VR Game

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‘Attack on Titan VR’ Game Announced from ‘Little Witch Academia VR’ Developer

Attack on Titan is one of those IPs that people have long asked to see in VR… and now they’ll finally get their wish. Today it was announced that UNIVRS is developing the first official Attack on Titan VR game for home headsets, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable.

Announced today during Upload VR’s 2022 Winter Showcase, Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is in development and set for a release in Summer 2023 on Quest 2. Developer Univrs, the studio most recently behind Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing, released a teaser for the project which unfortunately doesn’t give us any clue at how the game will look or play.

Although the studio’s experience with Little Witch Academia VR might not seem like it would translate to the intense and gory nature of an Attack on Titan game, the studio prides itself on its “unique anti-motion sickness technology,” which it says makes broom racing in the prior game very comfortable in VR despite high speeds.

If you know Attack on Titan then you’ll know that characters in the universe use the so-called ‘omni-directional mobility gear’ to zip around and outmaneuver their massive foes. Surely no Attack on Titan game would be complete without it, and that’s where Univrs’ experience with high speed VR gameplay might actually come in very handy.

And while Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is confirmed to launch on Quest 2 this coming Summer, it’s not clear whether the game will make it to SteamVR (as prior titles from the developer have).

‘Attack on Titan VR’ Game Announced from ‘Little Witch Academia VR’ Developer Read More »

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Anticipated PC VR Title ‘Vertigo 2’ Gets Early 2023 Release Date & New Gameplay Trailer

Vertigo 2 has been on our radar thanks to its slick unique world and slick-looking weaponry. While we still have a little longer to wait before we’ll get to play it, today the studio announced an early 2023 release alongside a fresh look at gameplay.

Vertigo 2 has been anticipated ever since the original Vertigo (2016) and its refinement Vertigo Remastered (2020) brought rich physics-driven weapons and interactions to PC VR headsets. Developer Zach Tsiakalis-Brown has been giving glimpses of the sequel over the last two years, but only now has he set a release date for March 30th, 2023.

Vertigo 2 looks significantly more ambitious than its predecessor, with new weapons, enemies, and characters, all brought together with an even more refined and art direction than its predecessors. Here’s the pitch from the game’s Steam page:

Vertigo 2 is a single-player adventure built from the ground up as a game for high-end VR.

Deep underground in the reaches of Quantum Reactor VII, you awake to finish your journey home. No closer to your goal than when you first arrived, you must count on the help of the mysteriously familiar stranger who saved your life. On your way towards the center of the reactor, you will have to face bizarre alien flora and fauna leaking from other universes – and deadly android security forces whose job is to purge the Reactor of all life. As you try to determine who to trust, sinister forces lurk just out of sight.

With a branching story hinging on key decisions, there’s no telling what you’ll encounter in this absurd world. The only certainty is that there’s danger around every corner.

Vertigo 2 would look promising in its own right, but I’ve got to say I’m even more impressed considering this is purpotedly the sole work of developer Zach Tsiakalis-Brown. Can the game stand up to this tasty looking trailer? We’ll be looking forward to finding out out next year.

Anticipated PC VR Title ‘Vertigo 2’ Gets Early 2023 Release Date & New Gameplay Trailer Read More »

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‘Hubris’ Review – Visually Stunning VR Shooter That Just Misses the Mark

Hubris should be what we’ve all been waiting for, a visually well-realized VR native that transports you to otherworldly biomes, replete with shooting, jumping, climbing, swimming, and even some basic crafting mechanics. On paper it certainly checks many of the sci-fi shooting and adventuring blocks, but look past the flashy visuals and apparent feature set and you’re left with a fairly mediocre VR shooter that just isn’t clever enough out of the gate to be truly engaging.

