Fast Travel Games, the developer of Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife and Apex Construct, is getting into VR publishing.
This new arm of the Stockholm-based company will offer funding, marketing, PR and general help with releasing titles across a range of platforms. The studio today confirmed it has hired Patrick Liu, the former Head of Games at Minecraft developer Mohang Studios, to head up the publishing division.
Fast Travel itself is one of the larger VR studios out there, with the team nearing 50 employees. It will be looking to work with smaller studios to bring their projects to market. The studio didn’t announce any new partnerships today, but did open the call to pitches, which you can read more about on its website.
In a prepared statement, studio CEO Oskar Burman noted that the success of the Oculus Quest had helped Fast Travel make the move: “While we will continue to develop and publish games on all major platforms, Quest has changed the game. For our most recent launch, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, Quest has accounted for 90% of sales since launch.”
The news comes off the back of Fast Travel raising a further $4 million in funding earlier this year. The developer continues to work on its own VR exclusive games. A PSVR port of its VR horror title, Wraith, is launching next month.
Fast Travel isn’t the only VR-exclusive developer to get into publishing. Fracked maker nDreams is also returning to publish VR titles from smaller studios with a $2 million fund.
Fast Travel Games, the Sweden-based VR developer behind Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife (2021) and Apex Construct (2018), today announced it’s opening a publishing arm which is aimed at helping smaller teams to break into the VR games market.
The publishing team will be led by Patrick Liu, a games industry veteran of more than 15 years. Before joining Fast Travel Games, Liu was Head of Games at Mojang Studios, and has also worked in senior roles at Rovio, Spotify, and EA’s DICE.
Fast Travel Games says that with the opening of its publishing arm, it’s “well-positioned to act as a publishing partner for smaller devs looking to break into the market or grow their businesses.”
The studio is looking to provide services such as funding, access to first-party platforms, marketing and PR, certification processes, quality assurance, storefront optimization, localization, age ratings, music licensing, and more.
Founded in 2016 in Stockholm as a VR-exclusive studio, Fast Travel has developed a number of well-received games including Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, The Curios Tale of the Stolen Pets, and Apex Construct. The studio also co-developed Neat Corporation’s Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency.
“We’ve been fully committed to VR since founding the studio in 2016, and in that time we’ve collected experiences, expertise, and connections that are of huge value to smaller VR devs trying to find success in this market” said Fast Travel Games CEO Oskar Burman, “VR is still a developing medium, and we want to use what we’ve learned and accomplished to contribute to its expansion and help bring more great games to market. ”
Over the past 12 months, Fast Travel says it’s doubled its team to nearly 50 employees, something the studio attributes to the rapid growth of the Oculus Quest platform. The studio also secured a $4 million investment in June, which you might see as a vote of confidence from investors in VR gaming in general. Burman reveals that Quest has accounted for 90% of sales its latest title, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, which is also available on PC VR headsets and PSVR, underscoring the importance of the Quest platform for would-be content partners.
Developers looking to work with Fast Travel Games can head to the studio’s website or reach out to publishing@fasttravelgames.com and include all of the specifics on what/when/how/where you plan on releasing.
There haven’t been as many virtual reality (VR) horror titles appearing in 2021 as in previous years with one of the most notable exceptions being Fast Travel Games’ Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife. Originally released for Oculus before coming to Steam, soon it’ll be the turn of PlayStation VR players to wander the haunted hallways of Barclay Mansion.
Rather than wall-to-wall scares, this haunted mansion experience provides a much slower, atmospheric adventure, all set within the World of Darkness universe. You play as Ed Miller, a photographer who dies during a seance at the luxurious home of one Howard Barclay, a Hollywood movie producer. As you might have guessed, your death doesn’t see you move happily along into the afterlife, instead, you’re stuck between there and the living world.
So you need to figure out what went wrong and what happened to your girlfriend who joined you at the gathering. But you’re not alone on this little escapade as you’ll be joined by Shadow, a manifestation of Miller’s dark subconscious. While this being can be helpful at times it isn’t exactly on your side, relishing in your struggle, and occasionally complicating things as well.
However, Shadow isn’t a real threat but the Spectres are. These are damned creatures that wander sections of the mansion, actively hunting you. They’ll come running if you make a sound or you happen to get in their line of sight and there’s no fighting them off; there are no weapons in Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife. So you have to be sneaky and utilise hiding spots to avoid them or create distractions.
