Meta announced the high-flying superhero game Marvel’s Iron Man VR (2020) has a new permanent price, bringing it to $30.
Once a PSVR exclusive, Iron Man VR on Quest 2 and Quest Pro lets you suit up as Tony Stark and take to the sky to fight evil. The action-adventure game is now available at a new price of $30, or 25% off the original $40 purchase price.
When it launched on PSVR in July 2020, we gave it a rating of ‘Great’ in our full review, calling it VR’s “first great superhero game.” We liked it so much at the time, we later awarded it with the PSVR Game of the Year in 2020.
What makes Iron Man VR so great? It’s packed with unique mechanics and a full course of fun and engaging content—not to mention an actually worthwhile story.
Here’s how developers Camoflaj describe it:
Tap into your inner Super Hero as you step into Iron Man’s armor and blast into the skies. Explore Tony’s garage to customize and upgrade an arsenal of gear, gadgets, and weapons. Hit the afterburners and feel the rush of flying hundreds of miles an hour. Use all of Tony Stark’s resources to find the mysterious villain Ghost and her army of hacked Stark drones. Experience this action-packed immersive Iron Man adventure now.
Iron Man VR and Republique developer Camouflaj has opened a second studio to work on “immersive” games, and is still hiring for a new AAA game with VR support.
The developer this week announced Camouflaj Holdings GK, which is based in Kamakura, Japan. The studio will be headed up by Camouflaj founder, Ryan Payton and Capcom producer Matt Walker. No word yet on exactly what the studio is developing but, in a statement given to Gamesindustry.biz, Walker said the second studio would “strengthen our capability to continue to create immersive, ‘Meaningful Games'”.
Though that’s not definitive confirmation that the team is making another VR game, job listings on the official website reveal the company is currently hiring for a ‘AAA’ game with single-player levels. As we reported last year, almost all of the listings note that previous VR experience will help applicants. One list for a QA Lead adds that “VR experience is a must”. One for a Software Engineer mentions previous console development, too.
Could this mean Camouflaj is working on a new project for PSVR or PSVR 2? We were big fans of the team’s work on Iron Man VR for PSVR, which offered a full single-player campaign. When we spoke to Payton around the game’s release, he said the studio would be interested in making a sequel should the game sell well. The team will also bring its work on porting mobile stealth series Republique to PSVR next week with the release of an Anniversary Edition (it’s already on basically every other headset).
What other titles would you like to see Camouflaj’s new studio work on? Let us know in the comments below!
Camouflaj, the developers behind 2020’s PSVR exclusive Iron Man VR, are hiring a number of positions for a new AAA title.
There’s nine positions total, available over on the careers section of Camouflaj’s site, all of which describe roles working on “a new AAA project.” Some open positions include concept artists, gameplay engineers, animation leader and more. The listings don’t specify whether the AAA title is a VR title or just a traditional flatscreen game. However, many of the listings indicate that “experience with VR” or “experience working in the VR space” would be a bonus (albeit not a requirement).
Camouflaj’s focus has been on VR titles for a number of years now. Republique was their last non-VR title, released as an episodic stealth game for mobile devices and then ported and launched on GearVR, PC VR and PSVR. The team was also behind the PSVR-exclusive Iron Man VR — a game made in partnership and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
“Ultimately it’s up to how the game performs, it’s up to our partners over at PlayStation and Marvel,” he said. “But as developers we absolutely loved working on Marvel’s Iron Man VR and we would obviously be super interested to continue working on it.”
After four years the PlayStation VR is still going which is an accomplishment considering the lifespan of most virtual reality (VR) headsets. Even with PlayStation 5 now available, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has ensured continued compatibility whether you’re new to VR or not. For PlayStation VR owners there’s been plenty of content to choose from in 2020, so here’s 10 of the best.
Unlike previous years, PlayStation VR’s dominance has wained and with it, all the exclusives the platform was known for. There are still a couple on the list below, but most of the titles now tend to be multi-platform. That’s no bad thing as there are some great videogames on offer.
The Best PSVR Games of 2020
Marvel’s Iron Man VR
Let’s start with an exclusive though, in fact, PlayStation VR’s biggest exclusive of the year, Marvel’s Iron Man VR. After a series of delays developer Camouflaj released the highly anticipated title during the summer, providing players with the first proper chance to don the famous suit.
