There are plenty of free virtual reality (VR) games if you know where to look but King Crow Studios’ latest wants to make a real-world difference at the same time. The studio has released Hive Slayer for free this week, instead asking players to donate what they can to a charitable cause.

Hive Slayer is a classic arcade-style shooter where you have to defeat swarms of alien invaders across three gameplay modes using an array of powerups. Equipped with a matrix gauntlet (shield) and plasma blaster, Standard Mode is all about clearing waves, mini-bosses and end bosses. Arcade Mode requires columns of enemies to be defeated before they get too close, whilst Endless Mode is exactly that, endless.

To aid in this endeavour the plasma blaster has three firing modes, standard, shotgun and hair-trigger sniper. You also need to keep an eye out for the powerups which need to be shot, adding rapid-fire, shield recharge and bomb to destroy multiple enemies. All the modes feature online leaderboards to add a little competition.

A fairly standard wave shooter by the looks of it. But because King Crow Studios is based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the developer is giving the videogame away for free to encourage players to make any donation to the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana Hurricane Relief & Recovery Fund.

“The entire world is in the grip of a deadly pandemic, and us Louisianians are dealing with that on top of two deadly and massively destructive hurricanes, Laura and Delta. These catastrophic forces have displaced tens of thousands of people in our area. They have destroyed homes, local business, and lives,” says the studio in a statement.

“The impact of the hurricanes has hit us on a very personal level. Our founder Cody Louviere has been travelling multiple times a week to Lake Charles, Louisiana – hurricane ground zero. A Lake Charles native, he’s been working with his own family – his mother, his father, and siblings – to try to save and repair their homes in the middle of these back-to-back natural disasters.”

100%  of net proceeds will go to the fund which provides food, shelter, medicine, and all other necessities. Supporting PC VR headsets you can download Hive Slayer via itch.io, Steam or by going directly to the CFSLHRF site. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.