Wondering how PSVR exclusive Fracked actually plays? Our demo gameplay gives you some idea.
Fracked aims to be a fast-paced experience that users can play from the comfort of their own chair. How is nDreams able to pull off that sense of speed with that setup? Watch the video below with over 20 minutes of gameplay to find out.
For starters, Fracked has to be played using two Move motion controllers. Obviously, the Moves don’t have analog sticks for players to walk with. Instead, you’ll tilt your free hand to walk, which works pretty well considering you won’t need to use that hand for aiming during combat.
But the game’s also filled with design choices that really make sense for VR. Grabbing onto cover to lean in and out feels intuitive, as do the familiar climbing sections. The skiing, meanwhile, works by simply tilting your head and makes for some really fun, fast-paced segments.
Fracked is launching August 20 on PSVR. You can find out more release details here. Stay tuned to Upload Access, too, as we’ll have plenty more on the game coming right up.
nDreams’ PSVR exclusive, Fracked, will launch on August 20. But you can try the game today.
The developer is today releasing a free demo for the game with roughly 30 minutes of gameplay. It’s taken from some of the game’s opening levels and will give players a taste of both skiing and shooting.
In Fracked players take on an evil corporation that’s subjected to a parasitic alien invasion. The game is focused on fast-paced, explosive action that sees players charging through combat but also taking cover by grabbing onto the sides of the environment. There’s a new trailer for today’s news, which you can see below.
Fracked can only be played with the PSVR headset and PlayStation Move controllers. The standard version of the game will cost $29.99/£19.99 but there will also be a Deluxe Edition for $34.99/£24.99. This pack includes new equipment skins, a digital artbook and a digital soundtrack for the game.
That’s not all – you’ll also get 72 hours early access to the game if you pre-order the Deluxe Edition, so it effectively launches August 17 instead.
You can also play Fracked on PS5 via backward compatibility, where nDreams says you’ll experience uncapped dynamic resolution, better framerate and faster loading times.
Fracked is our Upload Access game of the month – we’ve got exclusive interviews with nDreams about the making of the game, and make sure to stay tuned for more looks at the title in the next few weeks.
When it comes to summer PlayStation VR videogames nDreams’ Fracked is probably on most gamers wanted lists. Having previously released the stealthy Phantom: Covert Ops, Fracked is a very different beast, all about action and freedom to traverse the environment. Today, the studio has confirmed a release date for the PlayStation VR exclusive as well as rolling out a demo so you can see what all the fuss is about.
The Fracked demo is a 30-minute thrill ride that will put you on skis hurtling down snowy mountain ravines, climbing through structures to outflank the enemy and, of course, eliminating any opponent who stands in your way. You’ll be able to finally see for yourself what the run and gun combat is all about and its “1:1 grabbable cover system” nDreams has been talking about.
Designed to make you feel like an action hero, Fracked sees you face off against an army of gun-wielding, interdimensional maniacs inside a mountain fracking facility. There’s no on-rails gameplay or cinematic cutscenes to stunt the immersive gameplay, allowing you to be fully involved in the experience and tackle the challenges in your own style.
Talking of style, Fracked features a very vibrant aesthetic with plenty of colour and explosions for a nice visual feast. Plus, if you’re playing on a PlayStation 5 there will be console-specific enhancements including uncapped dynamic resolution, improved framerate, and loading times.
Fracked has been solely designed for the PlayStation Move controllers so hopefully, you’ve got a pair. They can still be found online brand new but they’re not cheap with current Amazon listings putting them at £116.99 GBP.
After playing the demo, if you’re even more buzzed than before then you might want to hear about nDrams’ Deluxe Edition of Fracked. Containing the videogame, exclusive Earth Defender equipment skins, a digital artbook and digital soundtrack all for $34.99 USD/ €29.99 EUR/ £24.99, pre-orders go live today. In what seems to be a growing pre-order feature, you’ll be able to play 72hrs prior to Fracked’s general release.
