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Budget Cuts

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Budget Cuts
Information
VR/AR VR
Developer Neat Corporation
Publisher Neat Corporation, Creature Label (Steam listing); Perp Games (PlayStation VR boxed edition)
Platform SteamVR, Oculus Rift (Platform), PlayStation VR
Device HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR
Operating System Windows, PlayStation 4
Type Full Game
Genre Action, Adventure, Indie, VR, Stealth, Colorful
Input Device Tracked Motion Controllers, PlayStation Move
Play Area Standing, Room-Scale
Game Mode Single Player
Language English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish (Latin America), Traditional Chinese, Polish
Release Date June 14, 2018 (Steam, Oculus Store); September 25, 2020 (PlayStation VR)
Price US$14.99 (Steam, October 2026); about US$30 at launch
App Store Steam, Oculus Store, PlayStation Store
Website https://www.neatcorporation.com/budget-cuts-games
Infobox Updated 10/11/2026
See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Budget Cuts is a first-person virtual reality stealth game developed by Neat Corporation, an independent studio in Stockholm, Sweden.[1] The player is an office worker at TransCorp, a company that builds cost-cutting robots, and has to escape the building while avoiding armed security robots.[1] Movement is handled by a teleport device that fires a ball and opens a small portal window onto the landing spot, so the player can look around corners before jumping there.[2][3]

A free demo for the HTC Vive came out in April 2016 and drew wide attention for its portal-based teleportation.[1][4] After several delays, the full game was released on Steam and the Oculus Store on 14 June 2018, and a PlayStation VR version followed on 25 September 2020.[1][5] A sequel, Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency, came out in 2019, and both games were later combined as Budget Cuts Ultimate.[6]

Reviewed 11 October 2026. Checked the Steam listing (publishers, price, languages, features, requirements, review count), Steam news posts for release dates and patches, Metacritic and OpenCritic scores, and the cited Road to VR, UploadVR, IGN, Eurogamer, Push Square, PlayStation Blog, Meta and Neat Corporation pages for the PC and PlayStation VR release history, sequel and Ultimate edition. About review dates.

Description

Budget Cuts is a VR stealth game for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, developed by Neat Corporation. The full game was released in June 2018, two years after the first public demo.[1]

The player works at TransCorp stamping papers and filing files. Human employees are disappearing after being called to the Human Resources department, and the player is about to be fired. Winta, a voice on the other end of the fax machine, sends the player instructions and clues, while the company's owner, Rex, broadcasts over the office loudspeakers.[2][1]

Gameplay

The main tool is the translocator, a device that fires a small ball in an arc. The ball bounces until it settles on a surface, then shows a portal window onto that spot; pressing the grip button teleports the player there.[3][7] Because the ball is a physics object, it can be bounced off walls for trick shots that land on top of filing cabinets or light fittings, and some puzzles have the player pull grates out of walls to aim the ball through.[8] In the full game, robots can see the preview portal and shoot the player through it.[1] UploadVR described the system in 2016 as a way to handle locomotion in room-scale play: the player stays inside a glowing circular area smaller than the tracked space and teleports to cover longer distances.[7]

Enemies include armed security robots called Supervisors, while docile worker drones fill the office.[1][9] Players can kill robots with throwing knives (described in the story as "letter openers"), scissors and darts, or avoid them by sneaking through ventilation shafts and behind cubicles.[10][1] A single shot from a robot sends the player back to the last automatic save point, and the game has no health items or power-ups. Levels usually have more than one route to an objective such as a key card or a door code, and Road to VR noted that the game can be finished without killing a robot.[1] The inventory holds five items.[1] The main story includes a boss fight.[11]

Playtime estimates vary. Road to VR reported in March 2018 that the game promised "seven or so hours of content"; the Road to VR reviewer reported nine hours in total, and UploadVR later put the range at 3 to 9 hours depending on play style.[12][1][3]

Features

System Requirements

Windows

Minimum

  • OS: Windows 7 SP1 or newer
  • Processor: Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 1500X
  • Memory: 6 GB RAM
  • Graphics: GeForce GTX 970/1060 or Radeon RX 480
  • VR Support: SteamVR. Standing or Room Scale[2]

Setup Instructions

The Steam listing supports standing and room-scale play areas.[2] Before launch, Neat Corporation said the game would support full room-scale movement and that Oculus Rift owners could use either a three-sensor setup or the usual two front-facing sensors.[12] The game has no dedicated seated mode, but Road to VR found that most objects can be reached from a chair.[1]

