Space Marine VR - Defenders of Avarax made me feel like an eight-foot tall supersoldier

Zero Latency's VR setup allowed eight of us to fight the xenos scum for the Emperor of Mankind, and it absolutely ruled.

There’s nothing quite like getting a bunch of mates together and fighting for the glory of the Emperor of Mankind. While a flatscreen game makes you feel powerful, stepping into the virtual reality world of a Zero Latency experience comes with its own sense of scale and drama, especially with the company’s Space Marine – Defenders of Avarax VR game. Before we donned our VR headsets and picked up our rifles, we were just a handful of mates, but the moment the passthrough optics shifted to the grimdark world of Warhammer 40,000, we could not stop shouting “Brother!” and touting how proud the Emperor would be of our efforts.

Zero Latency started as a nugget of an idea over a decade ago after the Occulus Rift came onto the scene. Since then, the Melbourne, Australia-based company has expanded across the world, offering some unparalleled virtual reality experiences not previously possible.

Instead of solo experiences or multiplayer games with players separated across different houses or countries, Zero Latency puts you all in a single, large room. At the Brisbane location, the arena is about 10 meters by 20 meters, affording the eight people parties the freedom to walk around without bumping into one another.

My team consisted of five mates and an older, married couple. We didn’t know them going in, but they quickly became our closest brothers, even the wife was a brother by the end of it.

The bonding kicked off immediately as we watched a briefing from our Space Marine leader informing us of the mission we were about to undertake. Those among us without a degree in Warhammer still got the broad strokes of the task at hand. The xenos needed to be killed, and we were just the ragtag group of supersoldiers to get it done.

With the video concluded, the staff member stepped in to explain how the gear works. There’s the standard VR headset with adjustable straps and an impressive rifle controller, complete with trigger, a couple of button, and a shotgun-like grip for loading a virtual grenade into the underslung launcher. The buttons controlled manual reloading and switching between single- and burst-fire.

At this point, we filed into the room and the passthrough optics switched perspective into the grimdark world so many have come to love. It was immediately immersive, especially looking around and seeing your friends in hulking armor and hearing their voice through the gritty vox. I couldn’t help but lumber around, with larger steps, chest stuck out a bit further. I was there, I was a Space Marine, and I was so ready to get to shooting.

But you don’t just drop into the action, you need to test your gear, get a feel for your weapons, and make sure you understand how to load a grenade. Four players walked to one side of the room and the other four went opposite. A few rounds fired and well-placed grenades launched at moving targets and we were ready to go – but not before choosing our difficulty.

Though it offered no increased score, most of us opted for the Hard Mode, which would display an icon beside our name and on the leaderboard. It also meant that we opted-in to friendly fire, which would reduce our score when it occurred, and manual reloading only. The only thing that affects those who chose Normal Mode is a sense of shame.

With the team split into two squads, we boarded an elevator before heading our separate ways. In the virtual world, we were separated by walls and floors and great gulfs of space, but in the real world, we were just on other sides of the room.

The teams stayed split for the majority of the experience, though sometimes we’d cross paths as we lumbered through a hallway, or rode an elevator to another level. It was always a moment of joy, shouting out so our voice would play over the vox, waving to our allies as though we were really meeting up after a battle as opposed to standing in a big empty room with goggles on our heads.

While the gameplay isn’t as complex as some recent VR titles, the joy comes from being back-to-back with your mates, firing on swarms of aliens that come pouring in from holes in the wall. I’d be holding one angle, only to realize a mate was getting swarmed, so I’d shuffle over to provide some assistance.

There are even special weapon drops that can be collected by standing near a droppod. They’re basically miniguns and flamethrowers with limited ammo but they pack a punch. It spiced up the shooting a bit, especially in some of the later sections of the game where the squads grouped up to take down larger threats.

The whole experience lasted about 30 minutes, which definitely flew by. It felt like we were just getting warmed up and ready to dive into more action when the mission ended and we boarded the extraction ship.

Whether you’re deeply familiar with the source material or just a sightseer happy to be along for the ride, Zero Latency’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine VR – Defenders of Avarax experience does a tremendous job at making you feel like an eight-foot tall, heavily plated warrior. If you’ve got a Zero Latency location near you, get a few brothers together and kill some xenos scum for the Emperor.

Warhammer 40:000: Space Marine VR – Defenders of Avarax access was provided by Zero Latency.