Fracked isset to launch for PlayStation VR on 20th August 2021. Check out the new trailer below and for further updates on Fracked, keep reading VRFocus.
Fracked, the upcoming shooter from Phantom: Covert Ops (2020) developer nDreams, is officially set to release on August 20th, arriving exclusively on PSVR. Can’t wait to strap on those skis and jump in? Well, there’s a free demo is now available on the PlayStation Store.
The Fracked demo is said to contain over 30 minutes of gameplay which lets you go hands-on with the game’s ski-based locomotion method alongside its “no-rails” movement system, which lets you traverse the game on foot, by climbing obstacles, and physically grabbing cover to hide behind.
We’ve got an early preview of the Fracked demo, and we were notably impressed with its colorful, well-executed art style and its satisfyingly tactile combat. Road to VR’s Ben Lang says he especially like how Fracked mixes things up with climbing, zip-lining, and some other one-off activities.
“Beyond skiing, another one-off we saw in the demo is controlling a crane to clear an inaccessible pathway. These kinds of things can be fun breaks from a constant run-and-gun, so we’re definitely hoping to see more peppered throughout the full game,” Lang says.
Alongside the Standard Edition of the game ($30), the studio is also offering up pre-orders for a Deluxe Edition ($35). That gets you get a 72-hour head start with the game before it launches on August 20th, as well as Earth Defender equipment skins, a digital artbook, and digital soundtrack.
Fracked is designed exclusively for PSVR and requires PS Move controllers. It’s said to work on PS4, but also offers an enhanced version for PS5. The studio says the PS5 version includes uncapped dynamic resolution, improved framerate, resolution, and loading times over the PS4 version.
Fracked is built on top of a lot of VR shooters that have come before it. But, at the same time, it’s also quite unlike anything else we’ve seen.
nDreams’ latest is a fleet-footed spectacle that has its own ideas about how to deliver super-fast action in VR. Here’s four things it’s doing differently to the VR shooters you know and love.
Firing Fast
Fracked’s approach to weapon handling is very interesting. Like Half-Life: Alyx before it, the game keeps a gun in only one hand at all times – there’s no dual-wielding or mimicking holding two-handed rifles. Reloading is also very different; you don’t grab a clip from your pouch but it instead appears just below the gun for you to instantly lock in place and get back to the action.
The idea is to keep the game light and cohesive, not bogged down and tactical like other offerings. And it really does feel like that – Fracked is a run and gun shooter when you want it to be, with easy headshots scored mid-flight. But, whereas other snappy run and gun shooters can start to drag if they don’t put enough emphasis on VR, the game still feels in step with the platform. Plus, you’ll also have options for when you need to play defensive, too…
Taking Cover
The other side to the action is the cover ‘system’ if you can call it that. In Fracked, you can duck in and out of harm’s way by grabbing the side of a crate or wall with your hand and then pulling yourself in and out of cover with your hand. It’s an idea that’s been explored in other games like Stormland but it works really well here given the player always has a free hand. It keeps VR’s sense of physicality going without being as demanding as getting players to physically crouch or lean themselves. It might not be as immersive as those options, but it suits the game’s fast-paced style really well.
Hitting The Slopes
You’ll likely also see some of Fracked’s skiing mechanics at this point – it’s a big focus for the game. Again, it’s designed to hammer home the game’s sense of speed and works a fair bit easier than you might initially assume. There’s no guiding your direction with the Move controllers. Instead you simply tilt your head from side to side to swerve, allowing you to keep the focus on shooting with your hands. It definitely takes some getting used to but, as you play, you’ll start to pick it up. And nDreams gradually ramps up the setpieces so that you’ll need to juggle steering down the mountain with returning fire with enemies too. It gets to be quite a handful.
