Boneworks

Boneworks
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Stress Level Zero
Publisher	Stress Level Zero
Platform	SteamVR
Device	HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality
Operating System	Windows
Type	Game
Genre	Action-adventure, Physics shooter, Sandbox
Input Device	Tracked motion controllers
Play Area	Standing, Room-scale
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	December 10, 2019
Price	US $29.99
App Store	Steam
Website	https://store.steampowered.com/app/823500/BONEWORKS/

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Boneworks (stylised BONEWORKS) is a 2019 physics-based virtual reality action-adventure game developed and published by Stress Level Zero. It released for Windows PC VR on December 10, 2019 through Steam, with support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

The game is built around a continuous physics simulation in which the player's virtual body, weapons, and objects all have mass and collide with the environment. It was one of the more thoroughly physics-driven VR titles at its release, and several of its interaction ideas, such as fully simulated weapon handling and a physical avatar, were later adopted by other VR games. Stress Level Zero released a follow-up, Bonelab, in 2022.

Gameplay

Boneworks is played from a first-person perspective and uses motion tracking of the headset and two controllers to drive a full simulated body. The player character has a virtual torso, arms, and legs whose positions are computed by inverse kinematics from the head and hands, so the body responds to walls, ledges, and other obstacles rather than passing through them.

Objects in the world carry size, weight, and material properties, and the player grips them directly with the controllers. Combat can be carried out with firearms, melee weapons, or improvised environmental objects, and many encounters and puzzles have more than one physical solution. Guns are handled physically: magazines are loaded and slides are racked by hand rather than through a single button press.

Movement uses smooth artificial locomotion together with climbing and grabbing. Reviewers described the climbing system as physically demanding and a source of motion discomfort, and noted that the game is best played in shorter sessions; Road to VR gave it a comfort rating of 5 out of 10. The story is set inside MythOS, a virtual operating system created by the fictional Monogon Industries, and follows a character who exploits the simulation while moving through a series of test environments.

After launch the game added further modes and content through free updates, including save points, an Arena combat mode, and several standalone sandbox maps in which the player can spawn objects and enemies freely.

Development

Boneworks was developed by Stress Level Zero, the studio co-founded by Brandon Laatsch and Alex Knoll, who had previously released the VR shooter Hover Junkers. The studio first revealed the game in March 2019, describing a goal of hyper-realistic, physics-based interaction and player embodiment. The game is built in the Unity engine.

The release date of December 10, 2019 was confirmed by Stress Level Zero in late 2019 alongside new gameplay footage.

Release

Boneworks launched only on PC VR through Steam and was a VR-only title that required a SteamVR-compatible headset and tracked controllers. The original game has not received an official Meta Quest release; in 2024 a free community modification named Labworks ported its campaign so it could be run natively on Quest hardware on top of the sequel Bonelab, but this is a community project rather than an official port.

Platform	Storefront	Release date
Windows PC VR (SteamVR)	Steam	December 10, 2019

Reception

On Steam, Boneworks holds a "Very Positive" user rating, with about 92 percent of roughly 29,000 user reviews being positive. Critical reception was more divided. The review aggregator Metacritic reported a score of 72 out of 100 for the PC version, in the "mixed or average" band, based on six critic reviews, alongside a user score of 8.5.

Road to VR reviewer Ben Lang scored the game 6 out of 10, praising the immersion of the physics simulation (rated 8 out of 10) but criticising the combat for lacking challenge and the campaign for weak pacing and level design. UploadVR's Jamie Feltham rated it 4 out of 5, calling the weighted interactions and physical combat a strong showcase while noting one-note environment design and physically tiring locomotion. Per Metacritic, IGN scored the game 79 out of 100.

The game sold more than 100,000 units in its first week on Steam, which Stress Level Zero reported as a milestone for an independent VR release; Road to VR estimated this at roughly $3 million in revenue, while cautioning that the figure was a rough estimate that did not account for regional pricing, Steam's platform cut, refunds, or free keys.

In year-end VR awards for 2019, Boneworks won the Most Immersive Moment category at the UploadVR Best VR of 2019 Awards (for "Testing the Physics") and was nominated for Best PC VR Game, Best Visuals, and Most Active VR Game. Road to VR gave it the Indie Design Award in its 2019 Game of the Year Awards.

Legacy

Boneworks used physics simulation more extensively than most VR games available at the time, simulating the inertia of weapons, objects, and the player's own body. UploadVR described physics-based interaction as the direction VR gaming was heading and pointed to Boneworks as a leading example of the style, alongside earlier physics-driven titles such as Blade & Sorcery and H3VR. When discussing Half-Life: Alyx, Valve noted that it made different physics design choices from Boneworks, in part because of the limits of current force feedback in VR controllers.

Stress Level Zero released a follow-up set in the same universe, Bonelab, on September 29, 2022 for the Meta Quest 2 and PC VR. Bonelab earned about $1 million in revenue within its first hour on the Quest store, which Road to VR reported as a record for the fastest-selling title on the platform at that time.