Deracine

The only real major drawbacks come with the lack of relative freedom and the final couple of chapters feeling oddly paced to wrap things up with, as well as the length of the chapters feeling wildly inconsistent. Despite those qualms, Déraciné is an easy but perhaps not essential recommendation for From Software fans and anyone who wants to live in a fairytale for a little while.

It’s a bizarre beast, placing the ambiguity From Software is known for in the front and center but, despite its often ham-fisted dialogue, it finds genuinely powerful moments of connection as it weaves a memorable yarn. Deracine might not be the game that truly breaks down the barriers between the player and the virtual characters and worlds they love, but it’s definitely a strong sign that VR is heading that way.

In the end, Deracine accomplishes little that a point-and-click adventure couldn't do. It's capable of beautiful and engaging moments, but hamfisted dialogue, awkward voice acting, and frustrating VR behaviors ruin it, for the most part. When the game is clearly trying to be delicate and graceful, the sinister undertones (likely due to the voice acting) give it a bizarre, unnatural tone, and for a studio that's capable of absolutely excellent narratives and gameplay, this felt quite tone deaf.