With a pair of PlayStation Move controllers you can take to the skies to battle new enemies, learning how to use the Repulsor Jets to dodge enemy attacks as well as shoot them. As the campaign progresses you can customise the suit with various offensive and defensive capabilities to suit the missions. This is the closest to being Iron Man you’ll ever get.
Paper Beast
One of the more unusual VR experience to arrive this year, Pixel Reef’s Paper Beastis a surreal puzzle adventure inside a world created from big data. In this simulated ecosystem, bizarre creatures have come to life, exhibiting similar characteristics to real-world animals.
The main campaign revolves around interacting with the creatures and environment to solve the various challenges, providing some awe-inspiring visuals along the way. In addition to the campaign, there’s a sandbox mode where you can build your own worlds. One of those videogames which showcase how unique VR can be.
Final Assault
Originally released last year for PC VR headsets, after much work Phaser Lock Interactive managed to bring WWII strategy game Final Assault to PlayStation VR.
With a single-player campaign as well as cross-platform multiplayer, Final Assault is fully featured when it comes to content. You command ground and aerial troops like a table-top boardgame, dropping them in to lead an attack or setup defensive positions before pushing forward. The aim being to destroy your opponents base. Lots of fun if you like real-time strategy (RTS) titles.
Pixel Ripped 1995
When it comes to retro nostalgia in VR ARVORE’s Pixel Ripped series has got you covered. The latest is Pixel Ripped 1995, taking you back 25 years to a time where sprites were transitioning into 3D graphics.
Considered a golden era for videogames, Pixel Ripped 1995 features six levels containing nods to titles such as Streets of Rage, Mortal Kombat, Road Rash, Star Fox, Sonic the Hedgehog, Castlevania and many more. You play as Dot who needs to vanquish her arch enemy the evil Cyblin Lord, aided by a 9-year-old videogame fan called David. Gameplay jumps between 2D and 3D, where you have to deal with challenges both onscreen and off. Certain to put a smile on any players face.
Gorn
Not one for younger players unless you go straight into the settings to switch the gore off, Gorn is pure over-the-top violence in a comedic, cartoon style. You’re a gladiator and the aim here is to survive brutal arena fights using whatever weapons come to hand (or just use your hands).
No crimson paint is spared as you break bones and dismember opponents with knives, axes, maces, bows and even environmental obstacles. Everything has a bouncy, ragdoll effect, so enemies can be flung around whilst the weapons wobble around like giant sponges. Addictive in its simplicity, Gorn is also quite the workout due to the physical exertion of beating cartoon gladiators senseless.
Dreams
One for those who love to be creative as well as play videogames, Dreams was a major launch for PlayStation 4 early in the year, with VR support added a few months later.
Developer Media Molecule has created a title where you can play its own single-player experience as well as those from the rest of the Dreams community. If you want to delve deeper then there’s a massive selection of tools to build whatever you want, from a simple art piece to a videogame which can be shared with the world. A videogame with limitless possibilities.
Pistol Whip
Another 2019 title which finally made it to PlayStation VR, Cloudhead Games’ Pistol Whip is a rhythm-action videogame like no other. Evoking films like John Wick you can become an action-movie badass, shooting enemies and dodging to a thumping soundtrack.
With 15 on-rail ‘Scenes’, the gameplay is intense and physical, encouraging you to move out the way of bullets whilst firing off as many of your own. The visuals are just as dramatic, creating an all-encompassing experience which will make you sweat. Plus there are plenty of modifiers to make things harder whilst upping that score for top leaderboard positions. Then early next year PlayStation VR owners will be treated to free DLC Pistol Whip 2089.
It’s all about melee combat, fighting through the procedural world of Rokar where each run-through isn’t quite the same but you can become stronger in the process. Attack, block and parry relentless foes. Should you fail then returning to the hub means you can upgrade weapons or select new ones to change your strategy. Energetic like Gorn, however, Until You Fall requires far more precision.
Star Wars: Squadrons
This videogame needs little introduction as it was the major release in October, strapping pilots into either Rebel or Imperial ships to battle in that far off galaxy. While you don’t necessarily need to be a fan of the franchise, it certainly helps when playing Star Wars Squadrons.