Reviewing the Oculus Quest version of Wraith: The Oblivion – AfterlifeVRFocus found that: “For those that love slow and tense survival horror Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife certainly delivers. Coming in at around eight hours of nail-biting content, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife does the World of Darkness proud.”
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is scheduled to arrive on 7th October 2021 for PlayStation VR, with a recommended retail price of $29.99 USD/£24.99 GBP/€24.99 EUR. Check out the new trailer below and for further updates from Fast Travel Games, keep reading VRFocus.
Swedish virtual reality (VR) developer Fast Travel Games has seen continued success from its slate of videogames, starting strong with Apex Construct and most recently with horror title Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife. Today, the studio has announced the completion of a new investment round, securing the company $4 million to continue its work.
Fast Travel Games and Brightly. Image credit: FTG
The round was led by Nordic early-stage technology investment firm Brightly Ventures with participation from existing investors Industrifonden, Creades and Inbox Capital. With the new funds, Fast Travel Games will be able to accelerate current undisclosed projects as well as continuing support for those already released.
“We’ve seen amazing growth in the VR market lately with lots of gamers now realising just how much the VR space has matured, in terms of hardware, pricing and access to content,” said Oskar Burman, CEO and co-founder of Fast Travel Games in a statement. “With four games on the market, and several new in development, we saw our revenues double to 2.4m USD last year, and are well on track to double that again for this year. With this new investment we’re in a stronger position than ever to capitalize on this new gaming frontier.”
The studio released Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife earlier this year for PC VR headsets with a PlayStation VR version slated for later this year. It’s the first time the team has produced a VR horror title, collaborating with the World of Darkness series. After a seance goes awry you find yourself trapped in the Barclay Mansion as a wraith, unable to leave until you discover what went wrong. However, you’re not the only spirit wandering the hallways and those you encounter are less than friendly.
“VR is one of the fastest growing digital entertainment segments and we believe that the pace of development within this space will be very high in the coming years. Fast Travel Games is one of the key players in Europe and the team has an impressive track record in developing high-quality games in a wide range of different genres. At Brightly Ventures, we are truly excited to be a part of the group of investors backing the team on this journey,” John Elvesjö, Managing Partner at Brightly Ventures adds.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Fast Travel Games, reporting back with further updates when available.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife and Apex Construct developer Fast Travel Games raised over $4 million in another round of investment.
Brightly Ventures lead the latest round for the Stockholm-based studio, which was started by former members of studios like DICE and Rovio. Brightly joins previous investors Creades and Inbox Capital.
As part of the news, Fast Travel Games CEO Oskar Burman announced that the company generated $2.4 million in revenue last year. In that window, the team continued to see strong sales of both Apex Construct and its second game, The Curious Tale Of The Stolen Pets, on the Oculus Quest.
Burman also noted that the studio was also “on track to double” that amount this year. A few months ago the team launched its next major project, a VR horror game based on the Wraith side of the World of Darkness tabletop universe. Again, it came to Quest as well as PC VR headsets, with a PSVR version coming later this year too. The CEO also reconfirmed the team is currently working on multiple new projects that are exclusive to VR.
We sat down with Burman earlier this year to talk about the studio’s past, present and future. “We’re not going to be a horror studio from now on, we are going to move between genres, definitely,” the CEO said about what’s next. “Because I think we have the capability to do that and we have a great team that spans over different genres and games. So it’s going to be a variety. There’s a lot of stuff in the works. I really can’t say much more than that.”
Fast Travel Games, the Sweden-based VR developer and publisher behind titles such as Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife (2021) and Apex Construct (2018), today announced a new investment worth $4 million.
Brightly Ventures, a Nordic early-stage tech investment firm, led the round, and includes existing owners Industrifonden, Creades, and Inbox Capital. According to data provided by Crunchbase, the studio’s lifetime outside investment is now over $6.1 million.
Founded in 2016 by industry veterans from Rovio, EA and Dice, Fast Travel Games has grown to over 30 employees in the last five years. To date, the studio has released four VR titles including Apex Construct, The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets, and Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, and Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency, which was co-developed with fellow Stockholm-based studio Neat Corporation.
