It’s After The Fall time on Upload Access, and we’re kicking things off with an exclusive new interview for the upcoming shooter.
We sit down with Vertigo Games community manager, TamTu Bui, to talk about what to expect from the upcoming cooperative shooter. After The Fall’s brand of four-player, zombie-shooting action has been a long time coming, but there’s still a lot to learn about the experience. Bui shares some details on the overall structure to the game, the campaign and what Vertigo is doing to ensure you’ll keep coming back to play more.
After The Fall Interview
After The Fall is due to launch later this year on Oculus Quest 2, PSVR and PC VR headsets. An Oculus Quest 1 version will be following later on in 2022.
What else are you hoping to see from After The Fall on Upload Access? Let us know in the comments below!
Grab a buddy or three, stock up on ammo and prepare to face the hordes – After The Fall is our Upload Access game for October!
Vertigo Games’ follow-up to Arizona Sunshine has been a long time coming. Like, five years long. But it’s kept us hopeful, promising up to four-player cooperative action against crowds of vicious snowbreed (basically snow zombies) in a frozen-over LA wasteland. Think Left4Dead but in VR and you won’t be far off. The game recently shifted from its summer 2021 release window to later in the year, and with land on PC VR, PSVR and Oculus Quest 2. An Oculus Quest 1 version will follow in 2022.
We know people have been waiting for this one and we’re excited to have a month-long look at new announcements and deep dives for the shooter. We’ll be getting new looks at gameplay and talking to Vertigo about the world of After The Fall, and there may be a headline or two along the way. If you’ve been looking for the next big VR shooter to enjoy with friends, you won’t want to miss this month.
Our After The Fall Access coverage comes off the back of the Vertigo-published Unplugged, which we spotlighted last month. Make sure to check out all that coverage right here. What are you hoping to see from After The Fall and Upload Access this month? Let us know in the comments below!
Last month brought news that Vertigo Games was delaying its anticipated co-op VR shooter, After The Fall, to later in 2021.
It’s the latest in a series of delays for the title, which was first announced back in 2019. Since that time the VR landscape has changed a lot – headsets have come and gone and we’ve seen the bar for VR gaming raised. We sat down with Richard Stitselaar, Creative Director at Vertigo Games, to talk about the decision to delay the game once more, and what’s changed over the past few years of development.
UVR: Which specific areas of development are challenging with After the Fall? Is it a case that the PC version is the lead platform but porting to PSVR/Quest 2 is what’s taking time?
RS: I would vote for the multi-platform development approach, with which we are developing for three (four!) widely divergent VR platforms in parity, as the number one area that has been the most challenging and time-consuming with After the Fall.
Strictly taken, no version of After the Fall can be considered a port: all content is developed for all platforms in parity, while a core framework of VR development tools ensure the unique strengths and capabilities of each platform are leveraged (Yes, that means crispy high-end graphics on PC are possible). It also lays the groundwork for rolling out a meaty post-launch support plan to the various platforms simultaneously, so that our team can continue to expand the game world with content and features with as little platform-specific overhead as possible.
Behind the scenes, our technical team has spent close to a year building this beast of a framework on top of the Unity engine before we truly kicked off multi-platform production of After the Fall. Meanwhile, the main chunk of our development team ported Arizona Sunshine to Oculus Quest – an immense job that we spent almost as long on – the learning lessons of which we brought back into the framework afterwards. I would even go as far as to say we have developed a Unity-based VR engine layer that will serve us for future VR games as well.
UVR: Was the game always planned for release on Quest and, if not, has the port affected the original scope in any way?
RS: Originally, no. But when the Quest was announced, we realized the potential of untethered VR and made the decision to familiarize ourselves with developing for the platform by jumping into familiar territory with Arizona Sunshine. This has helped us understand the device and its unique strengths and weaknesses, before jumping in with an ambitious title such as After the Fall. We have had to be critical about our development roadmap in some areas: some features and content have been moved around on our timeline, while others have made way for new ideas. Launch has always been just the start for After the Fall however and this has meant we have made our post-launch support plan a little meatier.
