Ready, Aim, Splat!

My honest first thought loading this up was: who decided tomatoes were the answer to the zombie apocalypse, and why am I so okay with it? Ready, Aim, Splat! is a VR-only wave survival game built around a rainbow slingshot, endless undead hordes, and an arsenal that runs from watermelons and pumpkins to, yes, actual cats. It comes from Blue Volcano Studio, a small Sydney outfit whose philosophy seems to be pick one weird idea and commit to it completely. That commitment is both the game's charm and its ceiling. The core loop is simple to the point of zen: hordes shuffle toward different zones across a cartoon city, you pull back the slingshot with a tracked controller, and you let produce fly. Over eight powerups rotate in as you survive longer, changing the tempo just enough to prevent full autopilot. A leaderboard was patched in post-launch, which gives the endurance runs a tiny competitive hook if you care to chase a number. The camera modes, including a 16-bit filter, an old-movie grain mode, and a Sin City black-and-white setting, are a genuinely thoughtful touch. Swapping the visual style mid-session changes the mood without touching the mechanics, and for a sub-five-dollar VR novelty that kind of low-effort expressiveness is quietly impressive. The caveats are real though. This is a VR-only title requiring SteamVR and tracked controllers, so if you are sitting on a monitor-only setup it simply will not run. The content ceiling arrives fast. Wave survival with one weapon type and a fixed projectile roster does not reinvent itself the way a roguelike would, and there is no narrative scaffolding, no progression system, and no multiplayer to slow the fade. Blue Volcano has been transparent about updates being free and without DLC, which is admirable, but the update cadence has been quiet for years and the community is tiny. One user review on Steam after nearly a decade tells its own story about reach. Who is this actually for? VR owners who want something absurd and physical for ten or fifteen minutes, families with kids who find zombie games funny rather than frightening, and anyone who wants to feel the specific joy of lobbing a cartoon kitten at an undead cheerleader without thinking too hard about it. If you need depth, progression arcs, or a reason to come back after the first hour, look elsewhere. But if you have a VR headset gathering dust and a soft spot for small studios swinging for something gleefully strange, Ready, Aim, Splat! lands its one joke with real warmth.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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