Development

Neat Corporation was founded in 2013 and is based in Stockholm.[14] Joachim Holmér is a co-founder of the studio, and UploadVR identified Jenny Nordenborg as its chief executive and a founder in 2018.[15][16]

Journalists played an early build of Budget Cuts in January 2016.[7] Road to VR described it as one of the first games to build portal-based locomotion into its gameplay, and reported that the game was a finalist for Best Game at Unity's 2016 Vision Summit VR/AR Awards.[17][4] The game was among the titles IGN played at an all-day Valve VR event in Seattle that month; Mitch Dyer wrote that it "might be the best, most interesting VR game I've played".[18] In the pre-alpha demo of that period, the player was a robotic spy infiltrating an office after hours, armed with the teleport cannon and later a crossbow.[7]

The demo became a free download on 7 April 2016 for Vive owners. At the time Holmér said the full game was planned for the end of 2016 and that the team was aiming for a length similar to Portal.[4] Eurogamer's Christian Donlan, writing about the demo that month, said the game had "effortlessly solved a bunch of problems with VR".[8] The studio then went largely quiet. In September 2017 developer Marko Permanto told Road to VR that the small team was spending "minimal time on PR" to focus on development and that the game was on track for early 2018.[15]

Neat Corporation brought a new build to the Game Developers Conference in March 2018, where Holmér was also scheduled to give a talk on the game's portal locomotion.[15] Compared with the demo, robots no longer fell to any single hit and had to be struck in a vital spot, guards carried revolvers with laser sights, the crossbow had been removed, and scissors and darts had been added as throwable weapons.[10] The developers said teleportation would stay as the movement system because it was tied to both the gameplay and the story.[12] The game uses the Unity engine; a December 2020 patch note describes replacing the game's uses of Unity standard shaders.[19]

Release

At GDC 2018 Neat Corporation announced a release date of 16 May 2018 for HTC Vive through SteamVR and Oculus Rift through the Oculus Store, at a price of about US$30.[20][21] On 9 May the studio moved the date to 31 May, citing "unforeseen obstacles" in development.[22] After the review embargo lifted, UploadVR held back its review because of bugs in the press build, including crashes and objects flying out of the player's hands.[23] One day before the 31 May date, Neat Corporation delayed the game again; Road to VR linked the delay to performance problems reported with the pre-release build.[24][1]

The game launched on Steam and the Oculus Store on 14 June 2018 with a 10 percent launch discount.[25][26][27]

The PlayStation VR port was made with the UK studio Coatsink, and the first footage of it was shown in UploadVR's E3 showcase in June 2019, when a PlayStation VR release was planned for fall 2019.[3] In January 2020 Neat Corporation said the port was still being optimized.[28] A release date of 15 May 2020 was then set, with a boxed edition from Perp Games alongside the PlayStation Store version.[29] In May the studio moved it to 10 July, saying the COVID-19 pandemic had slowed testing and the turnaround of code updates.[30] A week before that date it was delayed again, to 25 September, with a new level called Panopticon designed for PlayStation VR.[31] Designer Olle Axelsson described Panopticon as a circular level with a central goal that players can reach "either through brute force and action or through stealth and sneaking their way around".[11] The PlayStation VR version was released on 25 September 2020 in the United States and Europe and uses the PlayStation Move controllers.[5]

Platform Release date Notes
HTC Vive and other SteamVR headsets (Steam) 14 June 2018 Launch price about US$30; US$14.99 on Steam as of October 2026[25][2]
Oculus Rift (Oculus Store) 14 June 2018 Released the same day as the Steam version[27]
PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4) 25 September 2020 Port with Coatsink; boxed edition from Perp Games; adds the Panopticon level[3][29][5]

As of October 2026 the Steam store page lists Neat Corporation and Creature Label as publishers.[2] Neat Corporation's website lists the original game as available on Steam, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR.[32]

Post-launch updates

Neat Corporation patched the PC version regularly after launch. In early 2020 it ported the first game to the newer Budget Cuts 2 codebase to improve performance, which also brought in that game's Mutators menu.[33]

Date Update Main changes
6 December 2018 Patch #6 Translations into French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil), Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian; changes to enemy behavior[9]
14 February 2019 Arcade patch Arcade mode reached through an arcade cabinet in the main menu, with four new levels, scoring, local high scores and new difficulty settings; the original campaign renamed Story mode; Polish translation[13]
26 February 2019 Level Select patch Level select for Story mode and fixes for the native Oculus version[34]
27 April 2020 Performance Update Port to the Budget Cuts 2 codebase; Mutators replacing difficulty settings, including smooth locomotion, smooth turning, homing knives and bullet time; multithreaded AI vision; single pass instanced rendering[33]
1 December 2020 December Update Panopticon added to the PC version as an arcade level; new "Pacifist" achievement for finishing without killing robots; changes to knife throwing[19]

