[Update] Wie angekündigt ist Bloody Zombies für PlayStation VR (PSVR), Oculus Rift und HTC Vive erschienen. Im Oculus Blog verrät Dan Sheridan einige Details zur Entwicklung des Spieles. Als Inspiration gibt er beispielsweise die Zombie-Komödie Shaun of the Dead an. Der Titel kostet bei Steam und bei Sony knapp 13,50 Euro, im Oculus Store sind rund 15 Euro fällig.
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Am 12. September ist es so weit: Das im Mai angekündigte Beat ‚em up Bloody Zombies erscheint gleichzeitig für die HTC Vive, Oculus Rift und für die PlaySstation VR (PSVR). Der Sidescrolling-Prügler orientiert sich an Brawler-Spielen wie Streets of Rage oder auch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. Bloody Zombies bietet klassische Action im Comic-Design für bis zu vier Spieler und lässt sich ab sofort mit Rabatt vorbestellen.
Bloody Zombies: Vier Spieler für ein blutiges Halleluja
Ein erster Blick auf Bloody Zombies wirkt für Fans klassischer Sidescrolling-Arcade-Action schon vielversprechend. Bei dem Prügelspiel geht es darum, die Straßen von anrückenden Zombies zu säubern. Bis zu vier Spieler können sich zusammen durch die Untoten-Horden metzeln. Das funktioniert nicht nur online, sondern so wie in den guten alten Arcade-Zeiten auch lokal. Der Entwickler nDreams hat dabei daran gedacht, dass es derzeit wohl noch schwierig sein dürfte, genügend Headsets für eine Vierer-Runde aufzutreiben. Deshalb können die geneigten Mitspieler am Monitor und TV mitmischen. Wie viele davon Headsets verwenden, soll unerheblich sein.
Die Entwickler versprechen leicht zugängliche Moves, brutale Combos und freischaltbare Special Moves. Außerdem können Spieler Waffen entdecken und somit noch mehr Schaden anrichten. In VR soll man zudem ein größeres Sichtfeld haben und nur so einige versteckte Dinge entdecken können. Die bessere Übersicht hilft auch bei der taktischen Vorgehensweise – das Spiel entfaltet also das ganze Potential erst, wenn mindestens einer der Spieler in der virtuellen Realität unterwegs ist.
Bloody Zombies lässt sich ab sofort für exakt 12,14 Euro vorbestellen, bei Erscheinen am 12. September steigt der Preis auf keineswegs blutrünstige 13,49 Euro. Als Grafikkarte verlangt das Prügelspiel für die PC-Version mindestens eine NVIDIA GTX 970 oder AMD RX 290.
In May, British studio nDreams announced a publishing deal with Paw Print Games to bring it’s side-scrolling brawler Bloody Zombies to virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) alongside Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Today the companies have revealed the simultaneous launch date, bringing the co-op fighter to players in September.
Bloody Zombiesfeatures a one-to-four person co-op multiplayer, designed so that any combination of TV and VR players can team up and take on the zombie hordes. Set in London, the undead have taken over the city and four cockney misfits must work together to beat back the rotting hordes.
David Corless, VP of Publishing, nDreams, said in a statement: “Bloody Zombies is a classic co-op brawler but with a new twist where VR players and non-VR players can battle the undead together, either online or couch co-op. Think Streets of Rage and Castle Crashers on amphetamines, throw in some friends, add in the unique viewpoint when playing in VR and Bloody Zombies is like no other game out there!”
Featuring easily accessible moves and brutal chainable combos, players will be able to unlock special moves and discover melee weapons to expand their zombie-slaying abilities. VR players will get an enhanced viewpoint, allowing them to incover in-game secrets and provide tactical support.
“We’re massive fans of brawler games and have spent countless hours analyzing the genre, crafting Bloody Zombies in to a modern interpretation of the classics. VR adds a new twist to what is already a great TV experience; enhancing the gameplay and visuals and adding a wow factor. We can’t wait for people to get their hands on Bloody Zombies…,” added Anthony White, Co-Founder and Director at Paw Print Games.
Supporting Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR, pre-orders for Bloody Zombies go live today. The standard cost for the title is for £10.99 GBP/€13.49 EUR/$14.99 USD, although gamers who do pre-order will get a 10 percent discount.
Bloody Zombies will launch on 12th September 2017, and for any further info, keep reading VRFocus.
VRFocus has already covered Bloody Zombies in previews and some gameplay is visible here. However here’s a quick re-cap on this co-operative side-scrolling brawler. London has been lost to the undead in Bloody Zombies, overrun by zombies four outcasts must band together and use various weapons to survive.