Comic Book Blockbuster
Swapping out photorealism for Fracked’s cartoonish art style definitely helps set it apart from other VR shooters. The art does a great job of both playing to the technical restrictions of the PSVR headset, where finer details can be lost in the screen door effect distortion, and making for a striking experience in its own right. It genuinely does feel like you’re inside a comic book. Plus there will be enhancements for PS5 too, so you can expect to see even sharper scenes if you’re playing on Sony’s new console via backwards compatibility.
We speak to Audio Manager Matt Simmonds and Audio Designer Callum Bigden about creating the making the music and audio behind PSVR exclusive, Fracked.
When you’re envisioning a soundtrack for a game like Fracked, does the fact it’s in VR influence your work at all?
Matt Simmonds: Yes, always. Designing audio for VR brings with it a lot of opportunities for detail work in locations and a real sense of space. Fracked has a much more full-on action movie approach to audio than our previous work on Phantom, but we still focused on grounding the player in the environments and giving them a lot of spatial awareness during combat.
What did you want to achieve with Fracked’s music and what were some of the influences?
MS: The soundtrack style is based on the mixtapes that Rosalez (the helicopter pilot) plays on her ferrying trips around the complex. She has quite eclectic style choices, from house to ’90s rock to ’50s orchestral soundtracks, fused together as the player progresses through the maps. We decided early on to not always tie the action happening to the soundtrack, sometimes dropping out to more ambient pieces or remixing earlier work in for narrative references. Using the mixtape idea gave us quite a lot of scope for this.
When it comes to sound effects, did you go for traditional, realistic gun sounds etc or did the comic book art style influence you to go in other directions?
Callum Bigden: I don’t think the art style alone really influenced any stylisation for the audio. It was a conscious decision to keep to a soundscape heavily based in the real-world, whilst leaning towards the hyper-realism of blockbuster action movies like the game as a whole. So individual elements usually started off with thoughts like: “this is what it SHOULD sound like, how can we make it bigger?” I think in the end this has helped create quite a unique approach to the games overall audio.
We wanted to make the player feel at the centre of everything – whether they’re in combat or participating in a game sequence, and it just made sense to exaggerate certain elements. It was important that everything feels satisfying and punchy – guns that feel powerful and explosions that feel deadly if you are nearby but rewarding if you cause them. Combat can get hectic very quickly, with lots of sounds happening all around the player, but that is certainly part of the intensity we wanted to create. But there is still a lot of spatial info and narrative details that we have to pass onto the players, so that intensity has to be very carefully managed.
Were there any big challenges designing the audio around VR like this?
CB: The biggest challenge was getting all these often-competing big audio elements to sit alongside each other nicely in the game. You have these intense environments with broken structures, mixed in with plenty of machine guns around large set pieces – all while keeping the player informed on plot and game states. It has certainly created a very “full” soundscape, and with a lot of elements wanting all the players attention the overall sound mixing has become much more of a focus. It became heavily about how each sound event interacts with one another, more so than on any project I’ve worked on before. Take the music for example, its big and heavy, and driving the player through the levels.
Throw in combat on top – which in itself is also big and heavy – and now all the gunfire, enemies, environment and dialogue has to sit nicely with one another in the soundscape. There has been a sweet spot to aim for while mixing, and although it took quite a bit of reworking to get there, the result is a brash and commanding soundscape that we feel this genre in VR deserves. It’s been a fun process to bring this kind of audio into a VR game, and we have learnt a lot from this style of game to take forward into other projects.
Stay tuned for more Fracked content coming up on Upload Access!
Fracked looks a little different to most VR games.
nDreams’ upcoming first-person shooter eschews realism, instead gunning for a bombastic comic book style. Snowy mountain vistas are bathed in vibrant colors, weapons are huge, chunky lego bricks and parasitic enemies are a gooey purple. It’s one of those games that really feels like it’s coming at the end of a platform generation, understanding the strengths and limitations of PSVR’s graphical capabilities and producing something striking.
