Thursday, 24 July, 2025 UTC
Summary
Clone Drone in the Hyperdome is a strong action roguelike with highly satisfying melee combat, and a new update drops this week. Read on for our full review.
Thanks to the unrelenting intensity of last year's release schedule, Clone Drone in the Hyperdome is a hidden gem that may have slipped through your radar. Launched in December, this VR-exclusive sequel to flatscreen hit Clone Drone in the Danger Zone found an audience with its impressive combat and pleasantly colorful voxel visuals. That's only improved with the Skyscrapper update, which we received early access to before its launch on July 27.
The Facts
What is it?: A VR action roguelike with voxel visuals.
Platforms: Quest, PC VR (reviewed on PC VR via Quest 3)
Release Date: Out now
Developer/Publisher: Doborog Games
Price: $19.99
What is it?: A VR action roguelike with voxel visuals.
Platforms: Quest, PC VR (reviewed on PC VR via Quest 3)
Release Date: Out now
Developer/Publisher: Doborog Games
Price: $19.99
An optional tutorial sets the scene well by also serving as a mini prologue. Playing as a teleporting robot fittingly called Blink, you're the latest “looprunner” to join this seemingly endless gladiatorial combat cycle known as the Crashloop. What follows is a serviceable narrative where you compete to take down a tyrannical overlord, The Captain.
PC VR screenshot captured by UploadVRNaturally, you can't face him immediately, and defeating four brainwashed looprunners will eventually unlock his path. Your initial runs are surprisingly short with only four looprunners total, including yourself, which eases you in well. In true roguelike fashion, Clone Drone doesn't offer permanent upgrades between each run. No skill trees or upgraded abilities here. It all comes down to your own abilities and whatever weapons you either find or purchase along the way.
The only real “progression” here, beyond an increasing challenge, is narrative. Looprunners will hate you if you keep choosing to fight them first, which is effective encouragement for keeping this varied. Conversations with them back at your base are pretty short though, and each looprunner feels underdeveloped. I'd love to learn more about them and this world, but the character writing falls short. There's not a ton to do after clearing the campaign.
PC Specs Used
My desktop uses an Intel i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900 (Up to 5.1GHz), 32GB RAM - Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz, and a 16GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super. This review was conducted using a Meta Quest 3 via Virtual Desktop, and I had no performance issues during this review.
You can find the minimum and recommended specs on the Steam page to learn more.
Clone Drone splits each Crashloop across gradually more challenging stages, making decent use of VR's physicality through breaking the door locks to proceed. This usually offers branching paths like a room for earning additional coins, better weaponry, additional clones (see: lives) for when you die, and more, fighting previously freed looprunners along the way.
PC VR screenshot captured by UploadVRCombat is easily Clone Drone's biggest draw with each run's foes and stages feeling just about varied enough to stay interesting. Slicing up enemies like a lightsaber through butter is undeniably satisfying, even more so when you cut through a gap in their armor. The three difficulty settings deliver an entertaining challenge that lets you select how easy cutting through foes is. However, that's a double-edged sword (no pun intended) as these rules also apply to yourself.
There is an impressive level of reactive detail when foes take damage, like watching them limp because you cut off a leg or seeing them struggle with two-handed weapons upon losing an arm. Which, again, also applies to you, and Clone Drone encourages defensive play with parries or shielding. It's a little frustrating that you can't restore your arm if it gets broken off without dying first; something like a spare part reward to attach after winning a battle would be great. I'll concede it's a good lesson in being defensive if nothing else.
Though it's not exactly innovative, Clone Drone offers some appealingly versatile combat that caters to multiple playstyles. I mainly prefer one-handed weapons like the shortsword, since this frees my other hand for a small shield. Getting the block in, followed up by a killing blow, feels great. Two-handed weapons like a double-bladed sword and katanas are similarly nice. That's before discussing ranged choices like the bow and arrow. Other conceptually ridiculous weapons like a shield with a blade sticking out of it or fire daggers only enhance this further.
PC VR screenshot captured by UploadVRTurbo fist powers are another helpful upgrade you obtain upon defeating looprunners, activated by holding down the assigned hand's trigger. This introduces some useful abilities that can help in a pinch, like slowing down time or more armor. You can even summon allied zombies or launch shurikens from this if you wish, all of which are helpful in their own ways.
Comfort
Clone Drone in the Hyperdome uses a hybrid movement for both artificial stick-based locomotion and teleportation without switching between them. An optional movement vignette with adjustable strengths is available, height can be calibrated at any time. Forward movement is based on headset direction.
Snap and smooth camera options are both supported. The former can be set to 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°, while smooth turning speed can also be adjusted. Weapons can be permanently held without pressing the grip button to drop them, or you can set this to only hold weapons while pressing the grip button.
Three difficulty settings can be chosen which determine how tough enemies are. Items can be magnetically grabbed, there's no crouch button, and jumping is covered by teleportation. Sprinting can only be done by holding down a face button while swinging your controllers back and forth. Subtitles can be turned off, and playing with one controller is also possible.
Still, there are a few things that Clone Drone would benefit from. Sprinting by swinging your arms is more immersive, yet having an optional sprint button would be welcome for accessibility. It's also a bit awkward doing the swinging motion while holding a two-handed weapon. Some looprunner fights can be cheesed quite easily, and several occasions saw enemies walk into lava on their own. This is a game screaming out for mod support too, and a built-in launcher like Blade & Sorcery offers would be fantastic.
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PC VR gameplay captured by UploadVR
If you're wondering why we've decided to review Clone Drone now, over seven months after its initial launch, that's mainly due to Skyscrapper. This becomes available after defeating the Crashloop story mode and gathering enough scrap across each run. Within this new area lies a daunting, endless set of floors that presents a decent challenge.
Personally, I'm not normally fond of endless survival modes in video games because I often find my focus slipping. There is only so much you can do to keep this entertaining across different floors, and Skyscrapper doesn't completely escape these repetitive trappings. However, mixing up each floor with hazards like giant buzzsaws and different weapons keeps this interesting.
As someone who didn't play Clone Drone beforehand, I can't compare how things have changed since launch. Doborog says it upped the cutting resistance setting for increased difficulty, and winning these tough fights certainly feels exhilarating. New two-handed weapons handling options are available, also not something I can judge comparatively, though wielding them generally seems absolutely fine.
Clone Drone in the Hyperdome Review - Final VerdictClone Drone in the Hyperdome is a highly satisfying VR action game that excels in its versatile combat, and I only wish there was more to do here. Though the narrative falls somewhat flat and Skyscrapper's new endless mode can feel repetitive in longer stints, there's a refined voxel roguelike with some creative fights worth considering. It's an easy recommendation from me.
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