With single-player and multiplayer modes, in the story-driven campaign, you swap between the two opposing faction’s narratives, jumping into a selection of craft like the X-Wing or Tie Fighter. Over in multiplayer you have those same options, teaming up in a crew to take down Capital ships or engage in online dogfights. Great if you’re after a more comfortable, sat down VR experience.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
As the chaos of 2020 has managed to avoid a zombie apocalypse why not put yourself into one voluntarily with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. A survival game set within a partially flooded New Orleans, make new friends, enemies and take down a few walkers along the way.
As a drifter you encounter warring factions vying for the few resources which remain whilst trying to scavenge your own in the derelict buildings and streets. Craft useful items and new weapons, blades are silent but will tire you out where guns have great stopping power as well as attracting attention. Outside of the main campaign, there’s The Trial horde mode if you just want some arcade action, killing waves of walkers. Plenty to keep you entertained and for practising those survival skills.
It’s the time of the season again for reflection, when we look back at this year’s greatest achievements in VR gaming and remind ourselves just how far we’ve come in the four years since consumers first delved head-first into truly immersive worlds.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year was plunged into an global economic cooldown which saw many industries grind to a halt. Comparatively unaffected though was the games industry, which could thankfully continue as developers took to finishing their projects at home from a safe distance.
In our fourth annual Game of the Year Awards, we again put ourselves to the task of celebrating this year’s greats in VR gaming. Moreover, we salute all developers for offering up their hard work and steadfast curiosity in the face of the same personal adversity we’ve all no doubt shared. We’re grateful for having safe places where we can connect and explore, and for lighting a world which at times may have seemed grim and unrelenting.
For many, this steady stream of VR games has been a lifeline to sanity, as physically stepping outside of our homes could mean either putting ourselves or our loved ones in danger’s path. We thank you for willing your virtual realties into existence for all of us to enjoy.
If you would have told anyone back in 2016—the year the first consumer PC VR headsets hit the market—that Valve (of all companies) would one day build a AAA Half-Life game (of all franchises) specifically for VR, we’d say you were crazy. Yet here we are, in 2020, giving Half-Life: Alyx our PC VR Game of the Year Award.
But before the release of Alyx earlier this year, there was still plenty of skepticism to go around. It was Valve’s first full-fledged VR game and the first Half-Life game in more than a decade. Could Valve deliver anything to possibly meet all that hype?
Well, the answer is now resoundingly clear. It turns out that Valve’s old-school, methodical (if sometimes messy) approach to game design works just as well for VR games as it does for non-VR games.
From the very opening scene—where players are, for the first time, truly standing before the monolithic Citadel in the middle of City 17—Alyx is immersive through and through thanks to heaps of detail, an engaging and interactive world, and one of the most memorable sequences seen in any VR game to date… the dreaded ‘Jeff’.
With excellent pacing that weaves together combat, exploration, and puzzles, Alyx takes players on a seamless journey through the well-realized streets, cellars, and rooftops of City 17, all the way to a mysterious conclusion that has serious consequences for the future of the franchise.
Against all odds, one of the most legendary game developers brought one of the most legendary franchises to VR in stunning fashion. Given that the studio stood to make tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) more in revenue by making a non-VR game, it’s hard to call Alyx anything but a love letter to the VR medium.
Half-Life: Alyx stands as VR’s new benchmark in graphics, immersion, and scope, and I’m sure that Valve itself is as eager as the rest of us to see who will be next to raise the bar.
While it surely brings ample opportunity, there’s nearly an equal amount of risk in using the likeness of an iconic character like Iron Man. While the character has plenty of backstory to draw from, delivering the experience of actually stepping into the character’s shoes—the experience of actually being Iron Man rather than just watching him—is no trivial task, especially in the still young and often ill-defined medium of VR.
Before Iron Man VR arrived to the rescue, there really were no standout superhero games in VR. There were attempts, certainly, but none that truly planted a flag and said “this is how it’s done.” Developer Camouflaj, however, turned out to be up to the task.
And they did it in a most ambitious way. While choosing to focus their game on a superhero that didn’t fly would have surely avoid plenty of headaches, picking one that did fly forced them to tackle the serious challenge of keeping players comfortable even as they sailed through the sky.
What’s more, the game’s innovative flying system was specially designed around Iron Man’s character—around his palm-mounted repulsor jets specifically—bringing an immersive flair to the way players control themselves in the game by aiming their hands to control thrust. The result was a truly fun and thrilling method of locomotion that balanced high-speed maneuvering with aerial combat.