It’s also, as you’ll see, incredibly close to the concept art for the game. But Fracked didn’t always look like this as we discovered speaking to Kevin Martin, Senior Principal Artist on the game about envisioning the game’s art style.
“Early concept art for Fracked was conceived in a more realistic art style,” Martin reveals. “As work on the demo progressed and we prototyped the ski gameplay and first-person shooter encounters it became obvious this wasn’t a gritty, realistic game. It was frantic, fast and fun. People would finish playing it with a smile on their face. We realised that a game like this needed an art style to match. That was a really interesting creative challenge and opportunity for the art team.”
Of course, so much VR is about realism, and convincing players they’ve stepped into another reality. Doesn’t this approach conflict with that? “VR games have some parallels with traditional first-person games where there is a rich variety of art styles on offer,” Martin continues. “This gives you some confidence that anything can work. However, the VR perspective and experience is more immersive, more like reality. Working like this makes you think about gaming as an unfolding sensory experience. As you move through the world and interact with it, what is revealed, what is around the next corner? Unconstrained by realism, how far do you want to push the visual experience.”
But, by switching up the art in the early stage, Fracked’s art team found itself in an interesting position. Usually, when you envision a game’s levels through concept art, your end product is going to look dramatically different. An Uncharted game starts out looking like an oil painting on paper and then, over the course of the next few years, turns into near-photoreal in a 3D space. Fracked, meanwhile, looks pretty much exactly like that initial work.
“There was a transition early on in production where we decided to stop reinterpreting the expressive, vibrant concept art,” Martin says. “The goal was to work like concept artists in 3D. In other words, can you make the player feel that they are running, climbing, and skiing through the concept art. We started literally painting the world, the characters and weapons in broad brush strokes.”
This approach did come with challenges, though. Martin says he had to resist the urge to add in obsessive details to the game’s environments and models, and instead rely on principle art theories. “The elements are simple but ideally, when they combine, you have the kind of art that gamers like and want to experience for themselves,” he says.
But it also has its fair share of opportunities for design. Colors are more expressive in Fracked – the purple color of enemies is reflected in areas where you can expect combat, and there’s strong use of a striking yellow that Martin says helps you read the environment for enemies, climbable surfaces, interactions and goals.
“On foot locations are strongly coloured to make the arctic landscape feel dangerous and exciting – emotions that reflect the cover shooter gameplay,” Martin says. “To punctuate the colour palettes of those on foot locations, the ski slopes are made up of epic mountains and oppressive industrial buildings – all painted in broad black and white brush strokes that you traverse through at high speed.”
Expect a bit of a visual treat for your headset, then. Fracked hits PSVR later this summer. We’ll have plenty more from the game during our Upload Access spotlight, including new gameplay footage next week and a deep dive into the game’s locomotion system. Make sure not to miss our interview with Creative Director Steve Watt, too.
With half the year gone it’s definitely time to look at what virtual reality (VR) videogames VRFocus is most excited to play before the end of 2021. The last six months haven’t disappointed with the likes of Maskmaker, Cosmodread, Demeo, The Climb 2, and Alvo all providing excellent VR experiences. Whilst you might still be busy playing these 2021 still has more to offer.
As there’s no shortage of upcoming VR videogames slated for a Q3/Q4 2021 launch, those about to grace headsets like Sniper Elite VR and Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual!have been omitted. Not because VRFocus doesn’t want to play them, they just happen to be arriving this week!
Lone Echo II
Ready at Dawn’s sci-fi sequel Lone Echo II has appeared on multiple ‘Most Anticipated’ rounds ups and hopefully, this should be the last time. Because as part of the Oculus Gaming Showcase, Lone Echo II was confirmed for Summer 2021. Originally revealed as an Oculus Rift exclusive back in 2018, Lone Echo II‘s release date moved from 2019 to 2020 and finally 2021 – in that time seeing the Oculus Rift platform discontinued.
