Oculus Studios’ Executive Producer on Asgard’s Wrath, Mike Doran, announced that Sanzaru Games are working on adding subtitles to their VR RPG action-adventure game Asgard’s Wrath after hearing community feedback.
Doran confirmed on Reddit that subtitles for multiple languages will be added into the game. However, the process is “just starting” and so he also warned that it will likely be a number of months before they become available in the game. “It’s many weeks [sic] worth of work and QA to verify text across the entire game.”
The exact list of supported languages has not been decided, but Doran promised to share the list as soon as they can. He prompted readers to spread the information across non-English forums as well, so that users waiting on subtitle support for their language are aware that the feature is being worked on.
Doran is also working as a producer on other Oculus Studios titles such as Medal of Honor and Vader Immortal, and said that the team wants to be more consistent overall when in comes to adding subtitles in their games. This is great news from an accessibility standpoint, ensuring that all of these fantastic games are available to as many people as possible.
Asgard’s Wrath launched earlier this month and David was suitably impressed in his review, naming it “VR’s best and most ambitious game yet.” We also invited the Creative Director of Asgard’s Wrath, Mat Kraemer, onto Episode 3 of our podcast, The VR Download, last week. Unlike traditional podcasts, The VR Download is broadcast from a virtual reality studio – you can check out the episode with Mat here.
Episode 3 of UploadVR’s weekly podcast, The VR Download, was live today.
Unlike regular video podcasts, The VR Download is broadcast from a virtual reality studio! Our team are together in a virtual space, giving us many of the benefits of a studio even though we live on different continents.
Our special guest this week was Mat Kraemer, Creative Director at Sanzaru Games, the studio which just released the norse-themed AAA VR RPG Asgard’s Wrath, which we called “VR’s best and most ambitious game yet” in our review, giving the game 5 stars.
The show is normally hosted by our Operations Manager, Kyle Riesenbeck, however Kyle is on vacation this week so this episode was hosted by our Senior Games Editor David Jagneaux.
Show Structure
[Section 1] The News Discussion: our thoughts on the biggest VR news of the past week, one article at a time. You’ll hear our in depth behind the scenes thoughts on what’s happening in the virtual reality industry.
[Section 2] Release of the Week: the team talks about the VR games they’ve been playing this week and try to come to a consensus as to what is the most significant.
[Section 3] The Hot Topic: an in depth discussion of one big (sometimes controversial) industry trend, topic, or idea per week.
[Section 4] Special Guest Interview: a 1-1 interview with a significant developer, executive, or personality from the VR industry.
After a string of major releases from Oculus Studios which have garnered so-so receptions, Asgard’s Wrath has broken the chain as the most critically acclaimed title from the publisher since 2017’s Lone Echo.
As anyone with a VR headset will tell you, great VR games are hard to come by. So any time something new comes along that really feels compelling, it’s a big deal. For its part, Facebook has been making critical investments in VR content as a publisher under the Oculus Studios banner. Unfortunately, adequate funding isn’t the only ingredient needed to make a great VR game, and while Oculus Studios has brought a series of ‘must play’ titles to fruition, the last few years of its major releases haven’t been as impactful.
Released earlier this month, Asgard’s Wrath has broken that string, becoming the most critically acclaimed Oculus Studios title since 2017’s Lone Echo, according to review aggregator Metacritic, which shows the game averaging 89 points out of 100 across 10 reviews from critics. While this could change as more reviews are published, presently the score ties Asgard’s Wrath with Lone Echo as the best rated major release from Oculus Studios according to its Metacritic score.
The 89 point average puts Asgard’s Wrath just one point below what is, to our knowledge, the best rated VR title with 10 or more critic reviews on Metacritic, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission which has averaged 90 of 100 points across 50 reviews. While only at 6 critic reviews, the PC version of Beat Saber has managed 93 of 100.
Players seem largely in agreement with critics on Asgard’s Wrath, with the game managing a 4.6 of 5 stars over 900+ Oculus user reviews (which would convert to 92 on a 100 point scale).
Asgard’s Wrath is one of the medium’s richest action RPGs to date (read our review here), and as such, it is positively teeming with secrets and hidden quests to find.
That said, the biggest and best side quests in Asgard’s Wrath are stored away in optional dungeons, called Labyrinths. While many treasures and points of interest are hidden in plain sight, Labyrinths tend to hide away from the world for you to go out and find.
Meanwhile, for those who want to battle their hearts out, some of the toughest (and most rewarding) combat challenges in Asgard’s Wrath are served up in Arenas, where mortal challengers are invited to step up and take on Valkyrie Challenges for prizes and glory.