UVR: This will make ATF the first game to get a Quest 2 version before a Quest 1 release – was this a decision you had to plan with Facebook?
RS: The Oculus Quest 2 was introduced midway through our development cycle, and it became apparent that the differences with the original Quest required us to re-evaluate its impact on our development approach. Facebook was very understanding and supportive of our desire to maintain the level of quality we set for ourselves. We’ve worked closely with the team at Facebook to secure that additional development time our team needs to bring After the Fall over to the original Oculus Quest properly.
UVR: How much later in the year do you expect the game to arrive?
RS: Let’s just say we are confident the rolling “After the Fall” release date joke, that our community has happily been torturing our CM with, won’t age well! Although we’re having quite a bit of fun seeing him try and come up with witty replies…
UVR: We first saw the game in summer 2019. Exactly what’s changed with the project since then?
RS: The 2019 demo is largely still a good representation of our vision for After the Fall – essentially being a sideways step from our work on the Arizona Sunshine universe – in which we have broken basically all its rules for surviving an undead apocalypse. You’re no longer saving bullets in a struggle to survive – this is a full-blown power fantasy in which you play the role of a Runner. Runners are special survivor forces who venture out into post-apocalyptic LA, take out the snowbreed, and bring back the resources required to secure mankind’s continued survival, all the while upping their skill, loadout and status within the community.
Some things did change. Aside from the changes to the development roadmap we already covered, once we had the core framework mentioned above in place, we cranked up the co-op support to 4 players in-mission as the standard for internal and external playtests. These taught us that players really enjoyed faster-paced co-op action, as they fully embraced the fantasy of being a badass running headfirst into all sorts of danger with their squad. A lot of us played games like Left 4 Dead to death back in the day, so this didn’t bother us in the slightest.
UVR: Since this announcement some have predicted the Quest version will eventually be altogether canceled. Is this a possibility?
RS: We absolutely intend to bring the game over to the original Quest and development for it has come quite a long way already. By splitting off the release of this version, we are able to spend more time on the necessary optimization for it while taking away further pressure on our development schedule for the other platforms.
UVR:Will the game’s beta be coming to all platforms? When can people expect to be able to try it out?
RS: The moment we have more details to reveal, you’ll be the first to know!
Last month brought news that Vertigo Games was delaying its anticipated co-op VR shooter, After The Fall, to later in 2021.
It’s the latest in a series of delays for the title, which was first announced back in 2019. Since that time the VR landscape has changed a lot – headsets have come and gone and we’ve seen the bar for VR gaming raised. We sat down with Richard Stitselaar, Creative Director at Vertigo Games, to talk about the decision to delay the game once more, and what’s changed over the past few years of development.
UVR: Which specific areas of development are challenging with After the Fall? Is it a case that the PC version is the lead platform but porting to PSVR/Quest 2 is what’s taking time?
RS: I would vote for the multi-platform development approach, with which we are developing for three (four!) widely divergent VR platforms in parity, as the number one area that has been the most challenging and time-consuming with After the Fall.
Strictly taken, no version of After the Fall can be considered a port: all content is developed for all platforms in parity, while a core framework of VR development tools ensure the unique strengths and capabilities of each platform are leveraged (Yes, that means crispy high-end graphics on PC are possible). It also lays the groundwork for rolling out a meaty post-launch support plan to the various platforms simultaneously, so that our team can continue to expand the game world with content and features with as little platform-specific overhead as possible.
Behind the scenes, our technical team has spent close to a year building this beast of a framework on top of the Unity engine before we truly kicked off multi-platform production of After the Fall. Meanwhile, the main chunk of our development team ported Arizona Sunshine to Oculus Quest – an immense job that we spent almost as long on – the learning lessons of which we brought back into the framework afterwards. I would even go as far as to say we have developed a Unity-based VR engine layer that will serve us for future VR games as well.
UVR: Was the game always planned for release on Quest and, if not, has the port affected the original scope in any way?
