Indie developer E McNeill made a name for himself in the virtual reality (VR) space through innovative strategy titles like Astraeus, Tactera and Skylight, harking all the way back to the early days of the original Samsung Gear VR with Darknet. It has been a little while since VRFocus last heard from E McNeill as he’s been working on a very different project to those previous titles, Ironlights, am arena-based combat experience.
Echoing gladiatorial duelling whilst mixing in medieval-style armour and a futuristic setting, Ironlights is all about one on one combat, vanquishing your foe with not only swords and other melee weapons but ranged projectiles as well.
Looking to offer skilful, fluid fights across Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift and SteamVR compatible headsets, Ironlights will include a single-player campaign alongside head-to-head multiplayer battles. Various classes will be available for players to find their own fighting style such as the Knight (Two-handed Greatsword), Monk (Staff), Crusader (Flail & Shield) and more.
Ironlights won’t be some brawling fighter where you can hack to your heart’s content. Gameplay mechanics are physics-based so weapons have weight and momentum, however, the combat always takes place in slow-mo. Adding to this is the fact that weapons will break after each hit instead of bouncing off and that while in melee combat only the attacker can do damage, the defender can only block.
“I love a good hack-and-slash game or physics sandbox, but I’ve always craved something with deeper gameplay. So I decided to try to build it myself! Ironlights was created to fulfil the fantasy of cinematic combat: a flowing, skilful dance of steel,” says E McNeill in a statement.
For the Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign McNeill is looking to raise $15,000 USD over 30 days to help finish the videogame to a strong standard. With a launch planned for Spring 2020 development is almost over and Ironlights will retail on Oculus Store and Steam for $19.99. Backing on Kickstarter gets you a discount, with a pre-order tier only costing $15. Or for those pledging $60, they’ll get Ironlights + Darknet, Tactera, Skylight, and Astraeus.
For further updates on Ironlights and the Kickstarter, keep reading VRFocus.