Good mech games and VR go together like racing sims and wheel accessories — it just makes sense. But don’t hold your breath for VR support in MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, at least not yet.
Over three years ago back in 2016, MechWarrior 5 developer Piranha Games showed interest in VR support for its combat-focused mech simulator. Back then, the President of the company stated that it was “designed” to support VR and they actually held a single demo for the game’s VR support at and industry event leading up to release. A programmer even stated that “native VR support” was one of the reasons they picked Unreal Engine for the game. But now that release has come and gone on the Epic Games Store, there is no peep of VR support at all.
We reached out to the developer for comment on the topic and received the following statement from a spokesperson on behalf of Piranha Games:
“Officially, Piranha is still interested in VR as a platform, but no plans to consider implementation until next year.”
So that’s not a “No,” but it’s also not a “Yes!” either. My reading of this means that they’d love to get it working well without sacrificing resources for the core game, but it’s not a priority and if it does happen it won’t be for a while. That’s just my assumption on things, though.
Currently the top of the pile in terms of VR-focused design for a mech combat game is Vox Machinae, which has an elaborately intricate cockpit rife with interactions using tracked motion controllers. But even simple head-tracking support to play with gamepad, keyboard and mouse, or a flight stick-style setup would be better than nothing for VR and mech fans.
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries released this week and is receiving mostly positive reviews across the board, sitting at a 75 average on Metacritic after 16 officially syndicated reviews, including an 81/100 from IGN.
Would you play MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries in VR? Let us know down in the comments below!
It’s that special time of year again where every retailer goes discount crazy in the run-up to Christmas. Attracting customers with offers and discounts galore – some better than others. While Black Friday may still be a few days away, the EU PlayStation Store started its offerings on Friday just gone, so it seemed apt to feature those deals today. All these deals end at 11.59pm GMT on Monday 26th November 2018.
Astro Bot Rescue Mission
A platform title from the team at Sony Japan Studio, Astro Bot Rescue Mission was well received when it launched last month for PlayStation VR. VRFocuscommented in its review: “While Astro Bot Rescue Mission isn’t quite as charming as Moss, or as superbly crafted as Mario Odyssey, it is a great old-school platformer for the VR era, bringing some of the best features of both 2D and 3D platformers of old and incorporating VR in a way that doesn’t feel awkward. This is a fun, lighthearted way to spend some time in VR, and worth checking out.”
Astro Bot Rescue Mission is on sale for £19.99 GBP, reduced from £34.99.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
Christmas 2017 proved to be a bumper year for VR content, with Bethesda releasing DOOM VFR and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR. Even though the latter videogame was a few years old by then the addition of VR proved to be a wise choice, with VRFocuswriting in its review: “for those who dreamed of a truly immersive role-playing experience, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VRis simply the best opportunity available today.”
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR is on sale for £19.99, reduced from £47.99.
SUPERHOT VR
SUPERHOT VR originally launched on Oculus Rift with Touch support before being ported to HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. The title has seen near-universal acclaim due to its particular gameplay style where time only moves when you do. So there’s plenty of slow-mo bullet dodging and gunplay as you try to kill enemies.
SUPERHOT VR is on sale for £11.99, reduced from £19.99.
Eagle Flight
Eagle Flight is another Oculus Rift which arrived in October before making its way to PlayStation VR and HTC Vive by the end of 2016. Set fifty years after humans vanished from the face of the Earth, wildlife and nature have reclaimed the cities, with players taking to the skies of Paris for a selection of single-player and multiplayer modes.
Eagle Flight is on sale for £9.99, reduced from £34.99.
Eve: Valkyrie – Warzone
EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone is a first-person spaceship shooter that puts you in the cockpit for intense multiplayer space combat. The Warzone expansion also includes all five previous free updates: Carrier Assault, Joint Strike, Gatecrash, Wormholes, and Groundrush.
EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone is on sale for £9.49, reduced from £24.99.
Farpoint
Farpoint is a sci-fi adventure where you find yourself stranded on an alien world filled with all sorts of nasty hostiles. While Farpoint will work with PlayStation VR’s standard control methods when the title launched it tended to be packaged with the PlayStation Aim controller, which is still the best way to play the experience.
Farpoint is on sale for £7.99, reduced from £24.99.
