Promising roguelike VR shooter, Sweet Surrender, arrives on Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets next week.
The game touches down on September 30. Developer Salmi Games just confirmed the news. Sweet Surrender will be getting a full launch on the Oculus Quest store as well as arriving on the Rift and Steam stores for PC. There’s a new trailer for the game below.
Sweet Surrender Release Date Revealed
Announced earlier this year, Sweet Surrender caught our attention with its cartoonish visual style and agile combat. The game throws players into a mysterious tower filled with deadly robots. You’ll tackle fresh runs of the environment every time you die, gathering different loot like new weapons and upgrades.
Combat, meanwhile, is fast-paced with smooth locomotion and active features like ziplines and a grapple hook. Though the game isn’t releasing in Early Access (Facebook doesn’t allow pre-release titles on the Oculus Quest store), Salmi does stress that it will be delivering multiple free updates to Sweet Surrender over time.
We tried out the demo for Sweet Surrender back at the beginning of the summer. The limited build didn’t tell us if the game could really get its hooks in us, but we did note it seemed to have all the makings of a good roguelike shooter.
“I’m not yet convinced Sweet Surrender could dethrone the retro mastery of Compound,” we said, “but the game’s got its own promising upgrade path and arresting visual style that suggests the two could, at the very least, enjoy a peaceful coexistence.”
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Alvo will only release on Oculus Quest 2 and the original Quest headset will not be supported, the developers confirmed to UploadVR.
Earlier in the week, we reported that Alvo was coming to Oculus Quest headsets after launching on PSVR earlier this year. The team was looking for people interested in participating in the upcoming closed beta, with sign-ups available now. However, the application process was accepting Quest 2 users only, and would not include players on the original Quest headset.
We reached out to the developers of Alvo to clarify whether it was just the beta that was locked to Quest 2, or whether the full release was as well. The developers confirmed to UploadVR that Quest 1 headsets will not be supported for Alvo on Quest, and that it will only release on Quest 2 headsets. As you might expect, the developers also confirmed that this is because of performance requirements and the increased capabilities of Quest 2.
Alvo joins the likes of Resident Evil 4 VR and After The Fall, which have both also announced some form of Quest 2 exclusivity. In the case of After The Fall, support for the original Quest is planned but won’t be available at launch in 2021. Instead, the original Quest will have to wait until 2022. “By splitting off the release of this version, we are able to spend more time on the necessary optimization for it while taking away further pressure on our development schedule for the other platforms,” said Richard Stitselaar, Creative Director at Vertigo Games.
On the other hand, Resident Evil 4 VR will be a full Quest 2 exclusive and won’t launch at all on the original Quest headset or any other VR platform. While Alvo’s Quest platform release will be on Quest 2 only, it will be launching on PC VR at a later date as well.
The developers behind competitive VR shooter Alvo announced that the game has been approved for release on the Oculus Store for Quest, with sign-ups for closed beta tests available now.
The game is a multiplayer-only competitive VR first-person shooter, which released earlier this year for PSVR. In our review, we called it a ‘surprisingly rewarding barebones shooter.’
The developers made the Quest announcement on Reddit, noting that Alvo is now approved for an official store release on Quest and they are looking for beta testers.
Those who are keen to see how Alvo translates from PSVR to Quest might not have to wait long, as the developer says they’re using the upcoming Quest beta to help them “refine gameplay and find bugs.”
A sign up form is now available on the Avlo Discord server in the dev updates channel. The tests will be coordinated from the same server, with app invites sent out through App Lab. The beta is only available for those with a Quest 2 headset, not the original Quest. There’s no word on whether the full release might be a Quest 2 exclusive, joining the upcoming Resident Evil 4 VR release, but we’ve reached out to the developers for comment and will update if we receive a response.
According to the sign-up form, all testers will need to sign a full non-disclosure agreement to participate, ensuring that nothing is shared outside of select channels in the Discord server. It is also still a closed beta, which means signing up does not guarantee access — those who are selected will receive a message from the Discord server moderators.
In a comment on the Reddit post, the developers also confirmed that they plan to implement cross-play between Quest 2 and PSVR. Alvo is also set to release for PC VR on Steam, but there are no updates on a potential date just yet.
Another sci-fi roguelite VR shooter is on the way. This time it’s End Effectors from Jetpack Game Studio.
The studio just revealed the first trailer for the game, which is aiming to enter Early Access soon. Check out the footage below.
