Downward Spiral: Prologue – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

April 23, 2018

3rd Eye Studios On The Road To Downward Spiral: Horus Station

Developer 3rd Eye Studios is working hard on their upcoming virtual reality (VR) title Downward Spiral: Horus Station. Ahead of release VRFocus’ Nina Salomons sat down with Greg Louden, Lead Designer at 3rd Eye Studios for a chance to talk about their upcoming title.

Downward Spiral Horus Station

Louden talks about the title as a mystery that is to be discovered rather than told, allowing users to explore the title and uncover the story of the title rather than being spoon-feed. Louden explains in the interview about how the environmental story telling that is accompanied by a stunning soundtrack is how the narrative of the title is delivered, as traditional cutscenes and voice-over are not present. Players will need to explore and witness events throughout the world in order to uncover the full story and piece together what is going on.

3rd Eye Studios released Downward Spiral: Prologue last year as a proof of concept for the Downward Spiral: Horus Station but Louden explains that this release is much bigger featuring eight times the enemies, eight times the weapons and eight chapters. When asked how long the title would take complete Louden said that some testers were taking up to ten hours to finish the title in co-op. Of course, if players speed through then they will likely finish it in less time.

The multiplayer for Downward Spiral: Horus Station will work with Stream VR to allow users to play together. Though cross-platform play is something that Louden comments is something they might explore in the future, it is not a feature at launch. Downward Spiral: Horus Station

Louden also reveals that the team at 3rd Eye Studios would love to build the title into a much larger franchise but will see how the release of Downward Spiral: Horus Station goes. He also commented that their are clues to their future plans found throughout the title and maybe even in the promotional material for the title.

VRFocus’ Editor Kevin Joyce previewed Downward Spiral: Horus Station saying: “3rd Eye Studios is aiming for eight chapters lasting over an hour each, combining puzzle, exploration and combat challenges into a varied space-based VR experience. What was seen in this initial chapter holds promise, but just as Downward Spiral Prologue before it leaves the player wishing for more depth: the mechanics of movement and combat seem disparate from the world, not cohesive in the way that the aforementioned BioShockcleverly made you believe in its world through mise-en-scene.”

For more on Downward Spiral: Horus Station, stay tuned to VRFocus and check out the full interview in the below video.

March 24, 2018

New Gameplay For Downward Spiral: Horus Station Released

Upcoming co-operative virtual reality (VR) videogame Downward Spiral: Horus Station has been at the Game Developer Conference (GDC) this week and VRFocus grabbed some new gameplay.

Downward Spiral - Prologue screenshot 2

Developed by 3rd Eye Studios, Downward Spiral: Horus Station is a zero-gravity space adventure, which lures players through a lost vessel abandoned by its crew. With a focus on environmental storytelling players will need to explore the vast locations in order to uncover the truth of what has happened while accompanied by a electronic, ambient soundtrack. The main draw of Downward Spiral: Horus Station is the support for single or co-operative play, allowing two players to explore the station as a duo and work together to overcome challenges.

Downward Spiral: Horus Station will also include additional modes including a eight-player player-versus-player (PVP) and play-versus-environment (PVE) multiplayer modes such as Deathmatch, Horde and Survivor. Additionally players who would rather not have to deal with any combat can do so by picking an option that allows them to enjoy the story without any combat.

VRFocus’ Editor Kevin Joyce previewed Downward Spiral: Horus Station at GDC 2018 saying: “3rd Eye Studios is aiming for eight chapters lasting over an hour each, combining puzzle, exploration and combat challenges into a varied space-based VR experience. What was seen in this initial chapter holds promise, but just as Downward Spiral Prologue before it leaves the player wishing for more depth: the mechanics of movement and combat seem disparate from the world, not cohesive in the way that the aforementioned BioShock cleverly made you believe in its world through mise-en-scene. An empty shell to move around within does not make a compelling experience, and so the hope is that the team find new and intuitive ways to make the best out of this inviting setting with the interesting mechanics they have created.”