Firewall Zero Hour
Another title that benefits from owning PlayStation Aim, Firewall Zero Hour is a team-based online multiplayer from First Contact Entertainment. Receiving a five-star review from VRFocus, we said: “Firewall Zero Hour has managed to avoid many of the common pitfalls of VR online multiplayer’s and add its own interesting twist to the military FPS genre. The lobby system could use some improvements, but otherwise its a finely crafted title that will be of great interest to FPS fans.”
Firewall Zero Hour is on sale for £15.99, reduced from £34.99.
Robinson: The Journey
Robinson: The Journeycasts players as Robin, a boy that’s left stranded on an alien world called Tyson III after his ship crash lands. But Robin isn’t alone, he’s accompanied by an AI companion called HIGS, and together they must survive the harsh environment and dangerous inhabitants as they search for the lost crew, solving puzzles and unearthing the planet’s secrets along the way.
Robinson: The Journey is on sale for £9.79, reduced from £44.99.
Archangel
Archangel is set on a world ravaged by natural disasters. Players take on the role of a pilot in the United States Free Forces, a resistance group fighting a tyrannical United States government which has removed all freedoms from its citizens. Stepping into a massive mech, players will take the fight to HUMNX, a private conglomerate that controls what little is left of a ravaged America.
Archangel is on sale for £11.99, reduced from £29.99.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
Star Trek: Bridge Crew features both single-player and multiplayer options – although VRFocus did state in its review that the videogame was all about the multiplayer. You get to play in one of four roles, Captain, Helm, Tactical or Engineering, each with its own particular job to do. Once chosen, you and your teammates then head out into space to complete a variety of missions.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew is on sale for £14.99, reduced from £29.99.
Strap into your cockpit and buckle up: the first Open Tournament for Archangel: Hellfire is officially underway. As of July 31st and through tomorrow, August 3rd, pre-qualification matches are happening for Archangel: Hellfire online.
All you have to do to qualify for the actual tournament this weekend (8/4 – 8/5) is be really good at the game, basically. The top 16 players (based on their win/loss ratio and kill-death-assist ratio) will be selected for official tournament matches. All matches will be single elimination style 2v2 team deathmatch, which is the game’s core PvP game mode. The rules also specify “anyone may be your wingman, excluding players already qualified for this Tournament.”
Winning teams of this and all other Open Tournaments will receive $500 cash, a Bomber Jacket, and a Mech Trophy.
Each of the next three weekends will have Open Tournaments like this one (8/4 – 8/5, 8/11-8/12, and 8/16-8/17) that you can enter in to play. Entry is free, you just need to qualify, and the PvP portion of the game itself is free to download and play (Oculus or Steam) for a chance at the prizes.
Then once those three tournaments are in the books, there will be a Mech Ascent Championship final tournament for the top 4 performers from each tournament. In this round the winning team will receive $2,000 cash, 2 Bomber Jackets, and a Mech Trophy.
Archangel: Hellfire is a really good VR mech combat game. We praised the freedom of movement, variety of weapons, and intensity of its player-versus-player combat in our full review and are excited to see what the development studio does with their upcoming Walking Dead VR game.
As it turns out, I have a feeling a big reason why the gameplay feels so good is because the developers used VR during the development process itself by building 3D models of the mechs inside of sculpting tool, Oculus Medium. My favorite line from this short mini-documentary (embedded below) that Oculus published about Archangel: Hellfire developer Skydance Interactive occurs right at the start from an unnamed developer: “If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a Medium concept is worth 1,000 pictures.”
The implication is that, because of how immersive a 3D object is when you’re experiencing it inside of a VR headset, it’s way more powerful than just a standard image or even a 3D model on a flat screen.
We’ve seen similar ideas in practice from other developers, such as prototyping levels with Tilt Brush. As VR continues to penetrate the mainstream, we expect to see more examples of it being used in this way.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
Skydance Interactive, the studio behind Archangel (2017) and the recent multiplayer expansion Hellfire, today released a video on just how they made their building-sized mechs.
Concept artist Bryant “Momo” Koshu designed mechs for the game, and says it took him at least six months to figure out the exact design of the single player game’s cockpit using standard tools such as Adobe Photoshop. Later including Mediumin his creative process, Oculus’ VR sculpting and modeling program, Koshu says he reduced the time down to a little over a week to create the updated cockpit design.
“We went through the process in a matter of weeks,” says Skydance Interactive Producer Mark Domowicz. “Part of that is Momo. He’s a ninja with the software. Part of that is just the toolset; you can just jump in and put something together, kit-bash something together.”
