VEX MAGE

VEX MAGE is a relentless, high-adrenaline arena action game that channels the spirit of classic twitch shooters through the lens of magical combat. Developed by Nervous Systems and published by Fast Travel Games, it replaces conventional firearms with raw elemental power, asking players to survive brutal arenas using speed, spatial awareness, and mastery over spell combinations. From the first moments, the game makes its intentions clear: standing still is death, hesitation is punished, and momentum is everything. At the heart of VEX MAGE is its dual-hand spellcasting system, which defines nearly every moment of play. Players equip different elemental runes—such as fire, lightning, or other arcane forces—to each hand, and these choices dramatically affect how combat unfolds. Spells can be cast independently, charged together for amplified effects, or rapidly swapped mid-fight, creating a constant mental load that runs parallel to the physical challenge of dodging enemies. This system encourages experimentation, as discovering powerful synergies between elements can completely reshape a run. Combat quickly becomes a rhythmic loop of movement, casting, repositioning, and adapting on…

I was hesitant to pick up Vex Mage originally due to the heavily Flatscreen focused marketing pre launch, but decided to give it a shot anyway since I saw it was on sale for way too cheap. First off. Wow. This is actually a FANTASTIC VR Arena Shooter. I wouldn't even call VR a "Mode" because it feels like the game was designed to be played with Headset and Motion Controllers first with Desktop as a nice extra. It's somewhat of a niche game if you're not accustomed to Leaderboard climbing. There's a big emphasis on gameplay mechanics. Certain enemy weaknesses and environmental interactions aren't explained to you so experimentation is a must. One small thing which I will give away because it almost made me drop the game is that at least one of the spell combinations (I think Volcanic and Electric?) can overload. Took me a few frustrating first runs to figure out that "Magi" was not an enemy, and I was just annihilating myself trying to spam that spell combo lol. Art style wise I absolutely love the way it looks. Not even sure how I would describe it other than an ethereal fever dream. Visuals are highly subjective, but I'll say it looks at least as good as the screenshots on the …

fun and action packed . very fast game play . just a good simple shooter game . jump in blast away and jump out . very arcadey like

Works on Reverb G2. Arena shooter/score chaser very similar to Devil Daggers. Combat and movement are smooth and satisfying, but it gets repetitive just like any other game of this genre. Score chasing aspect of the game is slightly spoiled by a small playerbase: leaderboards are not really competitive. It takes just one decent attempt to get into top 100 for Ascension mode and even in top 5 for Survival. That issue might solve itself with time though.

Extremely well optimized in VR, running 120 FPS natively with highest settings is a rarity in any game these days. Fun and smooth and difficult so far. Will update as I get more into the game, but at sales price well worth the investment.

i think the spell mixing mechanic is very fun, i think the movement is fluid and feel smooth, i think the presentation has style, i think this is a pretty solid game and the fact its only 10 bucks is a steal. one piece of constructive advice id give is to have the monsters you fight make more distinguishable noises. VEX MAGE 8/10