What makes Bloody Zombies unique is that you can play both in virtual reality (VR) and on a console at the same time. So whilst your buddies are on your couch, you can put on a headset and play with them. What’s quite nice is the flexibility of choosing to play in VR or non-VR, with players locally or online. You might not think a side-scrolling brawler works in VR, but it does. The characters appear as 2D cut-outs in a 3D world. This allows you view the landscape, see enemies approaching from a greater distance than you would usually be able to see on a 2D screen. So you get perspective. Every level is unique in art style as you encounter different zombies.
Steven Craft, Co-founder and Director of Paw Print Games tells VRFocus that when they pitched this concept 18 months ago, people weren’t able to wrap their heads around it. Now at E3, players get it and they like it, it works. This unique perspective certainly makes Bloody Zombies stand out amongst the other VR games. You can play it on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR.
nDreams, creators of The Assembly and publishers of the upcoming brawler Bloody Zombies, have completed an additional £2 million investment with Mercia Technologies, and £700,000 from private investors to create more VR games. In addition, nDreams has signed a deal to bring exclusive new content to a “leading VR arcade company.” According to a nDreams blog post, the VR arcade content partnership is just one of many recent deals with third-party companies.
nDreams says they’re “targeting rapid growth over the next year as the VR market continues to expand,” citing its five VR titles in production including Bloody Zombies and and number of unannounced titles currently in development.
Paul Fitzsimons, a former partner at venture capital firm Apax Partners, will join nDreams as chairman. Rob Precious, the former director of business development at Geomerics/ARM, has also joined the company’s board as non-executive director. nDreams also plans on strengthening their senior team by hiring a CFO and a COO in the coming months.
The Assembly, image courtesy nDreams
“Mercia’s continued support, and the backing of private investors, bolsters our relentless ambition to remain at the forefront of VR. The company has expanded rapidly over the past 12 months leading to outstanding opportunities, including our move into VR Arcades and our continued focus on creating innovative VR content for home headsets. We’re also delighted to welcome Paul and Rob to the board, who bring a wealth of experience and insight to the team,” said Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO and founder of nDreams.
Mercia previously invested seed funds amounting to $2.75M in December 2015. Combined with the recent £2.7M ($3.5M) follow-on investment, this brings nDreams to $9.22M over the course of three funding rounds, according to Crunchbase.
“nDreams continues to thrive within the VR market, a sector expected to be worth in excess of $30 billion by 2020,” says Mike Hayes, investment director at Mercia. “Its growing reputation as one of the UK’s leading developers and publishers of VR content demonstrates the significant progress that the company has made this year with many of the major hardware brands in this rapidly growing market. We are delighted to continue to back this industry-leading team.”
The company’s latest title, Bloody Zombies, is slated to arrive later this year on PS4, PC, Xbox One, PS VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive.
nDreams, creators of The Assembly and publishers of the upcoming brawler Bloody Zombies, have completed an additional £2 million investment with Mercia Technologies, and £700,000 from private investors to create more VR games. In addition, nDreams has signed a deal to bring exclusive new content to a “leading VR arcade company.” According to a nDreams blog post, the VR arcade content partnership is just one of many recent deals with third-party companies.
nDreams says they’re “targeting rapid growth over the next year as the VR market continues to expand,” citing its five VR titles in production including Bloody Zombies and and number of unannounced titles currently in development.
Paul Fitzsimons, a former partner at venture capital firm Apax Partners, will join nDreams as chairman. Rob Precious, the former director of business development at Geomerics/ARM, has also joined the company’s board as non-executive director. nDreams also plans on strengthening their senior team by hiring a CFO and a COO in the coming months.
The Assembly, image courtesy nDreams
“Mercia’s continued support, and the backing of private investors, bolsters our relentless ambition to remain at the forefront of VR. The company has expanded rapidly over the past 12 months leading to outstanding opportunities, including our move into VR Arcades and our continued focus on creating innovative VR content for home headsets. We’re also delighted to welcome Paul and Rob to the board, who bring a wealth of experience and insight to the team,” said Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO and founder of nDreams.
Mercia previously invested seed funds amounting to $2.75M in December 2015. Combined with the recent £2.7M ($3.5M) follow-on investment, this brings nDreams to $9.22M over the course of three funding rounds, according to Crunchbase.
“nDreams continues to thrive within the VR market, a sector expected to be worth in excess of $30 billion by 2020,” says Mike Hayes, investment director at Mercia. “Its growing reputation as one of the UK’s leading developers and publishers of VR content demonstrates the significant progress that the company has made this year with many of the major hardware brands in this rapidly growing market. We are delighted to continue to back this industry-leading team.”
