Cyborn is bringing Hubris (2022), the sci-fi adventure for PC VR headsets, to PSVR 2 this month, promising a host of improvements we hope will buff out more than a few dull spots in the otherwise visually impressive game.
There’s no precise release date yet; Cyborn says in a PS blog post that Hubris will land on PSVR 2 at some point in May, notably bringing along with it “enhanced graphics and gameplay.”
This includes foveated rendering for sharper resolution, haptics & adaptive triggers for swimming and shooting, revamped reloading and aiming, new enemy variations, refined difficulty levels, and 3D audio.
Many of the things above were sorely lacking from the game when we reviewed the game at launch in late 2022, cementing it as a visually stunning, but ultimately pretty flawed shooter from the get-go.
Some of those improvements will eventually be added to the PC VR version, but “probably not on the same day as the PS VR 2 release as it requires a lot more testing on different headsets when it is stable enough,” the studio says in the game’s official Discord. Cyborn has also confirmed Hubris will also launch on Quest 2 at some point, although the studio hasn’t mentioned specifics.
Another year is over and what a year 2021 was. Great videogames and awesome new tech but those pandemic issues never subsided so bring on the metaverse. Now isn’t the time to reminisce, now’s the time to look ahead and when it comes to virtual reality (VR) titles on the horizon there is plenty to get excited about. Here are the ones VRFocus is most interested in playing.
Moss: Book II
Make no mistake the original Moss by Polyarc was an awesome VR title so the news that its sequel Moss: Book II is due for release this coming Spring is exciting news.
Continuing the tale of Quill, the little mouse with a big heart, Moss: Book II is a puzzle adventure only confirmed for PlayStation VR at the moment. Having rescued her uncle Argus in the first instalment, this time around Quill must end the merciless rule of the Arcane whilst confronting a winged tyrant hunting her within the hexed castle where her uncle was held captive. Offering new locations and puzzles to solve, Moss: Book II is set to include new features like a nature attunement ability to grow new pathways and a huge hammer to cause some destruction.
Needless to say, Moss: Book II should be on every PlayStation VR owners most wanted list.
Teasing its next project back in November, Ultimechs is going to be a futuristic sports experience mashing together robots with football (soccer). Only a few teasing details have been released so far showcasing rocket-powered fists, 2v2 action and some highly competitive gameplay.
Looking like a far more dynamic experience than Resolution Games’ other competitive sci-fi videogame Blaston, Ultimechs will allow you to move around an arena, giving it a much more esports vibe. Considering the studios’ expertise in this VR field, Ultimechs could well become a “must-have” VR multiplayer next year.
Supported headset(s): ???
Release date: 2022
Ultrawings 2
The original Ultrawings was a beloved classic so there’s plenty of excitement regarding the sequel. Developer Bit Planet Games has spent four years working on Ultrawings 2 and says it’ll be: “3X the gameplay of the original”.
Mixing arcade gameplay with simulator mechanics, Ultrawings 2 is set to feature four planes and one helicopter with hundreds of missions to test your flying skills on. From popping balloons with a dart pistol and stunt plane aerobatics to air-to-air combat shooting down drones in the fighter plane, there should be plenty to keep players entertained. They’ll also have their pick of control schemes. Whether that’s a normal gamepad, using their virtual hands to grab the cockpit controls or going fully immersive using a HOTAS setup, Ultrawings 2 will balance fun with realistic flying.
VRFocus can’t wait to get back into the skies again.
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest, PC VR
Release date: February 2022
Green Hell VR
Creepy Jar’s survival adventure Green Hell is coming to VR headsets thanks to Incuvo in 2022, remastering the control scheme for fully immersive gaming.
Heading to Meta Quest and PC VR headsets – a PlayStation VR version has also been mentioned – Green Hell VR drops you in a lush jungle with all the dangers you’d expect for the Amazon rainforest. Survive by foraging for food, learn how to build shelters, make tools, and craft weapons to defend yourself from whatever lurks in the undergrowth as you try to find a way out.
Being rebuilt for VR means that Green Hell VR has the kind of physical control system you’d expect from Incuvo, wrap your injuries with leaves, draw your bow to kill predators and light fires by sparking rock together. It’s all about enveloping you in the jungle experience so what’s not to look forward to?
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest, PC VR
Release date: Q1 2022
NERF Ultimate Championship
Another multiplayer with some exciting potential is NERF Ultimate Championship for Meta Quest. Initially unveiled during E3 2021 by Secret Location, the first proper look at the arena shooter came only a few short weeks ago with a gameplay reveal trailer.