Available On: Steam, coming to PSVR 2 & Quest 2 in 2023
Release Date:  December 7th, 2022
Price: $40
Developer:  Cyborn B.V.
Reviewed On:  Quest 2 via Link

Gameplay

You’re a recruit belonging to the Order of Objectivity—basically a space marine who happens to have crash-landed on a hostile world which is in the midst of being terraformed. Large terraforming towers loom in the distance above the rocky, desolate world. The only wildlife comprises of squids and a few giant bugs, and most of them aren’t friendly. You job is to kill everything, scrounge everything for weapon upgrades, and experience the majesty of probably one of the best-looking PC VR games currently available.

Exterminating the local fauna isn’t difficult—one shot and they splatter into goo. The same is almost always true for the corpo-baddies who repel from dropships to infest the inner bowels of the terraforming towers and fuel refineries. On medium difficulty, one or two well-placed shots can kill most dudes outright, save one rare tank type you meet in the final quarter of the game which may take two or three magazines from either the pistol or submachine gun.

Image courtesy Cyborn B.V.

For some reason these faceless goons don’t like the Order or its badass super soldier, Cyana, but then again, I can’t blame them. I’m a faceless goon too, albeit one with a gun and an inventory large enough to porter several junkheaps of metal scraps and other fiddly bits to a shredder which gives me the base unit of each found item: metal, fiber, plastic, and cyan: the game’s unobtainium.

Scrounging and crafting is a pretty satisfying experience, and the quick inventory system of reaching over your shoulder for either health or junk items works surprisingly well—right shoulder for health, left for junk. The flatscreen inventory, pulled up by tapping your wristwatch, is a little less effective in default mode since you can only grab one specific item at a time before it auto-closes and you have to reopen it again, but you can change that in the settings. Here’s a look at a juicer you’ll find at some point in the game which lets you craft health potions with fruit you collect:

Just plop in the required bit into any crafting machine, and you’ve got your potion, food, or gun overhaul at the ready.

The most important bit is undoubtedly how Hubris performs as a shooter, and it’s not great. Reloading and cycling through your three weapons (pistol, shotgun, submachine gun) is an intuitive and well thought out affair, although actually aiming and shooting the weapons is sadly lacking in refinement.

Both the pistol and submachine gun are very difficult to get a good sight picture, which forces you to shoot by intuition alone. You’ll typically need to correct your aim on the fly, which wouldn’t be so much of an issue if you had a few spare mags on hand. This ends up making you spray precious bullets when they might be better used with more accurate shots.

Granted, reloading is easy—just hold the empty weapon up to your head and wait the 10-15 seconds for the haptic buzz to stop. Ideally, this sort of intentionally slow reloading is supposed to force the user into a more tactical shooting stance since you can’t quickly reload, but at times this made me think too tactically. After all, if I can’t trust my own aim, I’m not going head-first into a firefight for fear of being set back to the last auto-save point in a jiff.

That 10-15 seconds in a firefight naturally forces you to make better use of cover, which is all well and good. But because there’s no incentive to rush into a firefight with less than each gun’s magazine can hold—variable on whether you have the pistol, shotgun, or machine gun—what tends to happen is this: you scoot back to a choke point and wait for the AI to stupidly file in one-by-one until a whole area is cleared of baddies. It’s efficient, but not very fun. If gun models were just a little more refined…

The array of enemies isn’t terrible once you get to the last quarter of the game, where things really pick up in difficulty and the diversity of all of the skills you learn finally come together. Still, the game’s AI is fairly dumb in how it moves about, but is strangely always accurate in its shots. Of the two types of soldiers, the one you’ll see 99 percent of the time is the standard idiot who vaporizes with one or two blasts.

There are some flying enemies too. There is one type of drone you’ll regularly come across, which requires about 10 bullets from the pistol or 24 from the submachine gun, and one type of magnetic mine that will follow you around until either you or it dies first.

All of them are bullet sponges with no discernible weak points, save the shielded mine which can either be disabled with a spare battery orb, or by shooting it from above or below. Maybe a headshot is enough to kill a soldier? I’m still not sure since aiming is basically constant guesswork. It’s shame, because if your GPU can chug at least as well as my aging Nvidia GTX 1080, the visual experience of the game is pretty impressive (more on that in Immersion).

