AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content Producer Nick Sutrich delves into all things VR, from new hardware to new games, upcoming technologies, and so much more.
Some gamers thrive on competitive multiplayer experiences. Battlefield, Call of Duty, Fortnite, and plenty of others have built a community of millions of players through this concept, and while I can enjoy a few rounds in these games from time to time, I’ve never been a competitive person by nature. Thankfully, there are a lot of people like me who would rather join forces with other players rather than compete against them.
It evokes that feeling of you and your childhood friends venturing into the woods to do something stupid, and everyone remembers those moments for the rest of their lives. Recently, I’ve come across Deadly Delivery, a Meta Quest game with friendslop vibes that I simply can’t get enough of, and it’s made special not just by the fact that it’s in VR, but that it has a unique gameplay loop while still feeling familiar to fans of other games in this genre.
What if Amazon employed goblins?
In Deadly Delivery, your job is to deliver packages to the places no one else wants to go. After all, someone has to fulfill those orders, right? We’re talking denizens of the deepest caves, the darkest caverns, and the most dangerous haunted forests. They want their packages, but they don’t want you hanging around.
So what’s a goblin delivery person supposed to do? Grab a few friends and take them along for security, of course! Deadly Delivery sports three save slots, so you can keep your progress separated between friend groups, or just keep a save slot free for those nights when you want to join up with random players.
Each round begins at your living quarters, a sort of hostel with chicken legs (more on that in a moment) that allows you to customize your character, buy new cosmetics, purchase items before your next run, and even upgrade your character’s skill tree. Once the team is ready, you select one of a dozen different locations from a globe near the exit and hit begin.
That hostel you live in is actually the famous Baba Yaga house from Slavic folklore, which explains the chicken legs and its ability to travel to different parts of the world. When the doors open at your new location, you and your friends will grab as many packages as possible and venture forth to deliver them to any door you can find.
This is where Deadly Delivery VR differs from extraction games like Lethal Company, R.E.P.O., or even the Roblox game by the same name. Instead of scavenging levels for treasure to bring back, you’re bringing packages into each labyrinth-like level. The only thing you’re tasked with collecting is the delivery fee for each package. Apparently, cave-dwelling monsters don’t use PayPal.
As I previously mentioned, these denizens might want their packages, but they certainly don’t want you sticking around, and they don’t want anyone randomly wandering into their caves, either. Because of this, you’ll come across any number of traps and monsters along the way, most of which you’ll need to avoid or face certain death. Even ringing the doorbell will often trigger a trap of some kind, making each delivery a hazardous affair.
Each player has a number of slots on their body where they can store packages or items, and special items like carts can be purchased for you to take more into the dungeon at a time. When a player dies, they drop a crucifix that can be picked up by any other player and dropped into a sacrificial fire to resurrect the downed player. But beware, some of these fires require a sacrifice in addition to the crucifix, and that often means you’ll lose a hand in order to resurrect your friend.
Each goblin’s work week consists of three days to achieve a monetary goal. Bigger packages are often worth more to deliver, but require two hands or a cart to drag them to their destination. Successfully meeting the goal will allow you to work another week, unlock new areas, and even special cosmetics that are only available after consecutive weeks of service.
Fail to achieve your goal each week, and the corporation will remove you from service. Permanently. Once you and your team all fail this weekly task, your money and level progress will be reset, but you get to keep the skills you’ve unlocked and any cosmetics you’ve been awarded. Now you have the opportunity to do it all again, but this time, in style.
Of course, Deadly Delivery wouldn’t be a proper friendslop game without crazy hijinx or wacky physics-based nonsense. Huge packages are unwieldy and make navigating through caverns difficult (or extra easy to step on land mines, depending on your perspective). Carts don’t always behave like you think they might in real life. You can even climb up your friends as they climb up you, making an infinite ladder to the stars.
It’s all good, silly fun with a bit of terrifying horror to keep players in check. I enjoy that there’s nothing overly violent, no foul language, and nothing really inappropriate for younger players, all while still delivering a unique art style that doesn’t look like low-budget trash. Too many games fall into that last category these days.
I’ve been obsessed with this game since Christmas and can’t wait to jump back in with friends tonight. Ideally, you’ll want a total of four players so you have the best chance of hitting your goal, but I’ve played with two or three players and it scales just fine. Good luck out there, especially when you hit your first blood moon.
