Asgard’s Wrath’s cinematic intro trailer was great, but it left us with plenty of questions. This single-player fantasy role-playing game (RPG) promises 30+ hours of action, but how does it actually play? This new gameplay video gives us some idea.
Oculus Studios Executive Producer Mike Doran posted the clip on Vimeo over the weekend. It’s got nearly two minutes of footage that showcase various gameplay elements, from combat to item gathering.
The game’s combat looks similar to what’s come before. Here we see a sword wielder take down a few zombies, with a brief look at the dismemberment system too. It looks functional for sure but we’re looking forward to seeing how it holds up with more advanced enemies. There’s a lot of other VR staples in here; health is regained by eating food and chests and doors are all opened with realistic interactions.
Surely the highlight of the footage, though, is the sudden appearance of your frog-man ally. He leaps into action to steal a key for you with his tongue (!). Asgard’s Wrath will let you transform animals into companions like this that will join you in battle. It looks like one of the game’s more unique elements and we can’t wait to test it out for ourselves.
We’re not quite sure when Asgard’s Wrath will be launching right now, but we do know it’ll be exclusive to Rift. We’re going to play the game at GDC next month, so we’ll let you know how it’s shaping up.
After revealing the newest upcoming exclusive from Oculus Studios last week, the team behind the game has revealed a snippet of new gameplay footage that delves into mechanics that go beyond the interactive combat shown in the announcement trailer.
Asgard’s Wrath, an upcoming Rift exclusive developed by Sanzaru Games and published by Oculus Studios, was announced last week as a Norse-inspired melee combat game. And while the announcement trailer was filled with lots of combat, the studio behind the game says that it’s going to be much more than discrete combat areas. Apparently in response to such suggestions, the studio revealed the following gameplay footage which shows many interactions beyond combat, and gives us an idea of what the rest of the gameplay will look like:
In the video, we see the player gathering items from the environment like herbs, coins, food, and arrows. Classic dungeoning tropes such as loot-filled chests and smashable (and equally lucrative) boxes can also be found throughout.
We also get a glimpse at how players will use their animal friends to aid them throughout the game. Oculus has said that players will be able to use their godly powers to turn a handful of different animals into humanoid companions, who will each have unique abilities to assist the player. In this case we see that there’s a key behind bars which the player can’t reach, but the frog-guy comes along and snatches it with its tongue.
Interesting still, after the frog retrieves the key, it holds it out for the player to retrieve, which is a subtle but immersive player-to-character interaction (slimy though the key might be).
Image courtesy Sanzaru Games
Further demonstrating rich interactions, the player eventually puts the key into a door lock, turns it, and then releases the bolt holding the door shut. And then there’s the rat on the ground that players can pick up and tickle—a promising sign that there will be lots of interaction with the world to help players feel immersed in the game’s Norse-inspired world.
The footage is shown entirely with unhindered smooth locomotion and turning, though Oculus has confirmed that Asgard’s Wrath will feature a full set of comfort options, though teleportation won’t be one of them. As the game is being developed by Sanzaru, we expect that the locomotion system will be in many ways similar to their prior VR title, Marvel Powers United VR.
Asgard’s Wrath is due out some time in 2019 and is said to offer a 30 hour VR adventure that will be the “deepest title yet” from Sanzaru Games. Oculus is promising much more detail to come at GDC 2019 in March.
Asgard’s Wrath – Werdet zum nordischen Götterhelden im VR-Action-Adventure exklusiv für Oculus Rift
Asgard’s Wrath versetzt euch in ein Fantasy-Setting rund um Götter und Heldentaten aus der nordischen Mythologie. In Asgard, dem Sitz der Asen, herrscht Chaos. Das Göttergeschlecht hat sich in Streitigkeiten und Eitelkeiten verfangen und dadurch die Götterdämmerung eingeleitet. Doch im Schoß der Welt haben sich zum Widerstand die puren Naturkräfte gebündelt und in einer Explosion des Lichts einen jungen Gott zur Herstellung der Balance geschaffen. Der Spieler übernimmt die Rolle dieses Junggottes, der zwar enormes Potenzial besitzt, dieses jedoch zunächst einmal Erkunden muss.
