Category: A Fisherman’s Tale

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Oculus Quest & A Fisherman’s Tale Among VR Awards 2019 Winners

The VR Awards 2019 is the biggest event in the UK calendar celebrating the immersive industry. The categories covered everything from videogames and hardware to companies and individuals who have either shown the most promise or helped push the XR industry forward, with some very familiar names appearing.

The most prestigious of these awards given out was The Accenture VR Lifetime Achievement Award, handed to Oculus’ John Carmack, one of the most recognisable faces working in virtual reality (VR) today. Having worked at Oculus almost since the very beginning Carmack, and given keynote addresses at every Oculus Connect event over the last few years.

Then there 12 more awards given out, with VR Hardware of the Year going to Oculus again, this time for standalone headset Oculus Quest. Ever since its arrival in May, the Oculus Quest has seen a positive response from both consumers and developers alike. It’s all-in-one design and inside-out tracking means its one of the easiest headsets to use whilst having a growing library of premium content.

Another of the big awards was VR Game of the Year. This was possibly the most hotly contested category, with the likes of Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Blood & Truth and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition all nominated. The award went to original puzzler A Fisherman’s Tale by Innerspace VR & ARTE France, blending scale mechanics into a story-driven experience.

A Fishermans Tale Chapter04_Characters_Medium3

The VR Awards 2019 winners:

  • The Accenture VR Lifetime Achievement Award – John Carmack
  • VR Hardware of the Year – Oculus Quest
  • VR Game of the Year – A Fisherman’s Tale
  • VR Experience of the Year – Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series – Episode I
  • VR Film of the Year – Wolves in the Walls: It’s All Over
  • VR Marketing of the Year – Oasis Pocket Adventure: The Infrunite Slide
  • Rising VR Company of the Year – Fable Studio
  • Innovative VR Company of the Year – Emblematic Group
  • VR Social Impact Award – The 100% – Maggie’s Story
  • VR Enterprise Solution of the Year – VIROO: Virtualware Immersive Room
  • VR Education & Training of the Year – Working at Height
  • VR Healthcare of the Year – Fundamental Surgery
  • Out-of-Home VR Entertainment of the Year – War Remains

VRFocus will continue its coverage of The Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR), reporting back with further announcements.

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OC6: Five Nights At Freddy’s, A Fisherman’s Tale, More Coming To Quest

A bunch of new Oculus Quest games just got announced at Oculus Connect 6.

During the keynote speech today several new games were confirmed for the platform. A sizzle reel confirmed that InnerspaceVR’s A Fisherman’s Tale, VRWERX’s Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul, Space Channel 5 VR and Five Nights At Freddy’s VR were confirmed for the platform.

These are mostly ports of some of the best VR games going. A Fisherman’s Tale is a novel and mind-bending puzzle title that we absolutely adored on PC VR and PSVR earlier this year. Paranormal Activity, meanwhile, is an effective VR horror game with plenty of jump scares. The same can be said for Five Nights At Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted, which continues to top PSVR charts since it released on the headset earlier this year.

The only relatively unknown game is Space Channel 5 VR, which hasn’t released yet. We do know, though, that it’s a VR adaptation of the popular rhythm action game. It’s also due to release on PSVR later this year.

With this latest round of games, Quest continues to fill in the blanks in its library. Better yet, Facebook also today announced Oculus Link. This allows you to tether your Quest to a PC using a USB-C cable to play Rift games on your Quest. Some games that don’t come to Quest natively can still be played on the headset, then, you’ll just need a powerful PC.

Release dates for these games haven’t been confirmed, though publisher Vertigo Games confirmed that A Fisherman’s Tale will release this year. We’ll bring you more info on each of these ports as soon as we have it.

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Blood & Truth Headlines Top Picks From The Incredible PSVR Summer Sale

The PSVR Summer Sale (or Sales) is on, and there are some incredible deals going.

Summer’s heatwave might not be the best time to jump into VR. It’s way too hot for Beat Saber and your headset’s going to get all sweaty and smelly. But some of these prices will make you want to block out the sun and bathe in the rays of a screen meer millimeters away from your eyes instead. I’m sure that gives you just as many vitamins and whatnot, right? No?

Anyway, both the US and EU PlayStation Store territories are hosting hefty discounts.

The US side offers some hearty deals on the likes of Borderlands 2 VR, Arizona Sunshine and more. There isn’t much that’s truly show-stealing, but it’s a good opportunity to pick up some of the better titles you might have missed over the past few years.