RS: Originally, no. But when the Quest was announced, we realized the potential of untethered VR and made the decision to familiarize ourselves with developing for the platform by jumping into familiar territory with Arizona Sunshine. This has helped us understand the device and its unique strengths and weaknesses, before jumping in with an ambitious title such as After the Fall. We have had to be critical about our development roadmap in some areas: some features and content have been moved around on our timeline, while others have made way for new ideas. Launch has always been just the start for After the Fall however and this has meant we have made our post-launch support plan a little meatier.
UVR: This will make ATF the first game to get a Quest 2 version before a Quest 1 release – was this a decision you had to plan with Facebook?
RS: The Oculus Quest 2 was introduced midway through our development cycle, and it became apparent that the differences with the original Quest required us to re-evaluate its impact on our development approach. Facebook was very understanding and supportive of our desire to maintain the level of quality we set for ourselves. We’ve worked closely with the team at Facebook to secure that additional development time our team needs to bring After the Fall over to the original Oculus Quest properly.
UVR: How much later in the year do you expect the game to arrive?
RS: Let’s just say we are confident the rolling “After the Fall” release date joke, that our community has happily been torturing our CM with, won’t age well! Although we’re having quite a bit of fun seeing him try and come up with witty replies…
UVR: We first saw the game in summer 2019. Exactly what’s changed with the project since then?
RS: The 2019 demo is largely still a good representation of our vision for After the Fall – essentially being a sideways step from our work on the Arizona Sunshine universe – in which we have broken basically all its rules for surviving an undead apocalypse. You’re no longer saving bullets in a struggle to survive – this is a full-blown power fantasy in which you play the role of a Runner. Runners are special survivor forces who venture out into post-apocalyptic LA, take out the snowbreed, and bring back the resources required to secure mankind’s continued survival, all the while upping their skill, loadout and status within the community.
Some things did change. Aside from the changes to the development roadmap we already covered, once we had the core framework mentioned above in place, we cranked up the co-op support to 4 players in-mission as the standard for internal and external playtests. These taught us that players really enjoyed faster-paced co-op action, as they fully embraced the fantasy of being a badass running headfirst into all sorts of danger with their squad. A lot of us played games like Left 4 Dead to death back in the day, so this didn’t bother us in the slightest.
UVR: Since this announcement some have predicted the Quest version will eventually be altogether canceled. Is this a possibility?
RS: We absolutely intend to bring the game over to the original Quest and development for it has come quite a long way already. By splitting off the release of this version, we are able to spend more time on the necessary optimization for it while taking away further pressure on our development schedule for the other platforms.
UVR:Will the game’s beta be coming to all platforms? When can people expect to be able to try it out?
RS: The moment we have more details to reveal, you’ll be the first to know!
Vertigo Games says that it delayed the Quest 1 version of After The Fall to spend more time optimizing it without detracting from other versions.
Last month’s news of another delay for the co-op zombie shooter came with the surprising revelation that the original Oculus Quest version will be arriving after launch on Quest 2, PSVR and PC VR. The latter versions are still planned for 2021, but the Quest 1 edition arrives in 2022. This makes After The Fall the first game to come to Quest 2 before the original headset (Resident Evil 4 VR, meanwhile, will be fully exclusive to Quest 2, with no Quest 1 version planned).
But, with the game set to offer four-player action against hordes of zombies with cross-play across all platforms, some have speculated that Quest 1 might not be able to hit the same level as other versions, and may eventually be canceled.
Richard Stitselaar, Creative Director at Vertigo Games, told UploadVR that wasn’t the case. “We absolutely intend to bring the game over to the original Quest and development for it has come quite a long way already,” he explained in an interview we’ll publish in full later this week. “By splitting off the release of this version, we are able to spend more time on the necessary optimization for it while taking away further pressure on our development schedule for the other platforms.”
Quest 2 might not be as powerful as machines powering PSVR and PC VR headsets, but it’s still a big jump in power from the first Quest, making bringing the game to that headset on time a much more feasible proposition. Vertigo previously told UploadVR that all versions of the game will have the same number of enemies, so it’ll be interesting to see what optimizations the team has to make to finish off the Quest 1 edition.
Keep an eye out for the full interview later this week, in which Stitselaar talks more about the decision to delay the game, how it’s changed since reveal two years ago and much more.
