Owlchemy Labs, the Google-owned VR studio behind Job Simulator (2016), announced the game’s sequel Vacation Simulator (2019) just went platinum, having now topped over one million units sold.
The studio’s breakout title Job Simulatorwent platinum in early 2020, owing not only to its fun and approachable gameplay, but also for having been a launch title for HTC Vive, PSVR, and Oculus Touch in 2016.
A testament to the staying power of Job Simulator: it’s still on all major VR headsets, including new entrants such as Quest 3, PSVR 2, and Pico headsets. Since it initially went platinum in 2020, the studio says Job Simulator is now “multi-platinum”.
Building on that success, Vacation Simulator continues the original’s mad cap, object-oriented gameplay, this time letting players explore idyllic virtual destinations while taking on a variety of activities—of course viewed through the same distorted lens of a robot society in the future who have crudely reconstructed what the human-populated past must have looked like.
Founded in 2010 and acquired by Google in 2017, Owlchemy Labs is also behind the Emmy-nominated Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (2017) and their latest VR title Cosmonious High (2022), which includes more of the object-oriented fun of both Job & Vacation Simulator, but also emphasizes realistic character behavior.
To celebrate the news of now having multiple platinum-selling games, Owlchemy Labs launched updates to both Vacation Simulator and Cosmonious High for Quest 3, bringing enhanced visuals, such as real-time shadows and increased frame rate of 90fps.
VAIL VR, the multiplayer shooter for PC VR headsets, is now available on Quest via App Lab.
First released on Steam Early Access by indie studio AEXLAB, the 5v5 team shooter is now serving up cross-play support on Quest and PC VR headsets.
With the release of the Quest version, the game hopes to make a much-awaited resurgence; concurrent user numbers have faltered since it went live on Steam in November 2022, as the CS-style shooter never seemed to garner the sort of cult status among fans as Pavlov or Contractors.
Even on Quest, which boasts more regular users than PC VR, for any multiplayer game it’s an upward battle to attract a strong concurrent userbase. Priced at $20 on App Lab, that puts it at par with its direct competitors which already have significant footholds on the platform.
Whatever the case, we’re eager to see how Vail progresses and how it continues to differentiate itself across one of the toughest categories in VR.
Social VR platform Rec Room is getting ready to launch another co-op game this week, this time taking you to the sewers with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtled-themed adventure.
Called ‘Trials of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, you’ll soon be able to take on Foot Clan goons with friends or strangers, and even face off against the evil Shedder mano a mano.
The turtle-powered adventure is kicking off November 15th and is also coming along with a host of digital accessories, powerups and (of course) pizza.
Rec Room users will be able to buy avatar skins to look the part, so you can dress as Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, or even the infamous Shredder.
You can play ‘Trials of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ and any other of Rec Room’s co-op adventures for free across all supported devices, including Quest, SteamVR headsets, iOS, Android, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Developer Flat Head Studio and publisher Fast Travel Games today launched the new Level Creator Update for We Are One (2023), the time-looping puzzle shooter that landed on VR headsets this summer.
The update is available as a free download for existing owners on Quest and SteamVR headsets, bringing with it a Level Creator which is said to bring all of the tools you’ll need to make new challenges.
Fast Travel reveals the update in video, showing off the ability to create your own challenges, share them, and even tailor your levels qith customizable settings, letting you decide the puzzles you want to create, the enemies you want to fight, and the duration of your level. Of course, there’s also a new Level Editor tutorial launching alongside it, which should help you get started.
Notably one of the most successful free demos available on Quest, We Are One tasks you with teaming up with yourself for some VR puzzle-shooter challenges where you have to plan ahead and clone versions of yourself to flawlessly execute previous moves in multiple time loops.
You can catch it on the Quest Store and Steam for PC VR headsets, priced at $20.
Valve unveiled its Steam Deck OLED late last week, offering up a hardware refresh for the first time since the company launched the handheld gaming device last year. While the company has been full steam ahead on handhelds and developing Steam OS, Valve says it’s “still pushing forward” on VR.
Valve ostensibly has a standalone VR headset in the works, and although there wasn’t any big announcement (or acknowledgement) of what the company has in store just yet. Talking to Norman Chan of Tested though, it was revealed the company is still working on VR.
In an interview, Valve designer Lawrence Yang spoke about the overlap between Steam Deck’s design relative to its VR efforts:
“There’s a lot of things [informing hardware decisions]. Working with an APU, working with miniaturization of computers. We don’t have anything to announce today in terms of a VR other than we are still working on VR, and we’re still pushing forward on it. Just like Steam Deck is learning a bunch of stuff from controllers and VR, future products will continue to learn from everything we’ve done with Steam Deck.”
