Time-traveling VR adventure Wanderer (2022) is getting a remake, called Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate, although you might have missed at the end of the most recent trailer that developers Mighty Eyes just announced there’s a sequel currently in development too.
Not much is known about the newly announced sequel, Wanderer 2: The Seas of Fortune, however the studio promises to bring a brand new collection of adventures centered around ages with swordfights, ship battles, and pirates, bringing us to the time of black flag-flying buccaneers.
On screen is a single shot of a pirate flag, with the subtitle ‘Davis Cove, Jamaica, 1750,’ pointing to the country’s time as a British colony and waning period of the Golden Age of Piracy.
— Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate Coming 2024 (@wanderervr) February 22, 2024
Coming just two years since the release of the original, remake Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate promises a few things beyond the original, including full body avatars, more platforming opportunities, a combat system, and new levels. Notably, the game has been overhauled to finally arrive on Quest, Pico and PSVR 2, landing on those platforms June 27th, 2024.
Although Mighty Eyes hasn’t said as much, that means we could be looking forward to a broad launch of the sequel across those headsets too in addition to SteamVR headsets. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled on Mighty Eyes’ website and social in the meantime.
Check out the trailer for Wanderer: The Fragments of Fate below:
It’s been proven in many a movie and videogame that messing with time travel can lead to all sorts of convoluted narratives and weird plotlines. They can also offer some of the most novel ways to explore both history and what could have been if certain events hadn’t transpired. Wanderer most definitely drops you in the deep end of a time travel adventure that features iconic moments, people and places that aren’t quite as they should be, and it’s up to you to unravel the mess and find out how it happened in the first place. Welcome to the most gripping VR game of 2022…so far.
A combined effort between New Zealand-based studios M-Theory and OddBoy, Wanderer sets you on a journey that’s as puzzling as you’d expect – it is one giant brain taxing puzzle title after all! You step into the shoes of Asher Neumann who locates his grandfather’s apartment which contains a few odd trinkets, a remote control car, a lot of cockroaches, several power tools and as chance would have it a talking, flying watch. Samuel is his name and not only is he essential to unravelling this mess he also provides some welcome company along the way.
Neumann’s grandfather was involved in some murky shit but without spoiling too much of the storyline he’s given you mostly everything you need to right quite a few temporal wrongs. Right away Wanderer immerses you in the narrative of skewed timelines and tragic events that shouldn’t have happened. It’s truly engrossing and like a good book, keeps you enthralled throughout; even when the frustration kicks in trying to solve a particular puzzle.
The developers have done an exceptional job of immersing you in Wanderer. There’s lots and lots to interact with, whether it’s for fun or a crucial next step. The apartment has items like a knockoff Super Soaker and NERF gun, you can smash plates and bottles with a satisfying crack, and if you like hunting through drawers and cupboards there are plenty of those as well.
One disappointment that appeared right at the very start was a jump mechanic to get yourself through a window or down a ledge. It required standing in an exact spot and holding the A button-down, hardly the most involved of VR abilities. Whilst it detracts from that sense of immersion, it only appeared at the beginning of the videogame, almost like M-Theory and OddBoy decided they didn’t want it in the rest of Wanderer. All the better for it really.
As mentioned, Wanderer takes you to various times and places, inhabiting people of that time like you’re Dr. Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap. Become an astronaut during the 1969 moon landing, meet Nikola Tesla, step into WWII and more, all of which are linked in some way. Wanderer is a puzzle adventure through and through with only a few light action elements, and the puzzles really do shine; they get that grey matter working too.
Puzzle titles can fall foul of repetition, using the same base design over and over again. Wanderer’s puzzles feel continually fresh with each encounter, even when a couple are reused here and there. What it does test is your memory. Once you’ve unlocked a few timelines and collected a bunch of items, managing it all is a mission unto itself. You’ll probably find that because the apartment operates as a makeshift base, hoarding starts to become a problem as all the ancient relics and odd objects begin to collect.
Helping with this process is your friendly watch, Samuel. Attached to your wrist – left or right-handed, you choose – Samuel provides a basic inventory with a maximum of five slots available. You’ll need to unlock most of these by keeping an eye out for glowing blue shards hidden amongst the environment – keep opening those drawers! – before utilising a contraption in the apartment to expand each one. It’s this same machine that gives you a chance to customise your watch by locating specific objects. It’s a tiny side feature but a fun little one when you want to take a break.