To be honest, though, the EU summer sale puts the US to shame. Recent hits like Blood And Truth have already had their prices slashed by a good margin. Meanwhile, some of VR’s core staples like Superhot VR are down to some of the lowest prices we’ve seen them go. We’ve rounded up our list of top picks below, but be sure to get a good look through your respective store too. If you’ve got a PS Plus account then make sure to look out for some extra discounts too.

Just remember to keep a cold glass of water near you’re if you’re about to start putting in Firewall all-nighters.  Maybe invest in a fan, too.

UploadVR’s PSVR Summer Sale Top Picks

Blood & Truth – £19.99/$31.99

Astro Bot Rescue Mission – £15.99

Superhot VR – £11.99/$17.49

Borderlands 2 VR – £24.99/$24.99

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR – £19.99

The Inpatient – £9.49/$9.99

Arizona Sunshine – £12.99 (£9.69 Plus)/$13.99

Firewall Zero Hour – £15.99 (£13.49 Plus)

Tetris Effect – £19.99/$24.79

Killing Floor: Incursion – £7.99 (£6.39 Plus)/$9.99

Megaton Rainfall – £6.49

Farpoint – £7.99/$9.99

Transference – £12.99

A Fisherman’s Tale – £7.79

Statik – £7.99 (£3.99 Plus)/$5.99

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5 Great VR Games That Can Be Played With One Hand

VR could make gaming more accessible than it’s ever been before.

But, in the industry’s nascent stage, it is fair to say accessibility isn’t always the top priority for some developers. Most games, for example, require two hands to play, when many could be just as easily played with one if they added some control shortcuts.

So we thought it was about time we rounded up some of the best VR experiences you can play with one hand. For the most part, these are games that simply don’t require two handed interactions rather than apps that were specifically built for one hand. Where necessary, we’ve also outlined the limitations of playing with one hand, but overall we still think these are worth a go.

Superhot – Rift/Vive/Index/Quest/PSVR

Superhot is probably about as close to a VR classic as it currently gets. Fortunately, it’s also one of the easiest VR games to play with one hand. In this first-person action game, time moves only when you do. So not only can you wield a variety of pistols, knives and projectiles with one hand, the game will also move at a pace that suits you. In fact, we wouldn’t even say this made the game any harder.

Batman: Arkham VR – Rift/Vive/Index/PSVR

The Dark Knight’s debut VR adventure remains one of the most polished and immersive VR experiences you can have nearly three years on from launch. In Arkham VR you put on the cowl and detective your way through a narrative-driven adventure. The game is much more interested in puzzles and scene-setting, with light interactions that won’t feel too unnatural if you rely on one hand. It’s about as friction-free as one-handed VR gaming gets.

Beat Saber – Rift/Vive/Index/Quest/PSVR (Not all songs/Expert only)

beat saber questVR’s most popular game includes the welcome addition of a one-handed mode. You can ditch the color-coded gameplay and start swiping away at every beat in front of you. There are two drawbacks here, though. Firstly lots of the songs released since Beat Saber’s initial launch don’t support one-handed mode. More importantly, though, you can only play songs on Expert. That’s a pretty steep learning curve if you’re jumping into the game for the first time, but you can use no fail modes to help you practice.

Star Wars: Vader Immortal Episode 1 (Lightsaber Dojo Only)

vader immortal lightsaberSadly Vader Immortal’s story mode requires two hands at specific points to progress. But the game’s robust wave-based combat mode can thankfully be played with one hand. 40 waves of combat await you here and, believe us, it’s no slouch. To conquer the laser-firing, sword-swinging droids you’ll need to keep your wits about you and learn how to block and retaliate with force. This is one of the most enjoyable one-handed VR experiences you can have, though you can’t remove the appearance of the second hand.

A Fisherman’s Tale – Rift/Vive/Index/PSVR

InnerspaceVR’s wonderful little puzzler is an accessible and thoughtfully paced adventure. You solve some truly mind-bending challenges by interacting with yourself in a sort of weird Russian doll VR simulator. This offers some of VR’s most amazing sights and trippy challenges, all of which can be enjoyed using one hand.

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The Best VR Games And Experiences Of 2019… So Far

We’re at the halfway point in 2019.

