VHOLUME Parkour Game Hits Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam
VHOLUME's strong launch shows that a small French indie studio can gain immediate traction on Steam with a dystopian parkour premise, drawing comparisons to Mirror's Edge while standing apart with its ruined setting and community features.
Key Facts
- VHOLUME was released on Steam on August 22, 2026.
- Within two days of release, VHOLUME collected over 800 user reviews with a 97% positive rating, earning an Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam.
- VHOLUME is available on PC (Steam) at a regular price of 1,000 yen including tax, with a 10% discount sale until August 29 making it 900 yen.
- VHOLUME supports solo play, multiplayer, ghost viewing and sharing, and Steam Workshop for community-created levels.
- A demo version of VHOLUME featuring four stages is available.
Reporting from 3 sources: 4Gamer.net, Automaton, Denfaminicogamer.
IronEqual released VHOLUME on Steam on August 22, 2026. The parkour adventure game has collected over 800 user reviews within two days, with 97% positive, earning an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on the platform. The game is set in a ruined dystopian city on the Eurasian continent, where the protagonist Robert sets out to reclaim his family's confiscated ration tickets. Players use jumping, dashing, climbing, sliding, and wall running to traverse concrete-filled brutalist architecture, finding shortcuts and optimizing routes to set faster times. VHOLUME supports solo play, multiplayer with friends, ghost viewing and sharing, and Steam Workshop for community-created levels. The game is available on PC (Steam) at a regular price of 1,000 yen including tax, with a 10% discount sale until August 29 bringing it to 900 yen. A demo version featuring four stages is also available. The game is co-developed by Leonard Lemaitre, known for STRAFTAT and BABBDI, along with Nathan Grange and Niels Tiercelin.
Automaton notes that at the time of writing VHOLUME had about 1,155 Steam user reviews, with 97% positive, and that some players compare it to the Mirror's Edge series. The game is set apart from that franchise by its ruined, post-apocalyptic world rather than a near-future setting. The same outlet highlights comfortable, simple controls and quick respawn switching as features, plus hidden areas, hidden items, and encounters with surreal city residents and strange scenery.
Automaton draws a line from VHOLUME back to Leonard Lemaitre's earlier walking simulator BABBDI, noting the two share a decadent, surreal worldview and buildings that maximize a sense of loneliness. The game supports Japanese display. Each level's results screen shows player rankings, so players can aim for the top by finding shortcuts and running faster.
Lemaitre posted on social media on August 21, a day before launch: "VHOLUME IS OUT!!!!!! I LOVE YOU <3". Denfaminicogamer ran the tweet alongside its coverage. The 4Gamer.net piece frames the demo as a chance for undecided buyers to try the game first.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.