And there will be moments where you’ll need to. Wanderer packs a lot in, with stunning visuals, voice acting and some complicated puzzles. Samuel can be called upon to give you hints but there were times when he just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Not sure if it was a bug, in any case, it wasn’t helpful. Other inconsistencies also played a part in making Wanderer a less than perfect experience.
Object interaction felt haphazard at points, having to readjust grip to correctly hold an item when it snaps into your hand awkwardly. Certain objects just didn’t sit well, trying to use the bow perfectly demonstrated why the weapon can be so difficult in VR. The classic problem of invisible walls also made an appearance (or not in this case). Leaning over a table or large item pushes you away, making the remote grab ability essential. Nothing really game-breaking although an issue with the Enigma machine puzzle forced a chapter restart that meant having to replay a chunk of the game as there’s no manual saving.
Wanderer is an ambitious project and for the most part, M-Theory and OddBoy have succeeded. The single-player adventure will keep you busy for 10+ hours and you’ll want to see it through to the end. Pushing the settings to max on PC will give you a glorious game to look at, and the audio is rock solid. Yes, there are one or two unwieldy issues along the way yet they didn’t hamper the overall entertainment Wanderer provides. If you’re looking for a puzzle game to really get stuck into then definitely take a look at Wanderer.
Wanderer is a VR adventure game that puts you in the shoes of a hapless time traveler who finds himself trapped in an alternate history—one that starts (and possibly ends) in worldwide disaster. Wanderer excels with its smorgasbord of interesting puzzles that do very little hand-holding. Its fun and well-designed set pieces play as an immersive backdrop to an engrossing story, all of which hopefully distract you from its particularly clunky level of object interaction.
Wanderer Details:
Available On: Steam, Rift, PSVR Release Date: January 27th, 2022 Price: $40 Developer: M-Theory, Oddboy Reviewed On: Quest 2 (Link via Steam)
Gameplay
Theorizing that one could time travel in his own lifetime, Asher Neumann stepped into the Phoenix Project accelerator and vanished. He awoke to find himself trapped in time, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better.
That’s the setup anyway, most of which I lifted from the intro sequence to cult ’90s TV show Quantum Leap, a big inspiration for Wanderer. Another obvious comparison here is Netflix’s hit German sci-fi show Dark (2021), although Wanderer’s story isn’t nearly as convoluted.
On the contrary, Wanderer’s narrative beats are actually pretty low density despite the wide variety of places you can visit. The story is primarily doled out in found items like videos, books, and posters, which give you a wider understanding of what’s going on and give valuable clues on how to solve puzzles. That said, they very rarely smack you over the head with their meaning, and can be easily mistaken as simple bits of decoration. That means you have to look around and invest more meaning in less objects, i.e. you won’t find a diary indicating all of the thoughts and feelings of a character, just a photo with a cryptic one-liner.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
Wanderer’s story only really picks up in intensity in the last quarter of the game. Instead, it puts a much heavier focus on serving up a smorgasbord of escape room-style puzzles, many of which have no instruction on how to solve. These range in difficulty level, with the most challenging typically calling on the player’s ability to travel back and forth through the game’s discrete temporal set pieces to gather the right object(s). More on that below.
For example, you may need to grab a sponge and a bottle of spray cleaner from your home base and travel to the pre-Columbian Mayan civilization to wipe off a dusty plaque to see a code. Or you may need to assemble pieces for the Enigma machine, use Morse Code to set off an alarm, and jump through multiple such hoops to get to Woodstock in the ’60s. In short: it’s difficult, and has a ton of moving parts that may tax critical thinking skills.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
While some of these left me wishing for an easy win, personally I’d much rather have to waste time retracing steps, turning the game upside down, and coming up with an organizational method for a literal mountain of stuff. It feels more authentic and rewarding, playing stark contrast to games in the genre that lean on tropes like overly helpful robot buddies that essentially tug you by the ear from point A to point B.
Ok, there is a robot buddy. But thankfully your ever-present wristwatch companion Sam is there to help by not only being a clue dispenser when actually needed on demand, but also a useful tool that acts as the game’s inventory. On top of that, his voice is a dead ringer for Matthew McConaughey. (Murph!)
Sam also is the basis for the game’s teleport mechanic, which makes for a novel and fun way of using key items you find throughout the game and using them to travel to new and interesting locales which are always brimming with new items that you might just find a use for in other worlds.
Traveling to other time periods is accomplished by grabbing key items and inserting them into a disk where the clasp of the watch would usually be. Those piece rumble in your hand, so the whole process has a tactile feel that I really appreciate.
