Arktika.1

Arktika.1
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	4A Games
Publisher	Oculus Studios
Platform	Oculus Rift (Platform)
Device	Oculus Rift, Oculus Rift S
Type	Game
Genre	Shooter, Action
Input Device	Oculus Touch
Release Date	October 10, 2017
Price	US$29.99
App Store	Oculus Store (now Meta Horizon Store)

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Arktika.1 (stylized ARKTIKA.1) is a virtual reality first-person shooter developed by 4A Games, the studio behind the Metro series, and published by Oculus Studios for the Oculus Rift. It was designed exclusively for the Oculus Touch motion controllers and was released on the Oculus Store on 10 October 2017 at a regular price of US$29.99. It was 4A Games' first virtual reality game.

The game is set nearly a century in the future, after a "silent apocalypse" has plunged the world into a new ice age. The player is a mercenary hired by Citadel Security to protect a colony in the Vostok region of what used to be Russia. Combat is built around cover, customizable one-handed guns and node-based teleportation movement. The game holds a "mixed or average" Metascore of 71 on Metacritic, based on 8 critic reviews.

Reviewed 7 October 2026. Developer, publisher, announcement, pre-order and release dates, price, setting, gameplay and development details, quotes, Metacritic and review scores, current store listing and all cited sources. About review dates.

Gameplay

Arktika.1 is a first-person shooter played with a Touch controller in each hand. In the Oculus Store listing, the game is described as "designed exclusively for Oculus Touch". The player moves between teleportation nodes placed through each level. According to Road to VR, the nodes put the player "right where the action is going to be", and the reviewer compared the result to a "mobile wave shooter" while calling it "ultimately super comfortable". The player's physical playspace is anchored to the current node, so the player can move around nearby cover physically; according to Road to VR, players with a larger playspace can get sight lines and angles that are not available in a minimum-size playspace. In the version shown at Oculus Connect 3 in October 2016, UploadVR reported that blue warp points marked safer, more distant positions and yellow points marked closer, riskier ones.

Weapons

The arsenal has 10 single-handed ranged weapons, which can be fitted with attachments. Meta's launch post states that every gun shares a modular design, so accessories can be mixed and matched on basic frames. Road to VR described a mix of clip-on and embedded accessories that "effectively work like physical difficulty sliders", two basic reloading styles, and holsters placed above each shoulder. UploadVR's review listed single-shot Magnums, more experimental lasers and handheld shotguns, and noted that the in-game currency was plentiful enough to buy most guns by the end of the second level. One weapon, the Carver, curves its bullets around enemy cover.

Enemies, cover and puzzles

The main enemies are bandits in three classes: basic infantry, heavy and sniper. The player also faces creatures called Yagas, which Road to VR described as "gruesome creatures that like popping out of the shadows and rushing at you". According to Meta, enemies can destroy the player's cover and outflank them, and some parts of the environment can be used to modify cover or to shoot around corners with modified weapons. Levels also include interactions with levers and computer interfaces and puzzles such as finding a key or unlocking a security system. Executive producer Jon Bloch described difficulty settings, alternate level objectives and unlockable perks intended to encourage replays, saying that some perks "are strategic and some of them are almost like fun cheats".

Development

4A Games had been experimenting with the Rift for nearly three years before launch, since the Rift DK2 era, and its early VR experiments included a story-driven puzzle game. According to Road to VR, Jason Rubin of Oculus invited the studio to see the Touch controllers; after the demonstration the team moved to a shooter, while aiming for what it called "AAA quality and AAA scope". At the time of launch the game had been in development for more than two years. Bloch explained the setting by saying the studio "wanted to stick within what we know really well", a post-apocalyptic Russian shooter, after its work on the Metro games.

The team chose node-based teleportation early in development, at a time when, in Bloch's words, "everything [in VR game design] at that point was still experimental". It tried melee and two-handed weapons, including bows, before settling on one-handed guns, because two-handed interactions lacked the physical constraint that would make them feel realistic. The game runs on the newest version of 4A Games' own 4A Engine, also used for the Metro series. Bloch told UploadVR that Oculus helped fund the game and that he did not believe it would exist without that support.

Arktika.1 was the first 4A Games title developed from start to finish in Malta. In early 2014, 4A Games began opening a new studio in Malta and moved 80 employees and their families there; the company called Arktika.1 its first VR game.

Release

The game was announced during the Oculus Connect 3 keynote in San Jose in October 2016, with a release window of the second quarter of 2017. In the announcement, 4A Games co-founder and creative director Andriy Prokhorov said that "creating ARKTIKA.1, a big, atmospheric VR shooter made a lot of sense". It was shown again at GDC 2017; Meta's launch post cites The Verge as ranking it among the five most interesting Oculus games there.

Pre-orders opened on 12 September 2017 with a 10% discount on the regular US$29.99 price, and the game launched on 10 October 2017. Road to VR reported that a companion eBook, ARKTIKA.1: My Name is Viktoria, written by Christie Golden, the game's script writer, was available on Amazon for US$1 and was scheduled to launch on 10 October 2017.

Platform	Release date	Notes
Oculus Rift (Oculus Store)	10 October 2017	Requires Oculus Touch; US$29.99

As of October 2026, the game is still sold as a PC VR title on the Meta Horizon Store for US$29.99, with the listing naming Rift and Rift S as supported devices.

Reception

On Metacritic, the PC version has a Metascore of 71 ("mixed or average") from 8 critic reviews.

Publication	Score	Notes
Metacritic (aggregate)	71/100	8 critic reviews
Road to VR	8/10	Gameplay 8, Immersion 7, Comfort 9
UploadVR	70/100	Score as listed by Metacritic
GameSpot	70/100	Score as listed by Metacritic

Scott Hayden of Road to VR wrote that "shooting is a natural and genuinely fun experience", but that the game "falters somewhat with a thin story line" that does not match its visuals; he finished it in about five hours and called the puzzles "an absolute breeze". Jamie Feltham of UploadVR called it an "extremely polished shooter" with "high production values and finely-tuned handling" and a campaign longer than most VR shooters of the time, while criticizing the limited teleport movement, underused monsters, reused environments in later levels and an unbalanced weapon and upgrade system. Metacritic's excerpt of GameSpot's review credits the game with using VR to create a tense atmosphere and exciting gunplay, while noting that its mechanics feel familiar.