your users if they are on target.

So far with 4 hours in. My complaints/suggestions.

Movement system and center stage update needed. I do like there is free movement. But I think there should be a teleport option. Not by thumb stick but by automatic teleport once a section of stage is finished. To allow for small play space users to "simulate a run" or larger courses of fire. Allow builders to put in pre determined positions on the stage the game either fast teleports there. Or a general movement speed from stage window to window again at a average speed to allow the player to stand in place but move around the course in a predetermined manner at a set speed. But the movement controls are usable, just not perfected.

There also needs to be a quick button option or at the very least in the match menu to center the stage before ready. So many times id be off center for the start of the stage and half the shooting area would be inside of a wall of my house i couldnt access. And there is not correcting it. I slept my head set and turned it back on. No fix. Steam view reset again no fix. This is a big issue and hazardous to anyone who may run into walls not being able to center the stage to their play space.


Second is the glock only has a red dot option no standard sight options. I run both open and factory class with my glocks and would like more options for multiple guns. Which goes onto my next suggestion.

Gun customization per class and guns would be nice. Allow us to replicate to a degree out own match guns or at least take each base gun and modify it to fit each shooting class available. Doesnt have to be crazy just general add ons like red dots, reticles and mag wells.

Controller support. Id also like to see official controller attachnment support. Would also be a good way to gain extra revenue for the development of the game selling game reccomended or license controller gun grips. Doesnt have to trade mark with the names but at least get the grip sizes, angles and shapes with out leaving it to etsy or ebay random controller guns. Some of which are terrible and just a pain to track down a quality controller grip.

Another would be to allow us to skip the tutorial and maybe update the video. The video quality looks like its from 2005. Very washed out and over exposed with low resolution. I'm sure a $200 360 action cam would do just fine.

Again so far after 4 hours of play this i my review so far. Will return if opinions change.

Overall would recommend even with the few limitations. ESPECIALLY if on sale price. But full price isn't a bad deal either for content involved. And its GREAT to see constant updates being made for this game and activity and effort from the dev team.

Seems like abandonware.

Incompatible with HP Reverb G2

Completely broken with Reverb G2. Doesn't seem to have recent updates. Can't really say much else, since I can't move around or navigate menus.

Great way of working on the stage strategies. Helped me to improve my transitioning also. Only missing part is the recoil :)

With all Honesty I thought that Practisim VR would be a nice game to have since I do Comp Shooting on the outside and just got an Oculus 2 this X-Mas. But will say that this disappointed me, the game has been having issues recently as well as some functions don't work with the Oculus 2 either amking it unplayable.

On the Devs side unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any activity regarding updates to the game at all, its as if devs decided to abandon the game, their last update news in game is from Dec 2020. That just shows they dont care about this game anymore not even enough to reply back or make a post addressing issues.

I dont recommend this at all even if you have a different VR headset thats compatible

I am IPSC shooter. Good game.

Unusable with Reverb G2 (not just me, other 2 reviewers). You cannot use any button. Instruction video contains 1990 pixelated videos. The developer seems to have checked out of this project a year ago. Getting a refund. Really a shame, as the concept is great.

I want to love this game and had a blast when playing it on my old Oculus. But for some reason the game doesn't support Windows Mixed Reality Headset controllers. I have the HP reverb G2 and the only inputs the game will take is from the trigger and if I mash buttons my character will start to move but that's it. Can't reload and can't move in a manner that is controllable. I will update my review once this is fixed.

noticeably improved my match performance, specifically target transitions, sight acquisition, indexing, and stage planning.

I figured that my peaceful seclusion could use some more pew pew, so I bought this. I'm really unimpressed.

First: glitchy as hell, especially for a game that doesn't seem to be doing all that much and has been around for a few years. My rig runs Alyx way more smoothly. I'm perpetually stuck in the land of the loading mountain thingies. It took nearly a minute to load when I first started it up, and every time I'd go between a menu and an activity there'd be some sort of glitch. A game that looks this basic shouldn't punish my system this badly. It wasn't even taxing my system very hard during the eternal initial load. Only hit about 25% on both my CPU and GPU.

Second: it pretends to have Knuckles support but doesn't really. It's just an image of an Index Controller hovering several inches off from where it should be. No finger tracking; just weird looking ghost hands hanging out in space, being mildly disconcerting. I'd rather not see controllers at all (a la Beat Saber) than see wildly inaccurate ones. I look at my hands a lot as they're kind of how I interact with the world as a human. Wrong hands are very uncomfortable.

Third: lefty support is weak enough to be in the "why bother" territory. Instead of just allowing you to shoot lefty, it reverses which poorly imitated controller is in which hand. I can shoot righty, but I'm better with my left, and would any right handed person shoot wrong handed by choice? If there isn't real lefty support, just leave it out. Make sure to include that information in the description and opinionated lefties can avoid it.