In the game, you face off against an army of robots, armed with a weapon in one hand. You can also grab a shield to use with your off-hand as you face down bosses. There’s also full online co-op support. This being a roguelite, you’ll be tackling new runs every time you die with the chance of finding new weapon types and loot.
Over on Reddit a member of the development team noted that it was trying to set the game apart with “Great enemy variety, some _really_ interesting boss fights (that require above-average cooperation when playing co-op), perks, meta progression, and more.”
The Early Access build of End Effectors is set to include the game’s first act and hopes to be available on both App Lab and SideQuest as well as PC VR stores. Jetpack then wants to work on the game for an estimated six to nine months to put all the major systems in place and deliver extra levels, bosses and more.
The roguelite shooter genre is becoming popular in the VR space – the retro-inspired Compound is still in Early Access and we’re also looking forward to Sweet Surrender arriving later this year too. Will you be checking out End Effectors? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure to check our recently updated list of best Quest shooters for more.
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Sweet Surrender might just be a new VR shooter to keep an eye on.
This roguelite from Salmi Games — who previously worked on Growrilla — is now listed on SteamVR and is aiming to release in late 2021. In the game, players fight their way through a tower filled with hostile robots. Check out some gameplay in the GIF below.
Hi! We are developing a Roguelite VR shooter called Sweet Surrender, coming for the #OculusQuest and PC VR. We’re really excited to share more news and updates with you soon, so give us a follow and spread the word!
According to the Steam page, Sweet Surrender is based on agile combat; players have a zipline to shoot across levels and you can blast through walls to get to new areas. As you progress, you can upgrade your abilities using chips and enhance your weapons using EMP effects. Eventually, you’ll unlock new weapon builds too.
We really like the game’s art style and we’ve already seen some great roguelite titles like Until You Fall work on the platform. If it nails the gameplay loop, Sweet Surrender could prove to be a winner.
Currently, the game’s confirmed for Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets. A final release date has not yet been announced.
Will you be checking out Sweet Surrender? Let us know in the comments below.
Is this latest Oculus Quest FPS worth a look? Find out in our Zero Caliber: Reloaded review!
It might not exactly be the most wholesome game, but Zero Caliber: Reloaded still has its heart in the right place. You can sense, amongst the noisy shootouts and explosions, a genuine desire to meet the many, lofty demands of the VR shooter fanbase. And developer XREAL gets a lot right in its mission to satisfy — in some ways more than most other shooters on Quest — but Reloaded is somewhat constrained by technical hiccups and core design issues.
For some, the elevator pitch might be enough to sell on its own; Reloaded is a retooled version of the PC VR version of Zero Caliber that (wisely) keeps a wide berth from the saturated competitive multiplayer scene. Instead of an ill-fated attempt to take on Onward and Pavlov, XREAL offers up a full campaign for either single-player or co-op with up to four friends. Tutorials included there are 23 individual levels, with earlier missions taking around five to ten minutes and later stages stretching out to 15 minutes or more. Some quick napkin math will tell you that’s a modest amount of game – not the longest campaign by any standards but a decent four to five hours that can go even longer when tackling higher difficulty modes and replaying levels with friends.
For much of that time, Reloaded delivers core VR shooter thrills. This is a game that leans into the platform’s strengths, often literally. Though it’s less concerned with realism than some of its rivals it’s far from a run and gun shooter – firefights require you to hunker down behind the best possible cover and lean out with an eye trained to your weapon sights. Compared to the head-spinning speed of recent games like Alvo and Doom 3 VR, it’s incredibly refreshing to get back to basics and rediscover some of the mechanics that feel really unique to VR, like blind-firing around corners when your health is low or crouching down to the ground to find a new angle on the enemy.
Fans of the original Zero Caliber will know that its real claim to fame, though, is its exhaustive and authentic weapon customization and handling. Crucially, it’s survived the transition to Quest fully intact. There are a lot of guns in Reloaded, from rifles and pistols to SMGs and shotguns, and you can really feel the individual craftsmanship XREAL has put into each. The P90, for example, needs clips inserted from the top, and every firearm has some kind of pin, handle or lever to adjust for a satisfying ‘click’ before you can return fire. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses – the AK-47 feels convincingly vicious as it rattles about in close quarters, while my personal choice, the ??? LMG rips through enemies but springs out of your arms if fired with one hand and is tricky to use in tight spaces, especially when contending with the game’s light-but-appreciated physics systems.
