Out of the three big head-mounted display (HMD) manufacturers, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) certainly dominated the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 with a press conference that featured announcements like Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR coming to PlayStation VR. The studio hasn’t openly confirmed any other supporting headsets just yet, but details have emerged of a HTC Vive version due in 2018.
In a recently released video from Gamespot, the presenters say Bethesda has confirmed that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR will be coming to HTC Vive next year, although no exact dates have yet been mentioned. As SIE enjoys a timed exclusive or two to help promote PlayStation VR – Resident Evil 7 biohazard is for 12 months – don’t expect the experience to arrive early 2018.
It’s no real surprise that Bethesda plans to support multiple virtual reality (VR) headsets. A tweet during E3 2017 stated: “It’s been fun bringing our style of games to VR. We plan on supporting as many platforms as we can.” There’s also the issue of user base. For VR it’s a lot smaller than normal consoles and PC so to get a return on the VR investment multiple headset support would be needed.
There’s one small cravat to that, no mention of Oculus Rift has occurred at present. As Bethesda’s parent company is Zenimax – and the oh so little issue with an ongoing lawsuit between Zenimax and Facebook – there might be a possibility Oculus Rift owners may not see a release for the headset.
If you want to know more about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR checkout VRFocus’ preview from E3 which said: “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR looks set to stand tall as one of the medium’s ‘must buy’ titles.”
VRFocuswill continue its coverage of Bethesda and its VR offerings, reporting back with the latest announcements.
Entering the Wasteland, sneaking up on a group of raiders and shooting them down with guns in your own two hands, tossing back a Nuka-Cola, hanging out with Dogmeat; these are some the things that get fans excited about playing Fallout 4 VR. And in case you’ve been cryogenically frozen in a nuclear bunker this past year, you should know Fallout 4 (2015) is coming to HTC Vive―that and Bethesda demoed an updated build at this year’s E3, showing off an improved UI that should address some worries about porting the flatscreen game to VR headsets.
I love blowing stuff up, especially lobbing a tactical nuke onto a nearby town full of feral ghouls, but I already got a good chance to do all of that at last year’s E3 when VR support for the game was first revealed. What was critically missing in last year’s demo was Vaul-tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.)—the game’s iconic slow-mo targeting system—inventory, interacting with companions, and more definitive locomotion style.
V.A.T.S.
V.A.T.S in VR | Photo courtesy Bethesda
Activating V.A.T.S. with the select button on the right Vive controller, I enter into the familiar slow-mo mode, automatically highlighting an enemy’s bodypart by pointing at it—all the while my action points (AP) slowly dwindle. Sound pretty normal, right?
The VR version of V.A.T.S. is a bit different though, letting you teleport around and potentially flank an enemy at the same time, or giving you the ability to get up nice and close for a more accurate, but decidedly more visceral kill. It’s a different feel to the non-VR version of V.A.T.S., and I can see it being used to get out of sticky situations where normal locomotion just wouldn’t cut it (read: Death Claw).
Interacting with Companions
Last year’s demo featured Dogmeat, and I more than ever wanted to hang out with him this year and interact naturally, fully expecting something like the robot dog from Valve’s The Lab. This year’s demo revealed that interacting with Dogmeat (or any other companion for that matter) would be a pretty straight forward affair just like the PC version, i.e. choose your order through a 2D quick menu, or point where you want them to go with a tool secondary to the weapon in your hand.
Predictably, inventory is managed directly from your wrist-mounted Pipboy, letting you look at the map, manage supplies, etc. While providing a 2D system UI seems kind of lazy on the surface, being able to see and use the Pipboy in real life really adds to the immersion factor in a way a plain 2D UI just can’t.
Checking the Pipboy | image captured by Road to VR
There was also a quick menu bound to the Vive controllers touchpad that lets you get to weapons and health buffs for a quick transition that won’t leave you fiddling with the Pipboy during a battle. Not only that, when you loot someone or something (missing last year), a description automatically pops up of whatever treasure trove the baddy is carrying around. While none of this is what I’d consider incredible design for a VR game, all of this worked fairly well, which oftentimes counts more than unique inventories built from the ground-up for VR games.
Locomotion
Playing on the HTC Vive, I was shown that normal in-game movement offers smooth forward motion by clicking the top of the Vive controller’s touchpad. Since you’re tackling the open world of the Wasteland on foot, Instead of forward motion dictated solely by the position of your gaze, you can point to the direction you want to go with your controllers and look left and right while moving so you can keep a better eye out for raiders while on the move. I felt only a slight ‘heady’ feeling after popping out of the 10 minute demo—something that you’ll probably have to get used to, but not approaching anywhere near game-stopping nausea, personally speaking.