“This is more than just sculpting,” says Koshu. “This can actually be used for the whole video game pipeline.”
Skydance tells us Koshu first uses Medium when prototyping, and then adds final touches using ZBrush, Autodesk 3ds Max, Unreal Engine 4 and other tools.
Originally launched in 2016 with Touch, Medium recently got an overhaul via its 2.0 update, which brings a new file management system and a “major UI facelift,” designed to help artists work better and faster. If you’re interested in creating with Medium, check out these updated tutorials from Oculus.
Here at VRFocus we don’t do secondary reviews if a developer releases a major update as the original scores stand for the version that was played – plus there just isn’t enough time in the day/year to achieve that. Occasionally, VRFocus will take a secondary – non-review – look at a videogame that promises to right major wrongs or deliver what was originally promised or intended. Today saw Skydance Interactive launch its Archangel: Hellfire update, moving the original away from its on-rails gameplay to a free-roaming multiplayer design. And for fans of giant fighting robots, Archangel: Hellfire certainly delivers.
The update purely focuses on allowing players to either team up or fight against one another in large open world arenas that likely to put a smile on most players’ faces. The storyline from the campaign travels over to this side, where you’re able to choose a mech from either the United States Free Forces or the evil mega-corporation HUMNX. While their designs are different the mechs themselves are split into three categories; small and nimble with reduced armour, the medium mech, and then the behemoth which is slow but heavily armoured.
Choosing a mech isn’t just about speed and armour, there are various weapons and abilities that change to. They all have standard machine guns on each arm which can then be switched as needed to their secondary option. Without giving too much away, the behemoth for example carries a giant shotgun on one arm and missile launcher on the other. In addition to all these armaments the mechs also have two special abilities which slowly charge to offer either devastating offensive or defensive options.
The modes available in multiplayer are fairly standard, with two types of Team Deathmatch (2v2 and 1v1 PvP) plus a Co-op Mech Assault involving 1-4 players against waves of enemies. These can be played across four maps, a desert, mountain region and city, with a fourth called Agrizone due to be released by the end of the month.
The maps might be few but the gameplay has been expertly tuned to offer exactly what players are after, gigantic mech destruction. Just like the single-player, the inside of each mech suitably looks the part, with plenty of detail throughout. It’s easy to notice the two big buttons that activate the special abilities on either side of the chair, looking up however reveals four very important sliders. These help to fine tune certain aspects of the mech mid battle, adding more power to shields whilst taking away damage. The feature certainly adds that extra strategy element and is easy to overlook when you’re getting pummelled by ordinance.
The mechs themselves have a nice solid stomp to each of them as you wander around the battlefields, adding that immersive feeling of controlling a building sized robot. Thankfully adding some verticality to proceedings each mech can fly for a limited time. More of an extended boost jump really, this not only provides much needed manoeuvrability it allows access to higher parts of the level – usually where health and energy pick-ups can be found.
If you just so happen to be looking for a virtual reality (VR) title where you can fight mates in mechanised suits like some anime film then Archangel: Hellfire is pretty close ideal. As a free update it offers plenty of gameplay excitement, perfectly complimenting the single-player campaign.
Last year Skydance Interactive entered the virtual reality (VR) industry with Archangel, a videogame promising giant mechs and epic battles. What was delivered was a story-driven on-rails shooter that while visually stunning didn’t offer players the versatility or freedom they craved. Today, that’s about to be put right with the Archangel: Hellfire update, adding multiplayer mech warfare to the mix.
For the update Skydance Interactive has added new free roaming multiplayer modes, which include Team Deathmatch and PvP, plus a Cooperative Mech Assault / horde mode, featuring a full suite of maps and mechs.
Archangel: Hellfire isnowa complete single-player and multiplayer package, delivering the story campaign as well as the free-roaming multiplayer. From a war torn cityscape to a snowy mountain terrain, players can now jump into all powerful mechs to battle it out in open combat environments. There are six different massive combat mechs, each designed to suit different play styles, whether that’s nimble and swift, or slow and seriously armoured up. In addition to the mech varieties there’s a selection of 13+ powerful, weapons and special abilities to choose from.
“The dream of VR is to allow people to be wholly absorbed in amazing new virtual experiences, and nothing is quite as exciting as piloting a massive six-story high mech and waging war with your friends. Through the team’s hard work and talent, they have fully realized that awesome experience,” said Peter Akemann, President of Skydance Interactive in a statement. “Not only can gamers experience the compelling story campaign of Archangel, but they can put their piloting skills on the line in epic online competitive PvP and cooperative matches with pilots from all over the world.”