A 4 vs 4, team-based VR experience, NERF Ultimate Championship will encourage players to navigate arenas in a parkour-like fashion with plenty of wall running and jumping. Of course, this being an official NERF tie-in players will have access to a wide variety of NERF blasters to choose from, each featuring manual reloading, revving triggers, dual-wielding capabilities. There’s also unique dart physics to be aware of.
From the looks of it, NERF Ultimate Championship is going to take all those regular NERF battles and up the action, in ways only VR can.
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest
Release date: 2022
Hubris
Originally due for release this year, Cyborn’s rather gorgeous Hubris is now due to hit PC VR headsets at some point next year. Aiming for very high-end, sci-fi VR adventuring, Hubris looks like it could very well be the Lone Echo II of 2022.
Promising a fully explorable world where you can climb, swim, jump and run around as you please, VRFocusdemoed Hubris a couple of months ago, finding a promising experience that was very pretty to look at. Visuals aside, there was plenty of physical activity where you could climb cliff faces, swim underwater and harpoon creatures as well as platforming sections.
One route that Cyborn has said it’s taking with the videogame is that it’ll be episodic, which may or may not work in its favour. If you’ve ever wanted Halo in VR – and who hasn’t? – then Hubris may just fill that hole, so long as there’s enough of it.
Supported platform(s): PC VR, PlayStation VR
Release date: 2022
SIN
Love your horror? SIN is the follow up to the popular The Exorcist: Legion VR where you play as a detective going up against demonic forces. Fun Train has teamed up with Pocket Money Games for this project. SIN stands for “Safety in Numbers” and as that implies you won’t be alone this time around.
No gameplay details have been revealed just yet but SIN will continue the narrative from the previous episodes, so it’s going to be scary at the very least. Teaming up with a friend – or braving it solo – SIN is the only horror VRFocusknows of for 2022 and should be in good hands.
Supported platform(s): Meta Quest, PlayStation VR
Release date: Late 2022
Wanderer
Another one delayed from 2021, Wanderer is a joint project between New Zealand-based studios M Theory and Oddboy.
Wanderer is a time-travelling adventure with a talking watch where you have to visit particular points in history in a bid to save the world. Exploring historical, futuristic and post-apocalyptic settings, you’ll take to the stage in 1969 for an epic musical performance, uncover traitors and crack codes during WWII; help inventor Nikola Tesla prepare his machinery, and step onto the moon.
Wanderer is one of the more unique prospects for 2022, a fascinating narrative alongside time-hopping puzzles and some lovely looking locations.
Supported platform(s): PC VR, PlayStation VR
Release date: 27th January 2022
Hitman 3
An exclusive PlayStation VR release – where VR is concerned – in January 2021, IO Interactive’s infamous assassin will eventually make its way to PC VR headsets in the coming 12 months.
Continuing the Hitman storyline, Hitman 3 features five gameplay modes: a full campaign, Elusive Targets, Escalations, Contracts Mode and Sniper Assassin, all of which can be played in VR. It’s been the studio’s most successful Hitman videogame with 50 million players stepping into the shoes of Agent 47.
However, unlike the PlayStation version that’s only compatible with the DualShock controller, and therefore lacks that extra bit of immersive freedom the PC VR edition won’t, and that’s really exciting. IO Interactive has worked on motion controller support, already showcasing Hitman 3 working with Valve Index controllers. This means dual-wielding weapons and other interactions that make VR so immersive will be present in this edition.
Supported platform(s): PC VR
Release date: 2022
Little Cities
And finally a far more casual strategy VR title. Being built by indie team Purple Yonder with publishing support from nDreams (Fracked, Phantom: Covert Ops), Little Cities is a laid back city-building experience for Meta Quest.
You’ll be able to construct complex cities that require residential areas, areas for commerce as well as industrial zones, all carefully balanced to make the populace happy. Specialist buildings such as network phone towers, schools, hospitals, police stations and more all add to the success of your city but they each only cover a certain radius so making sure they’re in an optimal spot is crucial.
Demoing one map from Little Cities, VRFocus found a delightful little city management experience that offered promising gameplay for fans of non-action oriented VR videogames.
Hubris is visually stunning and has promising gameplay mechanics too. Something nedes to be done about that voice acting, though. Read on for our Hubris hands-on!
The release of Lone Echo 2 earlier this month was something of a solemn moment for PC VR fans. The game set a graphical benchmark for VR visuals, but with Meta’s funding now focused on the Oculus Quest 2 and no new announced VR games from Valve, it seemed like it might be a long time before we got another high-fidelity adventure for VR’s most advanced headsets. That’s an especially sour note given the recent news of high-end devices like the Varjo Aero and Pimax Reality Series.