So trefft ihr eines Tages auf Loki, welcher euch anbietet, euch zu einem wahren Gott zu verwandeln. Doch dafür müsst ihr mehrere Aufgaben für den Trickstergott erledigen, um euch als würdig zu erweisen. Entsprechend zieht ihr durch die Lande und erfüllt verschiedene Sagas, in denen ihr den Helden des Reiches dabei helft, ihr Schicksal zu erfüllen. Während eurer Reise werdet ihr also stets von sterblichen Kämpfern begleitet, welche euch mit Quests betrauen und ihre ganz eigenen Gameplay-Mechaniken besitzen.
Image courtesy: Sanzaru Games
Entsprechend wechselt ihr zwischen eurer Götterform und eurem heroischen Begleiter und könnt dadurch auf eine Vielzahl von verschiedenen Kampfmethoden und Ausrüstungsgegenständen zurückgreifen. Außerdem wird der Perspektivenwechsel zum Erfüllen von verschiedenen Rätseln und Herausforderungen nötig.
Asgard’s Wrath – Realistisches Kampfsystem und abwechslungsreiche Herausforderungen
Im Trailer sieht man bereits einen Zauberer mit destruktiven magischen Fähigkeiten, einen Schurken mit einem Nunchuck-Messer sowie eine Kriegerin mit Schwert und Schild. Auch ihr lernt stets neue Kniffe und Fähigkeiten und könnt so nicht nur neue Gebiete erkunden, sondern auch in bereits besuchten Ortschaften bisher verborgene Geheimnisse freilegen. Während eurer Reise könnt ihr außerdem Wildtiere in Kampfgefährten verwandeln, um sie euren Helden zur Seite zu stellen.
Image courtesy: Sanzaru Games
Das Kampfsystem basiert auf einer realistischen Physik-Engine in Egoperspektive mit ganz eigenen Regeln, wodurch instinktive Bewegungsabläufe gefordert werden. So wird euer ganzer Körper ins Spiel integriert und ihr müsst euch stets an neue Herausforderungen anpassen. Skill soll also belohnt werden, das Wackeln mit einem Schwert wird hier nicht zum Erfolg führen. Spezielle Spielmechaniken erlauben euch, zudem feindliche Attacken abzublocken und Attacken und Konterangriffe auszuführen. Beispielsweise könnt ihr mit eurem Schild ein anfliegendes Messer blocken, herausziehen und zurück auf den Widersacher werfen. Auch Gore-Elemente sind Teil des Spiels, wodurch ihr eure Feinde enthaupten und zerstückeln könnt.
Image courtesy: Sanzaru Games
Ingesamt 30 Stunden Spielzeit soll die angehenden VR-Götter erwarten. Zusätzliche Spielelemente, wie ein Fortschrittssystem nach RPG-Vorlage, Crafting-Optionen, Einwegwaffen, magische Verzauberungen und ein asynchroner Multiplayer-Modus sollen ebenso vorhanden sein. Sanzarau Games arbeitet bereits seit mehreren Jahren leidenschaftlich an der Entwicklung des Action-Adventures und verspricht weitere Informationen zur GDC 2019 vom 18. bis 22. März.
Asgard’s Wrath soll noch 2019 exklusiv für Oculus Rift erscheinen.
Virtual reality (VR) developer Sanzaru Games had a bit of a tumultuous 2018, to say the least, launching one of the most highly anticipated titles of the year in the form of Marvel Powers United VR, which didn’t exactly set the VR industry alight. While the rest of the year was spent fixing issues, for 2019 the studio is looking towards its next project for success, revealing an impressive looking action adventure title today, Asgard’s Wrath.
Once again partnering with Oculus Studios, Sanzaru Games’ latest VR experience looks to be its most epic to date, mixing both role-playing game (RPG) and brutal magic/melee elements together. Inspired by Norse mythology, Asgard’s Wrath is a visceral, 30+ hour quest involving gods, monsters and plenty of limb removing moments.
Asgard’s Wrath revolves around a newly formed fledgeling god which just so happens to be you. Loki takes an immediate interest in you and your potential, making you an offer you can’t refuse. The catch, Loki has several tasks to test your worthiness, each revolves around a standalone scenario wherein you must use your powers to help preordained Heroes of the Realms fulfil their destinies.
What this means is you get to not only fight as a mere mortal, but you also get to use those godly powers to give yourself the edge in battle. There are different character classes to choose from, Mage, Rogue, Warrior for example with the studio having spent particular time on the melee combat, fine-tuning the physics to provide as real an experience as possible.