The single-player sci-fi adventure, Lone Echo II continues the story where you play a robot called Jack who needs to help Captain Olivia Rhodes survive the perils of space. Exclusive to the Oculus Store, it’s worth taking a look at the original even if titles like Half-Life: Alyxhave now surpassed it.
Supported headsets: Oculus Rift (Oculus Quest via PC Link)
Release date: Summer 2021
Song in the Smoke
The first VR title by 17-Bit (Skulls of the Shogun, GALAK-Z), Song in the Smokeis part survival adventure and part mysterious narrative. You’ll be able to hunt with bows and axes, forage for resources to craft new items whilst exploring this beautiful, prehistoric world and uncovering its secrets. Players will find creatures behave just like real wild animals, so they’ll be hungry, afraid and tired, likely to attack or run away depending on the situation.
Revealed during March’s PlayStation Spotlight, Song in the Smoke was certainly one of the more surprising announcements. 17-Bit has been unveiling snippets of the gameplay but not much regarding the story. In any case, the videogame looks fascinating.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest and Rift
Release date: 2021
Low-Fi
An ambitious cyberpunk project by Iris VR Inc., Low-Fi, is coming to most major VR platforms as well as PlayStation 5 which supports non-VR gamers. Low-Fi drops you into a futuristic city as a cop patrolling the dark crime-ridden streets of city-block 303. You’re given free rein to explore this open world, become a good cop to maintain order or exploit your position and earn a few side credits.
Money will mean you can treat yourself to a few toys, purchase some nice new weapon upgrades or make sure your companions are well cared for. While Low-Fi’s official launch is slated for the end of the year on Steam, you can purchase the early access version over on itch.io for $35 USD if you can’t wait.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index & Windows Mixed Reality.
Release date: Q4 2021
Fracked
Another PlayStation Spotlight reveal Fracked comes from nDreams, the team behind Phantom: Covert Ops. A PlayStation VR exclusive, Fracked is an action-adventure where you’re given as much freedom as possible to assault levels and eliminate enemies. Ski, run, climb, base jump and zipline around the environments, using your PlayStation Move controllers to grab whatever’s insight, even items to use as cover.
Set on top of an Alaskan mountain, nDreams has you fighting interdimensional enemies called the ‘Fracked’ using all manner of weaponry. Plus, if you own a PlayStation 5 there are console specific enhancements including uncapped dynamic resolution, improved framerate, resolution and loading times.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR
Release date: Summer 2021
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall
The only major IP currently expected for VR headsets this year, Carbon Studio and Games Workshop are set to take you into the neverending wartorn universe Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall this summer.
In suitable Warhammer style, there’s an epic narrative where you play Lord-Arcanum Castor Stormscryer, leader of a retinue of Stormcast Eternals who’ve been called due to a rise in Nighthaunt forces, triggered by an event called the Necroquake in the Realm of Death. Armed with devastating melee weapons and magical abilities, all you need to do is deliver Stormcast Eternal justice.
Supported headsets: PC VR & Oculus Quest
Release date: Summer 2021
After the Fall
Originally due in 2020 after a 2019 reveal After the Fall is Vertigo Games’ next blockbuster VR experience, promising lots of zombies (sort of) in an alternate future where Los Angeles has frozen over and most of the local residents have transforms into monsters called Snowbreed.
Another title making it over from VRFocus’ previous ‘Most Anticipated’ list, since then Vertigo Games has released plenty of new footage showcasing After the Fall’s gameplay. Built around a co-op experience for up to four players, there will still be a single-layer campaign for when everyone’s busy. These Snowbreed come in all shapes and sizes, from those annoying ones who scuttle across the ceiling to big boss types. It’s going to be quite an action-filled ride.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive & Valve Index
Release date: Summer 2021
Arashi: Castles of Sin
Feel like there aren’t enough badass ninja videogames in VR? Well, look no further than Arashi: Castles of Sin which is going to be a PlayStation VR exclusive. A stealth combat experience set in feudal Japan, Arashi: Castles of Sin puts you in the role of an elite shinobi called Kenshiro who must reclaim House Arashi castles captured by a ruthless group of bandits.