But Hubris suggests that might quite not be the case.
No, this new VR adventure — the first full title for headsets from Belgium-based Cyborn — doesn’t quite match Jack and Liv’s zero-gravity adventures in the graphics department. But, by god, does it give it a good go; set in a far-flung universe, you play as a recruit of the Order of Objectivity (which our review comments section will be dismayed to learn I’m not joining) that crash lands on a mysterious planet.
Yes, there’s a story about… something, but I was too busy taking in the game’s fantastic landscape to pay too much attention. This alien planet is one of gritty rock formations, lush underwater wildlife and dense otherwordly architecture. Even after the impressive debut trailer earlier this year, I was surprised to jump into the experience and discover just how rich it appears. Convincing character animations and detailed enemy designs also go well with the bright color palette. It really is a breath of fresh air.
Hubris isn’t just a visual feast, though. Cyborn seems to have a good grasp on the first-person fundamentals, including climbable surfaces, over-shoulder inventory systems and summoning a pistol with a quick press of a button. The 20-minute demo includes some combat, in which you dive underwater and blast squids before taking their tentacles to craft (weirdly) fleshy ziplines to traverse. In fact, swimming seems to be a crucial part of the game, with a push of your arm in any direction propelling you through the water. It doesn’t feel quite as natural as other control schemes I’ve seen like in Freediver: Triton Down, but it works well.
Not quite as welcome is the focus on trial and error platforming, which includes some sequences in which you’ll have to swim all the way back to the start of a series of jumps should you misjudge a gap. It’s dependable enough that you can avoid too much pain but, still, judging the distances of jumps with no sense of your own momentum or feeling your feet on the ground is a strange feeling that doesn’t really work.
Combat, meanwhile, seems promising in this opening phase. Underwater battles with a rechargeable gun do at least feel different to what’s on offer with other VR shooters, though the only on-foot combat I saw was a very simple shooting gallery against small bugs, so I’ll be interested to see what else Cyborn has in-store here.
We also have to talk about the voice acting which is, to be direct, not very good at all. It’s a shame to see Cyborn build up such an interesting and gorgeous world, only to have it squandered by the cheesy, poorly-delivered lines on offer in the demo. If the developer wants to have its new lore taken seriously, it’ll want to do another pass on this front.
Hubris is no longer coming in 2021, but should touch down on PC and PSVR in 2022. It’s also due on Oculus Quest, though we’ll be waiting to see if Cyborn can keep the title as visually appealing on that platform.
There’s always something utterly captivating about epic sci-fi adventures, especially in virtual reality (VR). Half-Life: Alyx, Lone Echo, Stormland, all big expansive videogames with rich narratives and stunning locations that are all must-plays if you’re into VR. Playing Hubris for the first time evokes those same sorts of feelings, an ambitious tale set in a far-flung future. Developer Cyborn only released a short demo teasing what’s to come and it’s certainly promising stuff.
The first real showcase of Hubriscame in March ’21 when Cyborn released a tantalising trailer for the videogame, giving everyone a look at this gorgeous world the team was developing. But as we all know, trailers and actual in-game gameplay can be worlds apart, especially when they look as detailed as Hubris made out to be.
Well, it seems as though that trailer and screenshots weren’t lying as Hubris does, in fact, look that good, with the first section of the planet you land on offering stunning sun-beaten rocks and dappled water effects – possibly the best water effects seen in VR to date. And that’s no surprise considering Cyborn’s history as a 3D animation company before moving into videogames. The buildings and tech have that usual clean-cut, sci-fi feel to them, very reminiscent of titles like Halo.
But looks alone won’t carry Hubris with the one hour demo giving a good feel for the physicality the experience will offer. The videogame jumps straight into a training mode where you can run, jump, climb, swim and pick up a gun and batteries, the former for a quick shooting range the latter a hint at the puzzles to come. Hubris is most certainly going to be an action-adventure, as you become an agent of an organisation called the Order-Of-Objectivity, or more commonly known as the OOO.
Planet-side it is your normal light introduction once you’ve stopped gawping at the scenery. A bit of climbing here and there, some platforming and a good chunk of swimming where the only danger is some less than friendly squid-type creatures that can be shot with an underwater plasma gun; their tentacles then harvested for later use.