Going into greater detail regarding the melee gameplay Mike Doran, Oculus Studios Executive Producer said in a statement: “We’ve also incorporated some brutally satisfying dismemberment. One of my favourite things to do in-game is to use a shield to “catch” thrown enemy weapons like daggers, yank them out, and throw them right back. Another great moment is swinging your weapon to knock decapitated monster heads through the air. Physics, time dilation, dismemberment, ragdoll, and a ton of tuning and polish come together to complete the core foundation of our combat. Each of the mortal heroes has their own signature gear and unique gameplay mechanics. On top of that, we also have metagame loops that augment combat, such as crafting, disposable weapons, elemental traits, and other things yet to be revealed.”
And that’s just mortal mode. You then have the ability to switch into god mode, changing the scale of the world whilst giving you the ability to solve certain puzzles and challenges. In this form you can also capture certain animals, transforming them into warrior champions to help your mortal self.
And it’s not all about fighting either. In both forms you’ll need to explore areas to unlock new abilities, sometimes having to return to previous locations once your character is better equipped.
The teams have also teased an asynchronous multiplayer option, could friends join in as animal champions possibly? That particular feature has yet to be fully detailed.
Check out the first trailer for Asgard’s Wrath below. It’ll be an Oculus Rift exclusive due at some point in 2019. When VRFocus has further details we’ll let you know.
Wondering what Oculus and Sanzaru Games were hiding when they teased their next Rift exclusive a few days ago? Well, now we know: it’s called Asgard’s Wrath, and it’s poised to toss you head-over-heels into a Norse-inspired world of melee combat, monstrous fiends, and plenty of reasons to keep your playspace clear.
Asgard’s Wrath prominently features first-person, physics-based melee combat, which includes a fighting system that rewards skillful kills.
According to Mike Doran, an executive producer at Oculus Studios, you can’t just swing wildly to be successful though, instead requiring a skillful touch to slay more powerful enemies.
“That might work against some lesser enemies, but eventually you’re going to get your butt handed to you that way,” Doran says.
Image courtesy Oculus, Sanzaru Games
Asgard’s Wrath apparently features serious opportunities for some gruesome enemy dismemberment too, replete with ragdoll physics and time dilation—something fans of Early Access combat sandbox Blades & Sorcery should be well familiar with.
“One of my favorite things to do in-game is to use a shield to ‘catch’ thrown enemy weapons like daggers, yank them out, and throw them right back. Another great moment is swinging your weapon to knock decapitated monster heads through the air.”
Image courtesy Oculus, Sanzaru Games
It’s more than a first-person physic sandbox though, the studio explains. During crucial moments, you can physically shift scale and swap between human and god modes, letting you solve puzzles and “overcome challenges to advance through the world.”
Although that last part isn’t entirely clear yet, from the trailer it seems you can turn hapless animals into beasts that fight on your behalf. This might be what the studio is referring to when it says the title features “a heavy helping of RPG elements.”
Doran continues:
Way back when we first started prototyping this game, the player was always at god-scale. Eventually, we added a mortal hero to mix things up and give the player something to protect and support. Sanzaru then had the breakthrough idea to let players swap back and forth between God and hero, which really opened up the game’s potential to become far more expansive than we had originally envisioned. Add in quests/sidequests/a bunch of other metagame loops, and the action adventure that you see today was finally realized.
Image courtesy Oculus, Sanzaru Games
The game’s story takes you to the twilight of the Norse gods. As a new fledgling god on the scene you’re thrust into an encounter with Loki, who then tasks you with proving your worthiness before you can be given true godhood. Through standalone scenarios—called ‘Sagas’—you use your powers to help the world’s mortal heroes on their path to fulfill their destinies.
These mortal heroes each have their own load-outs and unique gameplay mechanics; in images and the trailer (linked above and below) we’ve seen single-handed swords, axes, shields, and some sort of ethereal dagger-nunchuk.
Oculus says there will also be the ability to augment combat via crafting, disposable weapons, elemental traits, and more.
Image courtesy Oculus, Sanzaru Games
The game aims to incentivize players to return to previously explored areas as you unlock new abilities that then open up more of the world. The game is also promising some form of asynchronous multiplayer, although the studios are staying tight-lipped for now.
Asgard’s Wrath is the result of multiple years of work, and is said to provide over 30 hours of gameplay. Sanzaru, which developed Marvel Powers United VR (2018) and VR Sports Challenge (2016), calls it their “deepest title yet.”