It isn’t immediately obvious where to look for any of these when you’re first starting out, so here’s our guide on how to find and gain access to some of the earliest major side locations in Asgard’s Wrath. Note that entering a Labyrinth for the first time usually consumes a Midgard Key. Likewise, entering a Valkyrie Challenge always costs a Hogni’s Heart, which you can replenish from the blacksmith at Aegir’s Hall.
Labyrinths
Labyrinths are massive dungeons that span entire zones in Asgard’s Wrath, much like the main zones featured throughout the main quest arc. While some Labyrinths in later sagas are part of the main quest itself, each of the biggest Labyrinths found in the early sagas spanning across Midgard are entirely optional and tend to reward plenty of loot and unique (unbreakable) Hero equipment.
Unmarked Tomb
Zone: Stormborn Beach
Quest: A Restless Soul
Required Hero: Ingrid
Required Followers: Astrid, Hulda
Rewards: Ingrid’s Hero shield.
How to get inside: From the Tomb of Thorketill the Patient on Stormborn Beach, immediately head up the stairs and travel through the passageway. Use Astrid’s Wind Gust ability on the windmill to open the door, and travel inside to begin the quest.
Abandoned Dungeon
Zone: Borgarholt Fort
Quest: A “King’s” Ransom
Required Hero: Any
Required Followers: Astrid, Hulda
How to get inside: After you gain access to the Borgarholt Ravine, travel past the God Altar and underneath the bridge until you find a tight corridor leading off the main path and into a well-lit enclosure. Head down the stairway towards the locked door and the side quest should initiate.
The Virgin’s Labyrinth
Zone: Midgard Highlands
Quest: The Lady in the Labyrinth
Required Hero: Any
Required Followers: N/A
How to get inside: At the God Altar, enter god-mode and look at the large statue with two yellow eyes and a closed doorway for a mouth. Poke both yellow eyes at once and the previously closed door will now be open, initiating the quest. Head on through the now-open corridor and head up the stairs to the gate.
Forgotten Sanctum
Zone: Great Belfry
Quest: Mysteries of Midgard: Parts I & II
Required Hero: Frodi
Required Followers: N/A
Rewards: Frodi’s Hero shield.
How to get inside: As soon as you make your way to the large round Grand Chamber door, which is on the platform directly below the zone’s God Altar (you can’t miss it), turn left down the stairs into a cylindrical room that leads down a corridor. Follow the corridor to a door, and you’ll find yourself inside of the Forgotten Sanctum.
Arenas
Valkyrie Challenges that take place in Arenas where you face off against wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies. Each session is timed, and the timer runs indefinitely until you finally die. The rewards you receive at the end are determined by your rank.
Ranks:
Thrall (2x kills)
Farmer (4x kills)
Skald (6x kills)
Raider (8x kills)
Berserker (14x kills)
Drengr (18x kills)
Godly (???)
Seaside Stronghold
Quest: Arena I: Seaside Stronghold
How to get inside: A fast travel point appears in the Stormlands after completion of the second saga.
Whisperwind Point
Quest: Arena II: Whisperwind Point
How to get inside: A fast travel point appears in the Highlands after completion of the third saga.
Asgard’s Wrath is built to be a huge singleplayer adventure, but there is a pseudo-multiplayer feature that you might bump into along your journey. Here’s how it works.
Asgard’s Wrath doesn’t have any traditional multiplayer functions, but it is possible to influence and be influenced by your friends (and even strangers) through ‘Spirit Arenas’. Oculus Studios Executive Producer Mike Doran describes it as ‘asynchronous multiplayer’ and explains how it works:
When you die, a marker in an approximation of that location is automatically placed in other players games, even ones you aren’t friends with. In your game, you will see markers representing other players who have fallen in battle. If you choose to interact with one, you’ll see the Oculus ID of the player that died and be presented with a challenge scaled in difficulty based on how strong that player’s character was. Accept the challenge and you’re instantly transported to a spirit arena where you fight ghostly versions of the enemies that took down the other player.
Succeed, and you get Yggdrasil seeds. This is the only reputable way to get this currency. Seeds can buy very powerful consumable items. They can also be used in a quest line at the world tree. You turn them in for faerie blessings. Blessings are global perks that are always on. One perk is a chance for you to not consume a potion when using it. One of them is a chance for your follower relationship to not suffer if they fall in battle, etc. When you redeem another player they get a reward too, the next time they visit the world tree. So if you die, someone does a spirit fight on your behalf, you get a popup saying “you have been avenged by so-and-so. Visit the world tree for a reward.’
