The VR Challenger League is the first recognised Esports league dedicated to virtual reality (VR) esports. At present, the VR Challenger League offers contents based on VR titles The Unspoken and Echo Arena. The League has just introduced some changes to improve the league for its players.
The VR Challenger League has been gathering feedback from the community and have determined that for its upcoming Week 7 Cups, the times and dates have been changed so that North America and Europe will compete on Saturdays instead of during the week. The organisers hope this will allow more players to enter. For a similar reason, the bracket size is being lowered from 16 to 8. Duels will now be Best of Three-style matches, which means that the maximum number of rounds that can be played can go as high at 9. The loser of the first match will choose the arena for the next match, while the client or lower-seeded player will still select the arena for the first match.
The VR Challenger League is organised by Insomniac Games, the developers behind The Unspoken, one of the titles used in the league. The Unspoken is a PvP title where players enter a magical realm where they must learn how to use powerful spells to throw at their enemies, in a fantasy take on Fight Club. Insomniac Games have been using the VR Challenger League and the feedback from the esports community to further developer and improve the title, and are currently seeking opinions on how players are currently finding The Unspoken to play.
Further information on the VR Challenger League and the new rules changes can be found on the official website.
VRFocus will continue to report on new developments within the VR sector.
Sony and Insomniac have provided more information about the upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive Spider-Man, showing us the hero's combat and livesaving skills in equal measure. Here is what we know about the new Spider-Man game so far.
Insomniac Games’ Oculus Touch launch title The Unspoken has received its next update this week, with the studio new features and content including a Spar Mode for players.
The magical combat multiplayer’s new Spar Mode is designed as a way for players to hone their skills in a more relaxed environment. Still against other players, they battle for points in matches just this time they’re unranked, reducing the stakes somewhat. The studio’s blog explains: “We developed Spar Mode as a direct result of some great feedback from our community. We heard loud and clear that many players want a chance to learn the game in a more forgiving environment.”
“We set out to create a mode that’s inviting for players of all skill levels. A mode that helps new players close the skill gap and prepare for the ranked game. And ultimately—we hope!—a mode that gets high-ranked players into Duels faster by drawing from a larger matchmaking pool.”
That’s not all though. Insomniac has added a new location, the Midway Pier Arena, where players can battle in an amusement park. There’s also a friends leaderboard so players can see how well (or bad) they’re doing against their mates.
Additionally, a bunch of tweaks and fixes have been added to refine the experience even further, all of which can be found in the changelog below.
Checkout The Unspoken stream Insomniac Games did for the new update and for any further announcements, keep reading VRFocus.
Full changelog for The Unspoken: Arcane Update 4.0:
New Content
Spar Mode: Battle for points in timed matches in this new unranked mode! Master the art of spellcasting with lower stakes and an all-new way to play.
Midway Pier Arena: Duel for supremacy in a long-vacant amusement park. The concession tents glow once again with electric light.
New Features
Tournament Cloaks: It’s time for The Unspoken Tournament at Microsoft Stores across North America! Celebrate with new crimson tournament cloaks.
Friends Leaderboard: How do you rank against your Oculus friends? Find out here!
Tuning and Fixes
Anarchist
Plate Glass: Increased the health of all Plate Glass charge tiers.
Plate Glass: Reduced the duration of a minimum charged Plate Glass.
Plate Glass: Reduced size of fully charged Plate Glass.
Chaos Skull: Added speed boost immediately after being cast.
Kineticist
Force Bubble: Added new behavior. Enemy spells entering the bubble now stop for the entire shield duration.
Debris Drop: Added new behavior. All cars now travel to where the player is looking if no car is already there.
Debris Drop: Added a Cooldown between successive volleys.
Blackjack
Disc of Blades: Reduced the max speed of both a minimum charge and curved Disc of Blades.
Disc of Blades: Increased the visibility of Disc of Blades.
Spectral Cloak: Increased the number of Spectral Crystals formed by a minimum charged cloak.
Spectral Cloak: Increased cloak health.
Wild Cards: Reduced projectile speed.
Drifter
Celestial Dome: Increased the health of a minimum charged Celestial Dome.
Celestial Dome: Reduced the duration of a minimum charged Celestial Dome.
Vermin: Increased flight speed.
Shatter Mine: Increased the health for both charge tiers.
Shatter Mine: Reduced the fuse time for both charge tiers.