True, much of the year thus far has been dominated by hardware with the launch of Rift S, Quest, Index and the reveal of Cosmos. But there’s also been a smattering of really excellent releases that prove VR game and experience design is making just as significant strides as the headsets that run them.

We’ll save crowning the best of the best until the very end of the year but, for now, let’s round up some of our favorite things we’ve seen in VR in the past six months.

Vacation Simulator – Read Our Review

Owlchemy Labs could be considered the kings and queens of VR interaction and Vacation Simulator only serves to cement that position. Buidling on the work it did with Job Simulator and Virtual Rick-Ality, this is another set of wonderfully engaging minigames, finely tuned to get rid of the awkwardness that most other VR games simply end up embracing.

It speaks volumes about just how fun Vacation Simulator is that you want to keep playing even after the credits roll. It’s packed full of delightful discovers to make and includes Owlchemy’s signature humor too. We can’t wait for it to land on Quest towards the end of this year.

Blood & Truth – Read Our Review

When VR headsets first launched, people wanted to know when we’d get a full, story-driven AAA-level first-person shooter designed exclusively for headsets. Sony London’s Blood & Truth is arguably the closest we’ve yet come to that milestone. This PSVR exclusive delivers the blockbuster production values you’d expect of a Sony-made game, paired with explosive shootouts and setpieces.

More than that, though, Blood & Truth’s wonderfully silly story of a British crime family getting its own back is packed with genuinely compelling face-to-face encounters and memorable moments of downtime.

A Fisherman’s Tale – Read Our Review

A Fisherman’s Tale includes one of the most instantly-captivating applications of VR we’ve seen this year. In this short-but-sweet puzzler you play with scale in ways never before seen. A model of the lighthouse you find yourself in sits in the middle of the room. Take the roof off and you’ll find a mini-you mimicking your every move. Look out the window and you’ll see an enlarged version of yourself and the room too.

This ingenious mechanic gives way to some thrilling puzzles. Not only that, but A Fisherman’s Tale spins a memorable yarn about guilt and the burden of succession. It might be a little lean on puzzles, but this is one VR experience you won’t forget.

Star Wars: Vader Immortal Episode 1 – Read Our Review

vader immortal lightsaber

Early on in Vader Immortal the Dark Lord himself strides up to you, buries you in his shadow and pronounces “This is the one I’ve been searching for.” And there isn’t really a more fitting way to describe this third stab at bringing Star Wars into VR. Vader Immortal’s first episode is a hugely captivating 40-minute ride digging into highly-polished character interaction, exploration and combat in VR.

As if that weren’t enough, the 40-wave Lightsaber Dojo offers some of the very best combat you’ll find in VR today, reaching levels that will push your skills and heart rate like few other apps have. This might not be a multi-hour epic, but it’s arguably more powerful.

Ghost Giant – Read Our Review

Ghost Giant Review ImageWho’d have thought that Ghost Giant’s unsuspecting tale of imaginary friendship — a concept already well-explored in VR — would hold enough subversion and charm to make it one of the year’s best titles? Developer Zoink really doubles down on the tried and true aspects of VR, like the power of diorama-sized sets, the intensity of connection and the weight of interaction, to pull off something special.

Ghost Giant has some wonderful little puzzles, but its the themes of depression and the weight it places on others that really makes it memorable. Even if you don’t consider yourself to be interested in story-driven experiences, Ghost Giant is one to check out.

Beat Saber/Superhot Quest

beat saber quest

We’ll cheat a little on this one. Beat Saber and Superhot are, of course, great games from yesteryear. But it’s not that they’ve simply been competently ported to Quest, it’s that Quest’s wireless setup actually elevates the experience you can have with each game. These are titles that are truly best on Quest.

For Superhot, that means action of Matrix-level action sequences without the worry of tugging at a wire on the back of your head. For Beat Saber, it’s the freedom to slice and dice with more immersion than you’ve ever seen before.

Trover Saves The Universe – Read Our Review

Justin Roiland’s Squanch Games does VR that makes you laugh. Nowhere is that truer than within Trover Saves The Universe a hilarious and utterly bizarre adventure that’s in constant search of ways to delight and amuse players. While the core gameplay can feel somewhat generic the humor is often enough to pull you through.

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A Fisherman’s Tale Dev ‘Really Open’ To DLC If The Game Sells

A Fisherman’s Tale Dev ‘Really Open’ To DLC If The Game Sells

A Fisherman’s Tale hit VR headsets yesterday. If you hadn’t heard, we really liked it. It’s a poetic bit of VR puzzling you have to see for yourself. Still, we did have one small criticism of the game: it’s really, really short. But that could change in the future.

