Chinese videogame publisher Oasis Games has announced that its next virtual reality (VR) title for PlayStation VR, Light Tracer will arrive for the headset on 26th September 2017 in North America and Europe.
Developed by Void Dimensions, Light Tracer is a mixture of platform-style movement and puzzles where players guide a princess with a Light Staff in one hand whilst the second move controller manipulates the world, giving them a better view and interacting with objects to open paths.
Light Tracer features eight chapters comprising different environments such as an earthy world of rock-throwing trolls, an icy world with deadly snowmen and a world filled with mechanical contraptions.
“The Light Tracer team is building a VR game that will create a lofty experience for lovers of both puzzle and platform games,” said Alen Wu, Director of Business Development at Oasis Games in a statement. “Wit, creativity and reflexes are all needed to help the Princess reach the top of the tower to save her people—and it promises to be a very entertaining journey!”
VRFocuspreviewed the videogame at Gamescom 2017 last month, saying: “The studio might just be onto its best VR title to date.”
For further updates from Oasis Games, keep reading VRFocus.
Chinese publisher Oasis Games has an ever growing line-up of virtual reality (VR) content – mainly for PlayStation VR – having released Ace Banana, Weeping Doll, Dying: Reborn, Pixel Gear and Mixip. These haven’t necessarily all been well received, getting mixed feedback from consumers and media alike. Soon the publisher will be releasing its next experience, a puzzle-platformer called Light Tracer which is shaping up to be an inventive little project.
Debuting Light Tracer for the first time at Gamescom 2017 this month, the videogame is a quirky take on guiding a character through a hostile virtual world that isn’t so much expansive as it is lofty. Demoed on the PlayStation VR – which sees a release in September with a HTC Vive version coming later – using PlayStation Move, the right controller takes care of most of the character actions while the left controller alters your viewpoint on the world.
As the name kind of implies, the right controller fires a beam of light that the character then follows, guiding her around obstacles, jumping gaps and collecting coins. You don’t mark out a path which is then kept to, instead you tell her when to run or stop by pulling the trigger. Get this wrong and she falls of the edge and its back to the start point – or checkpoint if far enough.
The actual mechanics work really well, giving you plenty to concentrate on between guiding the light beam – as you can move it quite far ahead – the girl, and keeping the best viewpoint to keep an eye on everything. As mentioned the left controller moves the entire level about. Yes it’s a VR videogame so you can move in and lean about to get a good look, as the title is all about ascending through the world this still needs to be adjusted – spun around, brought higher or lower – as needed.
The demo featured the first area, giving a brief run through of controls and some basic puzzles. These involved not only guiding the character around obstacles but also directly interacting with them. So this would involve grabbing moveable platforms or picking up an item to place on a switch. Pretty simple stuff, then again it’s only the first level. Light Tracer might be one of those titles that’s great for speedrunners, using one hand to guide while the other continually moves the environment.
It’s not all sweetness and light though. Light Tracer does have enemies to deal with. Oasis Games has stated the girl – she’s actually a princess trying to save her people – will be armed with a sword in the latter stages, for the first level on the other hand it’s all about avoidance, even when it comes to the boss. Here it’s a case of activating environmental barriers to deflect incoming projectiles back at the beast.
From this first glance Light Tracer looks promising. Rather than going for full scale immersive environments Oasis Games as gone for a tabletop style design, one that’s worked very well for titles such as Augmented Empire, Siegecraft: Commander or Pinball FX2 VR. The gameplay mechanics offer enough possibilities for level variation and challenge that Light Tracer could be worth a purchase.
Whilst most developers and publishers are focussing on Gamescom, Chinese videogame publisher Oasis Games is planning further ahead and has announced it will be bringing three of its upcoming titles to PAX West and Gamescom, including PlayStation VR title Light Tracer.