Fourth: the tutorial is focused on the scoring systems of shooting sports rather than how to function in the game. I just want to know how to reload and teleport, neither of which were intuitive in the slightest. Hardly anything uses the touch pads for locomotion, and the thumb sticks didn't seem to do anything at all. I still can't figure out how to reload after pushing ALL OF THE BUTTONS. I don't want to watch a low-res video of some dude shooting a gun with great skill, especially if said video is about 10 degrees off from being level. Watching a video shouldn't trigger even a wisp motion sickness, but here we are. After that you get to have a rotating gun point at you periodically as the intricacies of the sport are recited. Seems a bit weird to have that happen in a game that might want to encourage decent gun safety habits, like don't look down the barrel.

It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't have the polish to command the $20 price tag. I'd play it for $5 with zero complaints, though it still wouldn't be a favorite.

If you have any interest in pistol shooting sports get this game! Totally worth 20 bucks. unlimited replayability, includes a stage designer, lots of guns to choose from, and tons of target and steel options. If you like the prospect of pistol competition without ammo and match costs just buy it you wont regret it.

One of the more realistic shooting experiences currently available in VR. There are a lot of fun courses to run though. I really look forward to when better controllers are out, to having proper weapon grips, and maybe even some recoil. Great job on the game. Keep it up.

Pretty cool simulator. I am looking into shooting IPSC and this can help me practice. Hope there will be manual slide release/racking in the future tho.

Money well spent. I have seen others have comments on some things they would like to see added to the game with a negative review, all they do is have to ask and the developer delivers. The adds to the game every week make this better and better.

Great game, great developer. Really immersive and surprisingly close to the actual sport. Developer is very responsive to feedback and requests for help. Still a few bugs but they get fixed pretty quick. Highly recommended.

cool game. i love the concept. i played a few stages and even got #1 on a few leaderboards in my first hour or so. Ultimately I have returned the game for the time being. It REALLY needs more customization for the setup. my holster was WAY too high on my body, so id play a stage 20 times and go to draw to see my hands empty bc my gun wasnt where it should be on my hip. The locomotion needs some work as others have said. Overall I'm leaving as a reccomend b/c the idea is awesome, the dev is active and working on things, its definitely playable etc. It's just not worth $20 to me right now. Im sure I'll buy again down the road. The holster thing alone would get me to rebuy.

Practisim VR is an awesome shooting simulation!

If you are a competitive shooter (USPSA / IPSC or IDPA, Pro-am or Steel-Challenge etc.) you will definitely love this "game". If you are at least interested in competitve shooting this simulation is a very good way to get your first impressions, try it out, learn the rules and to see how much fun it is!

If you like shooting in real life or in VR.- if you like H3VR ("Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades") or "Lethal VR" then you will also love "Practism VR".

Lets face it - you can never get "enough" training - and this virtual reality shooting simulator is like having your own gun range at home. Ammo is expensive, so are range and match fees - with this authentic simulation you can get a lot of training, whenever you want and totally inexpensive. Also you can do some training when weather is too bad to go to a range.
And it is way more fun then just simple dry fire training :-)

I am a competitive shooter and and not so much a computer player - but "Practism VR" with the room scaling of the Vive is so much fun and a surprisingly good training. Of course the gun feeling and handling is different compared to real shooting - but Loke (the developer) gives his best to make it as realistic as possible!

By the way - this guy is great :-)
As far as I know (and Google knows :-)) Loke is a competive shooter himself and you feel that "Practisim VR" is more than just a project for him. It feels like he wants this simulation to be as perfect as possible because he likes to train with it himself. Every detail in the game is as close to real practical shooting as it could get in VR.

So what can you expect?

This VR experience is an accurate simulation of the competitive practical shooting sport.

For all the people who are new to USPSA / IPSC etc. there are a few things you should know (made simple) about practical shooting:

“Practical shooting” originally comes from police or military "combat"- shooting training where real-life scenarios were constructed for the shooters to train all the needed skills for the real world in a safe environment.
IDPA is still defensive shooting orientated, USPSA and IPSC are more sports and skill-orientated.

In a typical match you shoot different "stages" - each stage has targets you have to shoot (i.e. paper targets, moving targets, steel plates, poppers etc.) and targets you are not allowed to shoot (no-shoots/penalty targets). In the game the no-shoot paper (!) targets are usually white and the ones to be hit are brown.

Each brown paper target usually needs to be hit with two shots. There are different scoring zones on the paper targets - to make it simple: a good centered shot gives more points then one on the outside of the target.
Steel targets have to be hit until they fall to score.

