Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today’s Community Download, we want to know what you think is the very best VR shooter?
There are lots of great VR shooters out there. From the ultra-realistic types such as Onward to the bow and arrow focused In Death, there are tons of different ways to shoot things in a VR headset. We’ve even got Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond still coming, presumably, this year.
And with all those different methods it’s bound to cause some division. I know that personally I prefer Onward to Pavlov despite their control schemes being mostly the same. So much in VR has to do with how something feels and you can’t really explain that in words very easily. Even if a game has the same bulleted list of features and mechanics it doesn’t mean it feels the same in the headset once you’re controlling stuff with your hands.
So that brings us to the week’s discussion topic: What do you think is the very best VR shooter out there? Is it a specific an FPS gun-based game, or do you love a shooter that features a different weapon?
Update: A representative for Superbright let us know that the developer was able to fit in the ‘smooth locomotion’ movement option in time for launch, so it should already be available today. Read or watch our full review of the game here.
In Death is a VR roguelite shooter that released for PC VR in 2018, focused on archery combat in punishingly hard, procedurally generated levels. An updated version of the game, In Death: Unchained, was announced for Oculus Quest and will release on the system later this week with some brand new, exclusive content.
A big part of the game is the teleportation system used for movement, which is integrated into the core archery mechanics of the game – the triggers fire a normal arrow, whereas the A or B buttons will shoot a teleportation arrow. Despite the big focus on this teleportation system, developers Sólfar Studios did also implement a smooth locomotion option into the PC VR version of the game.
However, Unchained is being handled by Superbright, a different studio, and the game was set to ship without a smooth locomotion option on the Quest. After hearing feedback ahead of release, Superbright COO Pawel Kopinski issued a statement on the matter:
Thank you all for raising your concerns and letting us know your thoughts on the lack of free locomotion. We listened to your feedback, and as a team we had a look at a possible solution to this – and we have found one. So in short – free locomotion is coming to In Death: Unchained.
Since the game is already submitted to the Oculus Store and we sent to copies to reviewers, the update with the free locomotion won’t take effect until we release an update. We are working on the update as we speak, and it will be released as soon as possible.
So while the game will only ship with the bow and arrow teleport movement system on Quest, an update should arrive shortly after to satiate your smooth locomotion hopes.
If you’re interested in Unchained, check out some of the big changes in the game going from PC to Quest. You’ll be able to read our review of In Death: Unchained for Oculus Quest this Thursday July 23 at 10am PST.
Punishing rougelite In Death is due for release on Oculus Quest next week, but this isn’t your bog-standard standalone port.
For starters, In Death: Unchained is helmed by a new studio named Superbright instead of original creator, Solfar. There’s also a lot of changes to the core game that make this more of an extended cut than a 1:1 port. Here’s four things to look out for when the game launched on July 23.
Wireless Rougelite Action
Obviously the biggest change with any Quest port is the ability to experience the game without a wire tugging at your neck. And it works wonders for In Death’s brand of arrow-dodging, fast-firing combat. In the original game, you could certainly duck an arrow when it comes your way, but here it’s a much more viable tactic, paired with your trusty shield for blocking anything more accurate.
Not to mention that this just helps you get immersed further in the action. It was already possible to lose hours in In Death’s procedurally generated dungeons, but on Quest this could be the rare title we come back to time and time again.
A New Level
The press preview for the game we tried this week grants access to a brand new level, The Abyss. This fiery hellscape won’t actually be available until later in the game when the full thing arrives but promises a more demonic variant on some of the environments already available in the base game. Though it’s ultimately not too different outside of the new color palette, it does make for a more fitting home for some of the game’s more disturbing enemies.
Scaled Back Visuals, But Not Too Much
As with any PC to Quest port, In Death’s visuals take a bit of a hit in the transition to the all-in-one. But, fortunately, it’s not by too much. Character models have that meshed effect to them, and environments don’t pack that impressive crisp punch they boasted on PC (which, we should point out, was visually ahead of its time even back at full launch in 2018). We’ll have a full graphics comparison when we can directly play levels side-by-side.
