Impressive VR Flight Model Is Cleared For Takeoff

G-Rebels from Reakktor Studios has arrived on Steam in Early Access, bringing a futuristic flight sim heavily inspired by the classic 1997 title G-Police into VR.

Launching a technically ambitious flatscreen game is challenging enough; bringing that same experience to VR on day one is an even greater feat. Yet that is exactly what developer Reakktor Studios has attempted to do with its flight combat game G-Rebels. Though these early flights haven’t been entirely free of turbulence, the sheer scale and excellence of G-Rebels’ core elements make it easy to forgive some early technical hiccups.

Ready For Take-Off

G-Rebels is an ambitious semi-open-world, story-driven sci-fi adventure set within the sprawling Daevos City. You play as a test pilot tasked with evaluating an experimental prototype Skyblade known as the X-Type. After a basic tutorial, you find yourself partnered with a seasoned veteran who gradually introduces you to both the city and your employers at Okktane, a powerful corporate entity operating as something between law enforcement and hired muscle.

As the story unfolds, your partner begins revealing connections to the city’s criminal underworld, presenting opportunities to decide whether you’ll remain above reproach or embrace a more morally flexible attitude. I haven’t spent enough time with the campaign to understand how deeply my decisions may ultimately affect the story, but what I’ve played so far has been thoroughly engaging and serves as an excellent framework for introducing an impressive variety of mission types.

Alongside the main campaign are numerous optional activities. You can compete in “street” races, take on private security contracts, or, in what quickly became my favorite missions, smuggle contraband through the city while avoiding the police. Alternatively, you can simply explore Daevos City, scanning passing vehicles and bringing wanted criminals explosively to justice.

There’s already an enormous amount to do, and even while working around the launch issues I found it remarkably easy to sink over twenty hours into G-Rebels during the game’s first week since release.

Free As A Bird

While the structure and content are already fantastic, the real star of the show is the flight model.

Flying the X-Type is genuinely one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever experienced in VR. I can’t overstate how much fun I had learning to master the vehicle, practicing drifting around buildings, speeding under bridges or weaving between the towering skyscrapers of Daevos City.

With G-Police clearly serving as inspiration, and dual-stick classics like Descent buried somewhere in its DNA, Reakktor has created a vehicle that feels wonderfully responsive while retaining a physics system that makes every maneuver feel believable and deeply satisfying.

I experimented with both a gamepad and keyboard and mouse, both of which proved perfectly viable ways to play. However, everything changed when I connected my trusty Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS. Admittedly it took a fair amount of experimentation before I found a control layout that suited me, but once everything clicked, piloting the X-Type became one of the most memorable VR experiences I’ve had in seven years covering the medium.

In addition to the wonderful physics at the core of the gameplay, the other element that makes the flying so compelling is G-Rebels’ setting.

Unlike many futuristic flight games that take place in the emptiness of space, Daevos’ tightly packed skyline constantly reinforces your sense of speed. Darting between buildings at low altitude creates an immediacy that makes every movement feel impactful, demanding split-second reactions as you dip and weave through narrow gaps.

For me, at least, this style of flying feels like utter perfection.

Beautiful Weather We’re Having

That sense of exhilaration is only amplified by G-Rebels’ presentation.

Daevos is already an impressive environment filled with moving traffic, illuminated skyscrapers and giant holographic figures. Yet the real visual highlight comes from its dynamic weather and day-night cycle.

Flying low through the city during a nighttime storm, with lightning illuminating the skyline in the distance and rain pelting against the windscreen delivered one of the first true “wow” moments I’ve experienced in VR for several years. I genuinely found it breathtaking.

Better still, the city isn’t the game’s only location. Missions already venture beyond Daevos and Reakktor has confirmed that additional large-scale areas will arrive throughout Early Access. It won’t just be new cities that will be delivered though, with the developers already confirming further racing events and delivery missions amongst the other content planned.

Crash Landing

Unfortunately, the initial days of Early Access haven’t been clear skies for eager VR pilots. The VR implementation launched with frequent crashes and a rendering bug that obscured the right eye, which made it initially difficult to recommend, despite the quality of the game beneath.

The developers have spent their first week or so of Early Access focused almost entirely on improving VR stability, with the first patch already live. With that update now available, many issues appear to have been resolved; however, enough remain that players may need to approach cautiously at this early stage.

Hard crashes when restarting a mission are common, with issues occasionally severe enough to lock up my whole system. Additionally, frame rates could be inconsistent, especially over longer play sessions.

Thankfully, the developers have committed the first four to six weeks of their Early Access roadmap to continued technical improvements for the VR experience, so we can hope to see stability reach a level that matches the gameplay sooner rather than later.

Rough And Ready

While G-Rebels may have stuttered out of the gate with a rocky VR launch, the developers are responding quickly and addressing the key VR specific issues that are holding the game back.

Outside of that, the flight model is genuinely outstanding, the campaign provides an engaging framework for a wide variety of activities and there’s already enough content to lose yourself for hours before considering what’s still to come during Early Access.

So much so that despite the early issues, I have nonetheless continued to plow hours and hours into G-Rebels (I’ve even purchased a new HOSAS control system just to play G-Rebels). Because underneath these early technical issues is one of the most enjoyable flight experiences I’ve ever had in VR, or anywhere.

UploadVR uses a 5-Star rating system for our game reviews – you can read a breakdown of each star rating in our review guidelines. As an early access release, this review is unscored.