Insomniac teased its next VR game recently, a then unnamed open world adventure that promised to let you “go wherever you want.” After revealing the game just prior to E3, dubbed Stormland, the studio just released a few choice bits of info on the game at the PC Gaming Show at E3 2018.
Update (06/11/18): Insomniac’s CCO Chad Dezern took the stage today at the PC Gaming Show to reveal a little more about to ‘Stormland’. On stage, Dezern talked a bit about locomotion, saying you can fly just above the cloud-like “slipstream” using your hands and shoot a laser in the cloud’s surface to create a sort of ramp to glide off of. You can also physically climb up a cliff side and glide back down. “It’s a set of mechanics that are designed to work together fluidly so that movement feels exhilarating,” Dezern said. Outside of climbing, it appears much of the locomotion is based on gliding.
Dezern also revealed that you can scavenge technology and integrate it into your arms, giving you abilities such as harnessing electricity, or cloaking.
The entity called ‘The Tempest’ is said to “rearrange everything every single week,” presenting the player with new playgrounds of movement, combat, and scavenging.
The original article follows below:
Original article (06/07/018): In Stormland, Oculus says in a blogpost, you play as a peaceful gardener until a mysterious storm called ‘The Tempest’ shatters your android body. After lying dormant for centuries, you must journey through an ever-changing cloudscape, augmenting yourself to become a heroic fighter, save your friends, and reclaim your world.
Image courtesy Insomniac Games
“In the game, you can explore an expansive environment with complete freedom—bound up cliffs, glide across chasms, and fly through the slipstream at near-terminal velocity. Then detonate explosives, harness electricity, and wield makeshift weapons to overcome titanium sentries and monolithic guardians. Play through a dramatic single-player campaign, or explore forgotten ruins with friends,” the company says.
Image courtesy Insomniac Games
There’s no precise release date yet, although the company says it should be out sometime in 2019. Like many of Insomniac’s past VR projects, which include Rift exclusives The Unspoken (2017), Edge of Nowhere (2016) and Feral Rites (2016), we suspect Insomniac’s relationship points to another Rift exclusive in the works.
Ready at Dawn, the studio behind zero-g adventureLone Echo (2017) and its companion multiplayer sports game Echo Arena (2017), held a closed beta session with their upcoming Oculus Rift expansion Echo Combat last week. Given a beefier-looking avatar and a few guns—reflective of my new goal of disintegrating the opposite team members with impunity—the game essentially presents you with a gametype that fans of Team Fortress 2 (2007) or Overwatch (2016) will instantly recognize: payload—push the cart on a track through the winding maze, or defend the advances of the cart by pushing it backwards and running down the clock.
Before getting into the gameplay aspect of matches though, let’s first talk about the lobby, the place where you can practice and learn the finer points of the game before foisting yourself into a match. This is where you learn to use the game’s zero-G locomotion style which lets you move through the world by physically grabbing onto structures (and people) and pushing off with your hands. Echo Combat features the same amped-up version of this seen in Echo Arena, and it’s an absolute joy to see it in the context of a shooter, as it’s both comfortable and extremely immersive—making you forget that you’re actually in your apartment punching that stupid lamp and loudly cursing at 3 AM.
Awakening in the new lobby for the first time, I was immediately struck by the size of the place now that the doors to Echo Combat are open; it feels at least two times as large as the lobby was before, and is filled with spaces to chat, customize your avatar, or practice shooting.
The shooting gallery, which features a few structures stocked with moving dummies, has a console where you can change your guns and see what effect each gun has on the dummy’s health bar. Currently there are three guns available: a one-handed shotgun (Nova), an automatic laser pistol (Pulsar), and a powerful semi-auto railgun pistol with a laser sight (Comet), a gun that features both a charge-up and cool-down time.
Captured by Road to VR
You’re also given a single, slowly respawning detonator grenade that you can pull from behind your back to do further damage. A second ordinance weapon was greyed out, so there’s likely to be something else to choose from in the future. Additionally, you have one of two secondary abilities at your disposal—group health regeneration, or a threat scanner that can temporarily reveal enemies from behind walls. All of these things are pretty well understood in traditional shooters, so anyone familiar with Team Fortress 2 should immediately grasp the gametype.
After screwing around in the shooting gallery, I was ready to head back to the main hall of the lobby to search for a match. Like Echo Arena, there’s a miniature version of the map available in the lobby, so you can exchange the finer points with other players. Since nobody really knew what they were doing at this early point in the game’s life, most of us just gawked and shrugged our shoulders, hitting the ‘find match’ button on the lobby’s console, and starting without a care for strategy.
Image courtesy Ready at Dawn
Randomly assigned, I first started on defense, which gives you a head start to make your way to the enemy’s farthest spawn point, the first of many checkpoints between the payload and its goal on the opposite end of the map. After being absolutely amazed at the size of the map, which features strategically placed choke points, multiple side areas, and plenty of nook to hide in and behind, I finally make my way to enemy spawn to see the cart is actually a big pink flamingo, like an oversize version of the pool inflatable. Grabbing onto the flamingo, you automatically push it in the desired direction on its glowing blue track.
Like Echo Arena, there’s also a few launch tubes available to get you back into the action a little quicker.
Image courtesy Ready at Dawn
It seems everything comes in threes with Echo Combat. You have three minutes on the game clock to battle in the three vs. three match, with three guns to choose from.