In an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit yesterday, developer Innerspace said it was “really open” to the idea of A Fisherman’s Tale DLC. That is upon one condition; the game has to actually sell.

“We are really open to bring more content if the game is a success, we’d just need to find what makes the most sense gameplay and story wise,” the team’s Balthazar Auxietre wrote. He later reaffirmed that interest, adding: “we’d just need to come up with some cool new puzzle ideas!”

As for why the game is on the short side, Auxietre said: “We would love to make longer experiences but we’re a small team with limited means and preferred to focus on quality, originality and storytelling rather than trying to make a longer game for the sake of it.”

The studio’s John Norad also added that Innerspace felt it had “exhausted most of the interesting puzzles” with what was already in the game.

We’d certainly welcome more content for the game, though we’d just as happily see what Innerspace is working on next. Despite its length, A Fisherman’s Tale did feel like it had said all it had to say in terms of story. But that’s not to say we couldn’t see more challenging puzzles and the like.

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‘A Fisherman’s Tale’ Review – A Delightful, But Brisk Encounter with Untapped Potential

A Fisherman’s Tale puts you in the boots of a curios puppet-man named Bob who lives in a strange, recursive world centered around a dollhouse-sized lighthouse. Looking above, you see infinitely Big Bob. Looking below, infinitely Small Bob. It sounds like a trip, and it is: a quick trip into a super French storybook that’s begging to be fleshed out into something more substantial.

A Fisherman’s Tale Details:

Official Site

Publisher: Vertigo Games
Developer: Innerspace VR, ARTE France
Available On: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows VR, PlayStation VR
Reviewed On: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive
Release Date: January 22nd, 2019

Gameplay

A Fisherman’s Tale is a single-player adventure game built around a series of escape rooms that feature light puzzle solving and much more prominent story-telling elements.

It’s main claim to fame is the innovative dollhouse mechanic, which lets you not only see a smaller in-sync version of yourself in a perfect miniature representation of your lighthouse, but also a giant doppelganger towering above. The idea is to interact with the smaller/larger recursive copy of yourself by handing up or down items with an eye for tactically resizing them to fit the situation.

To be honest, it felt like the game only scratched the surface of what’s actually possible here. I could have easily strapped in for a more serious interaction with what you might call the ‘single player co-op’ mechanic, which lets you do things like pick up a giant anchor blocking a door, but what in the context of the game is also a pint-sized dollhouse item that you can easily lift away and use for something else.

Image courtesy Innerspace VR, ARTE

The story line skews pretty young, and feels more like someone reading a storybook aloud to you. While it might be perfect for kids ages seven and up, it personally seemed a little too simplistic to be truly enjoyable. The game’s well-realized environment and mind-bending infinity were the true stars of the show here, but I would have welcomed something a little more substantial, and a little less “we must give Mr. Fishy something to drink!”

At one point, the story does turn a tiny, oh so tiny bit dark when we learn that the lighthouse keeper’s father was a negative bastard who hated his son for not being a fisherman, but a few stern words from Dad was it. There was real potential there to create some character defining moments, flashbacks, anything to get us caring about the relationship, but like the game itself, the moment slipped away upon reaching the next room.

Image courtesy Innerspace VR, ARTE

Most of the puzzles were interesting in construction, although were fairly simple even without the narrator’s hints, which can be toggled on and off mid-game. There was one puzzle where the recursive puppet world doesn’t work in the same way as previously introduced, forcing you to stretch both your arms and your imagination a little bit to solve.

I desperately wanted more of these intriguing moments but sadly was only given one. As it is, there are only six or seven fundamental puzzles to solve, a true shame considering the high production value of nearly every aspect of the game up to that point. That said, there’s no filler here, no convoluted tasks for the sake of it, which is nice. But that doesn’t play a large enough counter balance to the overall lack of puzzles, and difficulty range that spanned ‘very easy’ to ‘slightly less easy’.

My personal gameplay time was about one hour, and that was playing without hints at a leisurely pace. Even if I had played all the way through with hints, I’m not certain the time would have changed by much, as I knew basically what to do immediately anyway.

