Cold Iron

Cold Iron
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Catch & Release
Publisher	Catch & Release
Platform	SteamVR, PlayStation VR
Device	Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR
Operating System	Windows, PlayStation 4
Type	Game
Genre	Shooter, Puzzle
Input Device	Tracked Motion Controllers, PlayStation Move
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	January 30, 2018
Price	US$13.99
App Store	Steam, PlayStation Store

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Cold Iron is a virtual reality dueling game developed and published by the independent studio Catch & Release for the PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The studio calls it a "puzzle shooter": the player faces a series of quick-draw duels in a "Weird West" setting, and most opponents have a trick that has to be worked out before the shot can land. The game is played with a single motion controller and is sold only as a VR title.

Cold Iron was released on all three headsets at the end of January 2018. It was Catch & Release's second game and its first VR project. It holds a "mixed or average" Metascore of 71 on Metacritic, based on 8 critic reviews of the PlayStation 4 version.

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Checked developer, release dates, prices, controller requirements, Wild Card update contents, review scores and quotes against the Steam and PlayStation Store pages, PlayStation Blog, Road to VR, Gaming Nexus, GameCritics, PlayStation LifeStyle, MobileSyrup, GamePitt, itch.io, Metacritic and OpenCritic. About review dates.

Gameplay

The player is a gunslinger whose father has been murdered by outlaws. Armed with the father's revolver, Cold Iron, the player sets out to find out what happened, and the story frames the gun as a "demon-infested revolver" that the player has made a dark pact with. The duels move through the past, present and future. In its review, PlayStation LifeStyle described settings that run from the Wild West to a mystical forest and a ruined, post-apocalyptic future in which the player faces a tank.

The campaign is a sequence of one-on-one duels against eleven opponents, which GameCritics described as a "Boss Rush" structure. The player holsters the gun, waits for a bell and then draws and fires. According to GameCritics, the player has a full second or more to do this at the start, and the window later drops to half a second and finally to 0.25 seconds. Each duel has several rounds. Rounds are ranked on draw speed and shot precision, and a white "X" marks where a missed shot went. Bullseyes earn extra points, and the player can collect golden statues.

The puzzle side comes from each opponent's gimmick. Reviewers described a magician who creates copies of himself so the player has to find the real one, a duel in which targets must be shot in a set order while facing a lumbering tank, and opponents who try to provoke an early draw with a whistle or a passing flock of birds. In the developer's launch post on the PlayStation Blog, Matthew Taylor wrote that clues are hidden in "unusual colors, sounds, and patterns" and that headshots do not work on every inhuman enemy. A heartbeat sound and controller vibration play during each standoff, and a narrator comments on the player's results. GameCritics noted that the game relies on audio cues such as the bell without visual alternatives, making it unplayable for deaf and hard-of-hearing players at the time of its review.

On PlayStation 4 the game requires PlayStation VR, the PlayStation Camera and one PlayStation Move controller. On PC the Steam store page lists SteamVR or Oculus PC support, a VR headset with a motion controller, and single-player play only.

Development

Catch & Release is a partnership between brothers James Tillman and Matthew Taylor. The studio's first game was Star Billions (2015) for iOS and Android, which received two additional seasons of content. Taylor told Gaming Nexus that Cold Iron took about a year and a half from idea to release, and that the project originally had a different name and a "fairly different story"; the puzzle-shooter design and the voice actor, Dylan McKinnon, stayed the same throughout. On why the game was made for VR, Taylor said: "I think VR enhances the pressure that players feel."

Before launch, Taylor described the game to Road to VR as unlike wave shooters: "There are no waves of copied-and-pasted enemies: every duel is different, every challenge is unique, and every moment will leave your heart pounding and your palms sweating." The PC version was built with Unity, according to the studio's itch.io page. A separate soundtrack release is sold on Steam.

Release

Road to VR reported the 30 January 2018 release date for PSVR, Rift and Vive on 5 January 2018. The PlayStation Blog post announcing the PlayStation VR launch is dated 30 January 2018, which is also the release date on the PlayStation Store; Steam lists 29 January 2018. The ESRB rated the game Teen for violence.

On 17 April 2018 the studio released a free expansion called Wild Card on Rift, Vive and PlayStation VR. It added an Exhibition Mode for replaying single duels, a Training Mode with four mini-games (Shootout, Juggler's Quest, Endless Shootout and Juggle Forever), a Hardcore Mode limited to six bullets per round in which the gun must be holstered and cocked before firing, difficulty options, unlockable guns, gun sounds and saloon decorations, and easter eggs. The update also made the game smoother and higher in resolution on PS4 and PS4 Pro and let the Move button cock the gun on PS4. At the same time the base game's price was cut to US$13.99 on all platforms; GamePitt reported that the UK price fell from £15.99 to £11.49.

Platform	Release date	Notes
PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4)	30 January 2018	Requires PlayStation Camera and one PlayStation Move controller
Oculus Rift and HTC Vive (Steam)	30 January 2018 (Steam lists 29 January 2018)	SteamVR or Oculus PC; motion controller required

As of October 2026, the game is still listed on Steam and on the US PlayStation Store at US$13.99. The PlayStation Store page notes that the PS4 game is playable on PlayStation 5.

Reception

On Metacritic, the game has a Metascore of 71 ("mixed or average") from 8 critic reviews, all of them of the PlayStation 4 version. OpenCritic lists a top critic average of 65 with 43% of critics recommending the game, based on 7 reviews.

Publication	Score	Notes
Metacritic (aggregate)	71/100	PS4, 8 critic reviews
OpenCritic (top critic average)	65	7 reviews, 43% recommend
GameCritics	9/10	Reviewed on PSVR and Vive
Gaming Nexus	8/10	Reviewed on PSVR
PlayStation LifeStyle	8/10	Reviewed on PSVR
GamePitt	8.5/10	Score as listed by OpenCritic
PlayStation Country	60/100	Score as listed by Metacritic
COGconnected	60/100	Score as listed by Metacritic
Metro GameCentral	60/100	Score as listed by Metacritic
TechRaptor	3.5/10	Score as listed by OpenCritic

Daniel Weissenberger of GameCritics called Cold Iron "simply the best western dueling game available in VR" and "as severe a test of reflexes as I've ever seen in the world of VR". He found the visuals "fairly basic", with some locations and enemies looking like stock assets. He played for about four hours, and noted that the PSVR camera struggled with Move controllers held overhead, which mattered only in bonus levels, while tracking on the Vive was flawless. Eric Hauter of Gaming Nexus wrote: "While it is brief, and some might consider it too difficult, the game never feels unfair." Chandler Wood of PlayStation LifeStyle praised the narrator and the puzzle elements introduced after the first few duels, criticized "flat textures and jaggy edges", found that chasing the top S ranks entered "unfair and frustrating territory", and concluded that it was "a fascinating and unique game that could use a little bit more polish." Bradly Shankar of MobileSyrup wrote that the game "is a little short and can seem repetitive at times" but called it a "VR gem".