Vex Mage is an old-school, fast-paced shooter where you should never stop running, and it's out soon on Quest and Steam.I've always enjoyed games where you never stop running as you blast as many enemies as you can. I played Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2 with friends growing up, so the movements of a typical run-and-gun battle are pretty familiar to me. Once you learn how to blast and dodge at enemies in a game, it's possible to remember those details regardless of what shooter you pick up later on. Vex Mage manages to translate that feeling to its VR version through its design and mechanics.The FactsWhat is it?: An old-school twitch shooter with optional PC VR support where you survive for as long as you can.Platforms: Quest and Steam (reviewed on PC VR via Quest 3)Release Date: October 16, 2025 (Quest), October 21, 2025 (Steam)Developer: Nervous SystemsPublisher: Fast Travel GamesPrice: $9.99Your quest in Vex Mage starts in a darkened gold room with gilded detailing on the walls. When you look at your hands, you'll notice clawed mandibles with which you control powerful attacks to wield against your foes. Your hand design is much like the walls in the room; everything is detailed with winding embossed lines that speak of a strange world you've been pulled into.Credit: Nervous SystemsThe opening chamber's center has three platforms with three different elemental powers to choose from. You can only pick one: a fire attack, a water-based attack, or a lightning attack. Each spell deploys differently and has a unique effect. The green watery attack, true to its element, splashes enemies with watery projections that cause damage. Fire attacks materialize as sharp crystals that spin out towards your foes. All three can be cast with one hand or charged with both hands for more damage. Once selected, a large portal awaits on the other end where you rush in to begin your run.You're soon flung down a long blue tunnel and spat out at an arena where a golden track encircles a portal structure in the center. Enemies galore flank this arena, chasing you upon arrival. You'll need to dodge everything from arachnids to floating skulls that shoot fireballs. If you think stopping for anything is a good idea, don't. Moving while shooting everything is the name of the game here. Comfort There are some comfort settings for Vex Mage, but not many for accessibility since it's an intense shooter. You can choose camera turning methods from either snap turning, smooth turning to a limited degree, or continuous smooth turning with no interruption. You can change how quickly you turn as well.There is no height calibration, though this doesn't matter if you play sitting down or standing up. You can't select a vignette or “tunnel vision” for moving, either. As VEX MAGE contains plenty of intense combat sequences, I wouldn't recommend this for anyone who experiences discomfort with movement in VR. 0:00 /2:33 1× The enemies seriously don't let up. Vex Mage cleverly anticipates what players would do in a small run-and-gun arena situation such as this. My first instinct with a shooter is to run backwards while aiming at every enemy on my tail. Seconds later, my screen flashes red, and I glance over my shoulder. A large, monstrous head that resembled something of an octopus had teleported behind me and rammed the earth to cause an area attack. It disappears as soon as I shoot it. Whenever I run, I notice space octopi teleport to my location and vanish again after a few seconds of smashing the ground near me. I can't run-and-gun in peace as I assumed, forcing me to rethink my strategy.There's also a time limit for each arena level. After a while, a blue portal will appear, and it's your job to make your way to it within ten seconds before it overcharges and explodes. If the portal explodes before you've gotten to it, you automatically die and your run ends. Moving into the portal will mean taking the long blue tunnel again to a different level. Do you want to die? No? Then keep running. (Credit: Nervous Systems)Each level contains various sleek-looking but altogether alien enemy entities and stunning sci-fi stage designs that make you consider how to move around and escape. In one arena, I'm running from spiders that look like they're made of twisted roots and floating eldritch octopi. Next came angry arachnid queens sending their army after me as I hopped around on giant springy leaves. After that? Spindly noodle sky dragons, metallic and angry, as I try not to fall from the platform to my death. Everything is beautiful to look at with sharp edges, like the meanest new pieces in a contemporary art gallery. Such a shame it all wants to kill me.There are various runes set around each arena to collect. Collecting enough of these strange symbolic runes earns you the ability to unlock a new elemental power. I might initially choose a water attack at the start, but many runs later saw me equipped with lightning and fire spells. Pressing the trigger made a small map of elemental runes appear, and moving my hand near these runes changed the element of that hand. I can move my hand to switch to different spell runes in a mini-menu if I want to change my attack style. Holding my hands together to charge an attack with different runes yielded different types of new attacks. When each level features different elements in its designs, it's important to pay attention to what attacks you're using and when. Moving my hands to change these runes is a challenge, as I'm constantly running and engaging in battle with my arms outstretched. PC Specs And Headset Used My desktop computer uses an Intel Core i7 processor, an RTX 4060 graphics card, and 32GB RAM. I evaluated this game using a Quest 3 headset connected to my PC via Virtual Desktop. You can find VEX MAGE's recommended settings for PC on Steam. Before playing this on a VR headset, I checked out Vex Mage on PC as it's available in desktop mode on Steam. It's welcoming and familiar like so many older run-and-gun titles I've played in the past. Picking up Vex Mage feels like riding a bike; you never quite forget how to aim and dodge once you get used to the genre.There isn't much difference with Vex Mage between its flatscreen and immersive counterparts, so playing either way delivers a similar experience minus the benefits of spatial combat. I prefer VR for shooters now because I like looking around manually instead of moving my mouse to help me see what's going on. It's also always invaluable for me to turn my head one way and aim in a different direction. Sticking to flatscreen combat means you're missing out. 0:00 /1:01 1× A look at the player's hands and footage of merging elements for attacks Vex Mage contains enjoyable solo and multiplayer modes, though it needs quick matchmaking for those who don't have a code to join a specific room. When I join public lobbies for campaigns like this, I usually hop in with no voice and play for a while before hopping back out. Vex Mage's menu would benefit from making it clear when you enable or disable an option. I can't tell if I disabled voice or enabled it, so I turned my voice transmit volume to zero and called it a day.There's also a notable bug where menus that appear at the end of a run will be positioned farther and farther away from you. Repositioning yourself manually doesn't fix this bug, and this gets highly annoying. There's no real way to solve the problem right now myself, so I urge the developers to provide a fix for it.Vex Mage - Final VerdictVex Mage packs a classic formula that's only missing a few fixes to be a great experience, such as the menu issue and quick matchmaking. You could play this for a long time and feel satisfied with how hard you work to reach the top of Vex Mage's leaderboards; what's here is both enjoyable and interesting. Every level is challenging, giving me pause before I rush in, and I enjoy how Nervous Systems anticipated players' moves to provide extra difficulty. It's like I'm playing my old favorites again with a new twist.UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines.