Some games are built around weapons, enemies, quests, or huge open worlds. VHOLUME takes a different approach. Its main attraction is movement. You run through a strange dystopian city, jump across gaps, climb walls, slide through tight spaces, and search for the fastest way to reach your destination.
Developed by Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, and Niels Tiercelin and published by IronEqual, VHOLUME released for PC on August 21, 2026. It is a first-person parkour adventure with a strong focus on speed, momentum, exploration, and time-trial gameplay. The game also includes multiplayer, ghost competition, Steam Workshop support, leaderboards, and Steam Cloud.
Game Overview
- Title: VHOLUME
- Developer: Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels Tiercelin
- Publisher: IronEqual
- Release Date: August 21, 2026
- Genre: Casual, Indie, First-Person Parkour, Platformer
- Game Modes: Single-player and multiplayer
- Platform: PC
- Storage: 10 GB
- Steam Achievements: 14
- Steam Workshop: Yes
- Steam Cloud: Yes
What Is VHOLUME About?
The story follows Robert, who lives in a derelict capital of Afro-Eurasia controlled by a powerful Ministry.
Robert’s objective sounds surprisingly ordinary: he needs to restore his family’s revoked ration tickets. But in the strange world of VHOLUME, even this simple bureaucratic task becomes an unusual journey through a huge and confusing city.
The story provides context for the environments without taking control away from the movement-focused gameplay. Instead of stopping every few minutes for lengthy cinematic sequences, the game lets the environment and your journey do much of the storytelling.
The contrast is one of the game’s most interesting ideas. Robert is dealing with bureaucracy, but the way you play involves speed, freedom, momentum, and finding unconventional routes through the city.
Gameplay
The heart of VHOLUME is its movement system.
You can run, jump, climb, and slide through the environment, and these actions can be combined to move through levels more efficiently. The objective is usually not simply to reach the end. Once you understand a level, you can start looking for a faster route.
That changes the way you approach the same location.
During the first attempt, you may simply be trying to understand where you need to go. On later attempts, you begin noticing alternative paths, shortcuts, jumps, and opportunities to preserve momentum. Sludgineers
Speed and Momentum
Momentum is one of the most important parts of the experience.
Running fast is not enough by itself. You need to understand how your movement carries from one action into another. A jump can lead into another movement, a slide can help you maintain speed, and a well-timed route can save several seconds.
This creates a natural learning process.
You start by completing a level. Then you replay it because you know there is probably a faster way. Eventually, the goal becomes less about simply finishing and more about refining your movement.
Finding Shortcuts
VHOLUME gives players room to experiment with routes.
The official description specifically highlights the ability to exploit momentum, discover shortcuts, and break through the labyrinthine level design while chasing target times.
This is important because it gives the environments replay value.
A straightforward route may be enough to finish a level, but experienced players can start searching for a more efficient line. Sometimes the best route is not necessarily the one that looks obvious.
Time Trials and Leaderboards
Once you become comfortable with the movement, VHOLUME starts feeling like a racing game where the track is a city.
Instead of driving a car, you are controlling Robert through a parkour course. Every jump, slide, turn, and shortcut can affect your final time.
Steam Leaderboards support this competitive side of the game. Players who enjoy optimizing routes can compare their performance and continue practicing to improve their position.
Multiplayer
VHOLUME is not limited to solo play.
The full game supports multiplayer, allowing friends to experience levels together. The Steam listing also identifies online PvP, while the game’s design includes ghost-style competition where players can compare their runs and routes.
The ghost system is particularly suitable for a time-trial game. Instead of needing another player to be online at exactly the same moment, you can see another player’s previous performance and try to beat it.
Steam Workshop
One of the most valuable long-term features is Steam Workshop support.
VHOLUME launched with support for community-made levels, allowing players to play maps created by other members of the community. The developers also encouraged creators to build their own levels through the Workshop.
This can significantly extend the game’s lifespan.
Official levels give players the original experience designed by the developers, while community maps can introduce completely different layouts and challenges. For a movement-based game, this is especially useful because level design is such a major part of the experience.
Visual Style and Atmosphere
VHOLUME has a distinctive brutalist visual identity.
The city is filled with large concrete structures, strange architectural spaces, and an atmosphere that feels both futuristic and worn down. The environment creates a sense of isolation even while you are moving through it at high speed.
The melancholy atmosphere is an important contrast to the energetic parkour mechanics.
You may be sprinting, jumping, and sliding through a level as quickly as possible, but the world around you feels quiet, strange, and somewhat oppressive. This gives VHOLUME more personality than a simple obstacle-course game.
My Personal Experience
What stands out to me about VHOLUME is the feeling of movement.
Many parkour games give you a list of abilities and then ask you to use them. VHOLUME feels more interested in what happens when you combine those abilities naturally. Once the controls begin to make sense, moving through the environment becomes less about thinking about individual buttons and more about reacting to the space in front of you.
The first successful fast run through a level can feel much better than simply reaching the finish line for the first time. You start remembering where to jump, where to slide, and where you can cut a corner. Then you try again and discover another possibility.
I also like the contrast between the atmosphere and the gameplay. The city feels gloomy and mysterious, while the actual movement is energetic. You can spend one moment looking at an enormous brutalist structure and the next moment throwing yourself across a gap because you are trying to save two seconds.
System Requirements
Minimum Requirements
- OS: 64-bit Windows 10, version 1903 or newer
- Processor: Intel Core i5-4460 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R7 370
- Storage: 10 GB available space
Recommended Requirements
- OS: 64-bit Windows 10, version 1903 or newer
- Processor: Intel Core i7-7700 or AMD Ryzen 7 1700
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580
- Storage: 10 GB available space
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Smooth movement-focused gameplay
- Strong parkour mechanics
- Excellent atmosphere
- Interesting dystopian setting
- Shortcuts reward experimentation
- Time trials provide replay value
- Multiplayer adds another way to play
- Ghost competition is well suited to the gameplay
- Steam Workshop can extend the experience
- Low minimum RAM requirement
- Steam Cloud and leaderboards included
Cons
- First-person platforming may take time to master
- Repeated attempts can become demanding for casual players
- Players looking for combat may find the gameplay too focused
- The darker atmosphere will not appeal to everyone
- Some levels can be frustrating when learning the best route
How to Download VHOLUME
The safest way to get VHOLUME for PC is through its official Steam release. The game is available as a paid title, and an official demo is also available for players who want to try the movement system before purchasing the full version.
Avoid unofficial installers or modified copies from unknown websites. These versions may be outdated, unsafe, or missing important features such as Workshop support, Steam Cloud, achievements, and multiplayer functionality.
Using the official release also means you can receive updates from the developers as the game continues to evolve.
Latest Update
VHOLUME launched with Steam Workshop support, giving the community the ability to create and play custom levels. The developers announced this feature alongside the full game’s August 21, 2026 launch.
The game has also received strong early player feedback. Current Steam results show an overwhelmingly positive reception, with around 97% of English-language reviews positive at the time of checking.
Because the game relies heavily on level design and movement, continued community activity could become an important part of its long-term appeal.
Should You Play It?
If you enjoy first-person parkour, time trials, speedrunning, or movement-based platformers, VHOLUME is definitely worth considering.
Its strongest feature is the movement system. The game does not need a huge collection of weapons or complicated RPG mechanics because the act of moving through its levels is the main attraction.
It is also a good choice if you enjoy replaying levels to improve your personal performance. The first successful completion is only the beginning. After that, you can search for shortcuts, refine your movement, and chase faster times.
The multiplayer and Workshop features make the package even more appealing. You can play with friends, compete against ghosts, and eventually explore community-created levels.
Conclusion
VHOLUME is a refreshing take on the parkour genre because it understands that movement itself can be enough to carry a game.
The dystopian brutalist city gives the experience a memorable identity, while running, jumping, climbing, sliding, and momentum create the foundation for fast and satisfying gameplay. The addition of shortcuts and target times turns each level into something you can learn and master rather than simply complete once.
Multiplayer, ghost competition, leaderboards, and Steam Workshop also give the game more staying power than a straightforward short parkour adventure. Community-made levels in particular could keep the experience interesting long after players have completed the original content.