But more than just coming up with a novel flight system for VR, Iron Man VR contextualized its gameplay with an engaging story that explored the man behind the mask, Tony Stark, nearly as much as his superhero persona. Combined with immersive details sprinkled throughout, Iron Man VR delivered a package that felt whole and delivered the fantasy it promised.
It wasn’t clear what to expect from Skydance Interactive’s take on the storied The Walking Dead zombie franchise. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners could have easily been a ham-handed attempt at shoehorning a standard first-person shooter into VR. We’ve seen them before, and they weren’t pretty.
As soon as you start the game though, it becomes immediately apparent that Saints & Sinners demands the player to invest themselves completely in the experience—it’s a true VR native. In this scaled-down RPG, moral choices meet zombie-killing carnage in a way we simply haven’t seen in VR up to this point. You’re instantly thrust into a world where supplies are scarce, crafting useful items is key, and coming in contact with any zombie is a fight for survival.
It’s a gruesome and realistic experience in all the right ways: a zombie can be hacked to pieces with any manner of sharp object, but you’ll lose precious stamina than you’ll need as you run away from the evening horde. If you’re a decent shot, you can try to stick to headshots the entire way, but as the mob grabs at you, you’re left with very little choice but to look them straight in the eye sockets and brain them with a knife, cleaver, or pointy stick. Complete your mission and get the hell out of dodge, or face the consequences; with each zombie presenting potential death, the horde isn’t something you’ll ever want to face.
Outside of its impressive physics-based melee and gun combat, one of the most frightening parts is navigating the muddy waters of the New Orleans gang life, where you literally choose to side with one faction by stoking blood fueds by personally executing NPCs, or by walking your own path as a freelancer. Although the adventure isn’t open-world, discrete maps are so large and rich in detail that you’ll probably forget in the first five minutes anyway.
The standalone version of the game on both Quest and Quest 2 is lower res than its PC VR forbear, but that’s saying very little. As is, the game is more than the sum of its parts, and shines even with the obligatory knock in visual fidelity for a game of this scale, polish, and depth.
Each year we try to come up with games that shine in specific departments, so we tend to highlight titles that haven’t already won our platform-based awards. This year though, there’s simply no ignoring the titanic effort that went into making Half-Life: Alyx the most immersive VR game of 2020.
From the liquid shaders inside the many errant bottles laying around, to flippable light switches, to the full baby grand piano, every object has been loving realized with one thing in mind: immersing the player into the world of Half-Life like never before.
While full, unfettered object interaction is great for immersion, this also lets players get creative with how to use seemingly banal stuff to their advantage, like carrying a basket full of grenades when you run out of space in your inventory.
In Half-Life: Alyx, there are only a few misses in terms of immersion, which are more linked to stylistic choices by Valve. You can’t melee enemies, and the gesture-based menu pulls you out a bit from the action, but even with those minor offenses, Valve has effectively created VR’s most detailed game to date that will be difficult to rival in the years to come.
Building a new car is, for the most part, putting new spin on a concept that’s largely already been figured out by those that came before. While non-VR game development similarly stands on the shoulders of past giants, in VR, almost any step you take is likely to mean breaking fresh ground—right down to rethinking how players will even move around your game world.
Developer nDreams embraced the unknown and built an entire game around a novel locomotion scheme that had players sleuthing through sluices in a tactical kayak.
It might sound a little ridiculous on the surface, but dive a little deeper and you’ll see that it really fits VR well. Not only is paddling a much more immersive and intentional way to get around than using using a joystick, the kayak worked great as a sort of ‘inventory’ system for the player thanks to weapon and ammo holsters along its sides.
While a smooth moving and turning kayak could surely prove challenging from a comfort standpoint, nDreams managed to come up with a snap-turn solution that worked seamlessly with the kayak locomotion, allowing more players to enjoy their time on the waterways.
The locomotion innovation of Phantom: Covert Ops makes us excited to see what the studio comes up with next.
Flying an X-Wing in VR has been the dream ever since EA Games released the free X-Wing VR Mission DLC for Star Wars: Battlefront Rogue One in 2016 on PS4. And in a big way, EA’s Motive Studios delivered on that dream with this massive first-person dogfighter, which lets you play through an well-crafted singe-player campaign, or cross-platform online battles.
Motive Studios took on the mantle of making Star Wars: Squadrons feel like a native VR game which lets you play with a giant pool of players, delivering support for PC VR, traditional PC monitors, PSVR, PS4, and Xbox One players together. And when it comes to dropping in for a casual dogfight, you simply can’t waste time waiting around.