In the end, Wanderer basically delivers despite some built-in clunk endemic of this sort of step-by-step gameplay that relies on a large set of interchangeable objects.
You have to not only think practically about every item you’ve encountered and remember where it is in time, but hope it’s the right item that the game intended you to use. Blowing up a bomb where you shouldn’t, or shooting an arrow into the head of Nikola Tesla will result in you being kicked from the timeline to try again. That’s a bit of a downer if you have an obvious alterative solution (ok, not shooting Tesla) and you’re punished for using it.
All of this is punctuated with arcade-style interludes, like a Guitar Band-style rock sequence where you play the drums to the beat. I was left wishing for more of these because they made for a welcome break from doing things like literally fixing and restarting an entire hydro-electric power plant, which includes plenty of grunt work of finding parts, replacing them, and hoping the game doesn’t throw a curve ball your way by, say, leaving a control panel back with a bunch of literal Nazis in another time period.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
In the end, it took me around ten hours to complete. I should note that I experienced several bugs which required me to restart to the latest chapter because of how much they broke forward progress. These are functionally small things that will probably be addressed in future updates, however day-one players may experience things like puzzles not activating when they should, which can add to the frustration of retracing your steps in vein before deciding its the game’s fault and not your own.
Immersion
Immersion is a bit of a mixed bag with Wanderer. On one hand, you’re served up some truly gorgeous, well put-together set pieces. It’s the level of care and visual finesse that, if you squint, you’ll swear you’re somewhere else. The team’s ability to layer their world with a vast array of textures and objects that feel real simply can’t be understated.
Both the game’s script and voice acting are giant highlights too. There’s nothing worse than a character with an obviously fake accent delivering a cheesy line when it comes to maintaining immersion, but the level of voice talent and writing expertise in Wanderer is top-notch. Case in point: you interact with Sam for literal hours, and he over that time he starts to feel more like a buddy than a timepiece only capable of delivering quips and puzzle hints.
Image courtesy Oddboy, M-Theory
And then you have an invisible walls that stop you from walking too far for no apparent reason. Or a host of objects on a table, half of which can actually be picked up.
That would be less of an issue if the game’s level of object interaction felt like it belonged in 2022 instead of ostensibly time-traveling from 2016, a time when all games basically forced objects to automatically snap to your hand in one relative position. Another issue is that force grab makes manipulating things less simple by stopping you most of the time from physically grabbing something that’s right in front of you.
Needless to say, the game’s not-awesome object interaction makes for a constantly frustrating experience when it comes to manipulating Sam. I found myself selecting an item with my outstretched finger, and then with that same finger trying to eject it from Sam’s menu, only to close the menu because the game counterintuitively wants you to palm the tiny one-inch icon.
If Wanderer had the same finesse with object interaction as it does much of the rest of the game, you might even make some comparisons to Half-Life: Alyx in its level of polish and immersion, although it’s most important mechanical feature somehow falls short.
Comfort
Wanderer has the full range of standard comfort options, including variable walking speeds and snap-turning angles to go along with smooth turning locomotion and teleportation.
There are very few moments when you’re not on level ground, so moving around the world is almost always a comfortable experience. The only issue I had was the game’s seated mode, which didn’t seem to work at time of review.
There are a number of virtual reality (VR) projects VRFocus has been looking forward to seeing arrive in late 2021, one of which is M-Theory and Oddboy’s time-travelling adventure Wanderer. Originally expected to arrive in Q3 2021 before an update pushed it a little further back, this week the development teams have confirmed another delay, meaning the multiplatform title won’t arrive until the new year.
In a post via the Wanderer Discord channel, M-Theory and Oddboy revealed that the videogame will now launch on 27th January 2022 for PlayStation VR, Oculus and SteamVR headsets. In a statement, they said: “As you will quickly have noticed, it’s uh… not coming out before the end of 2021 – Sadly we have had further setbacks from COVID, as well as other factors that come with being an indie team. The overall choice comes from us wanting to deliver a well polished game that we are PROUD to share with you all. Pushing back to a solid date gives us the confidence to create that!”
This has been a common factor of late, even big studios like Ready at Dawn with Lone Echo IIhad to continually delay project launches. On a plus note, the Wanderer teams have released new details regarding some of the mechanics and locations you will be able to tackle next year.
As Wanderer involves plenty of time-hopping, no easy task when this involves harnessing and manipulating black holes to carry yourself across time and space. To help in that regard you’ll have your trusted companion Samuel the watch to guide you, plus you’ll have to learn how to use the Temporal Transporter, a mysterious mechanical device that’s integral to saving the world.