Last year’s demo was limited to teleportation-only, which felt less immersive, so all of this is a welcome sight. Can you imagine having to teleport 10 feet at a time across a map that takes at least 40 minutes to walk from end to end?
Looking Forward
Fallout 4 VR is headed to HTC Vive users onSteam sometime in Q4 2017, and is currently available for pre-order for $59.99. Bethesda says they’re planning on bringing their VR games to “as many platforms as [they] can.”
Fallout 4 VR looks to be one of the most capable monitor-to-VR port since, well, ever. I own both the HTC Vive and the PC version of Fallout 4, andafter experiencing the latest E3 demo, I’m not sure I’m thrilled about having to re-purchase a game at full price that I beat nearly 2 years ago just to play it in VR. I can’t say for sure though since I only experienced two 10-minute demos with a full year between them, so you’ll have to wait for the full review sometime later this year to know for sure.
I can confidently say this though: If you’ve never played Fallout 4 and own an HTC Vive though, this promises to be one of the longest and arguably best VR adventures coming to VR outside of Skyrim VR.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 hasn’t disappointed this week with plenty of virtual reality (VR) news, one of the biggest being the confirmation of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR for Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) PlayStation VR. Due out later this year for the headset, owners can now pre-order their copy on PlayStation.Store.
Available for £49.99 GBP/ $59.99 USD, the UK store listing also has a release date of 22nd December 2017 – the US store has it as 31st December 2017. With the discrepancy it’s most likely that these dates are merely placeholders – although the UK store listing would put it prime time for the festive period. The other reason to doubt these dates is the fact that Bethesda has already said The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR will be coming to PlayStation VR in November.
VRFocuspreviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR, saying: “It’s rare that a VR experience at a huge event such as E3 can separate you from the outside world, but The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR achieved this with ease. Any misgivings about the potential of adapting such a huge world to VR – including that of the dreaded simulation sickness – have been washed away with even just a few minutes of gameplay.”
When The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR does arrive later this year gamers will not only be treated to the core gameplay experience but also add-ons, Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn.
As Bethesda releases further details on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR, VRFocuswill bring you the latest details.
At E3 2017, Bethesda revealed The Evil Within 2. Once again, Sebastian Castellanos squares off against Mobius, but this time around he's searching for his daughter, whom he'd believed was dead. Here's everything we know so far.
Bethesda Softworks’ Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) press conference has caught a bad rap this year. With an endless stream of new titles all confirmed for release in 2017, it would be easy to assume the videogames audience would be satisfied with the showcase. However, while the lack of innovation in a sea of sequels has not been well received, the virtual reality (VR) community has been blessed with exactly what they asked for.
A flurry of big names graced the screen at Bethesda Softworks’ ‘Bethesdaland’ themed press conference. After being offered cotton candy and Ferris Wheel rides amidst a mass of playable demos and free bars, the showcase saw new entries in the Wolfenstein and The Evil Within franchises appeared with a ‘2’ suffix, while new downloadable content was announced for Dishonored 2. A new beta for Quake Champions has been announced and The Elder Scrolls franchise is getting fleshed out further with a new mobile title and a Nintendo Switch port of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. That’s plenty for one publisher, right?
Well, it seems that’s not the case. Despite the hospitality of the publisher for those in attendance and the non-stop rush of new videogames and content being displayed on-screen – one big franchise after another – the general consensus is that Bethesda Softworks might as well not have bothered with a press conference this year. As much as they tried to deliver what their audience wanted (and as well as all of these titles will no doubt perform), the hivemind opinion of the videogames industry is that the publisher isn’t attempting anything new.
Conversely, the VR community has applauded Bethesda Softworks for the exact same thing that the larger industry has critised the publisher for. Two remakes and a semi-sequel have been presented, and all three have been welcomed with open arms.
Fallout 4 VR, originally revealed at E3 2016, has seen significant improvement since its unveiling. Now complete with free movement, V.A.T.S. implementation and a much more complete ‘Fallout’ feeling, Fallout 4 VR has been the highlight of the show for many of those already invested in VR. Fallout 4 VR is currently only confirmed for HTC Vive, and is set to launch late in 2017.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR, much like Fallout 4 VR, is a familiar videogame returning afresh in VR. And that’s the punchline: this isn’t another remaster, it’s a complete refresh. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR may feature the same environments, enemies and quests that you’ve experienced before, but you’ve never experience them like this. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR is the fourth edition of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to be launched on a PlayStation console and the second on PlayStation 4 alone, but it’s got the potential to be the best by far.