The company’s latest title, Bloody Zombies, is slated to arrive later this year on PS4, PC, Xbox One, PS VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive.
PlayStation VR has sold over 1 million units and had more success in sales compared to the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. VRFocushas put together a list of games that we know are coming to the PlayStation VR. If you prefer watching all the games coming to PlayStation VR, scroll down to the bottom to view it.
Farpoint is a first-person shooter on the PlayStation VR. When it launched, it debuted at number two in the UK Sales chart and is sold alongside the new Aim controller. Starting with a bloke putting on a PlayStation VR in his basement he then finds himself transported to an uncharted alien world filled with all manner of enemies.
Survive in an unknown alien world after a crash, search for fellow human survivors whilst shooting hoards of alien creatures. The new DLC Cryo Pack coming on the 27th of June, a 2 player co-op with challenge levels in an ice world.
This VR game is a multiplayer racing title based on slot car racing. You can play with up to four friends or race AI opponents. Taking inspiration from toys by Scalextric and Carrera, FuturLab has created a title that evolves slot-car racing in a way only videogames can do.
Featuring both a singleplayer – against AI – or an online multiplayer for up to four people, Tiny Trax includes six vehicles to select before heading out onto the track. Friends can select either single races or go for a tournament to test their skills.
Is a first-person shooter set in the year 2076, where you must throw, slow and shoot your way through extraterrestrial-bots inspired by classic arcade shooters, the studio only released one image, showing a vicious looking robot. First Contact Entertainment describes ROM: Extraction’s gameplay mechanic as “Throw, Slow & Shoot.” Whereby players will have the ability to slow down time – called “Reflex” power – to help defend themselves against these dangerous looking, extraterrestrial robots. The videogame will be a first-person shooter (FPS) using motion-based controls, three difficulty settings and global and local leaderboards.
Gran Turismo Sport was original slated for release at the end of 2016, but the developers were forced to push back the release date to 2017. Polyphony Digital are known among fans as being perfectionists, so it was not a huge surprised that an ambitious project such as Gran Turismo Sport ended up taking extra time.
The game now has a new Racing wheel designed exclusively for Gran Turismo Sport on the PlayStation 4. Specifically designed specially to enhance the experience of playing Gran Turismo Sport, the upcoming driving and racing simulator from Polyphony Digital on the PlayStation 4. Gran Turismo Sport is also offering virtual reality (VR) compatibility, which in combination with Thrustmaster’s racing wheel, could offer even more immersion to players.
THESEUS is a third person action-adventure where you play the titular character on a quest to slay the Minotaur from the ancient Greek mythology.
Taking inspiration from titles such as ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and the Last Guardian, Forge Reply has gone for a third-person viewpoint for its VR adventure, with Theseus employing a mix of static and dynamic cameras to aid immersion and gameplay.
Play this survival horror game where you wake up from a cryrosleep in the year 2521. Survive an experiment gone horribly wrong to save the ship.
Sneak around and hide behind cover, being stealthy will feel natural in VR and give you the upper hand.
7. Bloody Zombies – nDreams
Bloody Zombies is a side-scrolling brawler set in London. It supports one to four players online or locally. Follow the story of four lone survivors and fight zombies who appear as 2D cardboard cut-outs in a virtual environment.
A real-time strategy game announced at the 2016 PlayStation Press Conference and will be released in Japan in 2017. You’ll play as the demon load with the aim to conquer the world.
Play the the God of Destruction and fight against those heroes of justice by using the food cycle, breeding monsters and repelling incoming heroes while conquering strongholds.
Is a Chinese developed game set in a medieval-themed world and strategic gameplay where you assume the role of a commander. You have to build up your team to enjoy PVE and pvp, each battle lasts about 5 minutes and you will win the game after you destroy the enemy’s forts.
It’s cross-platform and is supported by HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PSVR, Google Daydream and Samsung Gear .
Archangel is coming exclusively two PSVR for two weeks before coming to any other platform. In this story-driven shooter where you become a six-story-high war-machine and fight against the tyrannical HUMNX.
AI-controlled teammates in different vehicles will need your protection and will support you when your shields have failed.
SUPERHOTVR is finally coming to PlayStation VR, after debuting on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
SUPERHOT had heaps of critical acclaim at launch, and its VR version received equal praise. We can only assume the PlayStation VR version will be equally beloved.
The acclaimed shooter is finally coming to PlayStation VR, but this isn’t simply a port of a game you’ve already played, but an all-new installment built for VR.