Downward Spiral: Horus Station is currently in development for PlayStation 4 and PC with support for PlayStation VR, Oculus Touch, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality (MR). It is set to release in Spring 2018 but there is a prologue available to purchase right now via Steam. You can see over fifteen minutes of gameplay below.

For more on Downward Spiral: Horus Station in the future, keep reading VRFocus.

March 19, 2018

Preview: Downward Spiral: Horus Station – 3rd Eye Studios Expand the Space Odyssey

3rd Eye Studios made its virtual reality (VR) debut last year with Downward Spiral: Prologue, a taster for the adventure yet to come. Now the team has ramped-up in numbers and is showcasing Downward Spiral: Horus Station, a full videogame experience built upon feedback from that original outing.

With the assets of experience and audience commentary in hand, 3rd Eye Studios has ventured to create a richer experience with Downward Spiral: Horus Station. Citing critically acclaimed first-person adventure videogames such as BioShock and System Shock as inspiration, Downward Spiral: Horus Station still feels somewhat shallow by comparison. However, taking the title as a unique VR experience in its own right does cast a better light on the proceedings.

Played as a two-player co-operative experience using Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch – versions of the videogame are also coming to HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and Windows Mixed Reality, in addition to a non-VR version for PlayStation 4 – Downward Spiral: Horus Station’s first chapter was a lightweight experience clearly designed as a tutorial for the basics. Players navigate by grabbing and pushing against walls as with the original Downward Spiral: Prologue (and arguably much better realised in Ready at Dawn’s Lone Echo) and later receive a magnetic grappling gun which affords the opportunity to pull themselves directly towards a wall or objects towards them.

Downward Spiral Horus Station The movement mechanics in Downward Spiral: Horus Station provide a genuine sense of weightlessness in the zero-gravity environment, with players drifting through a space and having to connect with stationary objects in order to halt their momentum and prevent themselves from travelling beyond their desired destination. Once the grappling gun has been received a great deal more emphasis is placed upon pre-emptive decision making; especially once the combat engagements begin.

The original Downward Spiral: Prologue had but one enemy type, and while a basic drone provided enough of a challenge here in Downward Spiral: Horus Station, a later encounter with a boss certainly mixed things up considerably. The player is continuously faced with a decision between preparation for combat or flexibility in movement, with holding the grapple gun removing the option to dual wield weapons. Finding a safe spot in which to rain down fire is rare and as such quick changes in tactics between shooting-and-moving are frequently the more fruitful tactic.

3rd Eye Studios is aiming for eight chapters lasting over an hour each, combining puzzle, exploration and combat challenges into a varied space-based VR experience. What was seen in this initial chapter holds promise, but just as Downward Spiral Prologue before it leaves the player wishing for more depth: the mechanics of movement and combat seem disparate from the world, not cohesive in the way that the aforementioned BioShock cleverly made you believe in its world through mise-en-scene. An empty shell to move around within does not make a compelling experience, and so the hope is that the team find new and intuitive ways to make the best out of this inviting setting with the interesting mechanics they have created.

March 14, 2018

See Behind the Scenes of Sci-Fi Adventure Downward Spiral: Horus Station

Last year, Finnish developer 3rd Eye Studios launched its for virtual reality (VR) title, Downward Spiral: Prologue. The sequel to this zero-g space adventure is due for release later this year, and the development team are lifting the curtain to show details on its development.

Downward Spiral: Horus Station is a first-person sci-fi adventure title that follows on from the original game, putting the player on a lost space vessel that has been mysteriously abandoned by its crew. Players will need to use hardware items such as rivet guns and arc welders to take down enemies and solve puzzles to discover the secrets of Horus Station.

Downward spiral horus station screen 3

The developers have created a title that has minimal dialogue, and the developer video diary goes into detail about how this apparent lack by discussing how sound still plays a critical role in creating atmosphere.

The developer diary introduces Can Uzer, the sound designer of Downward Spiral: Horus Station who speaks about drawing on the soundscapes of classic sci-fi horror/thrillers such as Alien, Moon and Solaris, using sounds such as hiss and whirr of hydraulics that echo through the station to craft an ominous atmosphere of abandonment.