And then there’s DOOM VFR. Although this semi-sequel will reuse a lot of assets from 2016’s hugely popular DOOM it does feature a unique storyline. More importantly however, DOOM VFR somehow manages to not only perform light years ahead of the prototype revealed at E3 2016, but it also finds a solution to many of the problems facing modern VR, including fast-paced movement.
So that’s three VR titles which, for all intents-and-purposes, are old videogames repurposed for VR. But they offer unique worlds for deep exploration in a way that no VR videogame has yet managed. The VR aspect of Bethesda Softworks’ E3 2017 showcase faces the same problems as the traditional videogames designed for play on a 2D screen, and yet they still feel wholly new. Regardless of what you think of VR platform exclusivity or locomotion control systems, there’s no denying that Bethesda Softworks are about to big the medium a huge push forward.
As with every year, E3 2017 has brought with it a swathe of new titles for all modern platforms – and we can barely contain our excitement! But of course, we’re most excited about the latest virtual reality (VR) games coming to our head-mounted displays (HMDs).
At E3 2017 we’ve seen some familiar games, ones we’ve played and seen at GDC 2017 – but with those have some brand-new titles that are shaping up to be essential staples of anyone’s VR library.
Sony have come out with brand new titles for PlayStation VR, adding to library that’s already home to some great VR games and experiences.
Oculus are bolstering the Oculus Store with more titles than ever, for both the Oculus Rift and Gear VR. Oculus Store’s library is launching the AAA VR titles you expect from a premium HMD, while the Gear VR is providing both engaging games and more casual VR experience.
Steam’s library for the HTC Vive keeps getting better and there’s no shortage of titles for the HMD at E3 2017, with plenty of titles taking full advantage of the HTC Vive’s hardware.
Bethesda have already showed strong support for VR at E3 2017, with both Fallout 4 VR and DOOM VFR confirmed for release this year. We played Fallout 4 VR at last year’s show, and came away more concerned the impressed, saying; “Luckily this isn’t a finished product as if it was it’d be woeful, a tarnish on the Fallout series, and VR. Just taking a AAA IP and wedging it into VR doesn’t mean that it’ll work and for the most part it’s not the best VR experience.” We had similar concerns for the then-tentatively-titled DOOM VR.
We’ve also seen Lone Echo and Killing Floor: Incursion at this year’s show, but can these games stand up to the best of what seen at E3 2017?
See below for our lists of the very best games we saw at E3 2017 – these are the ones to watch if you’re looking for a new killer app for your HMD.
Bethesda recently announced that Fallout 4 (2015) is coming to HTC Vive this October, and Skyrim (2011) is soon to follow sometime in late 2017 on PlayStation VR. Amidst talk of platform exclusivity, the company took to twitter to quell some fears in the community, tweeting out yesterday that they “plan on supporting as many platforms as [they] can.”
While Bethesda’s Doom VFR is coming to PSVR and HTC Vive straight away, the company hasn’t spoken in specific terms exactly when either Skyrim VR or Fallout 4 VR will make it across the aisle to other VR platforms (read: timed exclusivity). On top of that, the company has made no official mention of Oculus Rift support for any of their upcoming VR titles. Consider the following tweet though:
It’s been fun bringing our style of games to VR. We plan on supporting as many platforms as we can. #E32017pic.twitter.com/xA5kNgV9hR
— BethesdaGameStudios (@BethesdaStudios) June 13, 2017
Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax was engaged in a legal battle with Oculus/Facebook earlier this year, and to say there’s bad blood between the two companies is a bit of an understatement when ZeniMax was awarded $500M in damages after bringing a lawsuit for $4B surrounding exactly who owned the intellectual property that was vital in creating the Oculus Rift.
Despite these legal troubles, Bethesda’s plan to support “as many platforms as [they] can” sounds like good news for Rift owners, considering it would take very little to enable Rift/Touch support after ensuring the initial pull for HTC Vive via Steam. After all, SteamVR supports HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and OSVR natively.
It’s entirely possible that Bethesda decides to enable a hardware lock specific to the HTC Vive, necessitating a “Rift hack” like the one used to skate around the headset check inn Google Earth VRbefore official Rift support was available. They are however a pragmatic company, one that likely won’t throw away the opportunity to earn the full price of $59.99 for either VR versions of Skyrim or Fallout 4.
The question remains: is Bethesda going to openly snub Facebook (and Rift owners by proxy) by locking them out of their VR games? The answer may be less dramatic than you think. Bethesda may not openly list Rift support, but unofficially allow it access without announcing it to the world. A win-win (sort of) for Rift owners and Bethesda.