Light Tracer is a puzzle-platform adventure on the PlayStation VR in which the player is a godlike entity with a magical staff of light who must guide a mysterious Princess up an ancient tower, solving puzzles to guide her forward so she can reach the pinnacle of the tower to find a magical cure for a deadly disease affecting her people. Solving puzzles depends on interacting with the environment, moving the tower to get a better view and activating triggers and moving items to solve puzzles and open new routes.
There are eight chapters planned for Light Tracer, each ending with a boss battle. The title is planned for a September 2017 release date. A price point has not yet been set. The trailer is available to view below.
Oasis Games will also be bringing Hidden Dragon Legend and Fringe Wars to PAX West and Gamescom. Hidden Dragon Legend is a 2.5D hack and slash platformer in the mould of classic titles such as Ninja Gaiden and is expected to be released on PlayStation 4 on 19th September, 2017, with a PC release on Steam planned for a later date. Fringe Wars is a MOBA-style space warfare title where players can team up to take on other ships, taking on roles such a sniper, tank, assault or scout.
VRFocus will bring you further news on Oasis Games’ VR projects as well as the latest from Gamescom.
Oasis Games have announced a September release for whimsical VR puzzle-platformer Light Tracer, in a recent post on the PlayStation Blog. The game involves guiding the Princess up a giant tower from the perspective of a ‘godlike entity’, solving puzzles and defeating bosses using an interesting motion control system.
As shown in the game’s first trailer for PSVR (below), players will hold two PS Move controllers, directing the Princess with a ‘magical Light Staff’ in one hand, while rotating the world and interacting with platforms and switches with the other. Martho Ghariani, head of PlayStation Business Development at Oasis Games, highlights the importance of adjusting the point of view.
“Sometimes solving a puzzle is a matter of seeing things from the right perspective, so you’ll find yourself constantly grabbing and spinning the game tower with the controller in one hand to figure things out.”
Light Tracer features eight chapters, each with a different environment, adding various gameplay mechanics like ice, or inverted gravity, and every chapter ends with a unique boss fight.
“As you help the Princess get higher and higher up the tower, you’ll gradually learn about your relationship (as the entity) with the Princess,” writes Ghariani. “And you’ll have lots of fun puzzles along the way!”
The game was originally revealed in May at BitSummit in Japan, an annual indie showcase event, announced for both PSVR and SteamVR. Since then, there has been little mention of the PC version, with Oasis Games appearing to promote the game solely as a PSVR title. While the publisher has a presence on PC, most notably with their popular browser game Naruto Online, as well as action strategy PvP game Tiger Knight on Steam, their VR efforts have so far centred around Sony’s hardware, having released Ace Banana, Pixel Gear and Weeping Doll within the PSVR launch window last year, and more recently DYING: Reborn.
Indie publisher Oasis Games have announced that its upcoming puzzle-adventure title Light Tracer will be coming to PlayStation VR in September 2017.
Developed by Void Dimensions, Light Tracer puts the player in the role of a mysterious but powerful entity wielding a staff of light, who is guiding a princess up a tower. The player must guide the princess as she climbs an ancient, dangerous and improbably constructed tower as she searches for a cure to a disease that has struck her people.
Players can use perspective to solve puzzles, spinning the world into the right viewpoint and interacting with the game world by flipping switches and moving items in order to open the way to let the princess climb ever higher. As you progress, you will slowly uncover more about the world, the tower and the princess.
Point of view is critical to solving many puzzles in Light Tracer, as the player has the option to move and spin the tower, along with clicking on triggers, doors and moving objects, as well as directing the princess to swing her sword to defend herself.
Light Tracer is planned to have eight chapters, each of which has a different environment theme, such as ice, fire or mechanical, each featuring a different style of puzzles, at each new stage introducing a new element such as gravity changes along with new enemies to defeat and new platform-based challenges to overcome.
Light Tracer will be coming to PlayStation VR in September 2017. VRFocus will bring you further news on this title as it becomes available.