There was some glitchiness, although we’ve been told by Cyborn that the final release version will fix some areas with notable framerate drops. In the six hours it took me to beat on medium difficulty I never experienced a game-breaking bug though, which is a big step up from what we saw in the demo that was available back in the summer.

Immersion

On one hand, you have visually poppy scenes that draw you in, and a world that practically feels alive; that’s no small feat. I simply don’t want to understate how good Hubris looks. However, extreme polish in this one specific aspect of the game seems to highlight other parts that seem intent on detracting from the overall experience.

My placid colleague, chipper as ever despite the rotting stench of death | Image courtesy Cyborn B.V.

One of my least favorite gaming tropes is on full display in Hubris: the helpful robot who tells you everything you need to know and where to go. In short, you can forget figuring anything out for yourself for most of the game, as you’re effectively robbed of nearly every instance of discovery in Hubris until you get to, again, the last quarter of the game. You’re led by the hand to each objective, and everything (everything) is summarized ad infinitum by one of the most unintentionally condescending characters.

Lucia-bot is always “helpful” | Image captured by Road to VR

The dreaded helper-bot in question is actually supposed to be piloted by my flesh and blood commander, Lucia, who delivers lines more akin to a kindergarten teacher gently chiding me into cleaning up my blocks before laying down for a nap than, say, a battle-hardened space marine. Across the board, voice acting doesn’t feel well-directed, resulting in it actively hurting the seriousness the game works to build. If there were only some explanation for her weirdly mismatched tone, like an emotion chip gone awry or maybe I’m just a dumb toddler grown in a vat who needs constant reassurance. Nope. It’s just a weird thing about Hubris I guess.

The narrative isn’t much more than your standard sci-fi fare, which is absolutely fine, but I can’t help but think how much better Hubris would be (middling gunplay included!) if I just had a second to look around and breathe in the atmosphere without constantly being annoyed to death.

Comfort

Hubris includes a number of locomotion situations beyond your standard single-plane shooter. It requires you to jump (using the ‘A’ button), climb, swim by moving both arms, run around and strafe, and drive around in a vehicle at some point too.

Most of this is done in such a way that it’s comfortable to the user, although there are a few standout scenes when I personally didn’t want to have eyes in my head, notably when dropships fly overhead and the camera shakes so much it gave me the wobbles. Getting in the way of another character during their scripted movement will also move you without your consent, which can be jarring the first time it happens.

As you’d imagine, you’ll need full range of motion for both arms to climb and swim, so make sure to either have an adequate chair to sit in or stand up for the entirety of the game.

‘Hubris’ Comfort Settings – December 7th, 2022

Turning
Artificial turning ✔
Snap-turn ✔
Quick-turn ✖
Smooth-turn ✔

Movement

Artificial movement ✔
Teleport-move ✖
Dash-move ✖
Smooth-move ✔
Blinders ✔
Head-based ✔
Controller-based ✔
Swappable movement hand ✔

Posture

Standing mode ✔
Seated mode ✔
Artificial crouch ✔
Real crouch ✔

Accessibility

Subtitles ✔
Languages
English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese
Dialogue audio ✔
Languages English
Adjustable difficulty ✔
Two hands required ✔
Real crouch required ✖
Hearing required ✖
Adjustable player height ✔

‘Hubris’ Review – Visually Stunning VR Shooter That Just Misses the Mark Read More »

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‘Batman VR’ App Allegedly in the Works for Quest, FTC Filing Claims

Among documents released by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this week is a claim that Meta’s VR studio Camouflaj, the developers behind Marvel’s Ironman VR, have also planned a Batman VR app for release on Quest.

The apparent leak was found by Janko Roettgers, formerly of Protocol and Variety. The document in whole can be viewed here.

“In September 2022, Meta acquired Camouflaj, which currently developing Ironman and Batman VR apps for Quest.”