Fewer Enemies At Once (For Now)
Based on what I’ve played so far, the Quest version of the game doesn’t pile on enemies as much as you might be used to in the PC version. In the original, it wouldn’t be uncommon to have upwards of five or six archers and then several other monsters all rushing for a piece of you. In the Quest version, you’re more likely to encounter three or four enemies bunched together in small groups at a time, though some environments will still have a wide selection of foes spread out across different vantage points. It certainly makes the game a little more manageable from what we’ve played, but we’ll need to wait and see how this holds up in the full release.
In Death: Unchained hits Oculus Quest on July 23. Are you going to be picking up the game? Let us know in the comments below!
In Death (2018), the fiendishly difficult bow-shooting roguelite, is getting its Oculus Quest version on July 23rd.
Originally created by Sólfar Studios and adapted to Quest by Superbright VR, In Death: Unchained is slated plop you down into Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell.
With bow and a selection of arrows in hand, you stalk around its procedurally generated levels through an increasingly difficult wave of enemies. It’s hectic, fun and it always kept us guessing, which is why we gave it a solid [8/10] in our review on PC.
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Image courtesy Superbright VR
Image courtesy Superbright VR
Image courtesy Superbright VR
In Death: Unchained appears to be much the same game as the title released on PSVR and SteamVR headsets, however Superbright says Unchained has been “thoroughly extended with new content, experience, and love that the title deserves.”
Although E3 was cancelled this year due to the ongoing pandemic, many studios went forward with their traditional mid-June game announcements just the same. That just so happens to mean that Oculus Quest owners are getting a rash of PC VR ports soon.
Coming soon to Quest:
Trover Saves the Universe
Arriving on June 18th on Quest is the beautifully weird 3D platformer from Ricky and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland—and his merry band of developers at Squanch Games, of course.
Originally launched on PSVR and later rolled out onto PC VR headsets, Trover Saves the Universe brings Roilands uniquely unhinged stream-of-thought comedy to virtual reality in a big way.
You’ll control Trover on his quest to retrieve his kidnapped dogs from the evil eye sockets of Glorkon. Why explain what that even means when you can just play it?
Gravity Lab
First launched on PC VR headsets in 2016, Gravity Lab is a Rube Goldberg-style puzzler set in a microgravity environment. You’ll have plenty of pieces and contraptions on-hand to stretch your imagination as you shuffle balls from point A to point B.
Gravity Lab is marked as “coming soon,” so no official street date yet.
Gravity Lab was created by independent developer Mark Schramm, who is also known for Nighttime Terror VR: Desert Defender and his work on Sideload VR, the now-defunct unofficial game library for the Gear VR platform.
In Death: Unchained
Launching on Quest is one of the best bow-shooters to grace the heavenly realms of virtual reality—or rather the ghoulish upper strata of Hell.
Available on PSVR and PC VR headsets, this single-player rogue-lite has you battling through an ever-changing map, and through an increasingly difficult wave of enemies that will have you questioning your ability to keep cool in the most dire of circumstances.
Created by Sólfar Studios and adapted to Quest by Superbright VR, In Death: Unchained is set to arrive on Quest sometime in July.
What Quest game are you most excited to play? Let us know in the comments below!
During the UploadVR Summer Showcase 2020 we revealed that In Death: Unchained is an Oculus Quest port of the excellent PC VR rogue-lite in development by Superbright that’s aiming to deliver amazing standalone wireless thrills when it releases this July.
Watch the announcement trailer and first-ever gameplay footage right here:
I reviewed the original PC VR version of the game and it regularly ends up on many “best of” lists, including our list of the very best VR roguelike games you can play. In Death features best-in-class bow and arrow combat with excellent physics. Peeking around corners, landing headshots, and dodging projectiles was already a blast and is sure to be even better without a wire tethering you.