Archangel: Hellfire is a free update for those that have already bought the original Archangel on Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Or to the headsets respective stores to purchase Archangel: Hellfire.
To promote the launch Skydance Interactive and Opera Event will be hosting the Mech Ascent Championship, a Competitive PvP tournament to give pilot teams a chance to compete for $500 USD weekly prizes and a $2,000 Grand Prize, a custom bomber jacket and a Golden Mech. Starting today, players can make their mark on the game’s Leaderboard and for a chance to earn a place in competition.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Skydance Interactive and Archangel: Hellfire, reporting back with any further updates.
Piloting a giant mech has been a fantasy for sci-fi lovers around the world for decades. From popular anime like Gundam and TV shows such as Power Rangers, to modern interpretations in Pacific Rim and more, we’ve become accustomed to seeing giant robots marvelously realized in our favorite works of fiction. And while Archangel: Hellfire is just a VR game and not the real deal, it feels like the closest we’ve gotten yet.
When Archangel originally released last year, it was met with mixed results. The core ideas and gameplay were solid enough to carry it to a decent score with us, but the on-rails movement and lackluster narrative left a bit to be desired. If we’re being honest, most people want to play mech games to fight other mechs in glorious battles, but an on-rails movement system hampered that ideal.
Archangel: Hellfire sets out to fix all of that and introduce multiplayer into the equation.
The core player-vs-player mode that makes up Archangel: Hellfire’s release today is actually available (mostly for free) in the “Enlist Free” edition, but to get access to the aforementioned single player campaign and a brand new co-op arena mode, plus additional optional skins, you need to buy the full version of the game. For clarity, this review only covers the new PvP and co-op content, not the single player. Here is our review of the single player campaign.
In Hellfire there’s team deathmatch in both 1v1 or 2v2 varieties across three total maps, with one more coming soon, and three different mech classes (Light, Medium, and Heavy). There’s quite a bit of variety across all of the available maps, each of which feature large open areas, lots of obstacles for cover (some of which are destructible) and a good deal of verticality. It would have been nice to have at least one small, tightly-designed map that could shine as a good 1v1 battleground, but as it stands all of them are really best played in full 2v2 matches.
At first glance that doesn’t seem like a ton of content, but with how different each mech plays it more than makes up for it. All three mechs are controlled using the left thumbstick or trackpad for movement and you aim each arm independently using your motion controllers. Turning your head lets you look around inside the cockpit while staying stationary, whereas the right stick rotates your mech to either side. Grip buttons on each hand pull up shields, which deactivate whichever hand’s weapon you’re using for the shield.
For mobility there isn’t a sprint feature or dash of any kind, but instead you click in the stick to boost upwards into the air to do a slowly descending hover at a quickened pace. If you’re a slow-moving Heavy mech, this is a good way to cover distances, but it leaves you exposed in the air.
All three mechs come equipped with standard machine guns on each arm as the default weapons. These barely do any damage and I only ever really used them to weaken shields, distract enemies, or finish someone off that’s on the verge of death. The real weapons are where each mech differs dramatically. For the Light mech you’ve got “shield breaker” rockets and homing missiles, plus a huge death-from-above ultimate power and a cloaking power. Both of those ultimate abilities are activated by physically reaching out and touching the in-game HUD buttons, which is a nice touch.
Medium mechs were my favorite because they struck a decent balance between speed and survivability. Their right hand weapon is a powerful single-burst railgun that does big damage if you can land a clean shot, along with rapid-fire rockets on the left arm. Special abilities include an infinite-ammo power, which is a deadly combo with a trigger-happy rail gun blasting over and over, as well as a super-powerful face-mounted rail gun that does a ton of damage.
Finally, there’s the Heavy that trades speed for a ton of health. Their right hand is equipped with a wide-spread shotgun blasting gun that’s extremely powerful if you can get up close and some basic rockets on the left hand. Super weapons include a big EMP blast that zaps enemies of their energy charge (great for countering speedy Light mechs) and an invulnerability phase that makes them even deadlier.
For all three mechs your ultimates are powered by collecting energy found around the map. To tweak things further, at the top of your cockpit above your head, you can adjust sliders to alter how much health you have, how fast you are, how much damage you do, and how quickly you charge up energy. Being able to augment those things on the fly, plus the stat differences in each mech from a base level, lead to a lot of build variety.