Zombie shooter After The Fall from Vertigo Games won’t be releasing this summer.
The game with up to four players in co-operative mode will release “later this year” on PSVR, Quest 2, and PC VR, according to a tweet from Vertigo Games. The developers say they’re going to separately release the game in 2022 for the original Oculus Quest.
“To ensure a smooth multi-platform launch with cross-platform support, we are giving our development team the time they need to finalize their work,” Vertigo’s announcement reads.
The original Oculus Quest released in 2019 with an older chipset and was replaced in 2020 by a more powerful and less expensive follow on. Quest 2 outsold all previous 6DOF headsets from Facebook combined and some developers are making significant returns on their investment in releasing on the Quest platform. Later this year, Resident Evil 4 should become the first VR game to release for Quest 2 that won’t be playable on the original headset.
“After the Fall is our most ambitious VR title to date, developed from the ground up for three widely divergent VR gaming platforms,” Vertigo wrote. “Under the hood, our team has extensively worked on developing the necessary infrastructure to ensure that you can experience the game together seamlessly, regardless of the platform you play on.”
Vertigo says it will have an update on a forthcoming beta testing period for the game in the coming months. Vertigo, of course, is the developer behind Arizona Sunshine, one of the earliest zombie shooters with co-op support. Zombie shooters is a pretty crowded genre, with games like Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners standing as one of VR’s best games, so we’re very curious to see how After The Fall holds up.
This summer is full of exciting virtual reality (VR) videogame releases but today sees one of the biggest, Vertigo Games’ After the Fall being pushed later into the year. The studio announced the delay will affect all versions with the original Oculus Quest edition hit the hardest, delayed until next year.
After the Fall has suffered a series of delays ever since it was revealed in 2019. During E3 2021 last month things looked promising with Vertigo Games’ trio of announcements still putting the multiplatform, co-op shooter on for a summer release. That’s definitely not happening now with the studio confirming via a statement on Twitter that the plan is still to launch in 2021 for most VR platforms, just not this summer.
“Unfortunately we have made the necessary decision to push the multi-platform release of After the Fall on PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest 2, and PC VR to later this year. In addition to this, we have decided to split off the launch on the original Oculus Quest to 2022,” the statement reads.
It doesn’t specifically state why this new delay has happened, just that: “With After the Fall we have set ourselves the ultimate goal of bringing you the best possible 4-player, co-op experience in VR. To ensure a smooth multi-platform launch with cross-platform support, we are giving our development team the time they need to finalise their work.”
Considering this is Vertigo Games biggest project to date it’s not surprising that the team wants to ensure After the Fall is as good as it can be, especially considering the cross-platform aspect which is a vital component of the gameplay. Much like Lone Echo II, After the Fall has become one of these major projects which have continually seen delays, greatly building anticipation and expectation for the videogame.
After the Fall will allow up to four players to fight their way through an icy, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, filled with zombie-like monsters called Snowbreed. They’ll have to scavenge for weapons and resources, using them to craft new items and make upgrades as they try to survive.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of After the Fall, reporting back with all the latest updates.
With half the year gone it’s definitely time to look at what virtual reality (VR) videogames VRFocus is most excited to play before the end of 2021. The last six months haven’t disappointed with the likes of Maskmaker, Cosmodread, Demeo, The Climb 2, and Alvo all providing excellent VR experiences. Whilst you might still be busy playing these 2021 still has more to offer.
As there’s no shortage of upcoming VR videogames slated for a Q3/Q4 2021 launch, those about to grace headsets like Sniper Elite VR and Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual!have been omitted. Not because VRFocus doesn’t want to play them, they just happen to be arriving this week!
Lone Echo II
Ready at Dawn’s sci-fi sequel Lone Echo II has appeared on multiple ‘Most Anticipated’ rounds ups and hopefully, this should be the last time. Because as part of the Oculus Gaming Showcase, Lone Echo II was confirmed for Summer 2021. Originally revealed as an Oculus Rift exclusive back in 2018, Lone Echo II‘s release date moved from 2019 to 2020 and finally 2021 – in that time seeing the Oculus Rift platform discontinued.