Visually, the trailer certainly makes it seem like they nailed the visual style with few compromises, which was likely a difficult feat giving how polished the PC VR game looks. What makes In Death so fun and replayable is just how varied each playthrough can be. Instead of replaying the same levels or barely altered levels, they’re dramatically different each time with a variety of new features and enemies to face. You barely notice the procedural generation.
Since In Death: Unchained is releasing next month in July that means we won’t have to wait very long before diving into this one once again.
You’re still burning through Half-Life: Alyx (2020), but if you’re wondering where to go after playing one of the highest-rated VR games to date, you may do well to jump into these five ‘guaranteed fresh’ VR titles next.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is a slightly tuned-down RPG that’s just begging to be bigger in size, although it didn’t bite off too much in its quest to deliver an engrossing story, excellent physics-based zombie killing action, and an immersive atmosphere that feels as gritty and deadly serious as The Walking Dead comic books.
It’s a great title to jump into next if you’re looking for more gunplay and zombie-ganking action. Upgradeable weapons are a big plus. Check out why we gave it [9/10] in our full review.
You might think of Boneworks as a Half-Life VR game before any such title was released, at least that’s what it feels like given its zombies, mechanical head crabs and copious crowbar action. Although it’s light on the story and sometimes challenging in the comfort department, this physics-driven game can be truly magical when it works just right.
Detailed weapon interactions and enjoyable slow-motion shooting are a big attraction, with its Arena and Sandbox modes offering up a great opportunity for extended gameplay. Check out our full review here.
Ok, so it isn’t a zombie shooter in the slightest, but Until You Fall’s quality speaks for itself. It’s a pretty impressive hack-and-slash game that will send you through procedurally generated rogue-lite dungeons. You’ll battle your way through a string of rooms populated with enemies of increasing difficulty using your own two hands.
Until You Fall successfully fuses VR sword combat with meta-game elements in a way that no other VR title has yet managed. Check out our early access review here.
In Death is an extremely difficult roguelike bow-shooter that is both extremely well realized and frustratingly hard. If you’re into punishment, the seemingly infinite number of Purgatories that await ought to get you at least a little bit excited, because In Death promises a constantly increasing level of difficulty along with cool unlocks as you die time and time again. Expect to put in a lot of time into your permanent sojourn in Purgatory to get the most out of it.
High visual polish and a varied swath of enemies are sure to keep you on your toes in a way even the most difficult HLA enemies can’t. Check out why we gave In Death [8/10] in our full review.
Too much violence in your life? If you dig the puzzles and rich atmosphere of Half-Life: Alyx, Red Matter will probably be up your alley. As an adventure puzzle set in a soviet-style retro-future universe, there aren’t any enemies to shoot, only puzzles to un-puzzle as it were. Red Matter really does a great job of showcasing impressive worldbuilding that still stands head and shoulders above many of its contemporaries.
Make sure to read up on our review to see why we gave it [8.3/10].
Fallout 4 VR – Enter the Wasteland in VR. Top-tier GPUs only. Menus and looting sucks, but where else are you going to nuke a village in VR?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR – Fus-Ro-Dah! Melee isn’t as great as it should be, and menus are a complete holdover from the flatscreen version, but the world of Skyrim is breathtaking nonetheless.
Blade & Sorcery – Full-on physics simulator with no story, but awesome array of weapons and ample opportunity to stab people literally through their heads.
Robo Recall (Rift & Quest) – Arcade-style shooter from Epic Games that holds up super well, even three years after being released for Oculus Touch in 2017.
Lies Beneath (Quest) – A new shooter on Quest that definitely delivers on visual polish, atmosphere and shooting fun as you traverse through a dark, comic book-inspired world filled with demons.
What would you suggest to a VR newcomer looking for suggestions after Half-Life: Alyx? Let us know in the comments below!
Roguelikes are an almost ubiquitous style of game now, but VR roguelikes are a little harder to come by.