“Obviously there’s a lot of overlap, from technology pieces that we can use; wireless streaming is very applicable to VR. That benefitted Steam Deck as well in improving the wireless experience. But also from just establishing relationships with part suppliers, hardware partners, and that kind of stuff. The SteamVR team and the Steam Deck team work together. There’s a lot of inoculation of ideas, parts and technologies.”
At Steam Deck’s initial launch in February 2022, Valve chief Gabe Newell told Edge Magazine that Steam Deck represented a “steppingstone” to portable VR for the company thanks to its battery-capable, high-performance horsepower.
More recently, the company released its long-awaited SteamVR 2.0 which drastically upgraded the platform’s VR interface. Whether this is in preparation for an upcoming VR standalone headset remains to be seen; it’s certainly a knock-on effect of improvements made specifically for Steam Deck’s UI.
You can check out the full breakdown of Steam Deck OLED in the Tested video below:
STRIDE (2021) offers up the sort of parkour action you’d expect from a VR-native version of Mirror’s Edge (2008), replete with jumping across dangerous urban chasms, wall-running, and shooting your way past a bunch of roof-walking goons. While previously slated to arrive as DLC to the original game, developer Joy Way has now released the campaign as a standalone title, bringing the same high-flying flair as the original along with a pretty serviceable story to go along with it. Read more to find out whether it was worth the wait.
STRIDE: Fates Details:
Available On: Quest, SteamVR (coming in 2024) Release Date: November 9th, 2023 Price: $30 Developer: Joy Way Reviewed on: Quest 3
Gameplay
You’re a Chaser—a sort of futuristic spec-ops soldier who was plucked out of the slums of Airon City to serve in the SkyChasers police force. Using your augmented superhuman abilities to fight a number of gangs, you traverse the world killing literally everyone in your way for whatever reason the game can put in front of you next.
You’ll use a pistol, SMG, shotgun, knife, and even a futuristic katana at times to put the baddies down in the most stylish way you can think of. Here I am blasting into the air from an air-vault, activating slow-mo, hooking a drone suspended in the air, and swinging around like Spider-Man—fairly par for the course for Stride.
Because it offers up physics-based interactions in the vein of Blade & Sorcery (2018), both games put the onus on the player to consciously elect to make cool kills, replete with slow-mo bullet time so you can gank multiple dudes John Wick-style.
Here’s where Fates differs, as you’ll be thrust into fights in one-off environments that can be as straight-forward or as cinematic as you can handle. When it all comes together, it’s basically one of the most satisfying combat experiences you can have in VR.
If you liked the high-flying, free-running action of the original, Fates handily serves up more than six hours of well-thought-out, objective-based levels that offer plenty of opportunity to flex your shooting, jumping, and running skills—the latter of which is done by physically pumping your arms to move you faster than the snail’s pace that a full throttle left joystick provides. You can also turn on the same mode from Stride Arcade, which allows you to jump by thrusting your arms instead of hitting ‘A’.
To be frank, the game’s AI is very basic, with bad guys acting more like the sort of ragdoll beat-em-up dummies—another reason why I mentioned Blade & Sorcery. Enemies are more like slightly dangerous moving targets than adversaries as such, and they’re all basically the same. Even on the highest difficulty, it’s more about how you finesse your way from point A to point B than fighting against truly challenging enemies. There are a few boss-level enemies with special abilities, but I would have liked a little more variety throughout.
While you’ll definitely need to shoot your way out of situations, there is some light puzzling too. Puzzles feel like they were partially informed by Half-Life: Alyx (2020), offering up a few basic styles which unlock doors, including a sort of carnival-style game that tasks you with leading a ball across an obstacle-laden pipe. They’re all fairly simple, but it’s nice to see they’re not only in use to service your path forwards in the game, but also to unlock secret areas that may have the game’s only real collectibles: multi-colored packs that you can later spend at the end of the mission to unlock weapon upgrades.
Gathering these packs is really what drives you to loot a whole level, presenting you with three types of packs ranging from common to rare. Weapon upgrades are fairly sparse, although mostly functional and straight forward, such as an extended mag, a red dot sight, or higher caliber. I was hoping for more here since it’s such a big part of the game, although it’s basically serviceable.
