Being Scottish and having strong opinions and preferences regarding firearms is a bit like someone from Qatar having strong opinions and preferences regarding natural disasters, but I was raised in media that extols the beauty and elegance of these things while also growing up far from areas where they're a problem. What can I say? Splinter Cell made me love the Five-Seven and MGS made me adore a whole host of weapons. Even now I still use PSG-1s where I can.

Most gun-centric media gets a bit odd, often focusing on ultraviolence or realism in ways that get drab and boring. H3VR instead posits itself as something more akin to a fishing sim. Indeed, target shooting is as calming as catch-and release fishing, and I often find myself booting this game up just to select a random weapon and plink at targets for half an hour or so.

Content is a bit bare: There are a variety of scenes that exist just to do target shooting/sandbox screwing around, some experimental modes that haven't been touched in years, and an arcade mode where you advance through rounds, spend tokens on gear, and try to keep steady while unpinning a grenade and being shot at by 12 Sosigs.
Oh yes, there are no humanoid targets. None. The lead dev hates them and doesn't want them in, so everything available is either inanimate or a literal hot dog. If you're like me and VR gets a bit too real sometimes, it's nice to hop in and shoot things that don't have an uncomfortably real silhouette.

Honestly though, the game doesn't really need content. Mechanics are the name of the game and the developer's particular firearm autism means guns are simulated down to the wire. Sure, this means a lot of guns are functionally identical, but every now and then you'll come across a little quirk - a hidden fire selector, the safety automatically engaging without a magazine in, a manual mag release - that betrays just how deep the simulation goes. Handling and reloading everything on display is blissful, yet simple enough that it's easy to see marked noticeable improvement through repeat sesssions. I used to fumble all of my reloads, but now I can reload light machine guns as though they were humble assault rifles. Revolvers are my favourite, admittedly - I love to reload during a battle.

As an Early Access game H3VR is basically complete, though the full release is several horizons away. Meaningful content tends to come at a glacial pace as the developer often hyperfixates on meaningless mechanics that're only added for the sake of it. Even a few years after they were finished, doors and windows are only on one specific map. Oftentimes the meaningful additions are just more of the same; Weapons, maps, that sort of things. I will concede that the latest map - The Institution, a massive sprawling hub with tons of new enemy and environment types - is amazing, but it's also the most substantial add in years.

Still, maybe for another game this would matter, but H3VR is upfront with what it is. It doesn't matter that the developer wastes time when the game came out swinging, and the core is almost entirely complete.

And hey, if there's anything missing that you want, the game has a thriving mod community. I set my announcer to GLaDOS and now have to fight off cold sweats whenever I do well.

10/10 I'd probably hate this if I were American.

Truly, the marvels of everyday living pale in comparison to being able to shoot guns in VIRTUAL REALITY. I enjoy having to swing my arms around like a fucking dimwitted shit-nosed asshole to move around comfortably, I enjoy having to figure how to put a magazine in a gun because the placement of the fucking thing is 90 Degrees Pitch-wise, I enjoy the fact that instead of shooting things in real-life, with real-life guns and ammunition, I spend my time standing in a dark corner in a wet basement with a TV screen glued to my screen.

It's a bit weird to live in the UK and have opinions about the UMP45, clap when you see an FN Five SeveN etc., but this is what growing up playing too much Rogue Spear does to a fragile young mind. As an outlet for that particular kind of insanity this game is really cool, a gun simulator with an absurd amount of firearms to test out and do all the little things you want to do with cool guns. Wanna fan the hammer on an old sixgun? You got it. You know in movies when someone has an MP5 variant and they smack the charging handle forward like a super cool guy? You can do that. Want to explode a walking hot dog with the gun from Blade Runner? Your prayers have been answered! Playing for any decent length of time will turn you into someone you may have reservations about being, but hey, isn't it really cool to flick your wrist and snap that shotgun closed...?
That stuff aside, the obvious drawback here is playable content. There's some rudimentary modes that are kind of cool, but it's against bots only - what this really needs is some form of multiplayer, even if it's just players vs the AI. Actually, that would be pretty cool in Take & Hold! As it stands it's still fun to jump into one of the shooting range maps and see how well you can handle the gun you're in the mood of this afternoon, but I'm guessing unless you're already starting from the position of having a brain with long-term lead poisoning like mine, that's probably not going to be enough for long. Interested to see where it ends up though!