Apologies for missing a week, you might have seen we had a few other things to make. Incidentally, make sure to check out our new VR Culture Show and the brand new VR Download podcast!
Anyway, lots to catch up on. We’re kicking off the week with talk of a new PSVR patent from Sony. There’s some interesting new designs in this one, and this week’s news of PS5 coming out for holiday 2020 has us hyped.
We also take a trip to HTC camp to hear from newly-appointed CEO Yves Maitre. He says he’s not sure that beating Facebook’s Oculus is the company’s main target. What do you make of that?
Finally, we’re talking about the new Avengers VR experience, Damage Control. This MCU-set adventure is coming to The Void locations in the US and Canada next week. A new trailer reveals some very exciting surprise characters.
As always, we’re also rounding up the latest VR games, including a little launch by the name of Asgard’s Wrath. Concrete Genie and a new version of The Excorcist VR also round out the week.
And for this week’s giveaway we’re tossing out something that’s sure to hook your interest: Ultimate Fishing Simulator VR! Click here to enter or submit in the widget below directly.
And that’ll about do us for the week. If you’re liking the VRecap, let us know! If you think there’s stuff we could improve, politely also let us know!
Sanzaru Games has been working closely with Oculus Studios since the early days of the Oculus Rift. And while the studio has three other VR games to its name, none of them come close to the scale of Asgard’s Wrath—in fact, Oculus believes that the game is the largest VR production to date. In speaking to Sanzaru’s Grace Morales Lingad and Oculus Studios’ Mike Doran, we learned of the surprising twists and turns the project took on its way to becoming the VR epic that it is today, and get a glimpse at the artwork that inspired and guided the game’s impressive visuals.
Editor’s Note: The big, beautiful pictures and exclusive artwork in this article are best viewed on a desktop browser with a large screen or in landscape orientation on your phone. All images courtesy Sanzaru Games and Oculus Studios.
A Toybox and a Sketch
Though it launched just this week, Asgard’s Wrath can trace its roots back to even before the Oculus Touch controllers had launched. Oculus revealed Touch way back in 2015 alongside a demo built to show off the controllers called Toybox. In the demo players, used the controllers to play with doll-sized toys. Especially at that time, when 6DOF hand controllers were quite novel, there was a certain novelty to playing with these little toys and watching them move around on a table in front of you as if you were a god towering over the likes of little minions. It was this contrast of scales which was the first inspiration for what would—more than four years later—become Asgard’s Wrath, said Mike Doran, Executive Producer at Oculus Studios.
“As Sanzaru was wrapping development on VR Sports [a 2016 Oculus Touch launch title], we approached them with the idea of doing a game set in the perspective of Toybox: manipulating smaller objects in a larger ‘god’ form.” Following those conversations, Sanzaru Games Creative Director Mat Kraemer drew a quick sketch which, according to an Oculus spokesperson, “effectively gave birth to the game.”
I can’t help but laugh at the scrawled text in the sketch as I know now what Kraemer and his team at the time didn’t—that “puzzle crap,” and the other hastily written notes, were fated to turn into 30+ hours of gameplay in one of VR’s biggest productions to date, a task which wouldn’t come to fruition for another four years.
Becoming the Hero
The form that Asgard’s Wrath would eventually take was not clear right off the bat, Doran explained.
“Before we landed on Action/Adventure RPG, Asgard’s Wrath went through many identities. It was even a tower defense game at one point. There are elements of that old design in a few of the more cinematic battles as well as our entire UI for inventory. That shelf based system came directly from an early interface that was created to manage setting up defenses.”
Doran recalled that Sanzaru built a prototype based on the ‘god-scale’ concept which ultimately paved the way for another huge part of the game’s concept.
“Early on, you were only in this god form; you’d manipulate objects in the world and defeat monsters to help an AI human-scale character complete goals and advance through the environment. One of the [prototypes] had the AI you were protecting run into a series of caves, emerging with a sword and shield,” Doran said, “Every person that played this had similar feedback: ‘this is cool, but I want to see what’s inside the cave.’ Sanzaru put together a prototype [where you could switch] between human and god scale, and it was instant magic.”
Once it was clear that the player would play as both a god-like overseer and as the mortal hero themselves, Sanzaru realized they’d need to build a melee combat system with the depth to sustain hours of play. Doran said the team “spent a good nine or so months just expanding and building out the combat.”