Image captured by Road to VR
While many puzzles are almost like AR mini-games splayed out in front of the locked door or loot box, one of my favorite puzzles is when you’re prompted to connect to Cyber Space, which is a sort of obstacle course that feels like it would be at home in old films like Hackers (1995), TRON (1982) or Lawnmower Man (1992). It’s a great “safe” place to polish your skills, almost as if it’s reminding you that you shouldn’t always go the safest route when you’re back in the overworld.
It took me a few hours to really gel with Stride: Fates, as the first hour is where you’ll not only learn all of the new skills you’ll need, but also buck up against the sort of jank that seems baked in.
Climbing feels like a mental exercise every single time, leaving me to wish it were more like The Climb 2 (2021) in solidity. Grabbiing onto a ledge is hit or miss, as you need to hit it just right. Overshoot a storm drain and you’ll grasp fruitlessly at the air as you fall to your death, annoyingly putting you back to your last checkpoint.
Another medium-sized gripe is gunplay, which always feels a little fussier than it ought to. Reloading is abstracted to force grabbing ammo you find on the ground and then putting your gun by your hip to automatically reload. The developers say they’re currently working on manual reloading, which will come as a post-launch update. The guns also feel like they’re tilted a bit higher than they should be, which makes aiming and getting a good sight picture a little more annoying than it ought to be.
Immersion
As a campaign-focused game, it would seem like Fates needs to have a really solid story to complement its fun and engaging action. That said, the game’s story isn’t going to win any awards for originality or execution, but it does provide solid scaffolding to support a mostly enjoyable parkouring experience. At times, it’s painfully blind to its own kitschiness, which might have otherwise been dispelled with a fourthwall-breaking nod to the player. Voice acting also doesn’t feel well-directed, which is a shame because it further cheapens the already trope-laden narrative. It all basically fits in the “so bad it’s good” category.
Level design is overall very good, offering plenty of different platforming challenges. What few stealth levels there are feel less impressive, as they’re basically useless since there’s no real penalty to alerting a guard to your presence. Some levels even disable your guns, but whatever the case, you can always punch a guy to death, knife someone straight through the skull, or even slice dudes in half with a sword, which is fun but basically so overpowered that you can abandon all illusion that you’re going to ninja your way around a level when you can just chop everyone to pieces.
Image captured by Road to VR
There’s also a great variety of set pieces of both indoor and outdoor environments to tackle which keeps things interesting across the game’s 12 levels.
Sound design is also fairly good, giving you a heads up when enemies are engaging you, when they individually die, and when all enemies are dead in a given area. This keeps the UI less cluttered, as you engage enemies mostly in a natural way instead of looking for floating HP bars, etc.
Comfort
Like its older sibling, Stride: Fates is surprisingly comfortable for a game that has you basically bouncing off the walls and blasting through large, multi-plane environments. Still, if you’re at all sensitive to artificial movement, you may need to take breaks periodically. I found only a few instances when comfort was an issue, and it was either due to having to repel up a rope (blarg) or encountering a bug where you wall-slide inadvertently.
‘STRIDE: Fates’ Comfort Settings – November 9th, 2023
Vertigo 2 (2023), the Half-Life-inspired sci-fi adventure, is getting what the developer describes as the game’s “only content update” in the soon-to-launch ‘Bottomless Update’, which ought to keep you busy well after the credit roll.
Slated to release on November 10th, the Bottomless Update is set to include three new features which developer Zach Tsiakalis-Brown says is primarily focused on bringing to the game a ton of replayability. This includes:
Mutators – major gameplay modifications that can be mixed and matched. Some mutators make the game harder, some make it easier, and some are just silly.
Alternate Playable Characters – replay the campaign as Brian, Officer 13, or Nani. Each of them have major unique abilities and attributes that change up the experience of playing through the game a second, third, or fourth time.
The Level Editor – complete freedom to build your own levels or play the ones the community has shared. A flexible and intuitive in-VR level editor makes this easy, no SDK or modding experience required.
The update is also set to feature bug fixes, balance adjustments, QOL changes, and performance improvements.
Launched on SteamVR headsets back in March, Vertigo 2 is both bigger and weirder than the original at around 10 hours of campaign gameplay, returning you to the robot and alien-infested science facility for another bout with a universe full of new worlds and lifeforms. We liked it so much in our review we called it one of PC’s greatest VR games since Half-Life: Alyx (2020).
Vertigo 2 is also set to launch sometime later this year on PSVR 2, however the exact launch date is still uncertain, as it was delayed from its original October 24th date to “later this year”. We’re staying tuned to the game’s PSVR 2 publisher Perp Games in the meantime to learn more when the time comes.
Valve released the SteamVR Beta 2.1.1 update which includes a new way to play flatscreen games in VR.
