Publisher Vertigo Games and Mixed Realms, developer behind Sairento VR (2018), revealed a new trailer for their upcoming combat VR game Hellsweeper VR that shows off more of the game’s co-op action, which thankfully is confirmed to include cross-play on Quest, SteamVR, and PSVR 2.
HellsweeperVR is a follow-up to Sairento VR, this time letting two players join forces to descend into hell and slay twisted souls. The studios say we can expect shared combos and opportunities to execute unique co-op strategies as you take on all the evil the universe has to offer.
The studios say the game’s co-op mode offers a “full roguelike experience with a blend of strategic gameplay and RNG (randomized elements). Each player receives unique blessings, boons, and weapons, ensuring every playthrough offers different challenges and opportunities.”
In rogue-like mode, players fight rounds with various objectives, ending with a final boss fight. You’ll nab loot, upgrade your character, weapons or Hellhound.
Hellsweeper VR is coming to Quest, PSVR 2, and SteamVR headsets on September 21st, 2023. You can pre-order now on Steam, and wishlist on PSVR 2 and Quest. This also includes full cross-play support, so you can play with anyone regardless of their chosen headset.
Mixed Realms, developers behind the samurai-style action-adventure game Sairento VR (2018), announced that its follow-up, Hellsweeper VR, is set to release on major VR headsets in September.
Update (June 8th, 2023): Hellsweeper VR is coming to Quest, PSVR 2, and SteamVR headsets on September 21st, 2023. You can pre-order now on Steam, and wishlist on PSVR 2 and Quest.
The studio also released a new trailer showing off some of the high-intensity gameplay, embedded below this update.
Original Article (June 9th, 2022): The game, which is currently planned for Early Access release on Steam sometime later this year, is also coming to Quest 2, slated to arrive on the standalone “soon,” the studio says.
Published by Vertigo Games, Hellsweeper VR is a roguelike first person combat game where you take on the role of an undead immortal.
“Traverse the underworld where every step brings a challenge or a chance. Gain mastery of your weapons and elemental magic, or fall to the unrelenting onslaught of dark creatures,” Mixed Realms says.
In it, you’re tasked with gaining mastery of a wide range of weapons and elemental magic. As you’d imagine, upgrading your gear as you take on undead immortals along the way is supposedly a big part.
Here’s what the studio says about Hellsweeper VR:
“Hellsweeper VR came about from our desire to improve on what made our first game, Sairento VR, a huge hit with fans,” Mixed Realms says. “We wanted to build upon a core tenet of Sairento – an intense no holds barred locomotion system that offered wall-running, power-sliding, backflips and more – all while improving its arcade-style action with semi realistic physics, allowing you to pull off even crazier moves. Juggle enemies in the air. Lop off a limb and use it as a club. Land on an enemy and use them as a bloody surfboard – yes, you read that right.”
Gory VR combat game, Hellsweeper, is set to be published by Vertigo Games, it’s coming to Quest 2, too.
The news was announced during the Upload VR Showcase today. Developed by Mixed Realms, Hellsweeper is a follow-up to popular VR action game, Sairento. The game was already announced for PC VR headsets, but now we know we’ll be able to play it on the standalone device, too. Check out a brand new trailer for the game running on PC below.
Hellsweeper Confirmed For Quest
As you can see in the trailer, Hellsweeper retains Sairento’s focus on agile combat, but swaps out the sci-fi setting for a dark fantasy tone. You’ll slash through hordes of demonic enemies using swords, spells and firearms as you wall-run and backflip your way through levels. Blood spills and you chop opponents in half or bludgeon them to death. Good fun for all the family, then.
The game also introduces a roguelike structure, allowing you to upgrade your character as you progress. Co-op support is also mentioned on the Steam listing, but more details are yet to be revealed.
It’s not clear yet when Hellsweeper will arrive and in what order. For now, the game’s listed as a Q3 2022 release on SteamVR, but there’s no date for the Quest 2 version yet. Expect to hear those details in the coming months.
Keep following the Upload VR Showcase as we’ll have plenty more announcements and reveals from the show. What did you make of the latest look at Hellsweeper VR? Let us know in the comments below!
The next virtual reality (VR) title from Mixed Realms (Sairento VR) is Hellsweeper VR a first-person roguelike where you have to fight through a nightmarish underworld. While development is still in the early stages – a full release isn’t expected until Q3 2022 – the studio has just opened up playtesting over on Steam as well as releasing Hellsweeper VR’s development roadmap.
Hellsweeper VR is all about battling hordes of monstrous demons that already look fairly formidable using melee weapons, guns and magical powers, both solo and in online co-op. Mixed Realms’ roadmap reveals that Hellsweeper VR will feature three core modes: Roguelike, Sandbox and Multiplayer. Roguelike is the main portion of the experience, split across three acts with randomly assigned locations, weapons, skills and increasingly challenging enemies. Each act will be split down into various missions and levels as follows:
Elimination Mission: Eliminate the level’s boss.