Shatter Mine: Reduced the damage for both charge tiers.
Artifacts
Infernal Contract: Further reduced the health penalty for signing the contract.
Aerogramme: Increased the health of each plane.
Dispelling Censer: Reduced the size of the dispel AOE.
Dark Tag: Triggering Dark Tag no longer removes the other traps.
General
Map Table: Renamed tab headings for clarity.
Map Table: Added an arena selection context.
Primal Shields: Increased the recharge delay.
Primal Shields: Reduced shield damage taken from primals when blocked with shield center.
Voice Chat: Enabled voice chat by default.
Progression: Added checks to ensure that unlocked items remain accessible.
Insomniac Games have laid out their plans detailing content updates for their Oculus Touch launch title The Unspoken – and there’s a LOT of stuff on the way.
Insomniac Games launched have once again provided one of the highlights of an Oculus hardware launch in magic-dueling title The Unspoken, built for Oculus Touch which launched alongside the motion controllers this month. It’s a primarily multiplayer combat title which has you, a magic wielding member of the Unspoken order, utilizing hand gesture-powered spells to destroy your opponent across various arenas inside ‘the veil’, a mystical dimension unseen to us mere ‘normos’.
The title launched flagged as a ‘Beta’ initially and developers Insomniac Games are now laying out their support for the title through the whole of 2017. In a new blog post on the company’s website the developers are looking to bring a whole host of content additions, including new arenas, skills, classes and characters to the title.
First up are arenas, which Insomniac are promising to extend over next year. The developer is sketchy here but promise more of The Unspoken‘s setting of Chicago to be revealed featuring “dramatic layouts and dynamic pedestals.” Here’s a sneak peek at one of the planned environments.
New classes for players to adopt are also on their way too along with new relics for them to wield inside the battle arena. Again, details are sketchy here but Insomniac seem to hint at new spells for the existing classes too.
Perhaps less substantive, but nevertheless welcome, is the ability to customise the appearance of your Spellcaster with new cloaks, examples of which Insomniac has provided.
New play modes too are on the way and Insomniac’s statement “The very nature of Spellcasting will evolve, even as the 1v1 duel lives eternal” may hint at modes which allow more than 2 players to join an arena, which could open up the scope of the current game significantly.
Finally, a new Spectator Mode is being added for those who like to watch, with Insomniac promising “all-seeing views of the duel, with an information overlay for informed viewing.” To go along with that, they’re also opening up streaming options to allow you to broadcast your crushing victories or humiliating defeats to the Internet at large.
There are no timelines cited here other than ‘2017’ of course, but Insomniac’s roadmap here shows a significant commitment to The Unspoken from the developer and the publisher (Oculus) who is financing the game’s development. It shows an understanding that in this day and age any multiplayer gaming prospect needs to be nurtured long term in order to flourish, especially titles which are created exclusively to a small VR-only audience.
The Unspoken is available now via Oculus Home for Rift and Touch now.
Especially in this day and age prices for videogames can seem a bit much, and it often gives the stigma of the higher the price the higher the quality. Insomniac Games may have initially fallen into this trap, but now it has resolved it in a more than agreeable way.
Feral Rites was originally set at a price that most AAA games hold, but after not even a week of being on the Oculus Store there have been complaints, and Insomniac Games has listened, taking the price down from $49.99 (USD) to $29.99. “As we do with all our games, we’ve paid careful attention and responded to player feedback so far.
“We appreciate the support from everyone who has experienced Feral Rites, and we understand the concerns as well — especially about the game’s price. Effective immediately, the price of Feral Rites is $29.99. The game’s original price was largely based on all the work that went into it. We’re proud that Feral Rites is among the largest VR games of its kind available today.”
If you have already bought a copy of Feral Rites for the Oculus Rift, then you may feel a little bamboozled. Oculus will quickly help you get over these feelings with not four, not five, but six free games. These are: AirMech Command, Damaged Core, Defense Grid VR, Chronos, Edge of Nowhere, and The Climb. As you can see by the reports made by VRFocus on these titles, they’re not just fillers, but rather chunky games which will more than fill the hole, one of which is Insomniac Games’ first VR title.
You can expect these games to turn up on your library tomorrow, 18th September.
For more on the latest developments of Oculus Rift titles, as well as all the news, updates, and features in the world of VR, make sure to check back with VRFocus.