Developed by id Software, the studio that created the DOOM franchise, DOOM VFR casts the player as the last known human survivor of the demonic invasion of the UAC’s Martian research facility.
Bethesda’s beloved The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is making its way to VR on PlayStation 4.
Publisher Bethesda Softworks has announced that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is set for a November 2017 release on PlayStation VR, and all of the original console downloadable content (DLC) will be included with both the digital and physical editions of the videogame.
Star Child was announced with a short trailer during Sony’s E3 press conference.
Star Child takes place on an alien world, filled with mysterious creatures and futuristic space ships. The man-made interiors of the planet hide many incredible fluorescent and neon creatures, all of which are sure to look incredibly imposing in VR.
Final Fantasy XV: Monster of the Deep will offer PlayStation VR players the opportunity to explore the world’s oceans, lakes, ponds and rivers and participate in a wide variety of fishing challenges. Many returning characters from the original Final Fantasy XV will appear in the videogame, including familiar faces such as Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus, and more.
17. Bravo Team – Supermassive Games
Bravo Team, appears to be a military first-person shooter (FPS). Releasing at the end of the year for PlayStation VR, Bravo Team will be one of the first competitive multiplayer VR shooters for the platform.
In Moss you will be focusing on puzzle solving and exploration, slowly finding your path forward through these huge stages. Butterflies and insects appear huge next to your mousey character as they are entirely dwarfed by trees and other creatures – something that becomes very obvious when coming face-to-face with a hungry snake.
Sparc is a skill-based, physical sport, where two players use PlayStationMove motion controllers to aim and throw projectiles at each other inside a virtual arena, all the while defending themselves by dodging, blocking, or deflecting incoming attacks from their opponent.
Sparc includes multiple two-player game modes where players can compete against their friends or find challengers via online matchmaking. Additionally, a selection of single-player challenges and training modes are included, plus a wide range of customization and personalization options for competitors.
The PlayStation VR benefited from a huge swathe of videogame titles at launch, but in the months that followed this barrage slowed to a trickle. The recent releases of the well received Farpoint and Star Trek: Bridge Crew see the first wave of titles announced coming to a close; so what’s next? VRFocus looks at five new titles on the horizon, and why you should be excited for them.
The Persistence
After the success of Playroom VR, UK-based Firesprite are coming back for more virtual reality (VR), this time with a much darker experience. The Persistence is a horror title featuring procedurally generated environments. In a similar fashion to Ubisoft’s Zombi, every time the player dies they become a new character, but in The Persistence the space ship upon which they are based will have changed: a new layout, enemy placement and items.
To connect each attempt, the player can harvest cells which can be used to improve attributes such as speed, health and stealth. If a player dies these are transferred for the next play through, hence that title.
The Persistence was originally expected to launch last month, however there’s no signs of a release date at present. It’s likely we’ll learn more at next week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Los Angeles.
Bloody Zombies
Another UK studio, nDreams pledged their commitment to the new medium very early in the wave or modern VR. After launching The Assembly last year, the developer/publisher is returning to PlayStation VR with Bloody Zombies: a side-scrolling brawler.
While the genre may not scream ‘VR’, it is actually a perfect combination of technology and action. The 2D characters appear like cardboard cutouts in the virtual environment and the added benefit of a widened viewpoint allows developer Paw Print Games to hide secrets beyond the edge of the traditional 2D screen.
Bloody Zombies has been designed to allow for up to four players to use any combination of VR and non-VR when playing together online, keeping the experience open to all. VRFocus has already been hands-on with Bloody Zombies and will get to experience the title once again at next week’s E3.
Theseus
Recently confirmed for PlayStation VR, Forge Reply’s Theseus proposes an interesting combination of platform challenges and brawling, combined with static and dynamic camera angles, screams ‘God of War’.
According to Samuele Perseo, Producer at Forge Reply: “Theseus is not an ordinary hero; in our game he is the prey, not the hunter. He is “only human” while his enemy, besides being 33 feet tall, has otherworldly strength… and he is invulnerable.
“Theseus cannot just fight the Minotaur head-on: each encounter between the two poses a new challenge. It may be necessary to resort to stealth, or an ancient mechanism could be the key to escape death. The monster is blind, but his hearing and his smell are sharp.”
Theseus is expected to launch on PlayStation VR this summer, and as such will likely make its playable debut at E3 next week.
Tiny Trax
The third UK studio delivering their wares to this list, FuturLab has built a strong audience thanks to the success of the Velocity series. Now however, the developer is turning its attention to VR, with the upcoming Tiny Trax.