Survival Mission: Survive hordes of enemies for a stipulated time.
Totem Mission: Destroy totems around the map to stop enemies from spawning.
Wave Missions: Defeat wave after waves of enemies.
Sacrifice Mission: Sacrifice enemies to unlock altars around the map.
Various Challenges & Mini-Games: Unlock the tori gates of hell with challenges that will test your skills, wit and luck.
Collect Rewards – Unlock treasure chests with keys or destroy mini totems around the map to collect additional Souls and/or Obols, the two main currencies in the game.
The Sandbox mode will give you a bit more control over the gameplay, selecting from a variety of options including the arena, mission style, difficulty level, preferred weapons and abilities. Whilst the Multiplayer offers the co-op mission option or allowing players to fight each other in PvP.
When it comes to weapons Mixed Realms lists a pistol, broadsword, bow, rifle and shotgun alongside magical elements like fireballs, frost, electric and telekinesis. You even get your own hellhound to keep you company fight for you, with its own skill tree. Check out the full roadmap over on Steam. It’s worth noting that with over a year to go until launch some of these features might change.
As for the Alpha demo, if you own an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or Valve Index then you can request access. The developer says the demo:“is a watered down version of the full game but loaded with enough core mechanics to let you get a good feel of Hellsweeper VR.”
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Hellsweeper VR, reporting back with the latest updates
Mixed Realms, the developer behind popular VR combat game, Sairento, is releasing a demo for its new title, Hellsweeper VR, today.
The public demo will go live on Steam at some point later today with support for SteamVR headsets. The developer says this is a “watered down version” of the full game that’s missing some modes and features, but has “enough core mechanics” to grasp what the developer is aiming for with the project.
You can head to the developer’s Discord to offer feedback on the experience. Check out some gameplay footage below.
Hellsweeper isn’t a direct sequel to Sairento, but does carry on the theme of pushing the intensity of VR combat. The game offers acrobatic action in which you fight off demons using slides and even backflips. The game employs “semi realistic physics” that allow you to tear enemies in two, throw them at other foes and even jump onto them and ride them around. Alongside swords and other melee weapons, you can also use firearms and spells.
The full version of the game will feature a rogue-lite mode in which players survive three acts with a variety of mission objectives like defeating waves of enemies or surviving a certain amount of time. There will also be a sandbox mode and Mixed Realms plans to add multiplayer features including co-op and PVP. Don’t expect that release come hit anytime soon though; Mixed Realms anticipates launching Early Access in Q3 of next year.
Are you going to be checking out the Hellsweeper demo? Let us know in the comments below!
Every weekend VRFocus gathers together vacancies from across the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) industry, in locations around the globe to help make finding that ideal job easier. Below is a selection of roles that are currently accepting applications across a number of disciplines, all within departments and companies that focus on immersive entertainment.
Don’t forget, if there wasn’t anything that took your fancy this week there’s always last week’s listings on The VR Job Hubto check as well.
If you are an employer looking for someone to fill an immersive technology related role – regardless of the industry – don’t forget you can send us the lowdown on the position and we’ll be sure to feature it in that following week’s feature. Details should be sent to Peter Graham (pgraham@vrfocus.com).
We’ll see you next week on VRFocus at the usual time of 3PM (UK) for another selection of jobs from around the world.
In June Sairento VR developer Mixed Realms showcased some very brief, teasing footage of its next project, a gory-looking action title called Hellsweeper. This week the studio has released further details on the videogame as well as releasing a much longer trailer.
Described by Mixed Realms as a roguelike combat simulator, the team revealed on Reddit that Hellsweeper will see: “You play as an undead immortal who’s on a mission to take out the scumbags of Hell.” And you’re going to have plenty of abilities to help accomplish that mission, from melee weapons and guns to magical powers where you’ll be able to pick hellish foes up and rip them apart.
Hellsweeper will borrow elements from Sairento keeping its locomotion mechanics and semi-realistic physics. The new project is going to focus on the action rather than constructing an elaborate campaign with a rich narrative. Mixed Realms is very honest about this, remarking: “We don’t think storytelling is our strength (yet!), so instead of trying to develop a subpar campaign, we decided to deploy our limited resources to making the game shine in terms of the gameplay and mechanics. Having said that, we would still offer a background story to give context to the universe of Hellsweeper.”
It might be light on narrative but you’ll probably not notice going toe to toe with giant hellish demons. Being a roguelike videogame Hellsweeper is all about perfecting those runthroughs, dying, then coming back for another round, with every run being different.