Thanks to the likes of The Binding of Isaac, Into the Breach, Slay the Spire, and even Dead Cells, you can’t go five minutes without finding a game that is more willing to kill you off than help you. Well, that’s the case on consoles and PC anyway. VR roguelikes aren’t as common, which is odd because pairing the two together makes perfect sense. It’s not just because roguelikes are an excellent genre though; there are a couple of solid reasons to herald them as the true killer apps of virtual reality.
For starters, you don’t always have a huge amount of time to play VR; it’s one of the things that makes games like Beat Saber and Pistol Whip so perfect. Well, the same is true of a roguelike, if you’ve only got half an hour, then you can simply jump into one to see how far you can get. If you’ve got all night, then you’ll probably “one more run” yourself into the early hours. Not only this, but they make for excellent showcase games if you’re trying to convert your friends to the good words of VR. Lord knows we all are, so chuck them into In Death and the lack of sleep will probably lead them into our cult.
In the spirit of celebrating VR roguelikes, here is an alphabetical list of the 10 best we’ve seen so far!
A game set firmly within mythology, you play Luca and have been awakened by the goddess Diana. Your aim is to escape a procedurally generated dungeon and try to destroy the god you face at the end of each run. It’s got loads of upgrades to find, different classes, and a fair few weapons to try out too. Not only that, but it makes good use of 360 tracking and will have you killing demons by the dozen.
Not a VR Brooklyn Nine-Nine experience, but a retro-looking cyberspace FPS that allows you to journey through bright neon-lit rooms and fight off wireframe enemies. It’s fast-paced, visually stunning and I don’t mean in the usual term, it’s unlike anything else in VR. It’s also good fun and incredibly hard. Oh, and there are giant cat heads that try and kill you, good if you’re that way inclined.
Another oddly retro-looking game, but this one harks back to classic Doom, at least when it comes to the environments you’ll be running through. The world is randomized, but the fact that you’ll be getting shot at definitely isn’t. You have to keep on your toes if you want to survive this rather tough FPS game, but you’ll feel great if you manage it. Plus, once again, it’s incredibly walking through a visual style like this.
I promise I’ll stop waxing on about how cool graphics in VR are, but not yet. Dungeons & Treasure is a voxel-art game that has you smashing your way through enemies, bosses, and everything else the world can throw at you. Plus, it’s multiplayer, which means you can team up with friends or randoms to take on the trials and earn the treasures.
A very different entry to the ones that have come before, Everspace has you flying through space trying to survive in a universe that is full of surprises, surprises that want to kill you. It’s perhaps the best-looking game on this list, and it’s an incredible game. There’s also a solid story to follow through in your runs, which makes it great for those looking for more than just gameplay.
Another space-based VR roguelike, but this one has you controlling someone on a ship, not the ship itself. That means shooting people with dual space pistols and stuff, and that never really gets old. It’s got multiplayer so you can fight off the unknown with friends, and it’s got more space enemies than you can shake a space stick at. Just keep in mind that you’re probably going to die.
In Death has you fighting through purgatory having been forsaken by all in a horrific afterlife. You only have your trusty bow to rely on, and you’ll have to fight through hordes of teleporting archers, demonic babies, and horrific ghosts to make it all the way through the game. It’s one of the best archery experiences in VR, and it’s endlessly replayable thanks to its brutal difficulty and moreish gameplay.
This slick-looking FPS will have you making your way through randomly generated worlds to try and become the ultimate soldier. It’s an incredibly pretty game thanks to the Unreal Engine, and there’s lots to do as well. Just keep an eye out for the masses of robots that want to test your mettle; otherwise you’ll never become the best.
Horror and VR are a natural pairing; after all, jump scares are so much more effective when you can’t look away. The Persistence has you playing as a cloned staff member aboard a space station that has been corrupted by a black hole. You have to try and restart the systems to escape the black hole, but you aren’t alone. There are plenty of other cloning machines all around the ship, and they’re malfunctioning, meaning they’re constantly making horrifically botched clones for you to fight against. It’s all pretty terrifying, but hey, sometimes you just need to get that heart rate up.