Sanzaru’s Grace Morales Lingad, Lead Designer on Asgard’s Wrath, recalled some of the challenges faced therein.
“One-to-one melee combat is arguably the ‘holy grail’ of gesture-based gaming, and for Asgard’s Wrath […] we foolishly decided to take a stab at it! That ambition was rife with challenges: figuring out the spacing between enemies and the player; addressing exploits inherent to a combat system based on players moving their bodies instead of pressing controller buttons; testing and tuning to accommodate different player behaviors; the list is endless,” said Lingad. “We experimented with incorporating more physics-based gameplay in the melee combat, but ultimately we opted to go in another direction because we wanted to prioritize clarity rather than pure simulation. For instance, we wanted to minimize disruption of the player’s one-to-one (hand-to-weapon) interactions, so we don’t slow the player’s hand and weapon down when cutting through enemies.”
We’ve now finished our full video review of Asgard’s Wrath to complement the written version! It took longer than usual because of the length, but if you’d like to see and hear our review instead of just reading it, here you go!
Become the next great Asgardian god in Asgard’s Wrath as you immerse yourself in the legendary world of Norse mythology. Sharpen your swordplay and bring your own fighting style into the fray with next-level combat. Possess different classes of mortal heroes, solve larger-than-life puzzles, and transform animals into warrior companions that you lead into battle.
The day has finally arrived: Asgard’s Wrath, the massive new action-adventure VR RPG from Sanzaru Games and Oculus Studios is officially released for Oculus Rift. We’ve already played it and published our full review so this guide will specifically focus on tips and strategies to help new players get started.
Asgard’s Wrath is an incredibly dense game. It took me around 25 hours to finish the main story and that’s without venturing off the main path very often. Across the entire adventure it spans six different sagas, or chapters, and lets you take control of five different mortal heroes each with their own unique playstyle, gear, and special abilities.
We’ll assume that you’re jumping into the game pretty fresh at this point and run down everything you need to know, especially things we wish we had known, to get started.
Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment
Each hero will have a handful of “Hero Gear” items in Asgard’s Wrath that always return to them and are indestructible, such as Ingrid’s sword or Frodi’s staff. While these weapons are great to rely on, don’t be afraid to experiment. Sometimes the weapon that an enemy drops, although not indestructible, is still very powerful and good to use to make quick work of enemies. Later on in the game many of these dropped weapons will have status properties that do lightning, fire, poison, or some other type of extra damage.
It’s also just lots of fun to lop off someone’s head, grab their sword, then chop off another enemy’s arm all without skipping a beat. Definite badass material.
Parrying Is Crucial
If you’re playing on either medium or hard difficulty then you’re gonna need to master parrying very quickly. Enemies are generally classified in four different ways in Asgard’s Wrath: standard enemies with just a health bar, Runic Armor enemies that have extra shield bars, boss enemies that are large and pack devastating attacks, and full boss encounters (there are only three of these in the whole game.)
Standard enemies you just need to hit them to lower their health until they’re dead. That’s it. Parrying is handy to deflect attacks but not needed. The other class of enemies, the ones with Runic Armor (blue bars above the green health bar) are where things get tricky. You’ll need to parry, block, or dodge standard and heavy (red glowing) attacks to build up the enemy’s rage meter (thin red bar beneath the green health bar) to then trigger a Signature Attack (their eyes glow red and there’s a blue glow around the weapon) which must be parried to stun the enemy. Once stunned you can attack to remove the Runic Armor bar and start dealing normal damage.
If you’re playing on Easy however, you don’t need to parry but it will help speed up some encounters if you don’t want to chip away at health bars.
Pay Attention To Status Effects
Some status effects in Asgard’s Wrath like being frozen or on fire are tough to ignore, but I found the combat so intense and active that it was easy to miss the slow damage-over-time effect. If you look down with your eyes you’ll see your health at the bottom of the HUD and if you’re taking damage the number is, obviously, going down.
But on the flip side, you can use these against enemies too. Even if you haven’t broken their Runic Armor you can use status effects like poison and lightning damage to hurt their health beneath the armor directly. Some followers are particularly good at this, such as the owl, who can shoot crossbow bolts from a distance for a steady barrage.
Bond With Followers
You should always stay friendly with your followers. Keep them happy by regularly feeding them, making sure they don’t die, and giving a thumbs up, high-five, or fist bump — just typical stuff you do with any animal.
The benefit here is that if they’re happy they will discover random items in the environment for you and the stronger the bond, the better the items.
