Though virtual reality (VR) platform-puzzle title Carly and the Reaperman was designed to work as a ‘couch co-op’ with two people, the developers at Off Raven Studios have recognised that not everyone has a spare person handy when playing in VR, so has introduced a new solo option.
Normally in Carly and the Reaperman, one person controls Carly as a standard third-person action-platformer, while the other player dons a VR headset to control the Reaperman in first-person. Following today’s update, a checkbox is now available that allows a new or existing game to be played in Single Player Mode.
The developers have modified the control scheme for the new single player mode, but do warn that some puzzles and challenges have been specifically designed with the idea of two people working cooperatively, so some challenges will be much easier, while others will be harder, as specific difficulty balancing has not been specifically performed for this mode.
In single player mode the player controls both characters at the same time. On the HTC Vive the controls for the Reaperman remain the same, while controlling Carly is now done by using the left touchpad to run. The right touchpad is divided into and upper and lower half, with the upper half controlling jump and the lower half used for object interaction.
For the Oculus Rift, again the Reaperman controls remain the same, while with Carly the left thumbstick is used to run, A button is jump and B is the interact button. The Y button can be used to perform a fist-bump.
The developers hope to put in a menu for controller options in a future version, but advanced users can still change settings by finding the steamvr.ini file. Players are encouraged to send in any issues or feedback on the new feature.
In formation on the update can be found on the Steam Store page. For future coverage on Carly and the Reaperman and other VR projects, keep checking back with VRFocus.