In an interesting twist to Insomniac’s VR brawler Feral Rites‘ recent release, Oculus have slashed the price of the game to $29.99 from $49.99 stating the price was “too high”.
In an unusual move, Oculus have seemingly taken on board the critical and fan reaction to Incomniac Games’ recently released fantasy brawler Feral Rites. The title received a lukewarm critical reception on release and it seems those gamers who bought were none too happy with the product they received for the original price of $49.99.
In response however, not only have Oculus slashed the price of the game on the Oculus Store to $29.99, they’ve also emailed all of those who purchased the game at full price informing them that they have been gifted 6 free games as compensation. Those customer also have an option to a full refund as well.
Oculus Studios, its developers, and its players are all pioneers in the new world of VR content. As such, we’re all learning as we go.
As you know, Oculus Studios and Insomniac Games recently released a game called Feral Rites. Our teams felt the product was of high quality and, due to the depth and length of play, a price of $49.99 was chosen. You were one of the dedicated VR enthusiasts that tried the game at that price. For that, we thank you!
After listening to the community the last few days, it has become evident to us that this price was too high. So we’ve decided to drop the price.
Today you’ll find Feral Rites for $29.99 on the Oculus store. We’ve also added the title to our Fall Sale at $9.99.
For pioneers like you, who gave the game a chance at the original price and gave us the valuable feedback we need, we’ve decided to add six Oculus Studios’ games to your account at no cost:
AirMech Command
Damaged Core
Defense Grid 2: Enhanced VR Edition
Chronos
Edge of Nowhere
The Climb
The games should automatically appear in your library by Sunday, September 18. If you have questions, or if you’d rather have a refund of the purchase price, please contact the Oculus support team at support.oculus.com and click “Contact Us”.
We thank you for your trust in Oculus Studios and Insomniac Games, and appreciate your continued help as we bring VR to the world. — Oculus Studios
Developers of Feral Rites, Insomniac Games, have posted an update to their website announcing the price change and compensation stating:
As we do with all our games, we’ve paid careful attention and responded to player feedback so far. We appreciate the support from everyone who has experienced Feral Rites, and we understand the concerns as well — especially about the game’s price. Effective immediately, the price of Feral Rites is $29.99. The game’s original price was largely based on all the work that went into it. We’re proud that Feral Rites is among the largest VR games of its kind available today.
It’s heartening to see Oculus, who are slowly but carefully building up a valuable user base for their Oculus Store content portal, to not only listen but react so swiftly to a game’s reception. Feral Rites was one of Oculus Studios’ key exclusive titles for the Rift and acknowledging there were issues with the way it was sold and taking action hopefully bodes well for the future.
Feral Rites is a third-person VR adventure-brawler from Insomniac Games released for the Oculus Rift. Set on a mystical island, you play as a beefed-out warrior trying to avenge your father’s death by kicking, punching and slashing everyone in your way.
Feral Rites Details:
Official Site
Developer:Insomniac Games Publisher: Oculus Studios Available On: Oculus Home (Rift) Reviewed On:Oculus Rift Release Date: September 13th, 2016
Gameplay
At the beginning of the game, you’re introduced to Bokor, a powerful shaman from your tribe who leads you on your way to avenge your father’s death, an act perpetrated by the evil Sombro. Blinded with rage and taunted by Sombro along the way, you tear through each sector of the island, killing everyone with your newly acquired beast powers, which lets you turn into a slow and hulking man-jaguar—the tank of the game—or an actual jaguar that is faster at (but has no combat abilities) moving and auto-smashing the world’s inexplicable surplus of terracotta vases.
slashing an enemy in beast form
Much like Insomniac’s Spyro the Dragon or Ratchet and Clank series, Feral Rites is jam-packed with collectibles of all sorts spread out through the game’s maze-like map. Raw material for armor upgrades, gold, journals, and talismans used to increase the number of moves you can do, are to be found in every nook and cranny of the complex map set out before you.
With multiple temples in a single level, it’s easy to get lost, which is probably why the developers included a ‘spirit sense’ mechanic that lets you find the most direct route to your objective by tracing a temporary line to wherever it is you need to go. While this is arguably better than quest markers or mini-maps, which can spoil the fun of real exploration, I (predictably) ended up abusing it. Since there’s no penalty for using the mechanic to your heart’s content, it personally became a part of the game’s natural flow, where I would enter an area with a fork, pound the ‘spirit sense’ button, and go on my merry way. In terms of real exploration, your mileage may very depending on how much you use (or abuse) the ability.