For example, one super-effective strategy if you’re agile enough at evading enemies, is to hop in a Light mech and boost your energy gaining slider all the way. This leaves you extremely vulnerable, but if you boost your speed a bit as well and just keep away from the enemies, you can build up your ultimate attack in a matter of minutes. Alternatively, as a Heavy, you might want to just boost your health up even further to soak up as much damage as possible while you get in close to eviscerate enemies with your shotgun-style blast.
Hellfire’s combat system is full of nuance. While part of me wishes for a bit more customization, like equipping a different chasis, legs, weapons, paint jobs, etc. to really scratch the itch of the old-school mech combat games of yesteryear, Skydance did an excellent job of delivering a VR mech combat game that’s immediately exciting and full of strategic depth with Archangel: Hellfire.
The new co-op mode clearly has not gotten as much love as the PvP content received. There’s only one single map for this mode (which is also duplicated in the PvP mode) and it’s just 17 waves of enemies. Some of them fly around shooting at you, some of them dive bomb at you, some are tanks on the ground, and at the end you’ve got a boss fight against a giant, slow-moving ship that barely shoots back. When stacked up against the fast-paced intensity of the competitive mode, the co-op offering pales in comparison.
Final Score:8/10 – Great
Archangel: Hellfire is the most fun I’ve had inside of a VR mech to date. The multiplayer action is top-notch with a ton of build variety and extreme differences in playstyles between each type of mech and maps are just big enough to really showcase the scale of combat. While the co-op mode is a bit lackluster with only one map and simple waves of enemies, it provides a good training ground to loosen up before PvP. I hope to see ongoing support for this title because the core gameplay mechanics feel excellent.
One of the dream VR games that thousands, or perhaps even millions, of people desperately want is a deep, intricate mech combat simulation. After years of pop culture building up the idea in our heads through things like MechWarrior, Gundam, Power Rangers, Pacific Rim, and so much more, the idea of piloting a super-powerful mech is just too tantalizing to not yearn for. I don’t know if Archangel: Hellfire has what it takes to shoulder decades of sci-fi dreaming, but it’s a step in the right direction.
After the mixed reception Archangel’s single-player content received we weren’t holding out breath for the multiplayer iteration, but luckily it caught us by surprise. Hellfire is everything we wanted from a hectic multiplayer VR mech combat game with three different mech types, over a dozen weapons, and super intense 2v2 deathmatches.
We’ll be livestreaming Archangel: Hellfire on PC using Rift with Touch starting very soon (which means we’ll start at approximately 1:30PM PT) and aim to last for about an hour or so. We’re going to use Restream to hit both YouTubeand Twitchat the same time!
Let us know which games you want us to livestream next and if you want to see more Archangel: Hellfire or other mech games in the future. Comment with any feedback down below!
We weren’t big fans of the single-player Archangel experience when it released last year. While not terrible, it just didn’t do enough to stand out as a must-have VR mech game due to its uninspired story, on-rails movement system, and lackluster set piece gameplay moments. Skydance Interactive listened to the feedback though and are now updating the game with a deep, hardcore multiplayer mode named Hellfire that aims to push players to the limit.
Archangel: Hellfire is not for the faint of heart. Instead of nudging players along slowly through levels on rails, this is a full-locomotion, pedal to the metal, boost-jumping, laser shooting, multiplayer showdown. In short, it’s the VR mech combat game I’ve been waiting for.
If you already own Archangel then you’ll get Hellfire for free and the open beta officially starts today around 10AM PT. If you don’t have it already, then it’s included when you buy the whole package. As of today it’ll feature two maps, three mech classes (light, medium, and heavy,) and a single team deathmatch game mode for 2v2 warfare. The winning team is the first to 10 kills.
That doesn’t sound like a lot, but once you dig into the intricacies of gameplay and layers of complexity involved with each of those three mechs, as well as experience how much health you each have, you’ll see how it’s anything but shallow.
Controlling your mech feels like it could have been ripped right out of Pacific Rim or the most recent Power Rangers movie reboot. Each controller (Oculus Touch or Vive) represents an arm of your mech. As you sit in your chair you move your arms around to aim your weapons, mimicking your robot’s movement. Since you’re inside of a cockpit the right stick or touchpad steers the position of the mech’s actual head, but you turn your own IRL head to aim your targeting system for some weapons and to look around the battlefield.