It was all going really well but the Hubris demo did falter in one regard, grabbing ledges mid-jump. As mentioned, Hubris has plenty of physical gameplay – so it is going to lean towards an intense experience just so you’re aware – and even in this short into there was plenty of jumping and grabbing ledges to become clear that the mechanic is a bit finicky. It really felt like a 50/50 split between whether the grab would work or the inevitable fall to death (or into the water). That was the only real annoyance with Hubris, having such a tight threshold when it came to grabbing ledges.
There wasn’t much else to properly get to grips with, especially as Cyborn has now pushed the launch date back from this year in 2022 at some point. What’s going to be far more revealing is how the team manage to bring such a highly detailed and visually appealing title to Oculus Quest. On PC VR the minimum spec is a GTX 1080 whilst recommended is an RTX 2070, so for Quest, there’s going to be a major hit to the visuals. Hubris is also coming to PlayStation VR so it’ll be fascinating to see how each platform holds up.
There’s also one other caveat to Hubris that may or may not be of significance to you, it is episodic. This method is appearing more regularly in VR, with some titles making it work for them whilst others have suffered by offering painfully short experiences or what feels like half a videogame. Hopefully, Hubris doesn’t fall into the latter camp with the first part said to offer around 5-6 hours of gaming.
Because from what VRFocus has seen so far of Hubristhis could very well be a big surprise hit in 2022. There’s plenty of “wow factor” to the presentation and details Cyborn has revealed so far indicate Hubris could be a big franchise. The studio even has a mini-series called Terra-forma planned for after the videogame launch. But much is still unknown about the gameplay, enemies and whether it’ll be able to compete with the VR sci-fi juggernauts. So final judgement will have to wait. Definitely, one to pop on the wishlist though.
Hubris is a new VR shooter that’s sure to catch your eye, and it’s coming later this year.
Developed by Belgium-based Cyborn, Hubris is due to launch its first episode in Q4 2021 with support for all PC VR headsets on SteamVR and a PSVR version confirmed too. In the game, you play as a member of a galaxy-wide agency knowns as the Order-Of-Objectivity. You’re tasked with locating a missing agent on an alien planet. Check out the trailer below.
We don’t have too much to go on with Hubris right now, but it’s hard to deny that the trailer’s visuals are a cut above a lot of others. There’s a gorgeous lakeside environment in which players will explore caverns and clamber over rocks. The game’s developed with Unreal Engine.
Of course, great visuals only play one part in the overall experience, and we have no idea how Hubris will actually play. The shooting mechanics do at least look solid, with dual-wielding weapons and a range of enemy types. Plus, Cyborn is promising other mechanics like crafting weapons and drivable vehicles.
A Quest version of Hubris hasn’t been explicitly announced, by Cyborn says the game will come to “all major VR headsets”, so it could well be on the cards. The Steam page reveals the game will be an episodic experience, but there’s no timeline for when other instalments might arrive and it’s not clear if the trailer is showing everything in the first episode of stretching beyond that. Will you be checking out Hubris later this year? Let us know in the comments below!
It’s been quite the week for virtual reality (VR) videogame announcements with plenty of content slated for 2021. Those of you who love a good sci-fi adventure should keep an eye out for Cyborn’s upcoming title Hubris VR, with an impressive looking trailer released this week.
The single-player adventure puts you in the role of a recruit training to be an agent of the Order-Of-Objectivity, a fear organisation also known as the ‘OOO’. Sent to look for a mysterious agent called Cyanha you have to survive in a hostile environment currently undergoing terraforming, encounter new factions and building new items along the way.
Hubris VR promises a fully explorable world where you can climb, swim, jump and run around as you please. You’ll encounter a wide variety of creatures, some friend some foe, a mixture of alien wildlife, humanoids, and mechanized enemies. And like any good survival experience you’ll have to keep an eye out for resources to craft weapons and useful tools.
From the looks of the first trailer which features both cinematic and gameplay elements, Hubris VR is set to offer a lush, futuristic world with clear blue seas filled with aquatic creatures, green mountainous regions and base designs that wouldn’t be out of place in Halo.
Originally started as a 3D animation company back in 1998, Cyborn works across numerous verticals including its own productions, international co-productions and works for hire in film, gaming and apps. Hubris VR will be its first in-house consumer VR videogame. Following the launch, it’ll be supported by Hubris mini-series Terra-former.
Hubris VR is currently down for a Fall 2021 launch for Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality headsets and PlayStation VR. It’ll be the first in a multi-episode space saga with Cyborn planning an expansive universe by the sound of it. As further details of Hubris VR are released VRFocus will let you know, for now, check out the first trailer below.
