Mini Review: Budget Cuts - VR Stealth Action Has Never Been This Good

Corporate satire is common across gaming but rarely focuses on issues faced by automation. Taking this concept into an action stealth title with murderous robots, Budget Cuts finally lands on PlayStation VR two years after its PC launch and it’s been worth the wait. Developed by Neat Corporation, you play as a human employee of megacorporation TransCorp, experts at cost-cutting robot production. Discovering human employees have gone missing once summoned to HR, both your life and job are under threat.

Bringing a sense of freedom here in defying your CEO, you become guided through phone calls by a mysterious helper, Winta, who leaves a Translocator at your desk. This basically acts as a portal gun, letting you move around via teleportation and by shooting your chosen area, you can see what’s around the corner too. It lets you proceed sneakily across the building with minimal risk and shooting through vents can grant access to closed-off areas too, also adding an element of puzzle-solving.

As you proceed, Transcorp’s more militant robots patrol the corridors and attack any humans on sight, so you need to come armed. Using your other controller to pick up objects, the Translocator can hold a limited inventory and each area contains spare letter openers and scissors, letting you stab robots for brutal takedowns. Combat is slightly awkward in places but landing those kills proves highly satisfying, making great use of the PlayStation Move controllers.

It’s just a shame that the campaign only lasts a few hours, though there is a separate arcade mode to keep players busy. If you can look past that issue, Budget Cuts is a fantastic experience that all PSVR owners should play. Offering an engaging and fully immersive experience, we can only hope the sequel also makes its way to PSVR in good time.