The information comes as a part of wider antitrust investigation into Meta’s acquisition of Within, the studio behind the VR fitness app. You can read more about that here.

Last we heard from Camouflaj before the acquisition by Meta, the studio said it had “exciting things on the horizon,” maintaining it was still “all-in on VR.”

As early as May 2022, the studio was hiring for a host of positions to work on its “next exciting AAA project.”

A few months later the studio then released Iron Man VR on Quest 2, releasing it from its two-year exclusivity on PSVR.

Camouflaj hasn’t announced any new projects at this point either. We’ve reached out to Meta for comment and will update when/if we hear back.

‘Batman VR’ App Allegedly in the Works for Quest, FTC Filing Claims Read More »

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Here’s Every Game Announced for PSVR 2

Sony has revealed the price and launch date for PSVR 2, although it still hasn’t tossed out a launch day lineup for PSVR 2. We’re adding more games to out running list though the closer we move to the February 22nd launch of PSVR 2.

Here’s a look at what we hope will be a quickly growing list of all games announced for PSVR 2 thus far. Also, don’t forget to check out our detailed hands-on with PSVR 2 hardware to see what sets it apart from the original.

There is no list of launch-day games yet. In our list, we take a look at the games officially mentioned by Sony, followed by the rapidly growing number of studios committing to support PSVR 2 at some point.

Horizon Call of the Mountain

Horizon Call of the Mountain isn’t a log flume ride or hollow VR “experience” like the trailer might suggest. Nay, developed by Sony’s first-party Guerrilla Games and Firesprite Studios, the first VR take on the Horizon universe is going to be an honest to goodness story campaign the devs say will take around seven hours to complete, along with some “additional content” included in the game.

Check out our hands-on here.

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge is an action-adventure experience where you’ll take on the role of a droid repair technician operating near the Outer Rim. First introduced on Meta Quest in 2020, this will be the first time this run-and-gun, Star Wars-flavored adventure will be available outside of the Meta ecosystem.

Check out our spoiler-free review here

Resident Evil Village

Capcom is bringing Resident Evil Village to PSVR 2, and it says the game will provide “an even deeper immersive experience by taking full advantage of the vivid graphics possible with the headset’s 4K HDR display, PlayStation VR2’s eye tracking, PS5’s 3D Audio and more.” Lady Dimitrescu awaits!

Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 is already available on Quest 2, although this particular version is a classic zombie shooter of another stripe. The game coming to PSVR 2 is actually the remake, so we’re getting all new everything this time around and not just uprezzed textures. We’re hoping the VR support is as good as the Quest 2 version, and decidedly better than RE7 Biohazard, which wasn’t bad, but it is showing its age since it was released in 2017.

Demeo

Created by VR veteran Resolution Games, Demeo is a VR take on a tabletop RPG dungeon crawler. It has fared remarkably well on Quest 2 and PC VR headsets since release in 2021, which is in part thanks to its basement-themed, D&D-style action that lets you unite with friends for a tactical gaming night from afar.

Check out our review here

No Man’s Sky

The redemption story continues, as Hello Games vows to bring its space exploration simulator to PSVR 2, including all of the successive patches and DLC drops that took it from procedurally generated empty shell to a universe truly brimming with possibilities.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2

This is a full-fat sequel to VR’s most popular games as of late, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners. Like the first in the series, you’ll scrounge around a post-apocalyptic New Orleans that’s not only brimming with the undead, but also rival gangs that you can choose to join or battle. Physics-based combat, low ammo supplies, and a very touchy stamina system means you’ll need to think long and hard before running into that crowd of walkers.

Firewall Ultra

It’s not clear how much “new” content we’re getting right out of the bat with First Contact’s next Firewall game, which like the original promises tactical squad-based shooting action across a host of maps, although Firewall Ultra is decidedly the future of the franchise. We can expect to see legacy maps, characters and weapons, but also updates for more of everything down the line.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR

Supermassive Games just revealed The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, or what it calls a “fast-paced roller coaster action-horror-shooter where every move you make, and everything you see, could mean the difference between life and death.” Set inside the sinister world of The Dark Pictures Anthology, Switchback VR makes good use of headset eye-tracking: some enemies only move when you blink (Visine not included).