Called SteamVR Theater Screen, the new function is said to replace the old Desktop Game Theater app, which was first released in 2016.
Like Desktop Game Theater, the new Theater Screen is a way of playing non-VR games from a large, virtual screen—i.e. it doesn’t turn your non-VR games into actual VR games. You’ll need bespoke mods for specific games to do that, with games such as the Half-Life 2 VR mod or the Portal 2 VR mod.
To start using Theater Screen and all other included features, you’ll need to first opt into both Steam Client Beta and SteamVR Beta. Here’s a quick guide on how to do both:
SteamVR Beta Opt-in
With Steam running, navigate to your library.
Right click on “SteamVR” in your library list, then click “Properties” in the context menu.
Select the “Betas” tab on the left.
Select “Beta – SteamVR Beta Update” from the drop-down list
Steam Client Beta Opt-in
With Steam running, click on “Steam” in the upper left, then choose the “Settings” menu. (Preferences on Mac)
On the “Interface” tab under “Client Beta Participation” select the dropdown menu
Select the “Steam Beta Update” from the drop-down list and click “OK” You will be prompted to restart Steam, please select the “Restart Steam” button
With both betas, you can simply head to a dashboard tab to find the new Theater Screen toggle at the bottom of the screen. Toggle it, and the dashboard will automatically hide to display the content on the new Theater Screen.
If you aren’t opted-in for both betas however, you may still see the old Desktop Theater, which we captured below:
According to a recent job offer posted by Amsterdam-based developer Vertigo Games, pre-production has begun on a “high-profile, multiplatform AAA VR game,” which is said to be based on a globally recognized franchise.
Posted earlier this month, the studio is looking for a Lead Level Designer with a proven track record in level design for console/PC action-adventure games as well as expertise in Unreal Engine.
Acquired by Embracer Group in 2020, Vertigo Games is behind titles such as Arizona Sunshine (2016) and After the Fall (2021).
The company has grown significantly over the years, having acquired AR/VR studio Force Field Entertainment in 2021 in its bid to develop what it called at the time an “unannounced AAA game based on a well-known IP.”
Since the acquisition of Force Field, Vertigo Games released The 7th Guest VR (2023), the VR remake of the classic ’90s CD-ROM game. It’s also currently developing Arizona Sunshine 2, which is set to release on all major VR headsets in December.
Meta shut down Echo VR, one of its best-performing VR games, in early August. At the time, it seemed like there was little hope for fans to ever play again, but now a modder has released an experimental project that brings unofficial online matches back to the zero-G sports game.
Created by David ‘Xenomega’ Pokora, the so-called ‘EchoRelay’ mod for the PC VR version of the game has brought back online services, which includes both Echo Arena and the game’s VR shooter variant, Echo Combat. Since it’s a PC mod, there’s no such solution for the Quest version of the game unfortunately.
The mod, which the creator calls a “proof-of-concept”, allows you to either run your own server or connect to other community servers. While Pokora states in the EchoRelay’s GitHub page that it’s “not intended to host unofficial services for the public,” the project is public and can be downloaded by anyone. Granted, you’ll need a copy of Echo VR on PC to begin with, which is no longer available via Meta’s PC Store.
Moreover, Pokora says the project won’t include continued support. “This project will never aim to go beyond the scope of personal educational research,” Pokora says, maintaining that there won’t be any further feature completion beyond what’s already available.
Still, while the GitHub page has been archived, enterprising modders can still fork the project and make changes there—something that Meta may or may not condone.
Check out the features below:
Extended Echo VR command-line arguments to launch the game:
As an offline client (no server)
As a dedicated game server
In windowed mode (no VR headset)
In headless mode, a console-based process with no graphics or audio
Use -noovr without -spectatorstream, allowing demo profiles with a VR headset or in windowed mode
Support for most standard in-game features:
Social Lobby
Echo Arena
Echo Combat
Local AI matches
Public or private match game types
NO Cooperative AI matches
Spectator and Game Admin (moderator) support
Support for different client flows (e.g. -lobbyid, which requests joining a specific lobby by UUID)
NO Partying-up with friends in a squad
NO Persisted armor changes/updates across game sessions
Support for basic server operator and administrator flows:
Kick users from game session
Ban accounts until a given date/time
Enforce allowed/denied clients through IP-based Access Control Lists.
Modify server-provided resources such as accounts, login settings, channel descriptions, etc.
Support for most network messages, e.g. profile fetches and updates, server resource fetching, matching, etc
UNDERDOGS is an upcoming VR mech brawler that takes the veteran indie VR studio behind Racket: Nx in an ambitious new direction.