To boot, playing in VR has its clear advantages, as you can naturally track enemies by looking through your cockpit’s canopy windows, all while keeping an eye on your 3D radar. One of the hopes we had for the game was motion controller support for added immersion, however simulator enthusiasts know that the most immersive way to control a vehicle in VR is using a HOTAS setup, which lets you play with physical thrusters and flight sticks so you can truly feel like you’ve stepped into your own Star Wars universe spaceship. You can also play with gamepad, which is fun too since the game offers up arcade controls instead of pure simulator-style flying like you might find in Elite Dangerous (2014).
Both the world inside and outside of your canopy is a visual treat. While cinematic cutscenes are reduced to 2D windows, the game makes up for this by putting you on the deck of each ship to speak face-to-face with some of the most detailed character models we’ve seen in VR. Crafted with motion capture, the game’s NPCs seem to inch very close to the far side of the Uncanny Valley—something you’ll appreciate more from the inside of a VR headset.
In all, Star Wars: Squadrons gives VR gamers everything it has to offer on traditional platforms and more. It also sends a clear message to AAA studios that VR doesn’t have to be a second class citizen when it can slot in so well.
Cubism is a spatial puzzle game that shows that an interface can be beautiful through simplicity. The interface strikes a perfect balance between recognizable affordances and VR native flourishes like the use of depth and placement within arms reach. When it’s done the job selecting a level, it gets completely out of the way, allowing the player to directly interact with the puzzle before them.
The interface also hides a little secret which also doubles as a subtle but enjoyable means of ‘progression’ in the game. Each puzzle you complete represents a musical chord which you can hear when you select the level. Played one after another, each of these chords is part of a complete song which is every bit as beautiful in its simplicity as the interface itself. Once you complete all puzzles, the song is yours to enjoy.
There’s not much else to say—and that’s the point. Cubism’s interface does exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.
Indie studios take risks that larger, more established names in the industry simply won’t. And supporting those indie devs can mean playing some of the most unique and inventive games out there. Granted, there was a tad less risk involved for Pixel Ripped 1995, a retro-inspired VR game that follows in the footsteps of its popular predecessor, Pixel Ripped 1989 (2018). Still, it’s an amazingly creative slice of mid-90s nostalgia that’s expertly interwoven into the pioneering genres that made so many of us fall in love with games in the first place.
Pitching a unique ‘game within a game’ storytelling style, Pixel Ripped 1995 acts as the setting for its constant flights of fancy, mashing up the fourth console generation’s pioneering genres into a charming 3D world. Without brushing to close to infringe on any copyrights, Pixel Ripped 1995 authors a love letter to the generation’s colorful platformers, side-scrolling beat ’em ups, and RPGs.
At five hours of gameplay, it’s short and sweet, but critically doesn’t overextend itself either. Its linear gameplay offers a virtual smorgasbord of variety as you’re always left guessing at what’s next, leaving little room for boredom.
Release Date: Available from July 7th- November 15th, 2020
The Under Presents (2019) wasn’t released this year, but it did host a very special limited time immersive theater show to Oculus Quest and Rift-owning audiences that delved into some seriously interesting experimental territory. In a sea of graphical and technical marvels this year, the game’s immersive reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest took the cake.
In a time when live actors are mostly out of work, The Under Presents invited expert thespians to lead groups of up to eight VR users through a rejuvenated retelling of the popular 17th-century theater piece. Built with user participation in mind, it felt more like acting in a high school theater play, with roles dolled out on the fly.
Showing up in the lobby, which is conveniently placed at the entrance of the game’s main area, participants were greeted with interesting toys and magical object to play around with as you hang with your fellow amateur actors. Once the show begins, you’re transported to a campfire to meet a live actor, who in the show’s meta-narrative took on the role of Prospero and many others. The guide weaves the story throughout dreamlike set pieces, and gets everyone involved in acting out parts in the story. Since players are mute, your guide acts as a professional voice over artist by filling in your lines.
In a time when interacting in large groups can be dangerous, The Under Presents The Tempest offered up a truly novel and creative experience that, even with its low-poly art style, felt like a tantalizingly real break from reality. We’re hoping to see more from developers Tender Claws in the near future, whether it be encore presentations of the experience or entirely new interactive theater pieces yet to come.