Sound design is an important component of the player experience, one that can be easily overlooked in favour of more obvious factors such as locomotion or graphics, both of which are important in VR, but the team at 3rd Eye Studios have chosen to eliminate dialogue in favour of a more subtle take on storytelling, opting to create a 3D soundscape that offers a utilitarian flavour of sci-fi.

Downward Spiral: Horus Station is due to launch in Spring 2018 for PlayStation VR, Oculus Vive with Touch, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. A price point for the title has not yet been confirmed.

Downward spiral horus station screen 2

The developer diary is available to watch below. VRFocus will bring you further news on Downward Spiral: Horus Station and other upcoming VR titles.

February 7, 2018

Multiplayer Sci-fi Adventure ‘Downward Spiral: Horus Station’ to Launch This Spring on PSVR, Rift & Vive

Downward Spiral: Horus Station is an upcoming sci-fi adventure game from 3rd Eye Studios, a Finish studio featuring industry veterans from games such as Alan Wake, and Halo 5, and movies including Wall-E, Gravity, and Prometheus.

While Horus Station is technically the second installment in the series following last year’s Downward Spiral: Prologue (2017), it’s really just the next evolution.

“Last year’s Downward Spiral: Prologue was our proof of concept. Now we’re almost ready to let players embark on a full-length adventure to discover the atmospheric Horus Station,” said Kari Koivistoinen, CEO of 3rd Eye Studios. “For those that wish to experience the game in VR, we’ve continued to develop our proprietary tech that mitigates VR motion sickness while allowing for a full range of movement. Movement is seamless, allowing players to engage in both thoughtful exploration and pulse-quickening combat.”

Horus Station aims to be a full-length adventure that takes place on a space station which was mysteriously abandoned by its crew. While 3rd Eye is staying pretty tight-lipped on just what lies ahead, they told us you have to solve puzzles, and fight or avoid unknown dangers by using the ship’s maintenance hardware like bolt throwers, rail guns, and arc welders to take out threats—of course, all in zero-G.

Horus Station will be launching for PC and PlayStation 4 this spring with optional PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive support at launch.

The game will feature co-op mode, allowing two players to explore the Horus Station both normally or with enemies turned off. It also boasts eight-player PvP and PvE multiplayer modes, which include Deathmatch, Horde and Survivor challenges.

Much like Lone Echo (2017), players will have to use the environment to physically propel themselves forward, or conversely use tools to help navigate the zero-G environment of the ship.

According to the studio, the game features no dialogue or cinematics, making users piece together the plot through observation and interpretation. The electronic ambient soundtrack was composed by HIM frontman Ville Valo.

The post Multiplayer Sci-fi Adventure ‘Downward Spiral: Horus Station’ to Launch This Spring on PSVR, Rift & Vive appeared first on Road to VR.

March 31, 2017

Review: Downward Spiral: Prologue

Space is awesome quite frankly. It’s a massive void with limitless possibilities, inspiring countless generations to look up at the stars and wonder what else is out there. Because of this it’s no surprise that virtual reality (VR) developers have used that dream of heading into the cosmos to create all manner of experiences, some fantastical while others err on the side of realism. For its first VR release, 3rd Eye Studios has gone for a mixture, with futuristic sci-fi and realistic zero-g working together to form Downward Spiral: Prologue.

As the name suggests Downward Spiral: Prologue is just the start of much bigger plans for 3rd Eye Studios, with a whole anthology series due to be released over time. So what’s this introduction like, well it’s a mixed bag, with awesome elements that come together to leave you dissatisfied as it’s just too short.

Downward Spiral - Prologue screenshot 2

So you find yourself in this space station, there’s been no story intro as to why you’re there or what’s going on. So it’s time to explore. And this is where you instantly come across the videogame’s movement mechanic. You’re in a station that has no power and therefor no gravity. Zero-G is synonymous with simulator sickness in VR as you can be floating in one direction whilst looking here, there and everywhere. But for Downward Spiral: Prologue the studio seems to have nailed it, with no nausea inducing moments. You have to grab onto stuff, whether that’s a rail, a wall, a console or anything else within arms reach. And this is how you make your way through the majority of the experience.