Sometimes what you want from a VR game is a good melee experience. There are a few out there, but the best VR roguelike one is Until You Fall. Set in a vibrant but doomed world, you have to duel your way through corrupted beings to try and save the world. It’s got an excellent blocking system, one of the most satisfying weapon-summoning animations around, and an all-around great amount of customisation. This is, for my money, one of the best games in VR, and the fact that it’s a roguelike just makes it all the sweeter.
What are your favorite VR roguelikes so far? Let us know down in the comments below!
Tis not the season to be jolly just yet, it’s actually time for the complete opposite (no not being grumpy). It’s almost Halloween, an even better time for videogames where being terrified is pretty much mandatory and loads of titles get a spooky makeover. Steam also sees it as a good reason to discount loads of horror-themed experiences for a few days – likely more scary for your bank balance than anything.
Today, Steam has begun its seasonal sale, offering plenty of discounts on virtual reality (VR) titles that offer a scare factor. As you’d expect there are quite a few listed – 114 in fact – with discounts ranging from 15 percent all the way up to 91 percent.
VRFocus isn’t going to list all the titles of offer – you can view them all here – but there were a few that caught the eye and are certainly worth picking. Stifled for example is a good choice, offering an echolocation style system where the entire experience is black as night. It’s only through making noise that you can see what’s around you. The problem comes when you need to see but making a sound will then alert what’s in the darkness to your presence.
Or how about Five Nights at Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted. This title featured in VRFocus’ ‘Best Horror Game List‘ offering some brutal jump scares thanks to a frightening compendium of mini-games designed to make players scream. With 30 percent off it’s a decent saving for a videogame released only a few months ago.
For those after big savings why not go for Don’t Knock Twicewhich has a 66 percent saving, offering some good scares but some weird design choices. Rogue-lite shooter In Deathhas a decent 60 percent off, Monstrumhas a massive 80 percent saving (but only supports Oculus Rift) and Kobold: Chapter 1has a rather tasty 70 percent off.
In fact, head to the Specials section and you’ll find 677 videogames discounted on Steam across a range of genres, in case none of the horror VR experiences takes your fancy. Steam’s Halloween Sale runs until 1st November 2019, for further VR sales coverage in 2019, keep reading VRFocus.
While CES 2019 this week tends to focus more on the hardware side of things when it comes virtual reality (VR), for gamers and videogame developers the first big show of the year is the 2019 Game Developers Conference in March. As per usual the event will host the Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA), honouring titles across the breadth of the industry. All the nominees have now been announced, with several VR titles managing to find their way out of the dedicated VR/AR category.
To be honest there aren’t really any surprises when it comes to those VR titles who have made the nomination grade as you can see below.
Honorable Mentions: Jurassic World Alive (Ludia), In Death (Sólfar Studios), Tendar (Tender Claws), Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Deracine (FromSoftware / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
What’s far more promising for the industry as a whole is the inclusion of several titles in other categories, showcasing the reach VR experiences are starting to have. For example, Polyarc’s Moss also features in the Best Debut category with an honourable mention in the Innovation Award category. Tetris Effect shows up in Best Audio, Innovation Award, Best Visual Art (honourable mention) and Game of the Year (honourable mention.
Others worth noting are:
Beat Saber (Best Games) – Best Audio (honourable mention), Best Debut (honourable mention)
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment) – Best Design (honourable mention), Innovation Award (honourable mention)
This will be the 19th annual Game Developers Choice Awards and will be hosted once again by Tim Schafer, LucasArts industry veteran and founder of Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts 2). The ceremony will take place on Wednesday, 20th March, 2019 at 6:30pm at the San Francisco Moscone Center, and held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival Awards (IGF).
Just like CES 2019, VRFocus will be at GDC 2019 to bring you all the very latest news and announcements relating to VR and AR as they happen.