Crossfire: Sierra Squad

Smilegate tossed out a trailer to a brand-new VR game called Crossfire: Sierra Squad, a first-person shooter in the Crossfire universe. The game is played either solo or in co-op mode with up to 4 players on a team as you battle against AI baddies. The studio says there are 39 types of weapons including pistols, rifles, throwable – and throw back-able – grenades and sniper rifles with revolutionary scope mechanics give you plenty of options to dispatch 17 types of enemies.

The Light Brigade

Funktronic Labs showed off a new single-player roguelike game called The Light Brigade which it says is “filled with immersive gunplay and moody mystery.” Uncover the mystery of the gloomy ‘Sunken World’ as you climb the ranks of the titular Light Brigade, unlock firearms and unique spells. The Light Brigade will be available for pre-order starting November 15th.

Hello Neighbor: Search and Rescue

tinyBuild Games and Steel Wool Studios (Five Nights at Freddy’s) announced a VR take on viral indie hit Hello Neighbor, which is coming to both PSVR and PSVR 2 with cross-buy. “Mr. Peterson’s creepy house takes on a new level of immersion in VR, and there is nothing quite as scary as actually seeing that familiar shadow tower over you just before everything goes black,” tinyBuild says. Hello Neighbor: Search and Rescue will be available for pre-order starting November 15th.

Pistol Whip VR

Cloudhead Games is bringing a free PSVR 2 upgrade to the PSVR version of its award-winning physical action-rhythm game where thrilling gunplay and dynamic tracks collide, creating a dreamscape world for players to blast, duck, and dodge their way through to become the ultimate action hero.

Cities VR – Enhanced Edition

With its intial launch on Quest earlier this year, Fast Travel Games managed to bring Cities: Skylines to VR, albeit in a slightly smaller package to run on VR hardware. Smaller, as in the size of your city: you’re actually a Godzilla-sized goliath towering over your little town as you manage all of its buildings and keep up with city planning.

Cosmonious High

Owlchemy Labs is known for highly interactive, super approachable VR games, such as award-winning titles Job Simulator and its sequel Vacation Simulator. This one went live a few months ago on Quest and PC VR headsets, and we can’t wait to see PSVR 2’s eye-tracking bring our avatars to life.

Zenith: The Last City

From Ramen VR comes the PSVR 2 version of its Kickstarter success story, the MMORPG know as Zenith: The Last City. Promised to be a day-one launch title, there are hundreds of hours of content to chew through in this well-realized VR native.

Tentacular

Initially launched on Quest and PC VR, Firepunchd Games is bringing its wild adventure where you, a gigantic but good-hearted tentacled beast, is trying to figure out your place in the world. Help your human friends to research a strange and incredibly powerful energy source. Make progress by solving a colossal mix of action-based activities and physical constructions puzzles which unlock elements for your very own playground.

After The Fall

Launched on PC VR, Quest and the original PSVR, Vertigo Games is bringing an enhanced version of the co-op zombie shooter to PSVR 2. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s essentially Left4Dead, but in VR, letting you sweep through levels with friends and strangers as you mow down massive hordes of zombioid baddies. Upgrade your stuff, come back for more.

Jurassic World Aftermath Collection

Coatsink originally brought this two-part psychological dino-thriller to Quest, making for a heart-pounding game of cat-and-mouse with a gaggle of Raptor baddies. Use your eyes and ears to alert you to impending doom, and hide from certain death if you can, Make sure to check out our spoiler-free review of both part 1 and 2 on Quest to see what’s in store.

Altair Breaker

Initially released on Steam and PSVR, Altair Breker is a map-based sword fighting game from the makers of Swords of Gargantua, Thirdverse. You can team up with three other friends or go it alone as you for an adventure that the studio says its for “players who want to experience stylish sword-fighting action and feel like the hero in an anime world.”