So maybe exploration isn’t your thing anyway and you just want to smash some shit up? Feral Rites has you covered.
Combat is high-energy, visceral and extremely gratifying in Feral Rites, featuring a large enough array of moves to make fighting any of the world’s dozen-or-so bad guys an interesting and challenging affair. You can’t just tank through fights and button mash your way to success, because your beast form can only take so many hits before you’re turned back into a human; your human form, while agile, deals less damage to your foes—making the game’s combat system a real study in balance. You can change the game’s difficulty level at any time though, even in the middle of a fight, which increases bad guy skill and HP, and decreases the chances of getting a power up in one of the aforementioned vases that litter the game world.
My two favorite moves were throwing bad guys off high cliffs and throwing bad guys into piranha-infested streams (I really liked throwing guys)—two moves that are worth a relatively meager hazard bonus on your constantly building combo meter, but really effective at eliminating high numbers of baddies.
Puzzles are on the easy side, but hey, this is an adventure-brawler and not an adventure puzzler like Obduction.
Immersion
Like Insomniac’s Edge of Nowhere (2016), your third-person point of view makes you essentially a floating security camera that automatically switches positions as you control your character below. This sort of fixed-point teleportation isn’t really jarring because you can anticipate the camera switch pretty reliably, an event triggered by your character crossing a blue line in any given area of the map.
‘spirit sense’ activated, heading for a new area
So what does VR add to a decidedly traditional game like Feral Rites? A few things actually, the most important being the grandiosity of seeing it all in virtual reality.
The game’s Aztec-inspired scenery is vast and megalithic, something only a VR headset can correctly translate to the viewer. If you can resist using the ‘spirit sense’ ability and really take your time, you’ll be able to appreciate some of the most well-made environments currently available to VR headsets. Perched over a seemingly infinite drop, you can really get the sense of vertigo, even if you’re an invisible set of eyeballs in the sky.
To help you appreciate and take in the scenery, the developers added a unique rune-searching system so that every once in a while you can stop in your tracks and search for a rune symbol hidden somewhere in the scenery. When you find it, you’re given a little reward of coins for your effort, and you also get a chance to better scope out your surroundings.
Your shaman guide, Bokor
One of my least favorite things about Feral Ritesis that the storyline relies heavily on narrator-driven cut scenes; that and the helpful, if not incessant, image of your mysterious shaman buddy Bokor constantly appearing out of nowhere to tell you what to do. These are both (un)necessary evils to push the narrative forward, but dammit if it just doesn’t feel so gamey when you play it in a VR headset. Maybe it’s trying to hearken back to an earlier age, but the storyline was just too simplistic and just too obvious for me to really be engaged. Then again, it may be that I’ve grown out of these sorts of games, but I desperately want a game that feels more clever than me. I had to slog through it to get to combat, which proved to be much more engaging.
Something that often takes a backseat to the story is the soundtrack, an intensely cool mix of chill hiphop vibes when exploring (something like Samurai Champloo), and a much more arcade-like drum and bass track when in fights.
Comfort
Third-person games with a fixed POV like Feral Rites are always supremely comfortable simply because they don’t have any stomach-churning artificial locomotion to contend with.
It’s no surprise Oculus is pushing games like this on their platform, which up until Oculus Touch launches later this year, makes playing a game in a Rift necessarily a seated experience. That said, using the gamepad and sitting down is a familiar way to game, and scenery is usually splayed out in a comfortable, forward-facing way so you don’t have to swivel too much.
I can’t always play VR games for long, but this time I had a full day to beat it from beginning to end. Topping out at 10 hours for me personally,I can attest that Feral Rites is just as comfortable as you would expect it to be.
Conclusion
Feral Rites proves to be a fairly fun, well-balanced brawler that offers around 10 hours of gameplay if you follow the story alone. Collectibles are everywhere, giving you extra incentive to explore the entire island, which is a massive and beautiful place worth more than a cursory glance. The storyline is predictable and dialogue feels wooden however, and relies heavily on cut scenes and helpful narrators to push things forward, making it much less interesting than we would have hoped.