Gather Absolutely Everything
Leave no barrel unbusted, crate unbroken, or pot unsmashed. They almost always have crafting resources inside and every treasure chest has something useful. When you go back to the tavern just sell everything you don’t need (like body parts or weapons you don’t like) and store the rest in your stash.
Every time you visit the blacksmith or merchant to craft something Asgard’s Wrath will automatically pull from your stash as well as your inventory for all ingredients.
Craft Upgrades Early And Often
Speaking of which, you should stop by the blacksmith often. Don’t just wait until the end of a hero’s saga because at that point you don’t really need to play that hero again unless you want to do side content as them. But if you upgrade during the saga at every other checkpoint or so then you’ll steadily improve over the course of all of their quests.
Always Have Meads And Potions Handy
In a lot of RPGs I stockpile items until the end and just never use them. I encourage you not to do that in Asgard’s Wrath. Health does not recover for your followers or you, at all, other than by eating food and drinking potions. You can craft potions back at the tavern, but can only hold 10 at a time. I’d recommend saving those and if you hit your limit give extras to followers to keep them topped off.
Generally speaking I’d recommend crafting potions and meads as a first-priority every time you visit the tavern. Especially Frenzy Meads. When using these your follower activates their Frenzied state which enables their special ability. Hulda the turtle, for example, taunts all enemies towards her while raising her shield while the shark can do a corkscrew attack to shred through Runic Armor easily — this one’s great for boss fights.
Understand Inventory Navigation
There are three main inventory sections: consumables, weapons, and materials. They all have their own pages and own storage capacities. The other icons at the top are Hero Gear, key items, followers, and heroes. Hero Gear, as explained earlier, are the iconic and persistent weapons unique to each hero that you unlock. Key items are things like keys for chests, handles for levers, or various dragon horns that you can craft to bypass large creatures blocking paths — among other things.
Usually you don’t need to actually look through the inventory to use a key item, most of the time Asgard’s Wrath just understands what you need and lets you pick it out of the air to use in the moment it’s needed.
Always Solve Gnome Riddles (If You Can) To Upgrade Inventory Space
These little gnome fellas will pop up at various stages throughout the game with a riddle. If you can decipher it (usually the answer is a consumable or material found in that region) and you give it to him then you’ll get some cash and a golden needle. You can exchange golden needles for inventory space upgrades at the merchant back at the tavern.
Venture Off The Beaten Path
Asgard’s Wrath is a game just as much about exploration as it is defeating powerful god-like enemies. The main quest took me around 24 hours to finish, but I couldn’t help but venture off the main path every now and then. If you do so often you’ll find lots of valuable crafting materials for upgrades, tons of side quests and puzzles, and in some cases large, separate dungeons that are entirely optional with their own storylines and special high-profile rewards.
Since this is also heavily inspired by Metroidvania-style games, there is big incentive to re-explore areas after you get further in the game because new paths will become accessible as well as new content you didn’t see the first time through.
Avenge Fallen Players Every Chance You Get In Asgard’s Wrath
One of my favorite entirely optional bits of Asgard’s Wrath is the fallen hero system. When a real-life player dies in Asgard’s Wrath the game logs that location and stores it with a chance for other players to come across it in their game. When this happens a ghostly purple apparition appears, along with the player’s actual Oculus ID, issuing a challenge to avenge them.
If you complete the combat challenge you’re awarded Yggdrasil seeds which can be used to sprout faerie blessings back at Yggdrasil (the giant tree) that grant you permanent buffs. Some of them are super helpful like offering a chance to replenish potions when drinking one or lowering the relationship penalty for a follower’s death.
Read The Codex At Aegir’s Tavern
Back at the tavern there is a giant floating book hovering over the fire. If you flip through it then you can not only find out about some classical Norse mythology not specifically covered in the game’s narrative, but you’ll also find out new details like intel on enemies as well as what each of your follower’s like best as their favorite food. All followers will eat any food but feeding them their favorite heals for more health per item.
Reconstruct Totems In God Form At Altar Locations
Finally, each time you unlock a new God alter in a region and convert a new animal follower, spend some time in God form exploring. You might notice some things you otherwise couldn’t have seen from the hero’s perspective.
Specifically, you’ll spot broken wooden totems. There will be a base located somewhere near the altar with two broken, missing pieces within reach of your God form. Put those back together and then locate three animals skulls to adorn the top and voila, it’s reconstructed. This will net you extremely valuable crafting materials that are crucial for upgrading hero gear back at the blacksmith.