The single-player sci-fi adventure, Lone Echo II continues the story where you play a robot called Jack who needs to help Captain Olivia Rhodes survive the perils of space. Exclusive to the Oculus Store, it’s worth taking a look at the original even if titles like Half-Life: Alyxhave now surpassed it.
Supported headsets: Oculus Rift (Oculus Quest via PC Link)
Release date: Summer 2021
Song in the Smoke
The first VR title by 17-Bit (Skulls of the Shogun, GALAK-Z), Song in the Smokeis part survival adventure and part mysterious narrative. You’ll be able to hunt with bows and axes, forage for resources to craft new items whilst exploring this beautiful, prehistoric world and uncovering its secrets. Players will find creatures behave just like real wild animals, so they’ll be hungry, afraid and tired, likely to attack or run away depending on the situation.
Revealed during March’s PlayStation Spotlight, Song in the Smoke was certainly one of the more surprising announcements. 17-Bit has been unveiling snippets of the gameplay but not much regarding the story. In any case, the videogame looks fascinating.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest and Rift
Release date: 2021
Low-Fi
An ambitious cyberpunk project by Iris VR Inc., Low-Fi, is coming to most major VR platforms as well as PlayStation 5 which supports non-VR gamers. Low-Fi drops you into a futuristic city as a cop patrolling the dark crime-ridden streets of city-block 303. You’re given free rein to explore this open world, become a good cop to maintain order or exploit your position and earn a few side credits.
Money will mean you can treat yourself to a few toys, purchase some nice new weapon upgrades or make sure your companions are well cared for. While Low-Fi’s official launch is slated for the end of the year on Steam, you can purchase the early access version over on itch.io for $35 USD if you can’t wait.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index & Windows Mixed Reality.
Release date: Q4 2021
Fracked
Another PlayStation Spotlight reveal Fracked comes from nDreams, the team behind Phantom: Covert Ops. A PlayStation VR exclusive, Fracked is an action-adventure where you’re given as much freedom as possible to assault levels and eliminate enemies. Ski, run, climb, base jump and zipline around the environments, using your PlayStation Move controllers to grab whatever’s insight, even items to use as cover.
Set on top of an Alaskan mountain, nDreams has you fighting interdimensional enemies called the ‘Fracked’ using all manner of weaponry. Plus, if you own a PlayStation 5 there are console specific enhancements including uncapped dynamic resolution, improved framerate, resolution and loading times.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR
Release date: Summer 2021
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall
The only major IP currently expected for VR headsets this year, Carbon Studio and Games Workshop are set to take you into the neverending wartorn universe Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall this summer.
In suitable Warhammer style, there’s an epic narrative where you play Lord-Arcanum Castor Stormscryer, leader of a retinue of Stormcast Eternals who’ve been called due to a rise in Nighthaunt forces, triggered by an event called the Necroquake in the Realm of Death. Armed with devastating melee weapons and magical abilities, all you need to do is deliver Stormcast Eternal justice.
Supported headsets: PC VR & Oculus Quest
Release date: Summer 2021
After the Fall
Originally due in 2020 after a 2019 reveal After the Fall is Vertigo Games’ next blockbuster VR experience, promising lots of zombies (sort of) in an alternate future where Los Angeles has frozen over and most of the local residents have transforms into monsters called Snowbreed.
Another title making it over from VRFocus’ previous ‘Most Anticipated’ list, since then Vertigo Games has released plenty of new footage showcasing After the Fall’s gameplay. Built around a co-op experience for up to four players, there will still be a single-layer campaign for when everyone’s busy. These Snowbreed come in all shapes and sizes, from those annoying ones who scuttle across the ceiling to big boss types. It’s going to be quite an action-filled ride.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive & Valve Index
Release date: Summer 2021
Arashi: Castles of Sin
Feel like there aren’t enough badass ninja videogames in VR? Well, look no further than Arashi: Castles of Sin which is going to be a PlayStation VR exclusive. A stealth combat experience set in feudal Japan, Arashi: Castles of Sin puts you in the role of an elite shinobi called Kenshiro who must reclaim House Arashi castles captured by a ruthless group of bandits.