Scores
Gameplay: 6
Immersion: 8
Comfort: 9
Overall: 6.5
We partnered with AVA Direct to create the Exemplar 2 Ultimate, our high-end VR hardware reference point against which we perform our tests and reviews. Exemplar 2 is designed to push virtual reality experiences above and beyond what’s possible with systems built to lesser recommended VR specifications.
Today Insomniac Games has launched its virtual reality (VR) action brawler Feral Rites onto Oculus Rift.
The title made its playable debut at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) three months ago, letting visitors to the event dive into the developers mythical world of magic and violence.
You take the role of a young man who’s father – a Chieftain on this exotic jungle island – was slain, and its up to you to find and get revenge on the killer. Mixing both the adventure style of Zelda with the savage combat of God of War, Feral Rites is a hand-to-hand fighting title where you can unleash the beast within you, turning sharp toothed (and clawed) killing machine.
VRFocus’s editor reviewed the videogame, stating: “This is ‘90s videogaming in modern technology: an experience that you probably haven’t been crying out for, but are likely to enjoy regardless.
“The visual quality of Feral Rites is perhaps its most pleasing aspect. The chunky, colourful characters look great and the backdrops are very highly detailed. The VR aspect of Feral Rites performs best when the action is at its most fierce”
For the launch Insomniac Games has released a brand new trailer for Oculus Rift owners to see some of the action before purchasing on Oculus Home for £39.99 GBP.
For all the latest videogame releases on Oculus Rift, keep reading VRFocus.
Insomniac Games currently stand as one of the most prolific high profile development studios in virtual reality (VR), with Feral Rites joining Edge of Nowhere as the second Oculus Rift exclusive title from the studio and a third, The Unspoken, on the way. While the latter title is something which could arguably only be achieved in VR, both Edge of Nowhere and Feral Rites are more traditional videogame genres adapted to the new medium.
Edge of Nowhere was a surprising realisation of adventure gameplay in VR. Slower paced than the recent Tomb Raider reboots or the Uncharted franchise yet bringing a whole new level of immersion to the genre, Edge of Nowhere proved that VR can add a great deal to videogame formulae that we’re already well versed in. Feral Rites is aiming to do the same for the scrolling beat-‘em-up genre, taking a single player through a 3D adventure that eschews the trends of modern takes on the genre such as Devil May Cry or God of War and sticks to the basics. This is ‘90s videogaming in modern technology: an experience that you probably haven’t been crying out for, but are likely to enjoy regardless.
Much like the pioneering Streets of Rage and Final Fight series, the combat in Feral Rites begins simply enough: light and heavy attacks, trading speed for damage with a risk/reward system of potentially leaving you open to counters. String combos together for increased damage while dodging and jumping to gain the advantage. So far, so familiar. But the videogame has been given the name ‘Feral Rites’ for a reason. It’s the transformation element that plays into the combat system to grant it a unique selling point (USP), as well as some light puzzling.
Throughout the campaign players will be given the ability to transform into several beasts, from a brutish bipedal tiger to a slightly less intimidating monkey, each with their own unique combat set and special abilities. The real skill comes when the player learns how to transform mid-combo, significantly increasing the experience gained and the chances of an instant kill.
Sadly, that experience is a massive bone of contention. The player can upgrade their character as they progress through the videogame, but it’s so structured its essential binary. There’s little difference here than simply unlocking new abilities along with the transformations and player choice is limited. Playing through the entire campaign twice will yield very similar results.
This too goes for the exploration aspect of Feral Rites. There are frequently multiple paths to choose from but ultimately it’s a pointless exercise. Sure there’s the occasional hidden collectable to find, but unless you’re an absolute completionist there’s little reason to go back and venture through previously unexplored territory as all paths eventually lead to the same destination.
The visual quality of Feral Rites is perhaps its most pleasing aspect. The chunky, colourful characters look great and the backdrops are very highly detailed. The VR aspect of Feral Rites performs best when the action is at its most fierce – panning and zooming the camera for blood-pumping action – but essentially, given that the player is following a near-linear path, the headlook functionality is largely overlooked.
Feral Rites strikes a similar chord to Edge of Nowhere in that it tries to bring something new to the genre without redefining it. Sadly, it simply doesn’t go far enough to breathe life into its chosen genre. It’s a videogame that – much like scrolling beat-‘em-ups from the early part of the century – is stagnating in a formula that is in desperate need of rejuvenation, suggesting that perhaps Insomniac Games may have been better to follow the lessons taught in Devil May Cry and God of War after all.