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Immersion

With the narrator voiced by the never-not-smoking French comedian Augustin Jacob, the game feels more akin to the sort of kitschy and experimental short film that comes on before a Pixar movie—charming for just long enough, but really only an appetizer to what should be a larger meal.

You’ll hear plenty of “zut alors!” and “sacré bleu!” to underline the fact that A Fisherman’s Tale is a French production made by people who care that you know this; it was after all co-produced by Franco-German cultural TV network ARTE France and Paris-based studio Innerspace VR.

Image courtesy Innerspace VR, ARTE

Anyway, the game’s voice acting is nothing short of awesome. The narrator’s raspy, smoky voice adds a degree of seasoned authenticity to an admittedly banal, but inoffensive storyline. Jacob’s performance elevates at every turn, pushing it in a higher direction artistically despite the low complexity both story and puzzle-wise.

Visually, A Fisherman’s Tale plays host to a number of well realized set pieces that change shape and function throughout the story, sometimes offering a different way to interact with the world thanks to the re-sizing mechanic. The visual style feels extremely cohesive, with everything in A Fisherman’s Tale tending towards the devastatingly cozy end of the spectrum. It’s easy to fall in love with the look and feel of the environment, but again, I only wish I could have had more play time to soak in what’s clearly the result of a collectively competent hand in VR game design.

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Comfort

A Fisherman’s Tale features basically the full gamut of comfort styles, including standing or sitting modes, and room-scale or standing snap-turn for users with front-facing sensors.

Locomotion is based on teleportation, although the game plays out in such a small physical playspace that much of it can be traversed in room-scale.

However you slice it, A Fisherman’s Tale is extremely comfortable experience, making it ideal for VR newcomers or users that are sensitive to artificial locomotion.

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A Fisherman’s Tale Review: A Perfect Storm Of VR Puzzling

A Fisherman’s Tale Review: A Perfect Storm Of VR Puzzling

I would have never pegged Innerspace as the one to crack the code. True, the Firebird series is a compelling exhibition of VR art, but who’d have bet on this small indie studio as the first to unify VR’s core pillars? To bring inventive, platform-driven gameplay, medium-rooted narrative and, above all else, arresting immersion all under one roof? Certainly not me, and yet A Fisherman’s Tale is exactly that.

It’s a puzzle game, first and foremost, but not the kind that should repel lighter thinkers like myself. You play as a puppet, cozily confined to his lighthouse home. In the middle of your modest cabin sits a small model of your abode. Peer inside and, amazingly, you’ll see a smaller version of yourself matching your every move. Open a window and, sure enough, you’ll find yourself sitting in the middle of a larger version of your surroundings.

Amazement ensues; try poking yourself from above with a giant finger, picking up objects from inside your model to bring into the world around you, or even throwing cups and lamps inside to make bigger versions of them. It all clicks. Innerspace bottles that raw disbelief you felt when you first put on a headset and realized that, against all odds, this works. But, crucially, A Fisherman’s Tale is no mere tech demo. It’s the real deal.

Each of the four levels unlocks a new area of the lighthouse. Each of those comes with its own twist on that central innovation. This isn’t simply swapping tiles and pushing buttons in order; it’s genuinely stimulating puzzling. Early levels have you bending your brain to the breaking point as you reason your way through the model paradox. At one point you turn a hefty obstacle into a level-progressing key. Later on, you repurpose some seemingly useless furniture to reveal hidden secrets. Oh, and then you turn a fish into a taxi service. Brilliant!

This is the kind of reality-defying gameplay that thrives in this medium. Better yet, there aren’t any unwelcome progression bumps. Each level gives you pause for thought but can be overcome without frustration. There also isn’t any half-hearted attempt wearing the invention thin; just before you might think you’ve seen all of the game’s tricks, it pulls something new on you.

All of that alone would make A Fisherman’s Tale a must-see. But there’s also a core design philosophy that’s kept VR at the heart throughout. It helps it excel far beyond its brain-teasers.

Though the tone is often light, the game’s themes are anything but. The model puzzles soon reveal themselves as a microcosm for wider topics about lineage and institutionalization and the metaphors don’t stop there. This is a game about a lost and beleaguered fisherman, don’t forget. But its dramatic heights are well-told and memorable. It favors a welcome subtlety and ambiguity in its story-telling that steers clear of the obvious cliches. You could even find something to relate to in the exploration of self-incarceration that’s fuelled by words of wisdom from unexpected allies.

