The colorful high-flying adventure from Coatsink adds a few new wrinkles to a familiar VR formula.
Wave shooters have never been in short supply in VR gaming. In the 2010s when developers were still figuring out how to let players move around without getting sick, we got trendsetters like the still relevant Space Pirate Trainer, Raw Data, and Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope. This type of gameplay quickly spread to melee combat with arena games like Gorn and Hellsplit Arena. To this day, ‘horde’ modes are still a go-to feature for many VR shooters and melee combat games.
What is it?: A high-flying bullet hell wave shooter.
Platforms: Meta Quest (played on Quest 3)
Release Date: March 26, 2026
Developer & Publisher: Coatsink
Price: $11.99
I mention this because anyone familiar with the concept will feel right at home in Skytail, the latest title from Coatsink (Men In Black: Most Wanted, Augmented Empire). The premise is quite simple and Coatsink gets it out of the way in a matter of minutes. You live on an island in the sky with your giant pet skytail, a sweet-natured winged creature guarding its unhatched eggs. After learning how to use telekinesis to light a fire and cook snacks for it, a literal dark cloud comes over the island. A grotesque creature attacks, wrecks the island, steals the eggs, and the two of you set off to get them back.
Combat in Skytail captured by UploadVR
From there, the game falls into a basic formula. Explore the current island, telekinetically gripping clumps of purple blight polluting the land and squeezing them until they pop and disperse. Somewhere on the island is a portal that warps you to what could aptly be called tutorial limbo, a void where you learn about your powers. The first ability is how to perform the aforementioned telekinetic squeeze and pop. After the stint in limbo, you feed the skytail, hop on, and fly off to the next island.
Between the islands is where the action lies. Flying imps attack you and your skytail as you soar, with your travel progress and health visible on the skytail’s collar. Imps can be dispatched with your telekinetic powers while either grabbing or dodging the imps’ projectile attacks. Things veer into bullet hell territory if the imps are allowed to pile up on the screen. Health is restored by popping food that randomly appears during battle. Survive and you’ll arrive on another island with more blight clusters to pop, a hungry skytail to feed, and a new skill to learn.
Feeding the skytail is quite charming. Captured by UploadVR.
Skytail feels very safe. The gameplay is well executed and the combination of riding a flying creature and the telekinetic abilities offers a different aesthetic, but it starts to get formulaic inside an hour. It does ramp quite well, offering new imp variants requiring a bit more skill to dispatch and new abilities early and often, but I found the formula wearing thin very quickly.
However, it does feel satisfying to crush imps. The telekinetic powers are very responsive and accurate. Petting and feeding the skytail is genuinely heart warming. Nothing here is bad per se, but the telekinesis and flight barely do enough to liven up a well-trodden road in VR.
Skytail uses stick-based movement when on the islands. There are teleport and smooth locomotion options, a choice of snap versus smooth turning with angle/speed settings, and a motion vignette. The flight is in a straight line with no shaking or sudden movements to induce any motion sickness.
The game can be comfortably played seated and has enough options to be a relatively safe game for new VR users.
Visually, Skytail feels a bit dated and this is disappointing. Coatsink has previously shipped titles with a distinct visual flair, like the comic book art style in Men In Black & Jurassic World: Aftermath and Augmented Empire’s sci-fi setting. Skytail is bright and colorful, but its simplicity makes the islands dull to explore. The design of the imps makes them all blend together, even with the variants in later battles. Skytail plays much better than it looks.
Learning the grab and charge technique in Skytail. Captured by UploadVR.
Wave shooters have endured in VR for good reason. They are generally accessible and intuitive to play, easy for VR newcomers, and still fun in the right context for VR vets. Skytail is no different. Its presentation lets it down, but the cozy atmosphere and gratifying telekinetic powers can be a nice change of pace for the right player.
That is, anyone looking for a different, more pleasant outing than shooting/cutting down scores of the undead in one of any dozens (and dozens) of VR zombie games or a younger player in need of a more approachable adventure. If either of those descriptions fit, you could do worse than Skytail and it is priced affordably enough for what it offers.
Skytail is available now on Meta Quest for $11.99.