So movement’s good, what about gameplay? For the most part this is a fairly simple affair in the campaign, pressing illuminated switches to unlock doors or open cabinets to find items. It’s not until you get into the later half of the videogame that some assemblance of action begins to take place, with flying orb shaped robots needing to be shot down before they zap you to death. It might be due to the realistic way 3rd Eye Studios has created the zero-g and the space suit itself that the shooting mechanics don’t quite feel one hundred percent accurate, needing a bit of trial and error to get right.

Downward Spiral - Prologue screenshot 3

The one downside to the story mode is duration. Downward Spiral: Prologue can feel like its over before you’ve got into full stride but it’s certainly not some 5 min tech demo. A play through will probably take most players 30-40 minutes but that can feel immensely shorter as you do feel completely immersed in the gameplay and environment.

This review has only been based on the single-player Journey mode, with the title also featuring a co-op mode for the story as well as an eight person multiplayer. These should add so much needed longevity to the experience so long as enough players do decide to join in.

This is really only the start of things to come and 3rd Eye Studios has now showcased its talents for creating an engaging VR experience. So long as subsequent instalments develop a richly detailed story that grow the series into a sizable franchise, then Downward Spiral should become a VR title of note. At the moment though it just leaves you wanting.

70%

Awesome

Verdict

March 31, 2017

3rd Eye Studios Release Zero Gravity Thriller Downward Spiral: Prologue

Today, Helsinki, Finland-based virtual reality (VR) developer 3rd Eye Studios has launched its first instalment of Downward Spiral, a sci-fi series for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

Inspired by 70’s sci-fi movies and modern TV series, players find themselves in a capsule that has docked with a space station. On first exploration, the station appears empty and the players must use control panels to
progress and begin unravelling a mystery that will span the Downward Spiral anthology.

Downward Spiral - Prologue screenshot 2

Downward Spiral: Prologue features both single-player and multiplayer modes, where players can work through the story on their own or teamed up with a friend. For a more intense experience there’s also a deathmatch mode, allowing up to eight players to fight it out in zero gravity environments from the story.

Previous VR titles that deal with zero gravity have been prone to cause simulator sickness. 3rd Eye Studios is well aware of this and claims to have built a way to move freely in VR without suffering motion sickness.

As the developer releases further content new characters, plot points and settings will be added with each subsequent episode. Each will stand on its own whilst the backstory knits them together.

Downward Spiral: Prologue includes a soundtrack by lead singer and composer of gothic rock band HIM, Ville Valo. The title can be downloaded now through Steam priced at €9.99 EUR, $9.99 USD, £6.99 GBP.

Checkout the launch trailer below, and for further updates keep reading VRFocus.

March 31, 2017

‘Downward Spiral: Prologue’ Review

Downward Spiral: Prologue (2017) is a sci-fi adventure game that takes you into a lovingly recreated ’70s retro future of CRT monitors and space stations abound. Featuring a single-player and coop mission, and multiplayer death match mode Downward Spiral: Prologue feels like the creators have torn out the first few pages of an Arthur C. Clarke novel and realized it in virtual reality.

Downward Spiral: Prologue Details:

Official Site
Developer: 3rd Eye Studios Oy LTD
Available On: Steam (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift)
Reviewed On: HTC Vive, Oculus Touch
Release Date: March, 31st 2017

Gameplay

Generator power: offline. Life support: offline. Artificial gravity: offline.

You’re tossed in with little back story, but it’s clear what you have to do aboard what appears to be an abandoned space station orbiting Earth. Get systems back online and see what happens.

Grabbing the railing you propel yourself to the nearest airlock and enter the station. Because you’re in a microgravity environment, you have to stop yourself with your hand and navigate forward by pushing off walls, and using the world’s many hand railings and button-filled consoles for stability.