If anything, it’s warmer than you’d expect with poetic narration that’s got a portion of its tongue in cheek. You might be surprised at just how aware of itself it really is.

And then there’s the surface-level dressing, which is never anything short of delightful. There’s something wholesomely authentic to A Fisherman’s Tale’s hand-crafted world. Each room of the lighthouse feels lived-in and homely, but at the same time cramped and recluded. It’s like you’re living in the world’s comfiest dungeon.

That’s probably why you’re on strings. And yet, there’s something so very fitting about the idea of stepping into the role of a surrogate in VR. Not to mention there’s actual use for it too. You can easily grab out of reach objects by extending the puppet’s hand forward, for example. It’s a neat perk of a strange existence.

A shame, then, to have to bring up that most trivial of VR criticisms; there simply isn’t that much of it. It took me two hours to see through all of A Fisherman’s Tale and, as fresh as it remained throughout, I can’t help but wish its mechanics could live on in something meatier. I’d have happily spent another few hours experimenting with its fascinating rule set.

Final Score: 9/10 – Amazing

From slow-motion shootouts to trips across the universe and stories of loved ones lost, VR has already proven that each of its core design tenants can be tamed. But A Fisherman’s Tale might be the first to achieve a perfect storm of gameplay, immersion and narrative in a single experience. Though brief, it fuses experience and interactivity to really show what this medium is capable of. This is exactly what old seadogs aren’t meant to be capable of; something genuinely new.

A Fisherman’s Tale is available now on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Windows VR and PlayStation VR for $14.99. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.

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Review: A Fisherman’s Tale

Ever since VRFocus first came across InnerspaceVR’s virtual reality (VR) title A Fisherman’s Tale, the mind-bending puzzle experience at Gamescom 2018, the title has proved to be continually fascinating. With an early preview of the first area sowing the seed, and a secondary preview unlocking the second chapter, this only heightened the interest, so much so the videogame made it onto our ‘Best of Oculus Rift Games Coming in 2019’. Now that publisher Vertigo Games (Arizona Sunshine) has launched the experience VRFocus can say that while enjoyable, it feels like it’s over before truly finding its feet.

A Fisherman's Tale Chapter03_Medium-Récupéré3

Right from the start A Fisherman’s Tale comes across as a classic children’s story, involving a lighthouse keeper and a seafaring tragedy. But then it turns all weird and magical once you come to realise that you, in fact, play a wooden puppet inside a model lighthouse. Even stranger still is the moment you get to interact with said model, finding that it is actually one of many, continually repeated indefinitely.

The model plays with scale, and this forms the core mechanic of A Fisherman’s Tale puzzles. Beautifully, elegant in its design, you can shrink and grow the size of any objects that are interactive, whether they are relative to the current puzzle or not. This has allowed InnerspaceVR to create a world that’s both physically small, yet much larger in scope, encouraging you to examine the world as much as possible.

The puzzles themselves are genuinely interesting and fun to solve as you work out what size either you or other items need to be to find all the secret nooks and crevices hidden in the title. A Fisherman’s Tale eases you into the whole experience, with a nice difficulty curve which should mean you won’t ever get truly stuck on the later levels. To help you out should a challenge become too great, InnerspaceVR has included an audible hints system which is switchable in the settings menu, offering little nudges in the right direction.

A Fisherman's Tale Chapter03_Storm_MediumAnother neat little option in the settings is the choice of roomscale, standing or seated gameplay positions, offering plenty of accessibility for most players. What was a little disappointing to see was the lack of options when it came to movement. Even in roomscale you still need additional locomotion which is only provided in teleportation form. While this works perfectly fine, it did break the immersive quality the videogame had managed to create, being unable to casually walk around and play with the model.

There were a couple of other negatives that are worth pointing out. Firstly there’s the collision detection. At point objects being held would clip a door or window frame and suddenly become stuck, or worse disappear. The item in question would then reappear in its original location after a few moments, but it did become somewhat frustrating, especially on the last puzzle which is a little more intricate.

Secondly, A Fisherman’s Tale is just way too short. You’re going to be looking at an average playtime of around 2 hours, less if you try to rush it. There are essentially four main puzzle chapters with additional bits or the story extending the gaps in between. InnerspaceVR has done such a good job interweaving a delightful narrative with a superb puzzle style that it’s over before it’s begun, like reading a child’s bedtime story that’s only a few pages long.