XR

Thirdverse is also developing a multiplayer shooter called X8, which is set to launch on PSVR 2 in addition to PC VR and Quest 2. Developed by Thirdverse’s US-based studio, the 5v5 hero shooter is slated to arrive on those other platforms sometime this winter before rolling out to PSVR 2 at some point.

Other Games Announced for PSVR 2

  • 2MD: VR Football Unleashed All-Star – Truant Pixel
  • Affected: The Asylum – Fallen Planet Studios
  • Aliens VR – Survios
  • Alvo – Mardonpol
  • Afterlife VR – Split Light Studio
  • Among Us VR – Schell Games and Innersloth
  • Black Top Hoops – Vinci Games
  • Black Trail – Red Horizon
  • Distortion VR – Future Mental Games
  • Do Not Open – Nox Noctis
  • Dropship Commander – Strange Games Studios
  • Engram – Maze Theory
  • Firmament – Cyan Worlds
  • The Exorcist Legion VR: Sin – Pocket Money Games
  • Galaxy Karts – VR Monkey
  • Ghostbusters VR – nDreams, Sony Pictures Virtual Reality (SPVR)
  • Ghosts of Tabot of Tabor – Combat Waffle
  • Golf+ – Golfscope Inc
  • Green Hell VR – Incuvo
  • Grimlord – MetalCat Interactive Technology
  • Hellsplit Arena – DeepType Games
  • Hubris – Cyborn
  • Hypestacks – Squirrel Bytes
  • Kayak VR: Mirage – Better Than Life
  • The Last Worker – Wired Productions
  • LONN – SixSense Studios
  • LOW FI – Iris VR
  • Madison – Bloodious Games
  • Medieval Dynasty – RenderCube
  • Mixture – Played With Fire
  • Neolithic Dawn – James Bellian
  • Pavlov – Vankrupt Games
  • Project Lousianna: The Bounds VR – Build the Light Studio
  • Propagation Paradise Hotel – Wannadev Studio
  • Requisition – Arcadia VR
  • Runner – Truan Pixel
  • Samurai Slaughter House – Tab Games
  • Shadowgate VR: The Mines of Mythrok – Zojoi LLC. and Azure Drop Studios
  • Soul of Kaeru – BrainUp
  • Stranger Things: The VR Experience – Tender Claws
  • Super Kit: To the Top – Electric Hat Games
  • Tin Hearts – Rogue Sun
  • The Twilight Zone VR – Pocket Money Games
  • Ultrawings 2 – BitPlanet Games
  • Volcanic Core – Synthesis Universe
  • The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 1 – Skydance Interactive
  • Wandering in Space – Moonseer Games

Unannounced PSVR 2 Games

  • Archiact sci-fi game
  • Firesprite horror game
  • Vitruvius VR sci-fi game

Update (November 28th, 2022): Eurogamer’s Ian Highton has mentioned a few more titles coming in a video breakdown that has filled in some gaps in our list. We’ve added X8 and Altair Breaker to the official Sony-sanctioned list, and a handful of others in the studio-announced titles listed above.


Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below so we can include it in our list!

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‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Mod Brings 3-4 Hours of Gameplay Today in Unofficial ‘Levitation’ Chapter

If you haven’t played Half-Life: Alyx (2020), Valve’s first Half-Life game in a decade which is exclusively available on SteamVR headsets, then you can look forward to not only one of the best VR horror shooters in existence, but soon heaps more action after the credits roll. The creators of the long-awaited Levitation mod say it’s slated to release for free starting today.

Update (November 25th, 2022): Levitation is now available on Steam, downloadable in 5 separate parts. Here’s a description of the mod, which its creators say takes around three to four hours to complete.

Half-Life: Alyx Spoiler Ahead: LEVITATION is set right after the events of Half-Life: Alyx wherein Alyx returns to City-17 after meeting the G-MAN, and teams up with Russell once again. During her absence, a mysterious levitating building appeared in the Sector X region of City-17. Two key members of the resistance named Barry and Maya decided to infiltrate and investigate Sector X — until their signal went quiet… Now, Alyx must save her friends, and possibly the whole resistance.