Each area is a sandbox environment so you can decide how to tackle each fight, up close and personal with a samurai sword, or quietly from the rooftops with a shuriken. All the weapons will be authentic to that era of Japan’s history. You even have a wolf companion to kill enemies, what more could you ask for?
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR
Release date: Summer 2021
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar
After the success of its original, puzzle-solving, spy caper, Schell Games will return this summer with I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar, once again trying to foil Zoraxis’ plans for world domination.
Set to feature six globe-trotting missions with even more fiendish puzzles to solve, I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and The Liar will still retain its non-locomotion gameplay, where everything tends to be within physical grabbing distance, comfortable for all players. This time around it’ll feature some new stars including Wil Wheaton (Big Bang Theory, Star Trek: Next Generation) to voice celebrity John Juniper and singer and songwriter Puddles Pity Party on the theme tune.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive & Valve Index
Release date: Summer 2021
Wanderer
A puzzle filled, time-travelling adventure developed by New Zealand-based studios M Theory and Oddboy, Wanderer tasks you with a journey to save mankind by heading to key points in history. Que historic events like the moon landings or helping Nikola Tesla with his latest invention.
Wanderer is another one of those intriguing experiences which could offer plenty of gameplay variety when it launches this year. Plus it doesn’t look half bad either.
Supported headsets: PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive & Valve Index
Fracked is our Upload Access game of the month! We’re kicking things off with a chat with nDreams creative director, Steve Watt.
Genre aside, Fracked is the exact opposite of what you’d expect from nDreams after last year’s Phantom: Covert Ops. That Oculus exclusive was a tense, realistic stealth experience with smart movement, immersive weapon handling and a gritty seriousness to its visual palette. My recent demo of Fracked, meanwhile, opens with a downhill ski chase, an avalanche right on your tail and an Olympic-level jump waiting at the bottom. And that’s all before you’re thrust into explosive run-and-gun combat high up in the mountains with soldiers possessed by alien parasites in a vibrant world pulled straight out of a comic book.
So yes, it’s a different kettle of fish. Like Die Hard, creative director Steve Watt reckons, just throw in some purple-skinned, screeching enemies that want to blow you up for good measure.
“When I first heard about VR, I wanted to be an action hero in the movies, and I thought VR would actually give you that experience,” Watt tells me. “When I think of action-adventure games, I think of Tomb Raider and Uncharted, and I think about what it would actually be like to be that character.”
And that pretty much gets to the heart of Fracked. What we’ve seen of the title so far feels reminiscent of an explosive James Bond action sequence sprinkled with setpieces that sometimes feel like direct nods to its gaming inspirations. You might’ve seen our Upload VR Showcase gameplay segment, which ended with a scene that would be familiar to any Uncharted fan.
But making a VR game that aspires to those explosive heights isn’t easy. Of course it isn’t — making any game isn’t easy — but Fracked also wants to find a path through the minefield of VR comfort options that others employ, and then it wants to dash directly through that path head-first. That’s somewhere only a few single-player shooters have gone so far; even Sony’s own Blood & Truth (the VR game Fracked feels more comparable to) regulated player movement, but this gives players full freedom of movement at any time.
“With Phantom, we really cared about the one-to-one experience of the canoeing, and I think other traversal methods was a big inspiration [here],” Watt says. “So we knew climbing worked really well in VR and also we’d created a skiing demo, and playing that skiing demo became so moreish.”
And that’s Fracked’s core loop right there: running, climbing and skiing. The latter two will help break up the game’s on-foot sections, but nDreams wants to keep its foot on the pedal throughout. In fact, it names its brand of quick-footed shooting ‘run, gun and cover’, referencing the importance of pushing the offensive and then, when you’re on the backfoot, quickly finding a safe spot to duck behind but physically grabbing onto it and pulling yourself to safety.
