When Gorilla Tag landed on the Quest Store back in February 2022, I grabbed it thinking I’d found just another silly physics game—something I’d mess around with for about 30 minutes, laugh at with some friends, and then promptly forget. Three years, three VR platforms, and more than a hundred real-world miles of virtual knuckle-running later, I’m still hooting across tree-tops and scrambling up blocky cliffs to dodge that last desperate swipe from a lava-skinned primate. Built by indie studio Another Axiom, led by solo developer Kerestell “Lemming” Smith, the project has ballooned into one of VR’s biggest success stories: well over ten million unique players and more than thirty million dollars in cosmetic sales—all earned without selling a single gameplay advantage.

First Impressions — Velocity Without Vertigo

Boot up today and you materialise in the Forest map’s wooden tree-house hub. No joystick tutorials, no comfort vignettes—just two virtual forearms and the thunk of palms hitting bark. Locomotion is blissfully simple to learn yet devilishly tricky to master: push off the ground to run, swing both arms in sync to vault forward, plant a single hand to slingshot around branches. That pure, physics-driven loop sells speed without stirring motion sickness. Five minutes in, my heart rate spiked higher than any rhythm-boxing app; an hour later I was zipping across the canopy like a caffeine-addled Spider-Man, grinning the whole time.

Gameplay Mechanics — Tag, Hunt, Paint, Repeat

Infection & Hunt

Classic Infection turns one Lava gorilla loose on a lobby of uninfected runners. A single tag flips prey into predator, and matches collapse into chaotic chases that feel equal parts parkour clinic and school-yard playground. Hunt shakes up the format by assigning each player a specific quarry; fail to nab your target before someone bags you and it’s back to the tree-house.

Paintbrawl

The Paintbrawl update from 2022 introduced a slingshot-based shooter mode, cleverly building on Gorilla Tag’s unique movement mechanics. Teams divided into blue and orange compete by attempting to burst balloons attached to their opponents’ backs. Grabbing the chest-mounted slingshot, pulling back the elastic, and arcing a neon paint glob over a branchy ambush spot proves the locomotion can handle more than simple chase-and-flee.

Maps & Seasonal Variants

What started with a single Forest arena now includes:

• Canyon – layered mesas are perfect for wall-running.
• Cave – echo-filled crystals and tight tunnels.
• Clouds – gravity-light parkour above the treeline.
• Beach – sun-washed dunes unveiled through the long-teased Secret Tunnel.

Seasonal patches repaint these spaces: Halloween webs drape the branches, December snow drops a giant snow globe into City, and the Basement update (March 2023) shrank everyone to toy size for a miniature dungeon guarded by low-poly “Monkeye” monsters.

Social Sandbox — Voice-Chat Chaos and Kid Energy

Gorilla Tag is a multiplayer-only game, with its culture characterized through unrestricted open-mic proximity chat. There is going to be some shrieking, unprompted call-outs of lava-tag, and pre-teen-invented slang. It is raucous but is not often toxic, and a strong mute/report system, combined with the presence of codes to join lobbies privately, allows quieter crews to find shelter. Voice immediacy turns every chase personal—shouts of “branch camper!” echo through Caves as someone jukes a corner, and victorious howls erupt when a final survivor finally gets slapped on the ankle.

Progression & Monetisation — Cosmetics, Not Power

It is available to play for free on Quest, SteamVR, and PS VR2 and has no pay-to-win mechanics. The income earned in Shiny Rocks is a game currency that is gained gradually through daily log-in or traded for actual money. Hats, glasses, slingshot skins, and whole seasonal bundles can be unlocked by rocks: think pirate hooks during summer or samurai armour during the dungeon maze. Games are all based on skill, so the store resembles a tip jar: after an hour of sweaty cardio, I am not opposed to spending a few quid on a banana hat.

Visuals & Audio — Low-Poly Charm With Punch

Characters are simple, cylindrical figures with loose, swinging arms, while maps look like chunky, oversized playground models. It is that intentional minimalism that guarantees frame rates remain rock-solid on first-gen quest headsets. The heavy lifting is done in Positional audio, where footsteps change volume and type as you move between Forest and Cave, and if you listen carefully, you can single out player sounds to guide you in an attempt to detect pursuers by sound alone.

Update Cadence & Community Momentum

The other shipping sooner, Another Axiom puts out fresh material about once a month, frequently hinted at beforehand by the presence of veiled clues in City, or creepy set dressing in its aisles. In one month, you will see a boarded-up passage, and the next month will be able to move around in a new section. That agile rollout keeps the world feeling alive, and Discord polls regularly influence which experimental mechanics—ziplines, grappling vines—graduate into permanent fixtures.

Tips for New Gorillas

• Learn to Wall-Run Early by slapping the wall at a shallower angle, alternating hands, and the wall will carry you further up than just straight up the wall.
• Look Where You Leap -In the case of your headset, direction gives you your launch vector; make a look and see the separate branch, and then push off.
• Voice as a Weapon: Make use of fake paths on Infection or redirect targets in Hunt; psychological tricks usually win against brute force.
• Warm Up Wrists- Light stretching prevents pain in the tendons the following day; this is actual cardio.
• Start in Private Codes – calmer lobbies help hone basics before plunging into public chaos.

Why Gorilla Tag Still Hooks Me

Most VR games mimic flatscreen conventions—thumbstick walking, button combos, ornate cut-scenes. Gorilla Tag strips that clutter away and asks: what if you felt every stride? That question turns a zero-budget prototype into an endorphin machine. Constant free updates, a cosmetics-only economy, and seamless cross-play create a playground that evolves weekly. Each time I log in, I’m reminded VR’s magic isn’t photoreal graphics; it’s tricking my brain into believing my own tired arms are the only controller I need.