CONVRGENCE

CONVRGENCE
Information
VR/AR	VR
Developer	Monkey-With-a-Bomb
Publisher	Monkey-With-a-Bomb
Platform	SteamVR
Operating System	Windows
Type	Game
Genre	Action, Adventure, Shooter
Input Device	Tracked motion controllers
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	17 September 2026 (version 1.0); 22 April 2024 (Early Access)
Price	US$24.99 (base price since August 2026); US$19.99 at Early Access launch
App Store	Steam

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

CONVRGENCE is a single-player virtual reality extraction shooter for PC VR, developed and published by the solo studio Monkey-With-a-Bomb. The player is an artifact hunter who makes raids into the Chernokamensk Anomaly Zone, a procedurally generated exclusion zone, to scavenge loot, fight bandits and demons, and collect artifacts with the help of a companion dog, and must extract before nightfall.

The game entered Steam Early Access on 22 April 2024 and left Early Access with version 1.0 on 17 September 2026, which added a voiced main story with an ending. UploadVR described it as "a STALKER-esque shooter with horror elements similar to Into The Radius". The store page presents it as a game from the creator of Paradox of Hope, an earlier VR shooter by the same developer.

Reviewed 29 September 2026. Developer, platforms, Early Access and 1.0 dates, prices, system requirements, store description, UploadVR quotes, patch and dev diary contents, Steam and Metacritic reception checked against the Steam store, Steam news posts, UploadVR and Metacritic. About review dates.

Gameplay

Each raid takes place on a procedurally generated version of a location in the zone. Before a raid, the player chooses and maintains firearms and buys ammunition and supplies. During the raid the player collects valuables and artifacts, and after extracting sells them to buy new equipment, better weapons or a larger backpack. Equipment that is not insured is lost if the player dies. The store description says that demons "emerge to hunt under the veil of night", and the game's announcement text warned players to return to base before dusk, "for when night arrives the hunter becomes the hunted."

A companion dog accompanies the player, helping in combat and scavenging for supplies. The store page describes an "Extensive Arsenal of Realistic Weapons" that can be customized. The developer states that all interfaces are diegetic, with "no floating windows or laser pointers". Accessibility options listed on the store page include a seated mode, a left-handed mode, and several movement and turning styles. Steam leaderboards let players compete for rewards.

Setting

According to the store description, an explosion at a secret laboratory in the town of Chernokamensk at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries turned the area into an exclusion zone, which the government sealed off with a wall. Leaked documents about the zone repeatedly mention the word "convergence". The player is an artifact hunter in a specialized squad that is allowed into the restricted area, and faces bandits, wild animals and demons that hunt at night. A developer diary described the factions of the zone, including the military units that guard the wall, the volunteer hunters and the scientists who study the zone's anomalies and artifacts.

Development

CONVRGENCE is made by a single developer, who signs Steam announcements as Nik and publishes under the name Monkey-With-a-Bomb. The developer's previous VR game, Paradox of Hope, was released in 2022. UploadVR reported that it "was accused of copyright infringement and ultimately the developer decided to halt production and remove the game from sale in 2023 to avoid an expensive legal battle." In its 2024 launch coverage, UploadVR wrote that CONVRGENCE "retains clear similarities to its predecessor" but does not use that game's Moscow Metro setting.

The game was announced with a trailer on 6 December 2023. At the Early Access launch, the developer said the game had "over 15-plus hours of content" and estimated that it would take "approximately 1.5 years" to reach full release; the planned additions included new locations, weapons, enemies, quests, bosses, a hideout and a vehicle leveling system. The developer also told UploadVR that a Quest version was planned "eventually" but would not happen soon. As of September 2026 the game is still sold only for PC VR.

Early Access updates

In a first-anniversary developer diary in April 2025, the developer said the game had received 28 updates in its first year and that nearly 300 bugs had been fixed. The timeline in that diary lists night versions of existing locations (June 2024), a new Forest area with wolves, animal skinning and a crossbow questline (September 2024), Steam achievements (November 2024), a bandit AI overhaul and new weapons (March 2025) and a bandit leader boss (April 2025).

Update	Date	Main additions
0.7 (Major Update 4)	11 September 2025	New Dead City location with enterable apartment buildings, a new demon type, an Energy Rifle questline, and reworked weapon physics and recoil
0.8	19 February 2026	Infirmary hideout upgrade with a new trader, Groza and VSS rifles, a daytime Dead City, a Bandit Sniper enemy and random "Convergent Shifts" during raids
0.9	25 May 2026	Reputation Level 6 with six new main missions, a PKM machine gun, a Vehicle Workshop hideout upgrade with vehicle upgrades, and Brute Demon and Masked Cultist enemies
1.0	17 September 2026	Reworked main missions, fully voiced story and ending, final location, cloud saves, new difficulty modifiers

Version 1.0

The developer's 2026 roadmap, published in March 2026, said version 1.0 would focus on the main storyline, adding voice acting and story context to the missions, a proper ending with a new final location, advanced graphics and difficulty settings, a new tutorial and cloud saves. The release date of 17 September 2026 was announced on 13 August 2026, and the game appeared with a trailer in the VR Games Showcase the same day. A week before launch, the developer wrote that CONVRGENCE "is still an extraction shooter rather than a story-driven game" and that the story's purpose was to tie the game's events together and give it a conclusion.

The 1.0 update reworked or replaced many of the old missions, reduced the grinding they required, and added a fully voiced story with an ending. It added the Epicenter, a location unlocked at the end of the story, and a PB pistol. Other additions were two optional difficulty modifiers (Infinite Insurance, which keeps equipment on death, and Permadeath, which erases the playthrough on death), new side activities during raids, a completion statistics screen, a Creator Camera intended for content creators, cloud saves and 40 new Steam achievements. Players' main mission progress and reputation levels were reset, while other progress such as unlocked upgrades and weapons was kept. Early Access players and Paradox of Hope players received exclusive rewards. Hotfixes 1.0.1 to 1.0.4 followed between 17 and 24 September 2026.

Release

Milestone	Date	Notes
Announcement trailer	6 December 2023	Steam store page and wishlists
Early Access launch	22 April 2024	SteamVR on Steam, US$19.99 with a 15% launch discount
Price increase	August 2026	Base price raised to US$24.99 ahead of 1.0
Version 1.0	17 September 2026	Full release on Steam for PC VR

The game requires SteamVR on 64-bit Windows; the store lists Windows 10, an Intel Core i5-4590 or AMD FX 8350 processor, 8 GB of RAM and a GTX 1070 or RX 580 (6 GB VRAM) graphics card as the minimum, and 14 GB of storage, with an SSD strongly recommended. It is a VR-only title with tracked controller support. English and Russian are supported with full audio.

Reception

In August 2026, UploadVR reported that the game had a "Very Positive" user rating on Steam from 1,514 reviews. As of 29 September 2026, the Steam store still showed a "Very Positive" rating. Metacritic listed no critic reviews for the PC version at that date.

See also

• Into the Radius
• Into the Radius 2