Independent videogame developer and publisher Oasis Games is bringing three PlayStation VR titles to showcase at the 5th annual BitSummit festival in Kyoto, Japan. Light Tracer, debuting at the event, has been confirmed for release on PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
Virtual reality (VR) puzzle adventure Light Tracer will formed part of the showcase of titles, attendees at BitSummit got an early look at the gameply of the videogame, which is being developed for PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Light Tracer is story-driven puzzler adventure title which has some similarities with Ico, only with some unique VR features; perspective is key as some puzzle solutions lie in the way the player looks at things. The aim is to guide a princess up an ancient Babylonian tower as part of a quest to save her country, which has fallen victim to some mysterious malaise. A release date for the title has not yet been confirmed.
Dying: Reborn is making it’s debut in Japan as part of the showcase. Dying: Reborn is another puzzle title, although this one has a dark horror theme. Users must find, collect and use items to unlock the mystery of the place they are trapped in to escape the spooky, mysterious rooms. Dying: Reborn is already available for PlayStation VR in North America and Europe, with some limited availability in Asia.
The third VR title on show is Weeping Doll, a creepy horror story where dolls can come alive and reflect the dark emotions of the children that own them. Exploration and puzzle-solving make up the gameplay and the spooky depths of the storyline are slowly revealed. Similar to Dying: Reborn, Weeping Doll is already out in North America, Europe and some countries in Asia.
VRFocus will bring you further information on upcoming PlayStation VR titles and VR-related events.
Leading independent Chinese games publisher Oasis Games has been enjoying a busy few days as part of PAX East in Boston. It is the company’s first ever appearance at a North American consumer event.
The company of course has several upcoming titles, such as PlayStation VR (PSVR) room escape horror game Dying: Reborn, colourful pixel shoot-em-up Pixel Gear and action PVP strategy game Tiger Knight: Empire War.
Oasis Games were previously responsible for releasing psychological puzzle-horror gameWeeping Doll, in which a Victorian maid must unravel the mystery of a vanished family as a creepy doll stalks the hallways. In a sharp contrast, they also published slapstick shooterAce Banana in which the player must defend a pile of bananas by using a bow and arrow to shoot potential banana thieves.
“We’re thrilled that PAX East is our first public event in North America,” said Alen Wu, Global Business Director for Oasis Games. “Attendees will be able to check out Dying: Reborn for all PlayStation platforms before the bundle is released, compete in 5 v 5 matches for Tiger Knight: Empire War and enjoy the fan-favorite PS VR game Pixel Gear.”
PAX East (Penny Arcade Expo East) finishes its run today, having been in Massachusetts on 10th-12th March, 2017 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Centre. VRFocus will bring you further updates on Oasis Games when we get them.
I have to admit I didn’t expect much going into Dying: Reborn PSVR. Publisher Oasis Games’ previous efforts on PlayStation VR (PSVR) have ranged from the mediocre (Ace Banana) to the downright terrible (Weeping Doll and Pixel Gear), so you could forgive me for being skeptical that this would be a different story. Much to my surprise, though, I found myself starting to have a bit of fun with this cheesy B-movie style escape room game.
But, just as soon as it started, it was over.
You see, Dying: Reborn PSVR isn’t the full game. Instead, it’s three excerpts from the first three levels of the full campaign, which does not support VR. It only takes about an hour to see through the VR content, if that. This would be fine if it was available as a free experience for PSVR owners that picked up the full game but, instead, Oasis Games has decided to charge for it, effectively making it a premium demo. If there was enough here to warrant a price then that might be less of a problem, but Dying: Reborn is sadly the same story we’re seeing with many early PSVR titles: too short and no depth.
Piecing together the game’s story is tricky when parts of it have been carved out, though the voice acting is one of its more enjoyable flaws. I know VR is in the early days akin to the original PlayStation, but that doesn’t mean voice overs have to act like it. I laughed out loud listening to the dialogue, which makes Jill sandwiches sound like Shakespeare. Without the context of the entire game or even a proper ending, much of the narrative doesn’t fit. You won’t even see the amusing fish-headed villain that’s on the front cover in the flesh, just as a silhouette through a TV screen (drinking a glass of wine, much to my delight).