As anyone who’s watched a time-travel movie knows, messing with time can produce alternate futures and that’s exactly what you get in Wanderer. For the first time, the developers have showcased Boston in 2061, seeing the city in “a new light, with a modern, futuristic setting that’s designed with all the modcons one could dream of or is this the nightmare you were warned against?”
Taking on the role of Asher Neumann and with Samuel the Watch on your wrist, you have to jump to key moments in history such as the moon landing and alter events to save mankind. In addition to all the digital editions for the various VR platforms, Wanderer will also get a physical edition for PlayStation VR. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
A couple of weeks ago M-Theory and Oddboy released the first in a series of videos detailing a key part of Wanderer’s mechanics, the watch that allows all the time-travelling adventures to take place. Today, the teams have released part two in the series, looking at upgrading and customising the watch.
Now, this is no ordinary watch, called Samuel, the device is sentient and will regularly engage in conversation with you. In this second instalment, M-Theory and Oddboy reveal that you can expand your inventory to carry more items by using an upgrade machine. There is a maximum of five slots to open up, only doing so by spending temporal shards collected on your journey.
And just to add a nice additional gameplay element there’s a puzzle to solve before the upgrade is completed. It’s not too difficult by the looks of it, rotating a series of cubes to make a path for a small, marble-looking object to pass through. VRFocus is expecting more puzzles like this, alongside travelling to the moon or attending Woodstock in the ’60s.
As for the customisation, you’ll be able to find certain objects that can then be disassembled and repurposed as funky housing for your intelligent watch. The video highlights a pack of crayons and a rubber duck, with the crayons adding a very colourful design to your wrist.
In Wanderer, you take on the role of Asher Neumann who finds Samuel the Watch and learns he has to save mankind by heading to key points in history. Originally, M-Theory and Oddboy were working towards a Q3 2021 launch window but that’s now been pushed back until later this year.
Wanderer will support PlayStation VR and SteamVR headsets – although the Steam page has yet to indicate which headsets – when it does arrive, with the PlayStation VR version also being made available as a physical edition. For continued updates, keep reading VRFocus.
Of the many virtual reality (VR) videogames VRFocus is still looking forward to playing in 2021, time-travelling puzzle adventure Wanderer is high up on that list. Originally slated for a Q3 launch, developers M-Theory and Oddboy have announced that the release will be delayed slightly, to later in the year. Adding some good news into the bad, the studios have released new character details and confirmed that PlayStation VR owners will be able to get their hands on a physical edition.
“The last year has been a pretty tricky one. Navigating Covid-19 and its effects while maintaining a healthy and productive environment and developing a unique game for VR has meant we’re running a bit behind on our schedule,” said the developers in a joint statement. So there’s no specific window as to when the launch will take place at the moment.
But, for those wanting more info on this interesting VR experience M-Theory and Oddboy have released a video showcasing one of Wanderer’s key characters, Samuel the Watch. A companion of lead character Asher Neumann, Samuel is fundamental in solving Wanderer’s puzzles and time travel mysteries. The video is only the first part, with more details to come in the second instalment.
As for that PlayStation VR retail version, M-Theory and Oddboy have teamed up with publisher Perp Games to bring Wanderer into players’ hands. It’ll feature not only the videogame but also an exclusive digital version of the detailed artbook.
“It’s been awesome to get this partnership with Perp off the ground. It extends our audience and is a great keepsake for fans – perhaps even one of the last first-gen PSVR games available as a physical edition. The team at Perp have been wonderful to work with and we can’t wait to get our hands on the final box!” said Sam Ramlu, Executive Producer at Wanderer.
Wanderer’s time-travelling escapades task you with saving mankind by heading to key points in history. This will see you get involved with the space race, playing music to a crowd of hippies and defending ancient civilisations. Coming to SteamVR headsets and PlayStation VR, when launch info is made available VRFocus will let you know.
A couple of months ago New Zealand-based indie videogame studios M Theory and Oddboy unveiled an epic looking puzzle adventure called Wanderer, where you have to time travel to various moments in history to stop an apocalyptic event. The studios have now released the second trailer, showcasing more gameplay and locations.
Providing a darker look at what Wanderer is going to offer, the trailer gives a sneak peek at an ancient civilisation setting (possibly Mayan?) alongside some of the puzzles that will stand in your way. In this alternate universe where nature has taken over, you take on the role of Asher Neumann who has to change the course of history by travelling back in time to key moments in history.