Reception

On Metacritic, the PC version has a Metascore of 76 based on 5 critic reviews and the PlayStation 4 version a Metascore of 78 based on 8 critic reviews, both rated "generally favorable".[35][36] OpenCritic lists a Top Critic Average of 77, with 40 percent of critics recommending the game.[37] On Steam the game is rated "Very Positive", with 81 percent of 1,657 user reviews positive as of 11 October 2026.[2]

Publication Platform Score Notes
Metacritic (aggregate) PC 76/100 5 critic reviews[35]
Metacritic (aggregate) PlayStation 4 78/100 8 critic reviews[36]
OpenCritic (aggregate) All 77 Top Critic Average; 40% of critics recommend[37]
Road to VR PC 9.2/10 Gameplay 9, Immersion 9, Comfort 9.5[1]
Push Square PlayStation VR 8/10 [5]
4P.de PC 76/100 Score as listed by Metacritic[35]
Jeuxvideo.com PC 70/100 Score as listed by Metacritic[35]
GameCrate PC 65/100 Score as listed by Metacritic[35]
UploadVR PC Unscored Review in progress, May 2018[35]

Scott Hayden of Road to VR called it "one of the smartest VR games to come out in recent memory". He found the game hard and some puzzles frustrating, and criticized loading times of 20 to 30 seconds when restarting after a death, the lack of graphics options and stuttering that was worse on Rift than on Vive in the pre-release build. He rated the teleportation as very comfortable.[1] UploadVR's early impressions said there was "a real rush" to zapping through the office spaces but said the press build was too buggy to score.[23] In 2020 the site wrote that it had found the original PC release "hampered with technical, AI-based bugs".[29] Metacritic's excerpt of the Jeuxvideo.com review calls it "a great VR experience, but an average game" that becomes repetitive.[35]

Reviews of the PlayStation VR version were all positive on Metacritic.[36] Henry Stockdale of Push Square praised the PlayStation Move controls, the combat and the humor, but noted that the campaign "only lasts a few hours" and that the physics were "slightly off at times".[5] COGconnected's review, as excerpted by Metacritic, reported tracking problems on PlayStation VR and advised players who could run the game on PC to do so.[36]

Sequel and Ultimate edition

Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency was developed by Neat Corporation with Fast Travel Games and released on Steam on 12 December 2019.[38][29] It was not released for the original PlayStation VR.[6]