Asgard’s Wrath is slated to release sometime in 2019. The title will be debuting at GDC 2019, which takes place between March 18th – 22nd in San Francisco.
Remember that cryptic teaser that Oculus and Sanzaru Games (VR Sports Challenge, Marvel Powers United VR) posted last week about an upcoming new game? Well, we now know that game is called Asgard’s Wrath and it’s frankly remarkable that it’s been kept under wraps for so long. In a blog post today Mike Doran, Oculus Studios Executive Producer, outlines the vision for what sounds like an action-adventure RPG built from the ground-up specifically for VR the likes of which we haven’t seen before.
In Asgard’s Wrath you take on the role of a Norse God with the power to inhabit the bodies of mortals. Throughout the 30+ hour adventure you’ll frequently swap back and forth between the perspectives of a towering God with an epic sense of scale and the perspective of on-the-ground mortal warriors to take advantage of the game’s brutal melee combat.
Watch it in action in the trailer blow:
According to Doran in the blog post, Sanzaru has been working on this title “for years” which means it was in development well before Marvel Powers United VR ever was even announced. Since they’re touting over 30 hours of content, at least, the longer development time is definitely a good thing. This is something that both Nate Mitchell and Steve Arnold talked about when I interviewed them last year: 2019 is Oculus’ biggest investment in VR software to date. Games like Asgard’s Wrath aim to proof of that.
The brief story synopsis according to the blog post is as follows:
“It’s the twilight of the gods, with Asgard’s inhabitants consumed by bickering and selfish exploits. You, Fledgling God, are birthed in an explosion of light—a clash of primordial forces of nature. Your story begins in medias res with a dramatic, action-packed encounter with Loki. He takes great interest in your potential and offers to give you with befitting a true god. Before that can happen, Loki has several requests to test your worthiness. Each revolves around a standalone scenario, or Saga, wherein you must use your powers to help preordained Heroes of the Realms fulfill their destinies.”
Asgard’s Wrath is being described as not just another VR melee physics simulator, which is probably an apt description of Blade and Sorcery. Instead, Sanzaru’s title aims to extrapolate those physics into a full game with a world full of rules that can be leveraged and exploited while you play.
In the screenshot below you can see an example of what Doran describes as “brutally satisfying dismemberment” and I’ve got to say I agree. Watching limbs lop off in the trailer looks grotesquely rewarding and satisfying.
“One of my favorite things to do in-game is to use a shield to ‘catch’ thrown enemy weapons like daggers, yank them out, and throw them right back,” writes Doran. “Another great moment is swinging your weapon to knock decapitated monster heads through the air.”
Going back to a previous statement about switching between God and mortal forms, Sanzaru aims to constantly toy with scale and how it affects you inside a VR experience. When the game was first in development it was actually being designed as a God-mode only game, similar to Giant Cop in terms of scale, but they later decided to add the ability to inhabit mortals for added gameplay variety and just ran with it. Now that’s the cornerstone feature of the entire experience.
You’ll have to swap down to mortal form to perform much of the melee combat you see in the screenshots and in the trailer as well as to solve puzzles. With a litany of quests, sidequests, and more they’re aiming to deliver something with AAA-quality scale and production values.
According to an Oculus representative that 30+ hour mark isn’t just a generous estimate, but a real content threshold they’ve hit. A single playthrough just going through the content in a mostly linear fashion will net close to that number with lots of repeatable and collectible portions to add even more time for the completionist crowd.
At the very end of the blog post Doran also alludes to an “asynchronous multiplayer” feature, but ends things before going any further. If I had to guess, I’d assume there will be a way for a non-VR player to control mortals while the VR player is up above in a headset. But it could be anything at this point.
You can count me specifically, the guy that added over 100 mods to Skyrim in an attempt to make it as immersive as possible, extremely excited for a massive, sprawling 30+ hour built-for-VR RPG. Between this, Defector, and Stormland, plus whatever Respawn is working on, the Rift has a strong slate of exclusive titles for this year.
Asgard’s Wrath will be playable at GDC 2019 in March, so we won’t have to wait long to see how the brutal melee combat and Godly powers of Norse mythology play out in VR. Check back with us here at UploadVR for more as we inch closer to release later this year.
Let us know what you think down in the comments below!