Having been compared to Micro Machines with a hint of Off-Road 4×4 thanks to its unique viewpoint, Tiny Trax will follow Codemasters’ Toybox Turbos in delivering an unconventional racing videogame to VR players. Featuring both single player gameplay and an online multiplayer for up to four people, Tiny Trax will include six vehicles to select before heading out onto the track.
No release date has yet been announced for Tiny Trax, however FuturLab has suggested that it will be ‘coming soon’. Of course, VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details.
Sony Santa Monica
So, we don’t actually know what this one is. So why’s it on this list? Because Sony Santa Monica is one of the most highly respected developers on PlayStation hardware. That’s why.
As you will most likely have seen, last month VRFocus reported on an unofficial statement regarding Sony Santa Monica’s continued work in VR, and that after assisting a number of studios with external projects its first title for the PlayStation VR will likely be announced soon. That ‘soon’ may well be at E3 next week.
Whether it will be a part of an existing franchise – Sony Santa Monica has of course championed the God of War series – or a brand new title is yet to be seen, but you can be sure that whatever comes will shoot straight to the top of PlayStation VR owners’ most wanted lists.
Here’s the launch trailer for newly released zombie-themed brawler ‘Bloody Zombies‘ from developers of ‘The Assembly‘ nDreams and Paw Print Games. But before you roll your eyes at the prospect of yet another undead VR wave shooter, this one’s a little different.
Virtual reality gaming has defied expectations in many ways and its application and enhancement traditional (and not immediately obvious) gaming genres is one of them. You wouldn’t assume that 3rd person platform games would be a great fit for an immersive gaming platform and yet Lucky’s Tale proved that assumption resolutely incorrect.
Now nDreams, the developers who brought the multi-platform made-for-VR adventure ‘The Assembly’, and Paw Print Games have pivoted sharply for their next virtual reality compatible title. Bloody Zombies is a side scrolling beat-’em-up inspired by an era when ‘beat-’em-up’ was still a term in common use. If you’re old enough to recall classic fighting titles, born from arcades gaming stock (think 80s Final Fight and 90s Streets of Rage) then you’ll know what to expect from Bloody Zombies. Scroll from left to right, punching and bludgeoning your way through the zombie hordes all set against the backdrop of an apocalyptic London.
The title features simultaneous four player co-op support, with one of those players able to join the game in VR. nDream’s approach is to the immersive component is to present the gameworld as a diorama to the VR player, allowing them to peer in, over and around the scene to give them the ability to spot hidden loot and, as nDreams put it, “provide tactical support to your friends.” You can see the game in action with VR in the gameplay overview video at the top of this page.
As for the gameplay itself, the developers have tried to infuse Bloody Zombies with an easy to learn yet hard to master ethos, with basic combat leading to more advanced techniques including combos and juggle combos. Of course, this being a zombie title, there’s also an array of weaponry with which to dismember everything in your path too.
All in all, it looks like great and I knwo from experience that ostensibly 2D games can look great in VR, but I’m struggling to see the immersive aspect of Bloody Zombies as anything other than a cleverly integrated ‘nice to have’ bonus for headset owner. We’ll reserve judgement however as the title will be heading to PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift later this year.
In Paw Print Games’ Bloody Zombies, London has been lost to the undead. Overrun by mutated zombies, four outcasts must band together to take on the enemy hordes. In a selection of screenshots from the videogame, you can see just how brutal their methods are.
Bloody Zombies is a co-operative side-scrolling brawler designed to be played with any combination of flatscreen and virtual reality (VR) players. Fight across the ruins of London taking down a variety of undead with an expanding special move-set when the videogame launches on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC later this year.
Set to be published by nDreams, Paw Print Games’ Bloody Zombies will be compatible with PlayStation VR on PlayStation 4, and Oculus Rift or HTC Vive on PC. VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details on Bloody Zombies and other forthcoming VR titles from nDreams.
It never rains but it pours in the world of virtual reality (VR). There can be times when the news seems a little barren and at other points there’s so much going on it can be hard to keep up. As VRFocus’ Nina does every Thursday, she’s rounds-up some of the biggest and best stories, with a few quirky ones for your viewing pleasure.
This week’s VRTV features Nvidia and how the company is working towards reducing VR latency, Facebook and its plans for shows that include VR dating, Oculus and its VR for Good Creators Lab, Marvel examining the prospect of VR, and Paw Print Games’ videogame Bloody Zombies.
This week’s stories, click here for more information on each:
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7. Bloody Zombies – nDreams 
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Bloody Zombies
Theseus
Tiny Trax
Sony Santa Monica
