Sizzling Canines, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades 2 is right here, bringing a heaping dose of the taking pictures vary enjoyable and gun realism you’re used to from the unique. Now you can even tackle an extraction-based roguelike marketing campaign that places your taking pictures (and reloading) talents to the last word take a look at. Learn on to search out out why it could simply be VR’s smartest, most hardcore roguelike to this point.
Developer: RUST LTD
Writer: RUST LTD, Creature
Accessible On: Quest, SteamVR
Reviewed On: Quest 3
Launch Date: November twelfth, 2026
Worth: $40
Gameplay
Undoubtedly, this recreation is for the individuals who love the unique Sizzling Canines, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, which on the face of issues isn’t actually saying a lot because it’s a sequel to the sport that’s been cooking in Steam Early Entry for a decade. At its coronary heart although, Sizzling Canines, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades 2 is a roguelike shooter constructed atop the scaffolding of a gun simulator. Newcomers to the collection could discover it a bit daunting at first, but in addition surprisingly deep and rewarding too.
At first, you’re thrown into the sport with minimal clarification, which will be irritating, particularly in case you haven’t adopted together with developer Anton Hand’s regular dev logs which do a a lot clearer job of describing the sport’s varied methods.
The expectation is that you just’ll stumble your manner by means of a number of deaths earlier than determining the way to reload every gun, the way to clear ranges, how the sport’s in-universe foreign money works, and a number of different essential issues that I type of want have been extra obvious on the onset of the sport. That’s, except you wish to put a pause on the marketing campaign, and cling again at base and do the measurably much less enjoyable job of studying WienRpedia textual content entries, or going by means of varied guided ‘Certification’ tutorials. You don’t need to, it simply helps.
That mentioned, H3VR2 is the whole lot it was promised to be. Procedurally generates ranges are full of distinctive traps and alarms, an more and more tough array of scorching dog-flavored enemies (aka ‘Sosigs’), and numerous actually enjoyable humor together with manner.
As an extraction-style roguelike, every degree permits you to extract loot, which you discover all through the map. You may slot in your gear transport pod earlier than heading again to base, and going on your subsequent run.
And also you’ll discover a ton of loot—greater than you possibly can shake a meatstick at. Like, quite a bit of seemingly ineffective stuff, like ammo that doesn’t work along with your present loadout, or pink dot sights for (once more) stuff you don’t have. The selection right here is to both hold it to the top of the run and hope all of it suits in your single allotted loot pod, or recycle it for its base components: meat, mustard, or steel, and attempt to spawn one thing extra helpful in to make use of or take again as extracted loot. It’s a enjoyable balancing act that basically makes you suppose earlier than hoovering up random stuff.
That appears to be the overarching theme with H3VR2: sensible balancing that provides you simply sufficient to maintain going, however not sufficient to really feel such as you’re the last word badass instantly. In any case, how are you going to really feel like a badass with a bit Hello-Level peashooter? You have to earn your weapons, spend your cash on worthwhile upgrades, and likewise earn your understanding of the sport within the course of.
And personally, H3VR2 represents the excessive level thus far this yr in VR gaming.
Immersion
Actually, at first I wasn’t actually feeling H3VR2 solely based mostly on the extent of issue associated to dealing with and reloading weapons. It’s a faff—no two methods about it.
Weapons are as practical as they will get, requiring a number of (and distinctive) steps to reload, chamber, hearth, and unload—a reasonably tall order when gun-toting scorching canine males are searching you down and making an attempt to finish your newest run. After enjoying for a number of hours, that’s a lot much less of a criticism now. I perceive most pistols and lengthy weapons. Even when they’re all totally different, I’ve developed the muscle reminiscence to get them working, which is partly because of taking time on the vary, and pushing by means of a very unsuccessful string of first runs.
That mentioned, I can’t fake like the sport’s excessive gun realism isn’t a barrier to entry. I can’t rely the occasions I attempted to cock a gun solely to search out out the mannequin wanted me to toggle the security off first, or what number of occasions I dropped a spent journal in terror as I frantically tried to reload, solely realizing later that it was really my final, and I wouldn’t have the ability to restock it with bullets at one of many many reloading stations dotted all through the sport. In brief, you’ll be anticipated to intuit numerous interactions from the beginning, and git gud.
Nonetheless, after about an hour of makes an attempt and also you inevitably fail your manner up a degree or two, the sport begins to provide again. You’ll begin to discover extra loot, extra ancillary weapons that really turn out to be useful, and also you’ll get higher at growing your individual techniques on the way to greatest take down a patrolling Sosig, who may also have a little healer robotic floating overhead to suck up much more of your ammo. It’s at all times tough, however when you create these elementary gun dealing with expertise, the sport begins to essentially take off.
Sosigs are delightfully frangible too, as melee weapons and bullets take noticeable bites out of them. And as you’d anticipate from a scorching dog-flavored warfare simulator, it by no means will get too severe both, as Sosigs are filled with one-liners.
So far as object interplay goes, you possibly can seize most weapons in quite a lot of methods, which is good because you’ll want each fingers to load and rack any given weapon. In the meantime, you can even pressure seize stuff from far-off, or on the bottom to maintain you from having to crouch or transfer in odd methods simply to seize a Soviet grenade or a single shotgun shell.
Stage design can be a excessive level, because it totally suits the backrooms-esque narrative goal of the sport. There’s a good quantity of non-interactable doorways, lockers, and different set dressing which can have been higher built-in into ranges although. Nonetheless, ranges really feel intentional, from the reloading stations to the door opening buttons, which you’ll push with the tip of your gun, again, hand—no matter you’ve got on you.
Consolation
Your entire customary VR locomotion choices are right here, so it’s very comfy for many anybody.
Seated mode, though relying in your stock model, can typically make it a ache to seize one thing by your hip in case you’re in a chair with arm rests.
| ‘H3VR2’ Consolation Settings – November twelfth, 2026 | |
| Turning | |
| Snap-turn | ✔ |
| Fast-turn | ✖ |
| Clean-turn | ✔ |
| Motion | |
| Teleport-move | ✔ |
| Sprint-move | ✔ |
| Clean-move | ✔ |
| Arm Swing-move | ✖ |
| Blinders | ✔ |
| Head-based route | ✔ |
| Controller-based route | ✔ |
| Swappable motion hand | ✔ |
| Posture | |
| Standing mode | ✔ |
| Seated mode | ✔ |
| Synthetic crouch | ✔ |
| Actual crouch | ✔ |
| Accessibility | |
| Subtitles | ✖ |
| Adjustable issue | ✔ |
| Two fingers required | ✔ |
| Actual crouch required | ✖ |
| Listening to required | ✖ |
| Adjustable participant peak | ✔ |