Note: Games eligible for Road to VR‘s Game of the Year Award must be available to the public on or before December 13th, 2020 to allow for ample deliberation. Games must also natively support the target platform as to ensure full operability.
A few VR games have been nominated in this year’s Unity Awards across several categories.
Unity is the most popular game engine used across various platforms, including VR. However, it can be used for much more than just video games too, and that’s reflected in the 18 varied categories for this year’s Unity Awards. Of course, only games that use the Unity game engine are eligible.
The nominees for the Unity Awards Best VR Game in 2020 are Cubism, Iron Man VR and The Under Presents. Cubism is a fantastic puzzle game on PC VR, Quest and Quest 2 that I absolutely fell in love with in my review earlier this year. It’s smart, easy to understand yet challenging. The Under Presents is a game that plays with live narrative and multiplayer interactions in a way that is truly unique to VR, and well worth checking out — though we should note that some of the live elements of the experience may no longer be active. And while Iron Man VR was marred by it’s loading screens, when you finally got into the game it was amazing to embody Tony Stark and Iron Man.
Meanwhile, co-operative ghost hunting game Phasmophobia, which offers optional VR support, is also nominated in the Best Multiplayer Game category, going up against Fall Guys, Crowfall and G.T.F.O..
Voting for the Unity Awards is now open — to vote, head over to www.awards.unity.com/2020. Which title are you giving your support for the best Unity VR game of 2020? Let us know in the comments below.
Voting for the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards is now live, with several VR nominations across a few categories.
The online ceremony will be held next month in November, and there are 18 categories available to the public. A few categories, including Ultimate Game of the Year, don’t have a shortlist just yet, but the bulk of the ceremony’s shortlists are here.
There’s no dedicated category for VR, so VR hardware, games and studios are splattered across a bunch of different areas, going up against some tough competition. There’s at least one VR nominee in half of the 18 categories this year, which is great recognition of the industry’s massive year.
Strangely, the Oculus Quest 2 is nominated for Best Gaming Hardware, despite not being available to the public yet. Given it’s a publicly-voted award, that’s an odd situation. You might get your hands on a Quest 2 in a few weeks before voting closes, but in the meantime you’ll have to settle for our review.
Here’s a list of every category featuring VR, with the VR nomination highlighted in italics:
Best Audio
The Last of Us: Part II
Ghost of Tsushima
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Paradise Killer
Call of Duty: Warzone Half-Life: Alyx
Streets Of Rage 4
Resident Evil 3
Best Game Community Fall Guys
Minecraft
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Dreams
Sea of Thieves
Warframe
Fortnite
Final Fantasy XIV
Best Game Expansion Control: AWE No Man’s Sky: Origins
Total War: WARHAMMER 2 – The Warden and the Paunch
Pokemon Sword & Shield – Expansion Pass
Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.3 – Reflections in Crystal
The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath
The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon
Best Gaming Hardware PC Engine Mini Oculus Quest 2
Razer Kishi mobile pad for xCloud
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
TCA Sidestick Airbus Edition
Vulcan 120 Aimo Keyboard
Turtle Beach Stealth 700 Gen 2
Best Visual Design Ghost of Tsushima
Hades
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Spiritfarer Microsoft Flight Simulator (VR support coming Fall) Half-Life: Alyx
The Last of Us Part II
Final Fantasy VII Remake
PC Game of the Year Paradise Killer Microsoft Flight Simulator (VR support coming Fall)
Hades The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Crusader Kings III
Valorant Half-Life: Alyx
Death Stranding
PlayStation Game of the Year The Last of Us Part II
Nioh 2
Ghost of Tsushima
Final Fantasy VII Remake Marvel’s Iron Man VR
Spelunky 2 Dreams
Fall Guys
Studio of the Year Mediatonic
Naughty Dog
Respawn
Paradox Studios
Sucker Punch
Infinity Ward Media Molecule
Supergiant Games
It’s fantastic to see excellent VR games, such as Saints & Sinners, Alyx and Iron Man VR, nominated in the same categories some of the year’s best PC and console titles. It’ll be tough for them to take home the gold, but fingers crossed.
Iron Man VR, the PSVR exclusive superhero game which launched last month, has received a free update with an iron fistful of improvements.
Announced on the PlayStation Blog, and available now, the v1.06 Iron Man VR update brings a heap of improvements ranging from new weapons, game modes, skins, and faster loading times.