Each area is a sandbox environment so you can decide how to tackle each fight, up close and personal with a samurai sword, or quietly from the rooftops with a shuriken. All the weapons will be authentic to that era of Japan’s history. You even have a wolf companion to kill enemies, what more could you ask for?
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR
Release date: Summer 2021
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar
After the success of its original, puzzle-solving, spy caper, Schell Games will return this summer with I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar, once again trying to foil Zoraxis’ plans for world domination.
Set to feature six globe-trotting missions with even more fiendish puzzles to solve, I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar will still retain its non-locomotion gameplay, where everything tends to be within physical grabbing distance, comfortable for all players. This time around it’ll feature some new stars including Wil Wheaton (Big Bang Theory, Star Trek: Next Generation) to voice celebrity John Juniper and singer and songwriter Puddles Pity Party on the theme tune.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive & Valve Index
Release date: Summer 2021
Wanderer
A puzzle filled, time-travelling adventure developed by New Zealand-based studios M Theory and Oddboy, Wanderer tasks you with a journey to save mankind by heading to key points in history. Que historic events like the moon landings or helping Nikola Tesla with his latest invention.
Wanderer is another one of those intriguing experiences which could offer plenty of gameplay variety when it launches this year. Plus it doesn’t look half bad either.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive & Valve Index
This weekend was filled with virtual reality (VR) updates as part of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2021 this week, with the likes of A Township Tale coming to Oculus Quest and NERF getting its own VR shooter. Some studio had more than others to share with Vertigo Games making three announcements for After the Fall, Unplugged and Traffic Jams.
After the Fall is Vertigo Games’ next major in-house project, originally revealed back in 2019. A co-op first-person shooter (FPS) set in a frozen LA wasteland, for the E3 2021 announcement the studio released new gameplay footage combined with some of the videogames’ developers discussing the project.
One of the core features the team wanted to get right was the cross-platform gameplay, so it doesn’t matter if you’re on an Oculus Quest, PlayStation VR or PC VR headset, the gameplay remains the same even when the graphics have to be adjusted depending on the platform. Still no release date though, with a summer 2021 window still in place.
Next up is Unplugged by indie team Anotherway, which is being published by Vertigo Games. A rhythm action title which evokes those classic air guitar moves, Unplugged utilises the hand tracking on Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets. This weekend’s announcement saw the reveal of a new track “The Kids Aren’t Alright” by The Offspring as well as features like mini-games and crowd interactions. Unplugged is expected to launch Fall 2021.
Finally there’s some Traffic Jams news. The quirky VR title where you have to manage evermore insane amounts of vehicles, pedestrians and catastrophic events originally launched for Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets in April. Soon it’ll be the turn of PlayStation VR. Created by Little Chicken Game Company, Traffic Jams arrives for PlayStation VR on 26th August 2021, with its solo campaign as well as the asymmetrical multiplayer.
Check out all the new footage below and for further updates from Vertigo Games and E3 2021, keep reading VRFocus.
It’s time for another look at Vertigo Games’ After The Fall, with plenty of new gameplay.
The studio is back with its next developer diary straight from the Upload VR Showcase today. This time around the team is on-hand to talk about the game’s cross-play features and its focus on replayability. Sprinkled in with all the new info is plenty of new footage of the promising shooter, too.
In terms of longevity, the developer explains that every time you play through a level you should get a different experience. It might be that you find mini-bosses in unexpected areas, for example. Vertigo wants to keep players coming back for more four-player co-op sessions with this approach.
As for cross-play, the team talks a bit about getting the game to run across both a high-end PC and the Oculus Quest at the same time. As we confirmed a few weeks ago, the game will retain the same enemy count across all the different versions. Visuals will, obviously, differ on every platform, but you can otherwise expect the game to play pretty much the same.
It shouldn’t be too much longer now – After The Fall is due to arrive on Oculus Quest, PSVR and PC VR headsets this summer. Are you going to be picking up the game? Let us know in the comments below!