A Fishermans Tale Chapter04_Characters_Medium3

A Fisherman’s Tale is in many respects the VR title VRFocus hoped it would be, inventive use of the technology that oozes heart and soul, making you care about the character and his astonishing little world. The puzzles help to carry the story along yet don’t offer anywhere near the complexity of titles like Transpose. The main downside, it leaves you wanting more when there’s no more to be had.

60%

Awesome

  • Verdict
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VR Game Releases For January 2019

VR Game Releases For January 2019

Every month we aim to round up each and every VR game release for you in one single place — this is January’s list. Don’t worry — we’ll continue highlighting the best ones at the end of each week too.

With the door closed on December and all of 2018, we’ve just been through another great month of VR content. Between Borderlands 2 VR, Contractors, and Blade and Sorcery, there were lots of titles to look forward to last month. Now with January and the new year upon us, it’s time to take a look at what’s coming down the line next.

And if you’re a VR game developer planning to release a game soon — let us know! You can get in touch with me directly by emailing david@uploadvr.com or hit all of the editorial team by emailing tips@uploadvr.com. Please contact us about your upcoming releases so that we can know what you’re working on and include you in release lists!

Rift, Vive, and Windows VR Game Releases For January 2019

The Energy Lab (Free) – January 1st – Rift, Vive
I See You ($9.99) – January 1st – Vive
Warz: Horde ($29.99) – January 1st – Rift, Vive
Suburi ($5.99) – January 1st – Vive
Circuit Slinger (Free) – January 1st – Rift, Vive
Battlemage VR ($14.99) – January 2nd – Vive
SurReal Subway ($3.99) – January 3rd – Rift, Vive
Paradise Checkers VR ($4.99) – January 3rd – Rift
Space Ribbon ($9.99) – January 4th – Rift, Vive
VR Flight Simulator New York – Cessna ($9.99) – January 4th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Do Or Die ($19.99) – January 4th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Dungeon Maze ($5.99) – January 7th – Vive
Tabletop Gods ($19.99) – January 7th – Rift, Vive
We Are Showtime! ($9.99) – January 7th – Vive
Pocket Car: VRGround (Free) – January 8th – Vive
SiegeVR ($4.99) – January 8th – Rift
Wand Wars VR ($14.99) – January 8th – Rift, Vive
An Escape Room Series: Robbery at the Museum (Free) – January 9th – Rift
Escape the Forest ($11.99) – January 9th – Rift
The Last Day Defense (Free) – January 9th – Rift
Visionarium ($6.99) – January 10th – Rift, Vive
Mage VR – Mini Version (Free) – January 10th – Vive
Spuds Unearthed ($19.99) – January 10th – Rift, Vive
RideOp – VR Pro Edition DLC ($4.99) – January 10th – Rift, Vive
Flying Aces: Navy Pilot Simulator ($19.99) – January 10th – Rift
The Last Dinner (Free) – January 10th – Vive
Goalkeeper VR Challenge ($6.99) – January 10th – Rift
Cubes ($9.99) – January 11th – Vive
Temple of Pizza (Free) – January 13th – Rift
Be a Lord ($4.99) – January 14th – Rift
Galaxity (Free) – January 14th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Gun Beat ($6.99) – January 14th – Rift, Vive
War Online: Pacific (Free) – January 14th – Rift, Vive
Microsoft Maquette (Free) – January 15th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Rainbow Reactor ($9.99) – January 15th – Rift, Vive
Trickster VR: Co-Op Dungeon Crawler ($12.99) – January 15th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Sunset Giant ($16.99) – January 17th – Vive
Odyssey VR – The Deep Space Expedition ($11.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Profundum ($19.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
VR Curling ($4.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
In Orbit (Free) – January 18th – Vive, Windows VR
Little Einar ($8.99) – January 18th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Hyper Visualizer (Free) – January 19th – Rift
VR Paper Star ($19.99) – January 21st – Vive
Aztec Tower ($4.99) – January 22nd – Vive
A Fisherman’s Tale ($14.99) – January 22nd – Rift, Vive, Windows VR (Our Review)
Mini Hockey VR ($4.99) – January 22nd – Vive
Diesel Express ($9.99) – January 23rd – Rift, Vive
Primitive (Free) – January 23rd – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Taptiles ($9.99) – January 24th – Rift, Vive
IgKnight Food Fight ($6.99) – January 24th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
The Last Survivor (Free) – January 24th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Derail Valley ($19.99) – January 25th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Dragon Roller Coaster VR ($3.99) – January 25th – Rift, Vive
Warzone VR ($9.99) – January 25th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Secret Savings ($9.99) – January 26th – Vive
Biathlon Battle VR ($9.99) – January 27th – Vive
Kungfucious – VR Kung Fu Wuxia Simulator (Free Demo) – January 28th – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
SCP-087 VR Survivor ($14.99) – Rift, Vive, Windows VR
Coffee VendoR (Free) – January 29th – Vive
WellTown (Free) – January 29th – Rift, Vive (More Info)
BreathePeace World (Free) – January 29th – Rift, Vive
Szen (Free) – January 30th – Vive
Letzte Worte VR (Free) – January 30th – Rift, Vive
Cubians: Combine ($9.99) – January 30th – Vive
Walk on Arrow ($9.99) – January 30th – Rift
Magic Realm Online ($18.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive
Aira VR ($24.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive
Disassembly VR ($29.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive
Liberty Lane ($9.99) – January 31st – Rift
Don’t Look Back ($1.99) – January 31st – Rift
Mosh Pit Simulator ($19.99) – January 31st – Rift, Vive, Windows VR (Our Impressions)