Check out the Levitation launch trailer below:

Original Article (June 14th, 2022): Now a pair of veteran modders are set to release an unofficial chapter of the game soon, called ‘Levitation’, which promises four to five three to four hours of expertly realized Combine-killing gameplay.

As seen during the PC Gaming Show, Half-Life: Alyx LEVITATION follows the events of the main game, introducing a floating apartment building in ‘Sector X’ of City 17 which is no doubt a Combine plot to do something highly nefarious, G-Man sightings included.

From what we’ve seen, it looks tantalizingly close to being a Valve-produced DLC, replete with custom voice acting and well-planned enemy encounters. Check out the seven-minute gameplay video below to see just how slick Levitation is:

But it’s not a Valve creation, at least not directly. Levitation was created by CS:GO map designer and artist Shawn ‘FMPONE’ Snelling and animator Corey Laddo, who is known for memes created in Valve’s Source 2 Filmmaker. Thanks to Half-Life: Alyx’s Workshop Tools, anyone can go in and make anything from VR Mini-Golf or bowling, to full-blown chapters like Snelling and Laddo have done.

Anyway, here’s how the modders describe Levitation:

“The basic premise involves Alyx receiving a distress signal from two resistance members Maya and Barry about secret Combine technology buried within a section of the Quarantine Zone known as Sector X,” Corey Laddo tells PC Gamer. “With the help of Russell, Alyx dives deep into Combine territory to investigate this threat and search for Maya and Barry. It’s a completely separate Half-Life adventure that uses Alyx’s ending as a springboard for the narrative.”

Half-Life: Alyx LEVITATION is expected to release for free on the Steam Workshop sometime in early Q3 of 2022. As with all mods, you’ll need to own the base game first. If you’re having trouble deciding, check out why we game Half-Life: Alyx a perfect [10/10] in our full review.

‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Mod Brings 3-4 Hours of Gameplay Today in Unofficial ‘Levitation’ Chapter Read More »

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One of the Best VR Games is Free on Epic Games Store Right Now

The gift giving season has started early this year, it seems. Star Wars: Squadrons (2020), the highly-rated space dogfighter from EA’s Motive Studios, is free to claim on Epic Games Store from now until December 1st.

Star Wars: Squadrons was primarily created for console and PC, although its VR implementation was right at home in the game’s immersive cockpits. Everything can be played in VR, from its full-length single player campaign to its 5v5 multiplayer mode.

We liked it so much back at release in late 2020 that we gave it a ‘Great’ rating of [9/10] in our full review. We also gave it our Excellence in VR Adaptation award in 2020 alongside our 2020 games of the year.

Download ‘Star Wars: Squadrons’ on Epic Games Store

There are some misgivings, although they’re mostly forgivable. Cinematic cutscenes are reduced to 2D windows, but it’s hard to knock when stacked up against the game’s visual detail, which includes some of the most refined character models we’ve seen in VR.

Multiplayer has also dried up a bit over the last two years, although with it free on Epic Games Store for the next few days that’s likely to change with the influx of new players.

Remember: you don’t need to download it right this second, just claim it before December 1st.

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‘Peaky Blinders VR’ to Release on Quest 2 and Pico 4 in March 2023

Maze Theory today announced that its long-awaited Peaky Blinders VR game is officially set to launch on March 9th, 2023.

Called Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom, the dark action-adventure game is set to release on Meta Quest 2 and Pico 4. The studio is also slated to release the game on SteamVR headsets, however the studio hasn’t mentioned launch timing for PC VR platforms yet.

Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom puts you on the gritty streets of 1920s Birmingham and London as you explore iconic locations from the show, including The Garrison pub, Charlie’s Yard and Shelby’s Betting Shop.