That’s indicative of the entire game, too. Even sequentially; I’d end one level by walking through one door and then start the next one off as if I’d walked through another. I could tell sections had been cut out, for whatever reason, and I was getting an abridged version.
What is here isn’t terrible, though. As far as escape room games go, I found Dying: Reborn struck a pretty nice balance between brain-teasers and progression. I was able to solve each of the game’s puzzles on my own (which speaks to their simplicity), though there were a few times I’d find myself wandering up and down a corridor, unsure of what to do next.
While many of the challenges simply involve entering the correct number on a keypad, they still delivered in interesting ways. One was a grid that I had to select specific tiles on, for example, and it was used multiple times for different puzzles. The game’s never mind-bendingly clever, but there is a methodical satisfaction to progressing through the trials step-by-step, even if it never goes further than that.
That’s in spite of VR though. Though the simplistic graphics (a notable downgrade from the full game) help Dying: Reborn’s 3D effect, there’s no real reason for the game to actually be played with a headset. The environments are largely static, with assets reused time and again, giving the whole thing a very Unity asset store feel. Though I appreciated being able to move in VR with a DualShock 4, this was far from a great example of the powerful emotions this technology can drum up.
Final Score: 4/10 – Disappointing
Dying: Reborn PSVR has some fun puzzles to solve, but it’s far too short on substance to recommend to anyone. By carving out sections of the non-VR game, Oasis Games has created something a little like the game’s disturbing fish-headed protagonist; a hollow Frankenstein’s monster, brought to life with left overs. PSVR players deserve better.
Chinese videogame publisher Oasis Games (Weeping Doll,Ace Banana) has today launched room escape horror game Dying: Reborn for the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and PlayStation VR (PSVR) platforms.
Dying: Reborn, which VRFocus previewed back in November, is described as a horror-themed room escape puzzle game in first-person. Players take on the role of Matthew, who is looking for his missing sister after receiving a mysterious note. He finds himself trapped in a hostel with no memory of how he got there and must solve a variety of puzzles in order to escape.
“It’s been a rewarding journey working with the developer, NEKCOM, to introduce the frightening world of DYING: Reborn to players across all PlayStation platforms,” said Alen Wu, Global Business Director for Oasis Games. “Our commitment to keeping our games exciting throughout a diverse line-up will be elevated with today’s launch.”
Troy Dunniway, COO at NEKCOM had this to say; “We created DYING: Reborn to emphasize the popularity of real-life room escapes and bring it to PlayStation players in the comfort of their own home. We strive to challenge players to think outside of the box and DYING: Reborn will reward players who can think creatively.”
Dying: Reborn is out now for PS4 and PSVR, priced at $19.99 (USD) for the PS4 version and $9.99 (USD) for the PSVR version.
VRFocus will keep you updated on further information about Dying:Reborn and other PSVR products.
Oasis Games has been a prolific publisher for PlayStation VR, having already released TVR’s Ace Banana, Pixel Gear from Geronimo Interactive, and TianShe Media’s Weeping Doll on the platform. Now its confirmed Nekcom’s DYING: Reborn is set to arrive next week.
DYING: Reborn is a dark, horror-themed, first-person escape room experience. Players are cast as Mathew a distraught young man on a mission to find his missing sister, after receiving a mysterious note from her. He then awakens in a strange and eerie hostel with no recollection of how he landed there. Players must escape the hostel, solving a variety of puzzles whilst exploring the rooms for clues. These are hidden throughout the hostel, so players will need a keen eye to piece together the mystery.
The standard PlayStation 4 version consists of six chapters, while PlayStation VR has three immersive chapters.DYING: Reborn will launch on 28th February.