You’ll use the left stick or touchpad to move around the battlefield with full, smooth locomotion and you can click it in to perform a hover boost that rockets you upwards above the battlefield. If that sounds complex that’s because it all kind of is when you put it together — but that’s only covering the movement mechanics.
In terms of actual abilities each mech feels completely different from the others. As you probably guessed the ratio between speed and health scales based on size so the light mech is faster with less health while the heavy is slower with more health. During my demo we did two full rounds so I got to switch between each class liberally during each match. All three mechs have the same movement controls, activate shields with each controller’s grip buttons, and use machine guns as their default weapon for each hand, but vary dramatically beyond that.
I tried the light mech first, which let me run around the battlefield quickly and get in and out of engagements. My left arm can switch over to “shield breaker” rockets that don’t lock-on at all, but can be fired rapidly and do a great job of tearing down shields. The right hand has homing missiles you press the trigger and hold to target, then release to shoot. The in-VR cockpit in front of me also had two special buttons I could press once enough energy was collected to activate my two “ultimate” type abilities.
The main super ultimate was a “death from above” attack that zoomed me up into the air and let me hover there as I rained missiles down, similar to Pharah’s ultimate in Overwatch. Light mech’s also have a cloaking ability as a secondary ultimate which is great to use when sneaking up on an enemy from behind since shields only cover the front of a mech.
Pretty robust, right? That’s just the light mech.
For the medium, which became my favorite during my play session, I found myself mostly hanging back to fulfill a more range-focused role. The secondary weapon for my left arm contained semi-homing missiles that travel towards their target a bit without a true lock-on, but the real shining star of the arsenal is the secondary on the right arm: a super-powered laser canon. Pulling the trigger shoots out an enormous laser blast that can be used to snipe enemies from across the map or do huge burst damage up close.
The medium’s ultimates are a massive, ultra-powered singularity beam that radiates from the head of your mech — like enormous eye lasers, and an infinite ammo state. The infinite ammo state seems less cool at first, until you realize that means you can basically spam the smaller laser canon and really wreak havoc.
Finally is the heavy mech. This bad boy has over 3x as much health as the light mech and packs a heavy punch. The left arm secondary contains heavy rockets that do some big damage and the right arm secondary is a brimstone canon, basically a shotgun, that can absolutely eviscerate someone if you catch their backside or land an unshielded shot to the head.
For ultimates the heavy has an enormous EMP blast that pulses out into a huge radius around them hurting shields, damaging energy reserves, and hurting the hull of anyone caught in the blast. As an alternate ultimate, heavy mechs can also go invulnerable for a brief period of time, making them even more deadly than before.
The one major feature I feel like is missing is an element of customization. You’ll be able to earn cosmetic alterations and upgrades in the game, but a hallmark of most great mech games is being able to really tweak and modify your weapons, chassis, and other parts. Perhaps those are plans for a future sequel if this does well enough.
And did I mention the environments, buildings, and most structures are all destructible? That helps make battles extra interesting.
Just like any good class-based shooter, winning a match in Archangel: Hellfire is just as much about teamwork as it is individual player skill. Since teams are only 2v2 it means tactics and communication are incredibly important.
Currently there are only two maps and one game mode, so it’s not as varied as I’d like, but as a free update to a previously single player only game it’s substantially better than I’d expected. Compared to the single player Archangel experience it’s almost like a brand new and much better game as a whole.
From here Skydance really has a blank slate in front of them. They appear to be doubling down on the esports angle for the game (watching people pilot mechs in VR is extremely entertaining for viewers) which is a great angle, but hopefully they keep delivering content as well. A third map is planned for after the beta period.
Archangel: Hellfire hits open beta starting today around 10AM PT on Rift and Vive as a free update as long as you own the full Archangel game. When it exits open beta there will be a horde mode for co-op or single player as well, but the beta period is only for team deathmatch matchmaking online.
You can grab Archangel on Oculus Home or Steamto get into the Hellfire beta today. The PSVR version does not have multiplayer support planned at this time due to the lack of touchpads and/or analog sticks on the PS Move controllers.
Let us know what you think of Archangel: Hellfire down in the comments below!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR
SUPERHOT VR
Eagle Flight
Eve: Valkyrie – Warzone
Farpoint
Firewall Zero Hour
Robinson: The Journey
Archangel
Star Trek: Bridge Crew
