Impulse Gear announced that Larcenauts (2021), its 6v6 hero shooter for PC VR and Oculus Quest, is getting a few key updates today which focus on increasing immersion in the game.
The cross-play hero shooter first launched June 17th with a few things hardcore fans of the fps genre weren’t really expecting. The game’s gun-shooting experience felt like it had been heavily simplified: when larger guns are stabilized with two hands, only your dominant hand contributes to actually moving the gun. Reloading was also simplified with a console-style ‘press button to reload’ scheme, making for a pre-animated reload sequence.
Called the game’s ‘Immersion Overload’ update, the game will be receiving a few new features starting today which Impulse Gear calls “heavily requested by the Larcenauts community.” Now coming to the game is two-handed pivot-aiming, manual reload options, and immersive sprinting, the studio says.
Here’s Impulse Gear’s breakdown of the update coming today:
Manual Reloads: An immersive new reload system option that lets the player perform actions to manually reload their weapon for maximum realism. This, with Style and Automatic reload options allow players to tailor the reload mechanic to their liking.
Two-handed Pivot Aiming: Players can now select an all-new aiming mode that uses the position of both hands to aim weapons, keeping them in control and in the action.
Immersive Sprint: A new sprint mode option where players retain control of their hands while sprinting. Players can simply aim their weapon downward to start sprinting.
Cross-play Lobbies: Cross-play lobbies are now live. SteamVR and Oculus players can now join each other’s lobby by entering a player’s unique lobby code.
Spatialized VOIP in lobby: Players in the social lobby will now hear their friends VOIP spatialized.
Native support for bHaptics TactSuit vests: This third-party wearable interprets in-game actions into haptic feedback that the player can feel when wearing the bHaptics TactSuit vest.
The studio also says if you login before the end of July, you can also nab a new skin for Calima, the Infiltrator.
We gave Larcenauts a solid [7/10] in our review as it was technically well made game with strong art direction, great performance, and a sense of progression with eight characters to unlock. Its launch state however made the game feel more like a run-and-gun free-for-all than a team-based hero shooter, but it seems the studio is actively working on a number of the issues we saw early on.
As the first weekend of March passes by there is still plenty of time this Sunday to find a new and exciting job opportunity.
Every weekend VRFocus gathers together a number open position from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industry, in locations around the globe, to help make finding the ideal job easier. Below are a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on VR, AR and MR.
Don’t forget, if there was nothing in this week’s feature that was a good fit for you, you can always look at the previous edition of The VR Job Hub.
As always, 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 myself at keva@vrfocus.com and also pgraham@vrfocus.com.
Check back with VRFocus next Sunday at the usual time of 3PM (GMT) for another selection of jobs from around the industry.
It’s been a fantastic year for virtual reality games, and with VR titles hailing from ambitious indie studios and well-established developers alike, the prospect of having truly great games in VR is decidedly here. We at the Road to VR editorial staff, having explored content across VR platforms over the last year, have deliberated over the past few weeks and have come to a decision on 2017’s top honors.
Because the medium is still in its infancy, we felt it wasn’t possible to provide a meaningful set of awards based around individual genres at this time. Instead, this year we focused on the much broader task of weighing games according to the most immersive platforms available: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.
Games eligible for Road to VR‘s Game of the Year award must be available to the public on or before December 1st to allow for ample deliberation. Games must also natively support the target platform as to ensure full operability.
Without further ado, here are this year’s winners.
As an Oculus exclusive title developed specifically for Touch, this first-person sci-fi adventure amazingly grounds you in the story while letting you fly free in zero-G. The game seems to have everything going for it too; incredible visuals, lifelike motion capture, quality writing, quality voice actors, excellent object interaction, detailed hand presence thanks to dynamic hand poses… we could go on. And we will.
Sometimes VR games overstep their bounds into territory the medium just can’t make good on right now. Lone Echo respects these boundaries while offering a locomotion style that is so freeing—while also being widely nausea-free—that it can even be used for its fast-paced multiplayer counterpart Echo Arena. It’s not only easy to control, but also contributes to immersion; you’re able to easily internalize how the world works and accept it without really thinking after only a few minutes of on-boarding. That’s an important part of the Presence equation for sure.
The game may feature cinematic sci-fi settings seemingly pulled from the set of Gravity (2013), but the star of the show is without a doubt Olivia. The early part of the game is filled with engaging ways to interact with her, creating a genuine feeling that she’s actually there—something that’s easy to screw up with poorly executed mocap, bad dialogue, or lackluster voice acting—basically anything that reveals her to be a hollow simulacra and not the living, breathing, ball-busting starship captain she is. Yet, the developers did a great job of making Olivia real enough for the player to connect with.
Lone Echo isn’t without flaws; nothing is. Puzzles show a great affinity for wow-factor and make good use of motion controls, but ultimately could be more complex. Despite this, Lone Echo it represents a shining light pointing towards greater, more in-depth games that don’t necessarily rely on old gameplay styles. Lone Echo has embraced the medium fully, searching for the most compelling way to deliver deep immersion.