“We’ve seen amazing growth in the VR market lately with lots of gamers now realising just how much the VR space has matured, in terms of hardware, pricing and access to content,” said Oskar Burman, CEO and co-founder of Fast Travel Games. “With four games on the market, and several new in development, we saw our revenues double to 2.4M USD last year, and are well on track to double that again for this year. With this new investment we’re in a stronger position than ever to capitalize on this new gaming frontier.”
The studio says its latest round of investment puts it in “a strong position to accelerate its pace going forward.” And yes, Fast Travel Games is hiring.
Every weekend VRFocus gathers together vacancies from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industry, in locations around the globe to help make finding that ideal job easier. Below is a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on immersive entertainment.
Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hubto check as well.
If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).
We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.
Fast Travel Games launched atmospheric horror Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife for Oculus Quest and Rift in April, providing a tense, narrative-driven experience. Now SteamVR users get to step into the expansive Barclay Mansion to test their wits and their nerves. Plus, there’s a free content update for all owners adding some extra goodies.
With the launch of Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife on Steam Fast Travel Games is rolling out a content patch for all platforms, addressing bugs whilst adding 10 new collectables to the mansion. Just like the other objects found throughout the campaign these new ones give additional context to some of the characters and the story.
As for the general improvements made to the gameplay, quite a few have been implemented – full changelog here. Some notable ones make the experience even scarier such as the “Spectres now win over Players when having a tug-of-war for door handles, which was always the intention.” Another makes a Spectre encounter less frustrating: “Fixed issue where the Sad Cinematographer would sometimes unlock doors she wasn’t supposed to.”
“We launched Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife on Oculus headsets last month and have been blown away by the overwhelmingly positive response by our players. This is currently one of the highest-rated VR horror games out right now and we couldn’t be more proud,” Erik Odeldahl, co-founder and creative director at Fast Travel Games, said in a statement. “When we started working on Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, we wanted to tell a story in one of our favourite horror worlds. To see so many people enjoying Wraith, and wanting to spend more time in our world, is why we make games.”
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife tells the story of Ed Miller, a photographer who dies during a seance at the luxurious mansion of Howard Barclay. Now stuck between the living world and the afterlife, you have to explore Barclay’s home learning about who else attended and what actually happened. As a wraith, you now have abilities enabling you to walk through walls and pick items up at a distance. You will also encounter Spectres, the real horrors of the title. These are spirits of wrath and vengeance who can’t be killed, only avoided at all costs.
VRFocus enjoyed its adventure into the World of Darkness universe, saying in the review that: “For those that love slow and tense survival horror Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife certainly delivers.”
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is out now on Steam for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Valve Index, with a 10% launch discount available until 31st May. A PlayStation VR version is on the way, scheduled for later this year. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is available now on SteamVR, after previously launching on the Oculus Store for both Quest and Rift. The launch also coincides with an update for all platforms that adds some minor new content and addresses some bugs in the previous release.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is a new VR horror game from Fast Travel Games and the first VR entry in the World of Darkness series, which otherwise mainly consists of horror-themed tabletop RPGs.
The game released first on Quest and Rift in April, and now, a month later, is available on SteamVR with support for HTC Vive and Valve Index headsets. It’s listed as$29.99 on Steam, but will be available at 10% off until May 31 to celebrate the launch. As previously announced, a PSVR version will launch sometime later in 2021.
The SteamVR launch also brings an update that applies to all platforms and introduces a small amount of new content. According to the patch notes, the update adds 10 new collectibles spread across the Barclay Mansion, which give “additional context to some of the characters and the story.”
There’s also a plethora of bug fixes that amend some issues present in the Quest and Rift release – you can view the extensive list of those in the full patch notes.
Fast Travel Games arrived on the virtual reality (VR) scene in 2018 with its impressive sci-fi bow shooter Apex Construct, and while its been involved in other VR projects since then, what comes next is very different. Delving into the horror genre for the first time – one that VRFocus is always fond of (very scared by) – the team opens up the World of Darkness universe for players with Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife. Part ghost story, part murder mystery, what you have here are the thrills and frustrations of a deeply atmospheric experience.
If you’re not into tabletop role-playing games then you might not have heard of World of Darkness, a supernatural world full of vampires, werewolves, and where Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is concerned; ghosts, spectres and whatever else doesn’t manage to pass on. This is a videogame that likes to keep the tension taught but without too many jump scares where you’ll just want to whip the headset off and say ‘no f**k that!’