Zero Caliber: Reloaded Review – The Facts
What is it?: A modern military VR FPS with a full campaign to play in single-player or with up to three friends. Platforms: Quest Release Date: May 13th Price: $24.99
Not everything’s perfect; climbing surfaces is cumbersome compared to the breezy scaling in Population: One, and reviving teammates is overly streamlined to the point of just standing on top of them for a second. But overall it’s impressively realized – even throwing grenades feels easier and more accurate than it does in most other games.
Hefty combat is paired with a staggered progression system that unlocks new weapons as you rise through the ranks, though they still need to be bought with cash earned during play. This is where the game gets really technical; there’s an unending supply of laser sights, grips and scopes to peruse, more than was probably necessary, but the chance to head back to the lobby and completely reevaluate my loadout after every few levels helped keep my intrigue in the campaign. Each of these is detachable, too, so if you find another weapon you want to try mid-level, you can swap out your attachments in seconds. You can even do this between friends during co-op sessions; there’s an incredible amount of versatility in it.
What lets Reloaded down, then, is an assortment of the same old factors: a variety of technical hiccups, underwhelming AI and simplistic, problematic and repetitive mission design.
None of these factors are troubling enough to ruin the experience but each gets time to do some damage and, strangely, they seem to scale with the player count. Some missions are seemingly designed for a smaller number of players while others feel dependent on a group of four. Finding the right size for each mission hurts its consistency; smaller missions in Reloaded play out as intended with two players enacting careful, concise gunfights that are overcome with proper communication and teamwork. But, even on the hardest difficulty, a full team of four will likely outpace the mission’s structure. One level descended into chaos when we seemed to tear through the enemy faster than it could keep up with. Previously cleared rooms suddenly had new soldiers appearing from thin air, and we found ourselves fighting the restrictive ‘active mission’ zone, which moves along with objectives. At one point we even had enemies camping right on top of the spawn point.
On the flip side, there’s a great mission later on with an expansive warzone and front lines to defend, but the odds are really stacked against you in single-player. At the very least the game could use some sort of indicator for what player count is suited to which level.
Zero Caliber: Reloaded Review – Comfort
Zero Caliber: Reloaded is a smooth locomotion game with some options to help mitigate sickness. It’s also a very physicaly active game that requires lots of leaning and crouching, so keep that in mind.
Bugs aren’t just limited to mission design; I also found my hand getting stuck in my rifle quite often and both myself and one of my teammates encountered a frustrating issue where controller tracking seemed to bug out in-game while it was fine in the Oculus menu. Mix in some full-on crashes when transitioning between levels and enemies getting stuck on geometry and Reloaded feels like it could have used more time to iron these issues out.
Even with the four-player issues to one side, though, some problems persist. Enemy AI isn’t as dumb as you might fear but still not quite up to the standard you might hope. They’re able to take cover, find vantage points and even roll out of the way of incoming fire, but you’ll also find them obliviously standing out in wide-open battlefields and turning away from you in the middle of a firefight. They’re complete bullet sponges, too, and easily shake off anything other than a straight headshot. It robs the game of some of that lethal proficiency that comes with well-placed shots.
It’s a similar story for the overall mission design, which clearly strives for variety but, at best, only maintains the illusion of it. Objective types almost always boil down to simply clearing an area full of enemies in the same way you’ve been doing right from the start – there are defend and destroy orders but they don’t significantly change up the gameplay and some areas get too crowded with four players. That said, XREAL has gone to great lengths to provide environmental variety, from icy skirmishes to the uniquely disgusting experience of standing in human waste in sewers. Reloaded isn’t what you’d call a looker — and the pop-in on vegetation and other objects is very noticeable — but it does a decent job given the hardware it’s running on.
Zero Caliber: Reloaded Review – Final Impressions
Zero Caliber: Reloaded is painfully close to getting all the way there. It’s got some of VR’s best weapon handling and incredible customization alongside an admirable effort to deliver the full shooter campaign we all crave. And, a lot of the time, that’s enough – hunkering down into cover, reloading your weapon and then leaning out to score a headshot doesn’t tire over the course of the 4 – 5 hour campaign. But the game is also plagued with familiar issues like underwhelming enemy AI, and its missions seem to cater to different numbers of players, creating an uneven experience throughout. It’s still an easy recommendation for anyone starved for single-player or co-op campaigns on Quest, but there’s plenty of room for VR shooters to grow from here.
For more on how we arrived at this score, read our review guidelines. What did you make of our Zero Caliber: Reloaded review? Let us know in the comments below!