There’s a lot to like about Downward Spiral: Prologue, from its well-polished interiors to its innovative locomotion scheme that has you free-floating in space, but I wasn’t impressed at all by the 15-minute length of the game. That’s right, another short-lived VR game that’s selling for real money on Steam.

But if the short single player/coop mission doesn’t deter you, you’re in for some very cohesive art, some interesting exploration in what feels like a real space station and a satisfying conclusion of the little level that will definitely leave you wanting for more of everything. Considering this is the first installment of the game, which hasn’t gone through any sort of pre-funding scheme like Steam Greenlight program or Kickstarter, purchasing the game at $9.99 (€9,99 or £6,99) means you’re directly funding the second installment.

There aren’t really any puzzles to speak of, as the action is mostly driven by a few neat little button-filled consoles that jump-start the station’s various processes. There are also a few enemies to dispatch with a pistol, but the world’s little electric robot enemies are laughably easy to kill. It seems the atmosphere around you is really the star of the show here.

Deathmatch allows up to eight players to experience the same zero gravity gunplay in “environments familiar to the story,” meaning the same map. I wasn’t able to get into a deathmatch during pre-release of the game, so I can’t speak to its entirety. This isn’t a “shooter” however, so I’m still mystified as to why there’s a deathmatch in the first place. I’ll be updating my impressions (and score if need be) as soon as I get into a match.

Immersion

At first it took me a few moments to get used to the locomotion style of floating around and pushing off the corridors of the space station, but after a little practice I was flying through the world with relative ease. I was surprised at just how good it was, similar to Oculus’ recently released Mission:ISS (2017).

Shooting the game’s pistols wasn’t an entirely a hitch-free experience. Aiming felt a little unnatural, a possible tribute to realism as my space suit didn’t entirely allow for free movement with the pistol. I found myself being more deliberate in how I aimed because of it though as my bullets zinged through the vast expanse of the engine room.

Getting zapped by a robot feels right. Your sight is slightly more red-tinted every time you take a hit, and the sound mutes ever so slightly the worse the onslaught.

I played the game with both the Oculus Rift (with Touch) and the HTC Vive. The game is an open 360 environment, so a 3-sensor set-up is a must for Rift players if you want to forget the Touch version’s snap-turn. As per usual, the stock Vive setup provided for a flawless 360-tracking experience.

Comfort

Floating in space can be stomach-turning, but it seems the developers have nailed the locomotion scheme in Downward Spiral: Prologue to a pretty fine degree.

Besides relying on an hand-held air compressor you find midway through that lets you bebop around with your own personal jet, you have to use a little physicality to push off and stop yourself with walls. Thankfully grabbing out for any and all parts of the ship lets you stop yourself, and you sort of settle int your forward motion after a while.

The HUD design also helps anchor you in the world, keeping nausea at bay. The video walk-through below (warning: the full game is completely spoiled below) shows a bit of the left side of helmet in the frame, but it’s really not so intrusive. The helmet design only slightly cuts off your horizontal field of view (FOV).

Despite having a temperamental belly when it comes to artificial locomotion (I made myself sick playing Mission ISS), Downward Spiral seems to have done everything in its power to limit nausea, and I walked away feeling surprisingly normal.

We partnered with AVA Direct to create the Exemplar 2 Ultimate, our high-end VR hardware reference point against which we perform our tests and reviews. Exemplar 2 is designed to push virtual reality experiences above and beyond what’s possible with systems built to lesser recommended VR specifications.

The post ‘Downward Spiral: Prologue’ Review appeared first on Road to VR.

March 23, 2017

Downward Spiral: Prologue is a Short Tease of a Promising Zero-G Thriller

When I was a young kid and saw Apollo 13 for the first time — an incredible film with great performances by Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and more — it actually gave me an irrational fear. I started to contemplate what it would be like to be stuck in space, with no gravity, floating in the middle of a room without any way of reaching a surface to push myself off of. Without a gravitational pull to yank me downwards, or momentum to redirect me, I could be trapped, suspended in the air, with no escape. It was terrifying to think about and it’s always been in the back of my mind ever since.