Since the launch of Touch in December 2016, the distinction between the sort of games made available on Oculus Home and Steam has become less pronounced over time. Undoubtedly, the company’s ‘walled garden’ approach has been unpopular for its creation of exclusivity where open standards would better serve the public. Though it’s hard to deny that Oculus’ concerted investment in motion controller-supporting VR games in 2017 hasn’t resulted in some incredible titles that may not otherwise exist. Case in point, the Oculus-funded SUPERHOT VR that later found a resounding success on Steam.
It’s honestly hard to believe that the original flatscreen Superhot (2016) wasn’t conceived for VR in the first place, considering how well the game’s slow motion, red guy-shattering premise works with a headset and two motion controllers. Built from the ground-up for VR headsets, Superhot VR isn’t a lengthy game when playing through story mode, but its ability to immerse with its low poly style and physical movement-based gameplay immediately make it one of those “easy to learn, hard to master” games that are undoubtedly worth coming back to—if only to perfect your trick shots, and delve deeper into the feeling of being some sort of badass from The Matrix (1999).
Stylish, addictive, immersive. All of these words come to mind when we think about Superhot VR. Now that the developers have pushed their ‘Forever Update’, several challenge modes make the game that much more difficult, and ridiculously fun.
Farpoint made its debut on PlayStation VR as one of the first ‘full’ AAA titles to delivery an engaging single player campaign to didn’t feel like it ended just as things were getting started. The VR FPS also launched with full support for the PS Aim controller which worked seamlessly with the game’s two-handed weapons, including an intuitive method for switching between them with a quick and funcional gesture.
While Farpoint’s story didn’t enrapture us, it was a serviceable foundation for immersive and fun gunplay. The game’s weapons didn’t do much to break new ground—mostly falling into the usual tropes of shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle—but there’s something to be said about great execution of a known formula. The weapons themselves wouldn’t be much fun without the right mixture of enemies; a slew of interesting enemies with well-defined roles was a great match for the weapons on offer, giving the player clear and fun ways to develop a strategy and prioritize enemies in the midst of battle. And what’s more, just as things start to feel a little too familiar the game throws a curveball at the player, introducing new and quite different enemies, as well as a number of new weapons to use against them.
Farpoint already felt substantial at launch, but the game recently got a free ‘Versus Expansion Pack’ which added a brand new PVP mode—which takes advantage of a 15 new weapon variants for 1v1 combat—further rounding out the title’s value proposition.
We’re looking forward to next year’s awards with the expectation of even more great games and platforms to choose from.
Bored of your daily commute, fed up with that bloke from accounts who always finishes the milk before you’ve had your first work brew of the day? Maybe it’s time for a change, time to augment your life with something fresh and new, you’re virtually out the door anyway as you’re reading a job listing page. So keep reading, maybe click on a link or two and submit a CV, because a new reality awaits.
As usual, you can check last week’s edition for further job listings. If you are an employer looking for someone to fill a role in a VR, AR or other related areas in the industry and want that position to be featured on next week’s VR Job Hub, please send details to either pgraham@vrfocus.com or keva@vrfocus.com.
Check back with VRFocus next Sunday at 3PM BST and every Sunday for the latest roles in the VR industry.
Farpoint has become a key example for the success of modern virtual reality (VR), having surpassed all expectations for commercial value upon release. Developer Impulse Gear is looking to reward that audience by bringing new downloadable content (DLC) to the videogame later this month, for free.
The Cryo Pack, as it will be known, adds four existing maps to the co-operative mode and brings two brand new additions. While previous two-player maps were largely arena based, Impulse Gear has assured VRFocus that these two new levels will provide more variety, offering multiple paths for the players to cover and assist one another as they journey from beginning to end. And they’ll need to, as both these maps offer a considerable challenge.
Designed to extend the life of Farpoint for those who have already completed the single-player campaign – there is no additional campaign content being offered at this point – the Cryo Pack’s new maps place the players under significant pressure. From the very beginning enemies are tough and aggressive, demanding tactical maneuvering and familiarity with Farpoint’s arsenal to get the better of them.
The first of the two maps, a frozen wasteland, brings large enemies that reign down mortar fire from a distance while smaller creatures quickly scuttle towards the player and leap at their face when within close proximity. The second map features bi-pedal enemies unaware of your presence until you decide to make it known, and then won’t hesitate to remove you. Both provide a significant new challenge atop the original content.
Other new content includes a new character skin (seen in the key image above), new toys in the videogame’s lobby and additional PlayStation 4 Trophies. This may not sound like a huge amount of new content, but being delivered for free there’s likely to be very few Farpoint fans that will complain. Whether or not Impulse Gear plan on expanding the story element of Farpoint remains to be seen, but you can be sure VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest details.