Development is still in the early stages with the new video showcasing pre-alpha assets. The launch is well over a year away with the current expectation Hellsweeper will hit Oculus and Steam in Q3 2022. Before then, Mixed Realms has confirmed that it’ll roll out a free pre-alpha demo for the community to try, in either August or September.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Hellsweeper, reporting back as more details are released.
The developers went into more detail on what to expect from the game in a mini Q&A on Reddit. They said Hellsweeper is “best described as a roguelike first person combat simulator” where you play as “an undead immortal who’s on a mission to take out the scumbags of Hell.”
As you would expect from a roguelike, every game will be different with varied weapons and special powers across different dimensions. The game is both an extension of Sairento and also it’s own thing. “Hellsweeper occurs in an alternate world but it borrows a few mechanics from Sairento, especially its locomotion system. So it’s everything you loved about Sairento and a lot more.” The idea for the game came from a desire to improve upon Sairento, hence the decision to keep the locomotion system while improving other aspects.
Combat will be the “bread and butter” of Hellsweeper, and fans will be able to expect “semi realistic physics” in the game. You can choose between physical combat and magic combat, with more advanced players able to experiment with both at the same time.
Hellsweeper won’t have a campaign, mainly as the development team doesn’t think they’ve mastered storytelling in their games just yet. “Instead of trying to develop a subpar campaign, we decided to deploy our limited resources to making the game shine in terms of the gameplay and mechanics. Having said that, we would still offer a background story to give context to the universe of Hellsweeper.”
The game won’t launch into early access, but there will be a pre-alpha demo coming in August or September. The team encourages those interested to follow on their Discord server, where they will be making all big announcements.
Hellsweeper VR will release on Oculus and PC VR stores in Q3 2022. You can read more about the game over on the developer Q&A on Reddit.
Sairento VR developer Mixed Realms is teasing its new project, and it looks quite different.
The first footage of the game, codenamed Project Hellsweeper, was recently posted on Reddit. While it’s not a direct sequel to Sairento, the developer says it will be a “spiritual successor” to the game’s mechanics, including the work the game did with locomotion and “visceral combat”.
Check out the video above. It shows the player using giant melee weapons and pistols to take down demonic forces. They also summon fireballs, toss axes and, towards the end, split an enemy in two before dashing their heart on the ground. Lovely.
In the same post, the developer confirmed there will be a public beta for the game that will launch in around a month or two. You can register your interest over on an official Discord channel. “We’re bringing the experience of performing movie-worthy stunts and god-like fight sequences to a new level of omg-did-I-just-do-that-in-virtual-reality,” the developer wrote. Given the footage was posted on the Oculus Quest subreddit, it’s a safe bet the game is targetting the standalone headset, but no word yet on possible PC VR and PSVR versions.
Elsewhere, Mixed Realms also just launched a Quest 2-specific update for Sairento VR: Untethered. The patch adds support for 90fps, increases the spawn rate of enemies and adds more blood effects.
If you’re after an intense combat experience in virtual reality (VR) which pushes locomotion options to the limit then Mixed Realms’ Sairento VR – or Sairento VR: Untethered on Oculus Quest – certainly does just that. Recently, the team has begun to tease its latest VR title, a bloody experience currently called Project Hellsweeper.
For our next VR game, we’re bringing the experience of performing movie-worthy stunts and god-like fight sequences to a whole new level. We’re upping the game with even more innovative mechanics and locomotion. Here's a glimpse. pic.twitter.com/K7WVpPra6Q
What’s been shown so far is early pre-alpha footage but it already looks brutal with monsters exploding into a fountain of blood and gore. Mixed Realms has confirmed its building upon the combat and locomotion systems it built for Sairento VR, saying on its Discord channel: “What we can say at this point is that it is going to be another combat sim, but even more visceral and brutal. We are going to pull no punches and you can expect to experience a combat experience that is bigger, badder and crazier than Sairento!”
That certainly seems to be the case although there’s a varied mix of visuals at the moment. The footage showcases modern architecture whilst the enemies are more fantasy monster based. The same goes with the gameplay, at its most visceral you can wield giant swords to slice foes in two, conjure fireballs or unleash a volley of bullets from a couple of pistols.
Just like Sairento, Mixed Realms aims to pack Project Hellsweeper with features that may or may not work in its favour asthe cyber ninja videogame is known for its steep learning curve. “We’re bringing the experience of performing movie-worthy stunts and god-like fight sequences to a new level of omg-did-I-just-do-that-in-virtual-reality,” the team notes on Reddit.
Whilst it’s still early days Mixed Realms is planning a public beta for Project Hellsweeper in a couple of months for community feedback, whilst another trailer is going to arrive by the end of the month.
As for Sairento VR: Untethered for Oculus Quest, the studio has just released some Oculus Quest 2 specific updates such as 90Hz support, increasing enemy spawn rates and how long their bodies remain for a more immersive experience.
As further details for Project Hellsweeper are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.