Naturally, when I embarked on my preview gameplay session with Downward Spiral: Prologue, the first VR game by 3rd Eye Studios, a company that’s stacked with experienced talent, my completely random fear came rushing back. Luckily I never got stranded, but this was the first space-based zero-G VR game I’ve played that really gave me a strong sense of immersion and agency unlike anything else.

I went into my demo for Downward Spiral: Prologue mostly blind. After installing it on my end and having fellow UploadVR writer, Jamie Feltham, get everything squared away on his end, we dove into the experience together. At first glance it’s easy to draw comparisons to the likes of ADR1FT, but that game lets you boost around with a little jetpack. More recent upcoming games like Lone Echo are similar in terms of how you traverse the environment, but not exactly the same.

As soon as the initial loading screens were done I was standing on a metal bridge across a dark room surrounded by computer monitors that showed my avatar floating on them. When reaching out with either of my Vive wand controllers I could press the trigger to grab onto railings and other surfaces, then push off and fling myself through the air, without friction or gravity getting in the way.

It’s a very floaty, otherworldly feeling that somehow seems to sidestep the motion sickness concerns that plague other titles. Part of the phenomenon though could be due to the implicit FOV limitation of being inside a space suit since I could see the edges of my helmet when I looked around. Whatever the case may be, neither of us experienced any nausea at all, even when moving around quickly.

Once I reached the computer terminal at the end of the hall I had three basic options: Single player, Multiplayer, and Deathmatch. On my right there was another module where I could adjust the intensity of my graphics settings. We both mashed the Multiplayer button and waited for it to finish loading.

The next scene I found myself in was what looked like a space pod of some kind. There was a window to the deep, black sea of stars to one side as well as a vault hatch of some kind to the other. I reached out and opened the hatch with a lever and propelled myself down a tube into a large room. Craning my neck upwards I saw a second level with different bays and doors as well as a large computer terminal in the center.

In front of one of the computer screens I could press various buttons to cycle through several different cameras, allowing me to see all edges of the room from a single vantage point. With only my single partner to keep track of, this wasn’t very useful in my limited demo setting.

Objectives were unclear, so naturally we just started fumbling around. Objects floated weightlessly throughout the environment and we eventually stumbled across two storage containers with guns inside. Naturally, this resulted in us opening fire on each other, diving around the arena as we engaged in a bit of impromptu deathmatch even though this was actually the cooperative mode.

Soon, we found our way up to the second level of this room where we found a new door that led us to an even larger area. We looked up and saw several bridges crossing a large chasm and a black void down below us. A panel toggled a fan when pressed, which caused us to slowly start rising to the top of the room.

Eventually we gained access to a device that could be used as an air blast to propel us in the direction we pointed. My default style resulted in me holding the air device in my left hand, then pointing and releasing to adjust my course through the air, with the gun in my right hand for best accuracy. In the trailer at the top of this article, you can see some of the small, orb-like robot enemies that chased us with lightning bolts. Luckily, it only took two shots to take them down with our pistols.

I don’t want to spoil what happens at the end of Downward Spiral: Prologue, but it left both Jamie and I with big smiles on our faces. We couldn’t stop talking about how well-paced and epic it all felt, especially considering how little we knew about the game before diving in.

After that we jumped into a quick round of Deathmatch (I beat him 10-1), which will support up to 8 players when released. In the mode we could freely move around the same massive room found at the end of the Prologue mission. Everyone is equipped with a gun and air jet machine so you can freely move around. There is a ton of floating debris everywhere so holding onto a piece and popping in and out of cover while shooting felt great.

Downward Spiral: Prologue is expected to be available on Steam for Oculus Rift with Touch and HTC Vive this month, in March 2017. Prologue will be the first installment in a larger Downward Spiral Anthology series, each of which are expected to feature new characters, plot points, and settings that will all be tied together with an unsettling backstory.

Let us know what you think down in the comments below!

Tagged with: 3rd eye studios, Downward Spiral: Prologue