“This is a big part of the innovation in this game – run, gun and cover, two things that normally conflict with each other,” Watt explains. “It’s very much a run out there and shoot the AI […] and then what we saw as you were playing it was, when you start to become overwhelmed, you intuitively grab the cover and start to go for the respite and you start to heal.”
To maintain this speed, nDreams wants to streamline the experience to some extent. Remember last week when we spoke about Sniper Elite’s labored weapon reloading or, heck, even Phantom’s arsenal of stealthy but tricky firearms? You won’t see any of that here. When you need to reload, for example, the magazine just appears, hovering below the gun, ready for you to push in place and get back in the action.
“We knew that we didn’t want the player to start to get all sort of faffy with the gun […] a big thing we didn’t want to do was dual-wielding because that actually fights with the accessibility and that fights with the fast-paced action we wanted to deliver,” Watt says.
Another ‘faffy’ aspect of VR can be comfort. As you’ve no doubt heard time and again, it’s vitally important to making sure games can be experienced by as many people as possible. And Fracked isn’t ignorant of that, but it’s also more trusting that players be fine with its breakneck battles than it is actively making sure they will be. To that extent, Watt points to features like the grab-based cover system, which he says “anchors” players in environments more naturally, or the importance of keeping players focused on specific objectives. Watt likens that to a little like keeping your eye on the horizon on a boat. “There were quite a lot of constraints or considerations about making it fast-paced for the comfort,” he says. “In a kind of way, if we knew we could solve that, then we knew we were onto a game that the audience was expecting.”
Of course, audiences expect a lot, and nDreams is bullish on the idea of delivering a console-quality shooter with Fracked. Watt says the game has “traditional campaign length” with evolving gameplay strategies and a story with strong characters. In that sense, Watt hopes Fracked will rub shoulders with some gaming greats. “I think of it sort of similar to a first-party title,” he says, “where you make blueprints for other games to build off. And so I want people to look at this game and go “Wow, you really can make super fun games in VR.”
“To me, it’s not about satisfying the VR audience, it’s about satisfying the gaming VR audience and showing the gamers “Actually, come to VR and see the different experiences you can have and how you can have your traditional mechanics suddenly disrupted or enhanced by using VR.””
We’ll have a lot more from Fracked and nDreams over the course of July. Keep an eye out for chats about the game’s art and music, a look back at nDreams’ history and growth and more. We’ll have a full schedule for you very soon.
Fracked, an upcoming single-player shooter, just got a brand-new gameplay trailer that shows off more of its high-energy action.
Developed by nDreams—the same team behind Oculus exclusive Phantom: Covert Ops (2020)—Fracked is heading exclusively to PSVR sometime this summer. The updated gameplay trailer was revealed at both IGN’s ‘Summer of Gaming’ event and UploadVR’s game showcase.
In it, we get a look at some new action as you take on enemies skiing down a mountain, and have to fight through a horde of different baddies at a funicular station—that’s fancy talk for a train that can go up steep inclines.
If you’re wondering what the hell is going on, here’s what nDreams says about Fracked.
The corporation dug too deep unleashing the ‘Fracked’ from the depths. Across one day, take on an interdimensional army that combines hive mind mentality and gun-wielding supremacy – the perfect targets to unload round upon round into. Fracked is in-your-face action with a cutting commentary on corporate greed and the climate change emergency. Save the day, to save the world.
The studio says Fracked features a unique cover system as well as multiple first-person free movement methods. You’ll be able to lean into your skis as you traverse the game’s many mountains, physically climb to safety when, say, the funicular’s tracks have been destroyed, and make dangerous base jumps when you need a quick getaway.
There’s no clear release date yet, as nDreams is still quoting a Summer 2021 launch. We’ll have our eyes peeled for any news to pop up, so check back soon.