It was clear all the way back in 2018 with the release of Racket: Nx that developer One Hamsa has a certain sense of game-feel and attention-to-detail that’s rare to find in most VR games. The studio managed to take a broad idea like ‘racquetball in VR’ and turn it into something really unique and totally fitting for the medium.
Now, five years later, the studio’s next project is a total pivot away from the slick VR sport it had created, but you can still feel the developer’s talent for taking a broad idea and turning it into something uniquely fit for VR.
Underdogs isn’t due out until early next year, but I got my hands on an early build of the game and found a very firm foundation with unique mechanics and gameplay that I can only describe as a ‘mech brawler’.
Underdogs has a strong identity—it is not the ‘sit in the cockpit and press a bunch of buttons’ kind of mech game—’let’s smash shit’ is the vibe, and the studio does a great job of leaning into it with the game’s aesthetic.
In Underdogs you pilot a short and agile mech that’s driven with intuitive arm-based locomotion. You essentially pull yourself around the arena with your mech’s arms and use the arms to swing and punch enemies in front of you. You can also use your arms to fling yourself into enemies like a sumo wrestler bouncing an opponent out of the ring. It’s a ton of fun to slam into enemies thanks to physics rag-dolling and some good visual and sound effects to accompany it.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
With a range of different arm attachments—some that are smashy, some that are stabby, and some with utility (like a grappling hook)—it looks like Underdogs could create a fun playground for different ‘builds’ as players experiment with which attachments work best against different enemies.
Oh and did I mention you can not only swing at enemies but you can also pick them up and smash them together or simply throw them to the other side of the arena? This isn’t precision work… it’s demolition—and it feels really fun.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
Speaking of demolition; the arena I was fighting in had a huge piston in the middle that would slam down every few seconds. And you can bet it was a joy every time I threw an enemy under it just in time to get crushed. The developers really know how to make things like this feel satisfying with a combination of effects and sound.
Even in the short slice of the game I played, it was apparent that the studio understands the need for enemy variety. I saw at least three enemy types, one of which had variants that meaningfully changed how I approached them (like a temporary shield that needs to be dodged until it becomes vulnerable). There was also a mini-boss fight with a charging robot rhino that was fun to dodge to and then swing back in to hack and smash its vulnerable points. I’m hoping this is only a taste of the enemy and boss variety in the full game.
Image courtesy One Hamsa
The action is a little chaotic at times, but it feels like with practice there will be an opportunity for players to perfect their movement and attacks. And with any luck, swapping out parts on your mech will lead to different playstyles entirely.
Behind the action, Underdogs is doing some solid world-building by casting the player as an… underdog… that’s battling in underground arenas as an avenue to move up in the world. As a cyber-steam punk world, the setting is something of a known quantity, but so far the game’s presentation has given it a unique feel.
It was an impressive spectacle to look up from the action in the arena to see a horde of people cheering you on, silhouetted against a massive cityscape that makes apparent just how far you’ll have to climb (literally and figuratively) if you want to make it anywhere in this world.
– – — – –
What I played of Underdogs thus far left me really intrigued and excited for the full game. It isn’t clear to me, however, exactly what form the full game will take. Will it simply be a mindless wave-brawler that takes place in the same handful of arenas? Or will the world and story be a vehicle for a more interesting linear narrative and gameplay progression? We’ll have to wait until early next year when Underdogs launches on Quest and PC VR to find out if it sticks the landing.
Beat Saber continues to reel in top tracks for its now classic VR rhythm gameplay. The latest drop is the Rolling Stones Music Pack, bringing 11 of the game’s most classic rock tracks to date.
EDM not your style? Well Beat Saber has come a long way with its DLC music packs, which by now offer quite a bit of variety across 18 different albums. And today that selection gets a little bit wider with the release of the 19th music pack featuring the iconic classic rock group, The Rolling Stones.
Priced at $14 for the complete pack, or $2 per track, the Beat Saber Rolling Stones Music Pack includes the following tracks, including new songs from the group’s latest album:
Angry — New Single
Bite My Head Off (feat. Paul McCartney)
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Gimme Shelter
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Live By the Sword (feat. Elton John)
Mess It Up — New Single
Paint It Black
Start Me Up
Sympathy For The Devil
Whole Wide World
The Rolling Stones Music Pack is now available on all platforms where Beat Saber is sold: Meta Quest, PSVR 2, and PC VR. And if you’re looking for more rock, check out the Queen and Rock Mixtape Music Packs.