The story is set in the Barclay Mansion, a huge sprawling complex owned by Hollywood mogul Howard Barclay. Barclay is dying, so naturally being the extremely wealthy man he is calls a few people together for a séance. Playing as Ed Millar, a photographer hired to cover the event who brought his girlfriend along, something major goes wrong and you all end up dead. Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife starts off heavy and doesn’t let up when it comes to the narrative, offering what’s essentially a crime caper where you have to find out what happened so you can hopefully escape this purgatory.
So you’re presented with this impressive-looking building – and it is, with very bleak, minimalistic architecture which is haunting in itself – yet you’re introduced to this world in baby steps. Most of the doors are locked, with a white padlock appearing when you get close so you don’t lose your way and get completely lost. Which you easily could because there’s no map to reference once you’re deep into the campaign, you have to remember the layout and be careful where you tread; this is horror after all.
As a wraith you’re provided with several supernatural perks, you can grab things from a distance – using a wrist flick reminiscent of Half-Life: Alyx – sense nearby objects (Sharpened Senses), and best of all walk through walls. Sharpened Senses will also help should you ever really get stuck, providing an ominous heartbeat towards the next objective. All very useful considering that even as a wraith, you’re completely defenseless against the Spectres. These are malevolent spirits that only appear in certain parts of the house and are where all of the scares come from, very nasty creatures that can kill you with a couple of swipes.
This means Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is about being sneaky, staying low, and being quiet (they generally react to sound). Before you even meet the first one you’ll be on edge, Fast Travel Games has done an excellent job with the atmosphere and audio. On the Oculus Quest 2, the sound is a bit rubbish out of the standard speakers so decent headphones are highly recommended. Not only will some decent cans allow you to hear all the little floorboard creaks and faint whispers, but you’ll also hear the Spectres too and where they’re located.
A fair bit of time is spent hiding behind sofas, in cupboards, basically anywhere you can block the line of sight. Otherwise, they’re fast and you’re effectively done for. Sound can be used to your advantage though, grabbing a book or wine bottle to create a distraction. Because the one thing you need to be in Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife is patient, rushing won’t help, creating frustration instead.
There are only three Spectres used throughout the campaign, each one has its particular quirks like the one with broken limbs that knocks out most of the lights so you have to use your Relic Flash to light the way. When she appears out of the darkness even the hardiest of players may need to compose themselves. But there is a really tall Spectre who wanders around adding more annoyance rather than fear to the experience. There a clever sequence where you have to use Barklay’s dictaphone to open safes, so of course that attracts said ghost…and death. Most of Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife has a nice flow to it, balancing horror and gameplay yet this sequence dissolved the atmosphere.
It also highlighted an important mechanic, saving. Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife has manual save points littered around the house – they’re not always available depending on where you are in the story – a bit of an old school feature it must be said. However, they do serve a couple of other purposes. As mentioned, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife comes with a rich narrative, some of which is played out in black and white offering a visual split between the past and present whilst the rest you have to find by locating letters and newspapers littered around the mansion as well as using Millar’s camera on glowing memories. These provide further backstory and once picked up are stored in the Memory Palace, accessed via each save location. It’s these items that will provide longevity, encouraging you to step back in. Otherwise, once the campaign is done it’s done.
Spectres aside, you’re not completely alone in the Barclay Mansion, you always have your friend; The Shadow. A manifestation of your dark subconscious, The Shadow provides most of the narration and some of the most twisted elements in Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife. He’ll point you in the right direction and drop the odd hint between the times he’s not completely evil. The Shadow adds a lot of character to the experience, filling those gaps in between where you’re just wandering around (you’ll do a fair amount of backtracking). Like a good comic book villain he has that love him, hate him quality.
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife may dole out the tension and unease in spades but it still wants you to be comfortable. There are plenty of settings to ensure your wander around the mansion is purely creepy rather than uncomfortable. Play seated or standing, add vignettes for locomotion and turning, even choose to have arms or just hands if you want to. There’s also a pseudo teleport mode called Projected Avatar which moves an icon on the floor that you jump to.
For those that love slow and tense survival horror Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife certainly delivers. While it’s not completely plain sailing as the Oculus Quest 2 did at points look to struggle a little with objects occasionally popping up out of nowhere, the atmosphere and tension the whole experience creates make this a worthy horror title. Coming in at around eight hours of nail-biting content, Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife does the World of Darkness proud.
