Each console that comes out is usually characterized by the dominance of a particular genre. For the Super Nintendo, it was sidescrollers, for the N64, it was collectathons, and for early VR, it was escape rooms. Since VR is so demanding on hardware, and because a lot of people get sick when moving around too much, plopping players into a small space with some puzzles scattered around is the easy solution that keeps everyone happy. Not only that, but since these games only require the absolute basics of movement and item interactions, even a solo indie developer can make one as their first project. The downside is that the players themselves are able to tell when something is a roughly made first-project, and that creates a reputation of the genre being low-effort. If any game vindicates the potential of the VR escape rooms however, it’s I Expect You To Die. It’s well polished, beautifully stylized, and doesn’t feel like the result of compromise at all. The tradecraft gameplay has so many funny details and clever solutions that the lack of Bond-esque stealth shooting feels more like a conscious decision to focus on uniqueness, rather than an inability to handle a larger scope. While the selection of levels is somewhat small, they’re all completely unique and the sort of classic spy locations one would hope for. Really, my only complaint is that the final level might be a little too tricky, and I struggled with some of the control gimmicks in a way that made it finish on a slightly sour note. However, even that’s hard to complain about when it was a free expansion. The escape room format doesn’t usually do much for me, and I can understand VR longtimers being burned out on the genre, but this game won me over, and I highly recommend it for anyone who’s just getting started in VR.