The stages also have so called "fault lines" (in the game yellow lines on the ground) which you are not allowed to cross and different types of barricades and windows and vision barriers to make hitting and finding the targets more difficult and usually a defined point where you have to start (in the game all of this is explained at the beginning of every stage).
In between the fault lines you are allowed to move "freestyle" - after the start signal grab your gun, search all targets and hit them all as fast as you can. You have to move and change your position and sometimes you have to open doors or run around corners to see targets etc.
Every target hit gives you points. The better the hit on paper targets the more points you get.
Subtracted from that points are penalties for missed targets and hits on targets you were not allowed to shoot.
In most stages your points earned are divided by the time you needed.
This is why you have to be as accurate and as fast as possible. You can see your results on the leaderboard and match results board.
This is what I think is the best and most motivating thing of the game - you always want to beat your own personal best time and the ones of other shooters around the world.

Also important is to always follow the commands of the range officer and (although you are allowed to move freely in between the fault lines) always hold the gun with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction - not only while shooting but also when moving etc..

In most stages you have the "180 degree rule".
In easy words - from your starting position (looking downrange) your gun may only be pointed in between the direct left and the direct right (180 degrees) all the time. If your muzzle points just a little backwards you will be disqualified.

The game features high quality graphics, accurate gun aiming, common stage props such as different targets, swingers, movers, texas stars, polish plate rack, Irish plate rack, movers and innovative stage designs.

You can choose from a really large variety of guns - both pistols and revolvers (such as glock, cz, beretta, sig, s&w etc.). And there are even more to come.
Right now you have the most popular guns used in real practical competitve shooting.

There are currently around 20 + interesting, diversified and challenging stages so far.
Even night stages where you have to use a flashlight to see the targets and some fun and practice ranges.
Loke mentioned that there will be even more stages in the near future + a stage designer where you can create your own stages. To design your own stages is awesome - I am really looking forward to that feature because it gives endless training options and due to this the highest replayability I can imagine :-)

After the last update you can choose if you want to play with one or two controllers - for me playing with one controller feels much better because I can naturally hold my "gun" in two hands (except for stages where one handed shooting is required).

Is there anything I don't like?
Well, not much...but there are a few things....

First: The movement with the trackpad.
This is not Lokes or the games fault though - I guess it is a problem in every VR game where movement beyond the room scaling boundaries is required,
In Practisim VR I totally love the smaller stages where only the room scaling is neccessary and where I don't have to use the trackpad and you can move freely, fast and naturally.
As soon as I need the trackpad I feel like a drunken and clumsy robot.
Maybe I will get used to it and become faster with more practise - maybe the movement will be Improvised with the next updates - we will see.

There are also some other minor issues that need to be solved - but nothing too disturbing.
I guess those issues can easiliy be fixed in the upcoming updates (like that you sometimes hit a barricade although the sights are perfectly on target and the strange position of the holster which makes it sometimes difficult to draw the gun and that there are sometimes no visible bullet holes in the targets etc.). For an early access game it is already very complete and VERY fun to play.

Must buy for shooters - highly recommended!

I am really enjoying this game. Nothing beats going down to your local range and putting rounds into paper or steel, but this certainly comes as close as you can with a computer and a couple controllers.

AncientSky has been awesome in listening to what feedback they are getting and trying to improve upon what they have built already.

If you've shot competitively in the past or are interested in what its like I would definately recommend this to you.

I've always been a fan of the target shooter since playing "Reload: Target Down"
Vr as a medium has massive potential in this genre.

"Practisim" is a great idea and will probably be in the future but I am not sure why it was released so soon.

It took me forty minutes just to try to get a gun in my hand. Once I did the shooting felt pretty good and the courses looked interesting.

I played many levels but was never actually able to put a score a single point. After spending so much time trying to get a gun in my hand I didn't have the patience to actually figure out how to score.

However I was happy shooting the white targets as they moved when you shot them.

I am sure with some more time experimenting I could have figured it out but I shouldn't have spend that many hours just to pick up a gun and earn some kind of score.

I am tempted to get my $19.99 back but the problems seem minor and fixable but nevertheless are crippling to the game.

One more gripe.

(Inevitably this game will go on sale for $4.99 or so at some point during early access and then I will regret my decision not to get my money back.)
And so I pay top dollar to back a fledging game that may or may not turn out well. Then a deep discount is offered to someone six months or a year down the road.

Great game!
If you want a target practice/competition pistol shoot sim, this is really good. Great attention to detail from the devs and will get better fairly rapid based on what I have seen so far.

The developer is active in the discussions and has already fixed a variety of things pointed out by the community.

Pro's

• 2 controllers implemented recently!
  
• Fluid and Smooth
  
• Very detailed simulation in regards to competition style shooting
  
• Developer who fixes and updates quickly based on the "discussions" with users
  

Needs Tweaking

• Basic mechanical tutorial for New players
  
• Basic tutorial/guide on starting/ending matches
  
[*]Little things like controller not grabbing firearm from holster easily after update (but dev is fast fixing stuff!)