 

Mobile VR Game Releases For January 2019

Alcove (Free) – January 7th – Go, Gear VR
Labyrinth Trap ($1.99) – January 8th – Go, Gear VR
Kapteyns Star ($4.99) – January 8th – Go, Gear VR
House of Terror (Free) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Wrong Voyage Ex ($1.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Video Poker VR ($4.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Balls and Hoops (Free) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Adrift and Alone ($4.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
VR Mini Bowling ($4.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Board and Ball ($2.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Alpha Command ($3.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
The Cooking Game VR ($7.99) – January 9th – Go, Gear VR
Power Solitaire VR (Free) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
Number 5 ($4.99) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
Revolver Widow ($1.99) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
Dede Korkut Chronicles ($3.99) – January 10th – Go, Gear VR
VR Cool Reader (Free) – January 16th – Go
Gala Relax 5K (Free) – January 18th – Go, Gear VR
FireZone ($2.99) – January 22nd – Go, Gear VR
Mill VR: Nine Men’s Morris ($3.99) – January 22nd – Go
Japanese Pinball VR ($3.99) – January 22nd –  Go, Gear VR
Water Ride Extreme ($1.99) – January 22nd – Go, Gear VR
Judi Dench: My Oak Tree VR ($3.99) – January 24th – Go, Gear VR
Dragon Roller Coaster ($3.99) – January 25th – Go, Gear VR
Traveling While Black (Free) – January 25th – Go, Gear VR
Belvedere de degustation (Free) – January 29th – Go, Gear VR
After Class – Math ($4.99) – January 29th – Go, Gear  VR
Gran Teatro Nacional VR (Free) – January 29th – Go, Gear VR
EQQO ($4.99) – January 29th – Go
PetDrivr ($2.99) – January 29th – Go
Voitek VR (Free) – January 30th – Go
Shadows of Society (Free) – January 30th – Go, Gear VR
Et Moi (Free) – January 30th – Go
Jelly Beams ($4.99) – January 30th – Go, Gear VR
Marble Land ($6.99) – January 30th – Go, Gear VR
Unframed (Free) – January 31st – Go, Gear VR
Cocos: Shark Island ($4.99) – January 31st – Go, Gear VR

 

PSVR Game Releases For January 2019

Megalith ($29.99) – January 9th (Our Preview)
Smash Hit Plunder ($29.99) – January 15th – (Our Preview)
PSVR Demo Disc 3 (Free) – January 16th (Our Write Up)
Eden Tomorrow Demo (Free) – January 17th (Our Impressions)
Kingdom of Blades ($9.99) – January 17th
Hikaru Utada Laughter in the Dark Tour 2018: Hikari and Chikai (Free) – January 18th
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown ($59.99, Limited VR Support) – January 18th (Our Review)
A Fisherman’s Tale ($TBD) – January 22nd (Our Review)
Dream Match Tennis VR World Tour ($9.99) – January 23rd
Trainer VR ($14.99) – January 29th

As a point of emphasis: reach out to david@uploadvr.com or tips@uploadvr.com to let us know about your upcoming VR game releases!

Editor’s Note: This list will be continuously updated.

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