Only time will tell, but the chances of stalking The Wasteland or battling a 9-foot, club-totting giant on your choice of VR hardware are good, because whatever happens, there’s always likelihood of a day-1 hack should ZeniMax take the grudge to its logical extreme.
Bethesda Softworks’ press conference early this week seemed to disappoint many. Most to the titles revealed for console and PC formats have been deemed predictable sequels or updates, with little innovation on show. For virtual reality (VR) aficionados however, it was one of the most exciting showcases of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
Both Fallout 4 VR and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR have proven to be popular amongst VRFocus’ audience, and now it’s the turn of DOOM VFR to be blown wide-open through the team’s hands-on preview. You may recall that year’s technical demonstration of the DOOM VR prototype was fairly bland, but now DOOM VFR stands as an original piece of content specifically designed for VR, and it’s wonderful.
Essentially a sequel to 2016’s DOOM reboot, DOOM VFR is just as gloriously bloodthirsty as its predecessor. A huge variety of guns, enemies, locations, exploration and everything that made DOOM one of the best videogames of last year is present and correct in DOOM VFR. But how does such fast and aggressive gameplay work in VR? Well, brilliantly. Yes, even the strafing.
Simulation sickness has been a great concern in VR for many years, and while first-person shooters (FPS) seem ideal on paper, in practice it’s been much more difficult to create a comfortable experience. DOOM VFR is a huge leap forward for that. DOOM VFR uses the HTC Vive’s left circle pad for basic movement, which is snap-movement based and allows the player to tap for small steps in increments. Teleportation is also available, and on stunned enemies can be used to move into them for instant kills (though sadly, the glory kill animations haven’t made their way into DOOM VFR). What about that strafing? Well, Bethesda Softworks has coined the term ‘jet-strafe’, which essentially means the player can launch themselves left-or-right very quickly. This, shockingly, is a perfectly comfortable experience.
More time will need to be spent with DOOM VFR to drill-down on the ins-and-outs, hows-and-whys of this mechanic and exactly why it doesn’t induce simulation sickness, as in previous years of VR experience it most certainly should. However, VRFocus was using combination of snap-moving, jet-strafing and teleportation to eviscerate over a dozen enemies in a single scene without encountering any issue whatsoever. The experience was simply thrilling, without concern of a bad feeling when removing the head-mounted display (HMD).
Traditional videogames coming in 2017 from Bethesda Softworks may be without innovation, but in VR there’s a AAA publisher coming to rule the roost. Next to Ubisoft, Bethesda Softworks are arguably doing the most aggressive innovation in VR coming from any of the big publishers, and DOOM VFR stands as one of the most impressive VR videogames coming in 2017.Could DOOM VFR replace Epic Games’ Robo Recall as the best FPS in VR?
Bethesda had plenty of big VR projects to showcase at E3 2017 this week, but there’s been a little confusion as to when you’ll get to play what on which platforms. If you have a high-end headset, though, there’s a good chance you’ll get to play everything at some point in the future.
Following a few days of fans asking what platforms Bethesda’s VR games would be available on, the company issued a statement on Twitter, noting that it plans “on supporting as muany platforms as week can.”
Images of Fallout 4 and Skyrim VR accompanied the tweet.
It’s been fun bringing our style of games to VR. We plan on supporting as many platforms as we can. #E32017pic.twitter.com/xA5kNgV9hR
— BethesdaGameStudios (@BethesdaStudios) June 13, 2017
Currently, Fallout 4 is set to release on HTC Vive this October, and Skyrim VR will hit PlayStation VR (PSVR) in November. From the sounds of it, both games could head elsewhere after this initial release. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a Vive version of Skyrim follow soon after the PSVR release, for example. It’s a little trickier with Fallout 4, though, as there’s still the question of if the game will run on the less powerful PS4 hardware.
All that said, we still don’t have a clear idea on the company’s plans for that other major VR hardware, the Oculus Rift. Bethesda’s relationship with the company appears somewhat estranged given that owner ZeniMax Media recently took Oculus to court over an alleged theft of technology. Oculus is currently trying to appeal the $500 million fine it was ordered to pay ZeniMax. It’s not hard to understand why there might be some hold up bring Fallout, Skyrim, and the PSVR and Vive-bound Doom VFR to Rift, then.
We’re visiting Bethesda at E3 today, so expect impressions on these titles soon.
Essentially a sequel to 2016’s DOOM reboot, DOOM VFR is just as gloriously bloodthirsty as its predecessor. A huge variety of guns, enemies, locations, exploration and everything that made DOOM one of the best videogames of last year is present and correct in DOOM VFR. But how does such fast and aggressive gameplay work in VR? Well, brilliantly. Yes, even the strafing.