Pistol Whip: Smoke and Thunder arrives today, totally blew us away

Our review is on the way, but trust us: it’s amazing and worth buying before the price increase.

What you need to know

• Smoke & Thunder, the free DLC campaign starring two gun-toting sisters in the Old West, arrives on the Quest 2 today, August 12.
• Pistol Whip currently costs $24.99 but will rise to $29.99 in three days.
• Our full Smoke & Thunder review will arrive soon, but it’s undoubtedly a 5-star, must-play game.

Our rootin-tootin’ resident VR fanatic Nick Sutrich spent the past few days in NYC for Samsung Unpacked, getting a hands-on with the new Galaxy Watch 4 and other tech. As such, his Pistol Whip: Smoke and Thunder review won’t arrive until next week. But considering the game’s price will rise before our review comes out, we’re giving you a brief heads up now: this is a must-play, game-of-the-year level expansion that you absolutely shouldn’t sleep on.

Compared to the previous expansion, Pistol Whip 2089, Smoke and Thunder has a great story involving a woman fighting to save her sister in the Old West. Its dual-wielding pistol mechanic, upgraded from the main game, make this campaign especially fun and action-packed. The campaign’s new Hard Mode is incredibly challenging, pushing your reflexes to the limit. Overall, it’s a short-but-super-sweet experience.

Plus, the game has added new Style modifiers that add extra challenges to older levels. Nick’s personal favorite is the Brawler style that takes away your guns, so you have to bob-and-weave past bullets and wait to get close to enemies before punching them out. He called it an “unbelievable workout.”

He’ll have more to say in his review next week. But for now, Pistol Whip — already one of the best Oculus Quest 2 games by a country mile — has transformed into a more challenging, sweat-inducing thrill ride with a compelling story to match. Trust us: grab Pistol Whip if you haven’t already.

Draw!

Pistol Whip

$25 at Oculus Store

Bringing John Wick to the Old West

Pistol Whip: Smoke and Thunder, plus the new Styles’ levels for endless variation and challenge, adds even more content to an already-full game experience at no additional cost — so long as you snag it up in the next few days.