“On the run from the firing squad, you turn to the infamous Tommy Shelby for help, and soon find yourself at war once again. Your only hope at redemption is to defeat the odds and win at any cost,” the game’s official website says.

Additionally, the studio released a new cinematic trailer focusing on some of the show’s most memorable characters. And yes, Tommy and Arthur Shelby are being voiced by original actors, Cillian Murphy and Paul Anderson respectively.

Maze Theory is also known for developing a VR game based on another iconic British IP, Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time (2019). The studio is also working on a VR title called Engram, previously named The Vanishing Act.

‘Peaky Blinders VR’ to Release on Quest 2 and Pico 4 in March 2023 Read More »

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Indie VR Hit ‘Gorilla Tag’ is the Most-rated Quest Game Ever, and Only Just Coming to the Main Store

Indie VR hit Gorilla Tag has been staggeringly popular despite only being available thus far on Quest’s App Lab. Now set for release on the main Quest store on December 15th, it will launch as the most-rated game on the entire store, even surpassing Beat Saber, one of VR’s best known apps.

App Lab is Meta’s ‘unlisted’ app store for Quest, which allows developers a way onto the platform but precludes them from being promoted or easily found through the main Quest store that most customers see.

Still, we’ve seen apps find success on App Lab, and none more so than Gorilla Tag, a simple game of multiplayer tag with unique hand-based locomotion and charmingly low-fi visuals, which has succeeded in finding an audience despite not being visible in the main Quest store.

Having only been on App Lab since March 2021Gorilla Tag has already amassed 46,000 reviews; that’s more than any other Quest app—even those on the main store—including Beat Saber’s 45,000 reviews, which is perhaps VR’s most well known game to date. Compared to Beat SaberGorilla Tag of course has the advantage of being free, but the game also has the most reviews among free apps too—even those on the main store—pulling ahead of the top free app, Rec Room, which sits at 22,000 reviews.

And now the game is finally headed to the main Quest store, where it’s destined to only become more popular. Developer Kerestell Smith has announced a Gorilla Tag release date of December 15th on the main Quest store. Gorilla Tag is also available on PC VR.

Smith began Gorilla Tag as a one-man project under the studio name Another Axiom. With the game’s explosive popularity, Smith has grown the studio to 15 people, according to Meta.

Gorilla Tag’s popularity isn’t only measured in reviews though; Smith said earlier this year that the game had reached a staggering 4.5 million players.

And where has the app found such traction, despite being ‘unlisted’ in the Quest store? Smith tells Road to VR that TikTok has been a huge driver, with the hashtag #gorillatag seeing 4.4 billion views to date—purely organic, according to the developer.

Indie VR Hit ‘Gorilla Tag’ is the Most-rated Quest Game Ever, and Only Just Coming to the Main Store Read More »

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Indie VR Gem ‘COMPOUND’ Set to Release on Quest 2 Next Week

First released in early access on Steam in 2018, VR roguelite COMPOUND hit its 1.0 release on PC VR earlier this year and is now set to launch on Quest 2 for the first time next week on December 8th.

Compound is a VR roguelite with a unique pixel-art style and an arsenal of fun weaponry with which to experiment. And though little-known, it’s something of a cult hit as the 6th best-rated VR game according to Steam (with an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ 97% rating) and the 9th best-rated according to Steam250 (which uses its own algorithm to determine rankings).

Created by one-man indie developer Bevan “NotDead” McKechnie, Compound was originally released in early access on Steam in 2018 and saw slow but steady development right up to its 1.0 release on PC VR earlier this year.

Now McKechnie has announced that Compound is set to launch on Quest 2 next week on December 8th for $20, the same price as the PC VR version.

McKechnie says the Quest version of Compound includes the full contents of the PC VR version, except for leaderboards and achievements. Visually he says he “didn’t need to make any compromises” and still managed to get the game to run at 80Hz. Unfortunately Compound will be available on Quest 2 but not the original Quest.

Indie VR Gem ‘COMPOUND’ Set to Release on Quest 2 Next Week Read More »