Players who beat the game already will have access to the New Game+ mode which allows them to start the game anew with all of their previously earned upgrades. That ought to make it easier for players that want to tackle the game’s harder difficulties. Speaking of which—the update also adds a new ‘Ultimate’ difficulty that’s even harder that the previous highest difficulty of ‘Invincible’.
The new game mode and difficulty will pair quite nicely with the addition of four new weapons added to Iron Man VR in update 1.06:
Continuous Beam Repulsor
Allows you to sustain a beam for several seconds, dealing continuous damage as long as it’s held.
EM Charge Cannon
It can fire a charged shot right through the hardlight shields of those pesky Skull, Revenant, and Wight drones.
Micro Swarm
A ‘fire-and-forget’ intelligent anti-swarm weapon, great for disabling large groups of enemies.
Gravity Bomb
Creates a singularity that traps multiple enemies in a single location and is perfect for setting up a devastating shot from the Scatter Shot or Anti Armor Missile!
Iron Man VR update 1.06 also brings with it some much requested quality-of-life improvements. For one, the studio says that the game’s long loading times, which were widely decried, have been improved “across the board.”
When replaying missions, players will now also have the option to skip cinematics without loading the entire cinematic first, further reducing the amount of time that players must spend in loading screens.
The update also makes two of the game’s side-missions skippable right out of the gate, allowing players to get to the game’s core campaign content more quickly.
And last but not least, update 1.06 to Iron Man VR adds eight new armor skins which are unlockable by completing eight new challenges.
– – — – –
In our review of Iron Man VR we called the title VR’s “first great superhero game,” and scored it an 8.5 out of 10.
Iron Man VR isn’t perfect, but it’s the most complete and compelling VR superhero game to date. Studio Camouflaj has crafted a experience which feels whole by successfully weaving unique VR gameplay with an iconic character and a worthwhile story. Most of the game’s ideas are well executed—especially its break-neck yet comfortable flying mechanics—including a few unique moments which you might not have expected from this game.
A big Iron Man VR update, released today, tackles one of people’s biggest gripes with the game: load times.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Blaine Higdon from developer Camoflaj noted that load times had been improved “across the board”. In fact, loading the game’s troublesome Shanghai area should now take between 20 – 30 seconds less. Plus, the developer has added in the option to skip cinematics when replaying levels and even skip two of the game’s main missions that introduced side-content.
Today’s update isn’t just about fixes, though. Camouflaj also introduced a new Ultimate Difficulty, New Game+ which allows you to replay the game with unlocked weapons, and some new offensive capabilities. Those include a Continuous Beam Repulsor and Micro Swarm Missiles. Overall there’s a generous amount of new stuff here.
It’s great to see Iron Man VR updated with new content. Originally released in early July, we thought the game offered excellent VR action that defied many of PSVR’s tracking limitations, but tech constraints definitely held it back. The game ended up topping the US PlayStation Store charts for the month.
Back at launch, we spoke to Camouflaj’s Ryan Payton about the chances of working on yet more Iron Man VR in the future, potentially even a sequel. His answer left us hoping we might see one someday, especially is Camouflaj got to work with the PS5 instead of the PS4.
What would you want to see in an Iron Man VR sequel? Let us know in the comments below!
Tony Stark has fought his new nemesis, Beat Saber, to a standstill in July’s PlayStation Store charts.
Iron Man VR, the PSVR exclusive blockbuster that released on July 3rd, topped the US and Canada Store charts for the month. Beat Saber followed in second but, in the EU, the situation is reversed; Beat Saber held onto first place with the new Marvel game following up behind.
Keep in mind that Iron Man VR was also sold in boxes at retail, and these charts don’t count those sales. It’s quite possible that, with those sales considered, the game could still be on top in the EU. Certainly, it performed well in the first two weeks of the UK’s physical sales charts. There was also a Move bundle in the EU and a PSVR bundle in the US to help move things along.
Elsewhere, both The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and Gorn stayed strong in July. Skydance Interactive’s zombie-slayer hit the fourth spot in the US and EU, while Gorn was fifth in the US and seventh in the EU. All the usuals – Superhot, Job Simulator, Moss and Creed — help fill out the rest.
It’s good to see new PSVR games populating a list that’s so often dominated by titles that are years old now. We don’t have much else on the release radar for the headset in August, though there’s a State Of Play broadcast in a few hours’ time that could well give us more to look forward to. We’ll bring you all the updates from the event.