Budget Cuts Ultimate combines both games and their post-launch content into one campaign of 13 levels, about 10 hours long.[39] It was released on 1 June 2023 for Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR2, the first time either game appeared on Quest.[6][39] The PC version came to Steam on 20 September 2023.[40] In UploadVR's review, Henry Stockdale wrote that the original game's ending had felt more like a mid-episode break and that Ultimate joins the two campaigns into one, but found no major visual upgrades on PlayStation VR2 compared with the first game's PlayStation VR port.[41]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Scott Hayden (2018-06-14). "'Budget Cuts' Review - Killer Robots Meet Killer VR Game Mechanics". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/budget-cuts-review-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Budget Cuts on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/400940/Budget_Cuts/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 David Heaney (2019-06-10). "E3 2019: Here's The First Footage Of Budget Cuts On PlayStation VR". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/e3-2019-budget-cuts-psvr-footage/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Scott Hayden (2016-04-07). "'Budget Cuts' Demo Now Available for Download on HTC Vive". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/budget-cuts-demo-now-available-download-htc-vive/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Henry Stockdale (2020-09-26). "Mini Review: Budget Cuts - VR Stealth Action Has Never Been This Good". Push Square. https://web.archive.org/web/20200928145510/https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps4/budget_cuts. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Henry Stockdale (2023-05-09). "Budget Cuts Ultimate Delivers 'One Seamless Adventure' On PSVR 2 & Quest 2 In June". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-ultimate-announcement/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Joe Durbin (2016-01-15). "Hands-On With Budget Cuts, A Heart-Pounding Vive Game". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/hands-on-neat-budget-cuts/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Christian Donlan (2016-04-21). "Budget Cuts is the future of VR right freakin' now". Eurogamer. https://www.eurogamer.net/budget-cuts-is-the-future-of-vr-right-freakin-now. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Patch #6 with translations is now live!". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2018-12-06. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/2416641943171774787. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Scott Hayden (2018-03-20). "Hands-on: 'Budget Cuts' Showcases an Impressive Grip on What Makes VR Great". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/hands-on-budget-cuts-looks-ready-for-prime-time/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Olle Axelsson (2020-07-02). "Budget Cuts out September 25 on PS VR, first look at new Panopticon level". PlayStation.Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2020/07/02/budget-cuts-out-september-25-on-ps-vr-first-look-at-new-panopticon-level/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Ben Lang (2018-03-19). "'Budget Cuts' Sees Two Week Delay, Now Launching May 31st". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/gdc-2018-budget-cuts-release-date-price-length-vr-htc-vive-oculus-rift/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Arcade patch is now live!!". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2019-02-14. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/3702426087238012050. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  14. ↑ "Company". Neat Corporation. https://www.neatcorporation.com/company. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Ben Lang (2018-03-06). "'Budget Cuts' to Reemerge From the Shadows at GDC, On Track for 2018 Launch". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/fear-not-budget-cuts-development-is-still-underway-headed-for-early-2018-launch/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  16. ↑ Jamie Feltham (2018-01-09). "Anticipated VR Stealth Game Budget Cuts Is Nearly Finished". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/anticipated-vr-stealth-game-budget-cuts-nearly-finished. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  17. ↑ Scott Hayden (2016-01-13). "'Budget Cuts' Uses Portals to Solve Room-Scale Locomotion Problem". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/budget-cuts-uses-portals-solve-room-scale-locomotion-problem/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  18. ↑ Mitch Dyer (2016-01-28). "Valve VR: Hands-On With 12 Vive Games". IGN. https://www.ign.com/articles/2016/01/27/valve-vr-hands-on-with-12-vive-games. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "December Update - Panopticon Arcade Level now available on PC". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2020-12-01. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/3856733252024337804. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  20. ↑ Ian Hamilton (2018-03-19). "GDC 2018: Budget Cuts Is Coming To Vive And Rift In May". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-rift-vive-release-date/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  21. ↑ "Release Date: May 16th 2018". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2018-03-20. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/4249665521683253146. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  22. ↑ "Updated Release Date: May 31st, 2018". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2018-05-09. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/2394104918721257906. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Jamie Feltham (2018-05-27). "Why We Haven't Reviewed Budget Cuts Yet". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/havent-reviewed-budget-cuts-yet/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  24. ↑ "We have to delay Budget Cuts a little further". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2018-05-30. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/2396358621993717227. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Ian Hamilton (2018-06-14). "Budget Cuts Launches On Oculus And Steam". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-launches/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  26. ↑ "BUDGET CUTS OUT NOW!". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2018-06-14. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/2842216343260455969. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "Lethal Lay-Offs: 'Budget Cuts' Brings Stealth Action to Rift". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. 2018-06-14. https://www.meta.com/blog/lethal-lay-offs-budget-cuts-brings-stealth-action-to-rift/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  28. ↑ Jamie Feltham (2020-01-26). "Budget Cuts Still On For PSVR, PC Version To Get BC2 Updates". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-psvr-pc-version-updates/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Jamie Feltham (2020-03-22). "Budget Cuts Finally Gets PSVR Release Date For May". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-psvr-release-date/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  30. ↑ Jamie Feltham (2020-05-05). "Budget Cuts PSVR Delayed To July Due To COVID-19". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-psvr-delayed/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  31. ↑ Jamie Feltham (2020-07-03). "Budget Cuts PSVR Delayed Again, Now Coming September With A Brand New Level". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-psvr-delayed-again-now-coming-september-with-a-brand-new-level/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  32. ↑ "Budget Cuts". Neat Corporation. https://www.neatcorporation.com/budget-cuts-games. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 "Neat Corporation is proud to present The Performance Update". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2020-04-27. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/3112493747281968926. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  34. ↑ "New Patch: Oculus SDK improvements and Level Select.". Steam. Neat Corporation. 2019-02-26. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/400940/view/2480825216207360172. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 35.5 35.6 "Budget Cuts PC Critic Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/budget-cuts/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 "Budget Cuts PlayStation 4 Critic Reviews". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/budget-cuts/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-4. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 "Budget Cuts (VR) Reviews". OpenCritic. https://opencritic.com/game/2798/budget-cuts-vr-. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  38. ↑ "Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1092430/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Harry Baker (2023-06-14). "Budget Cuts Ultimate Lines Up A September Release On PC VR". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-ultimate-pc-vr-release-date. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  40. ↑ "Budget Cuts Ultimate on Steam". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2221980/. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
  41. ↑ Henry Stockdale (2023-06-16). "Budget Cuts Ultimate Review: Familiar But Aging Stealth Thrills". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/budget-cuts-ultimate-psvr-2-impressions. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
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