In doing so you’ll be able to explore historical, futuristic and post-apocalyptic settings, with notable moments including the highly contested space race, the hippie-cultured 60s (where you take to the stage as a drummer) and dropped into the middle of World War 2. Visiting these moments will see you either embody or encounter infamous characters from history, including daring explorers, revered inventors and fearless conquerors.
Wanderer isn’t just serious world-ending events one after the other, not only will it tax your brain but you can even have some fun whilst doing it. How about racing an RC car on the moon’s surface or utilising a pump-action water pistol to extinguish a few fires?
“We give you the ability to jump back and forth through time and dive headfirst into beautifully detailed worlds and stories – paying homage to real events and moments from history,” says Tom Bellamy – Art Director at Wanderer in a statement. “It’s your chance to get immersed in a time travel experience like never before.”
Currently, Wanderer is slated for a late Q3 2021 launch for most VR platforms, with PlayStation VR, SteamVR and Oculus confirmed. Take a look at the exciting new trailer below for Wanderer and as further details are released, VRFocus will let you know.
Wanderer is an upcoming VR adventure game inspired by Quantum Leap (1989) and Dark (2017) that lets you travel back through history to prevent the collapse of civilization. The game’s developers, Oddboy and M Theory, today released a new trailer revealing some of the game’s time-traveling gameplay.
Update (June 3rd, 2021): The developers of Wanderer released a new gameplay trailer today giving a much clearer glimpse of the game’s time-hopping fun.
From the looks of it, the game will be puzzle-centric, and structured around different mini-games of sorts, derived from the various eras that the player will visit. The game is due to launch this year on PSVR, PC VR, and Oculus Quest later this year.
The original article introducing Wanderer continues below.
Original Article (April 16th, 2021): Awaking to an apocalyptic timeline, you find an unusual wristwatch which unlocks the power to traverse time and space. It seems you’ll be ‘quantum leaping’ through all sorts of major events, striving to right what once went wrong (and hoping each time that your next leap will be the leap home).
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Image courtesy Oddboy, M Theory
Image courtesy Oddboy, M Theory
Image courtesy Oddboy, M Theory
“Experiment alongside frenzied inventors, play to an endless crowd of hippies, defend ancient civilizations from invasion, decode covert messages in the midst of war and uncover the secrets of the space race – will you follow what you know to be true or are there forces at play beyond your control?” the studios say.
Its creators say it blends escape room-style puzzles and hands-on action sequences “that will see you bring together objects and events from various time periods in sometimes unlikely and inventive ways.”
Wanderer is slated to launch on PSVR, SteamVR headsets and Oculus headsets in Q3 2021. All versions of the game will support full motion controls, including PSVR.
There are some exciting virtual reality (VR) videogames due for release in 2021 and another has just been added to that list, Wanderer. A puzzle filled, time-travelling adventure, its the work of New Zealand-based studios M Theory and Oddboy, the first trailer has arrived today showcasing what looks to be an ambitious project slated for Q3 this year.
Inspired by TV shows including Quantum Leap and Dark, Wanderer takes players on a journey to save mankind by heading to key points in history. You’ll take on the role of Asher Neumann, starting in an alternate, apocalyptic timeline searching for your grandfather’s lost apartment, finding several mysterious artifacts including an unusual wristwatch which makes time travelling possible.
Sequences revealed by the studios so far include taking to the stage in 1969 for an epic musical performance, uncovering traitors and cracking codes during WWII; helping inventor Nikola Tesla prepare his machinery, and stepping onto the moon. The gameplay is described as: “a unique blend of escape room style puzzles and hands-on action sequences that will see you bring together objects and events from various time periods in sometimes unlikely and inventive ways.”
Designed specifically for VR physics-based interactions such as drumming on stage, the PlayStation VR version will feature full PlayStation Move support. It’s already looking like quite the feat considering this in both studios first VR project.
“While Wanderer is an ambitious effort in delivering a feature-length game for VR, our team is confident the graphics, gameplay and story will offer an exciting prospect for VR gamers,” notes M Theory and Oddboy in a statement.
Wanderer is going to be a three-part series, with M Theory and Oddboy partnering with Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) on the first instalment. But it’s not a PlayStation VR exclusive, the studios have already confirmed that SteamVR and Oculus platforms will be supported. For now, feast your eyes on the trailer and as further updates are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.
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Coming 2024 (@wanderervr) February 22, 2024
