Dusted

Dusted is built around English Sporting (sporting clays in the US). It's a bit like golf with a shotgun: you walk round a course, stopping at stands that each throw a different set of targets.

Every pellet, simulated

Nothing in Dusted is faked for convenience. I wanted Clay Pigeon shooting to have the same detail paid to it as flight and driving simulators do. Pellets aren't instant rays (hitscan). Each pellet is calculated independently, each cartridge fires its correct load, around 400 pellets for a 28 g load of 7.5s. Every pellet flies with its own velocity and drag. Pellets deform on firing and string out behind one another, so you get a shot string that lengthens down range.

The cartridge you choose matters too. Shot size, load, lead or steel, velocity and grade all change how your shot behaves. Premium cartridges are faster with harder shot, so you get tighter shot strings with fewer flyers. You'll also see steel pattern tighter than lead, which can be a help or a hindrance depending on the target.

Clays that fly like clays

A clay is a spinning disc so it needs it's own aerodynamic profile. Lift, drag and spin act on every target, so a looper curls, a battue knifes, a crosser banks and a rabbit bounces along the ground. You read them exactly as you would on your local ground.

See exactly why you missed

We've all been there: a target you just couldn't hit, and the whole drive home wondering what you were doing wrong. The shot analysis is and amazing feature in Dusted. After every shot it shows you where your pattern went relative to the clay, at the real distance, so you can use the depth perception of VR to see what actually happened down range. You'll know straight away whether to adjust your lead by a little or a lot.

Maybe the clay was inside your pattern and still didn't break? You can now find out what exactly happened down range. Hold a button and step into the shot reconstruction: a 3D model of the exact moment your shot string reached the clay, which you can turn, zoom and inspect from any angle. It's a view of your shot you can never get in real life.

Every trigger pull is measured, and your record builds up over time: hit rates by target type, lead bias by presentation, and your progress round by round.

Ways to play

Practice: free and unlimited. Five smaller grounds plus the full 100-target Meadowvale course, which you can also shoot as 48 or 24 targets. Use the wrist menu to skip to the presentation that's giving you trouble and loop it until it's smoked. Sharing a headset with family or friends? Switch profiles mid-round and let them have a go.

Registered: for when you want it to count. One registered round per level per day, and once you start there's no skipping, looping or quitting. Your scorecard is permanent and your score goes on the seasonal leaderboards. The pressure is certainly on!

Shot Training: say your local ground put up an 80-yard crow that bested you. Pick crows, set the range, and Dusted fills a level with them so you can go back and smash it with confidence. Crossers, driven, rabbits, loopers: set it up as simply or as specifically as you like.

Arcade: what happens when you combine Dusted's ballistics with relentless clay launches, power-ups and synthwave. Across two levels, the clays start off huge, then get smaller and come faster until you've got three in the air at once. The ballistics are exactly the same as in the simulator, so it won't upset your lead perception. Just don't go expecting 5-foot-wide clays at your local ground!

Earned, never bought

There are no microtransactions in Dusted. Dusters, the in-game currency, are earned by shooting, and the harder the shot, the more you earn. Spend them on premium cartridges and Registered round entries. Practice and the standard cartridges are free and unlimited, so you'll never need Dusters just to keep shooting.

What you need

A VR-ready Windows PC. Dusted is a PC VR game; see System Requirements below.

A Meta Quest 2, 3 or 3S connected via Link, or a Steam Frame.

Standard motion controllers. Everything in Dusted works with a single controller, so you can mount it in a gun stock and forget about the other one.

A weighted VR gun stock isn't required, but I highly recommend one. Gun fit and muscle memory are so integral to the real sport, and Dusted's gun fit process lines the virtual gun up with your stock.

Dusted is played standing, with an arm's length of clear space around you.

Not sure it'll run on your setup? Try the free demo first.

Dusted is in Early Access and I'm building it alongside the people who play it, so if you have questions or suggestions, come and say hello on Discord. Remember, never leave a hit to chance!