It’s important to pick the right gun too, because you can only swap out when you spawn in the small waiting area during matches, and because the guns are physically integrated into your robot hands, you can’t pick up an enemy’s gun or dual-wield either. While I was initially hoping for more than just three single-handed guns, I get the sense that the studio thought long and hard about making every choice a team-based decision, and creating necessary bottlenecks to create interesting gameplay.
These bottlenecks force you to cooperate with others and divvy out responsibilities like “Ok, you two be medics with shotguns and push the payload, and I’ll cover with scanner and the Comet and snipe from behind.” Because everyone has a mic, that sort of cooperation is to be expected, the team with the best ability to organize will probably win the match.
Image courtesy Ready at Dawn
Initially I thought playing the game’s single map would get tiring after a few matches, but it’s actually big enough to provide hours of gameplay. Of course, I would love to see more maps, more guns, and more objectives in the future, but my guess is many players will still find the game engaging enough in its current form to keep the servers bustling for some time, as it’s proven to be a balanced and super satisfying shooter in its own right.
That said, Echo Combat will likely need a greater iteration cycle over its sports counterpart Echo Arena to stay relevant in the long run, which largely gets a pass for featuring a standard playing field, much in the same way any physical sport does. Either way, users should be happy for some time, as the franchise’s zero-G movement scheme has proven to be robust enough to allow fast, comfortable, and extremely fun gameplay, and I personally can’t wait to see what comes next.
Once the game goes live, we’ll have a full review to better assess everything coming to the game at launch. In the meantime, check out our video of a full Echo Combat match.
Developer Ready at Dawn recently hosted a closed beta of the upcoming Echo Combat, an expansion to Echo Arena, which brings a brand new objective-based FPS arena game into the mix, complete with various weapons and abilities. We’ve got footage of a complete match so that you can see how it all goes down.
Echo Combat’s objective gameplay plays out very similarly to the popular ‘Payload’ gametype seen in games like Overwatch (2016) and Team Fortress 2 (2007). If you’re unfamiliar, that means one team is defending and one team is attacking. The attacking team’s objective is to move the payload (an object which looks like a space-age flamingo inner-tube) along a predetermined path and into the goal zone before time runs out. Players move the payload forward by holding onto it, and the more players that do, the faster it goes.
The defending team’s objective is to prevent the payload from reaching the goal zone until time is up. Defenders can even move the payload backwards by holding onto it and keeping enemies at bay.
Captured by Road to VR
There are several payload checkpoints along its route, wherein the payload pauses for a brief moment while doors to a new section of the arena open up. Each section of the arena has a unique feel to it, ranging from squat and claustrophobic to highly vertical with some large openings, with geometry that’s strongly evocative of an adult-sized McDonald’s Play Place (that’s a good thing, I promise). Sadly, there’s no ball pit.
Players are smart to choose weapons and equipment depending upon whether they’re attacking or defending, and which part of the map the fighting is happening in. You’ll can choose from three weapons which can be changed mid-match at the respawn station. It’s the usual suspects: Nova (close range shotgun), Pulsar (mid range automatic), and Comet (long-range sniper).
Captured by Road to VR
Things get a little more interesting when it comes to equipment. There’s two ‘Tac-Mods’ (with a third apparently locked as of now): Threat Scanner, which temporarily highlights enemy players through walls, and Repair Matrix, which heals you and nearby teammates. There’s also ‘Ordinance’ (with one available now and another presently locked): Detonator is a disc-shaped explosive which can be thrown (putting those Echo Arena skills to good use) or planted, then remotely detonated at any time. Unfortunately the Ordinance was having some issues in the closed beta, so you don’t see it used in the match above.
Moss (2018) first launched on PSVR back in February, but now indie studio Polyarc Games have today released the adorable VR platformer puzzle on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
Now available on Steam (Vive, Rift) and the Oculus Store (Rift), the third-person platformer takes you into the beautifully rendered world of Quill, the pint-sized mouse adventurer who comes to possess a crystal of great importance.
We had a chance to review Moss on PSVR, giving it a solid [7.9/10] for its charming storytelling and incredibly beautiful setting, although it was held back somewhat by its simplistic control scheme and low variability of baddies. However you slice it though, the PC release for Moss accentuates everything we loved about the game in the first place,as Vive and Rift users are treated to a higher resolution version of the game replete with support for respective motion controllers.
Image courtesy Polyarc Games
Motion controller support here is fundamental, as there are moments when you interact with the world through simple puzzle blocks and doors that move when you push them, making Moss an even more natural experience. Unlike the PSVR version, the PC version doesn’t support gamepads however because of the need to interact via a tracked controller, something the DualShock 4 controller does natively, but isn’t found on gamepads such as the XBox One controller.
At its highest graphical settings, it’s clear that Moss has truly come into its own on PC VR headsets.
Virtual Virtual Reality is one of mobile VR’s best games to date, and you can now play an enhanced version on the Oculus Rift.
Created by studio Tender Claws and initially launched back in 2017, Virtual Virtual Reality goes far beyond the expectations set by most mobile VR titles by delivering strong visuals, great sound, intuitive interaction, locomotion and a proper narrative, culminating in a strong feeling of immersion.
Having played through the entirety of the game on a mobile VR headset, it’s no wonder to me why the time and effort has been put in to bring it to the Oculus Rift. As of today, Virtual Virtual Reality is available on the Rift priced at $20 (also available on Oculus Go, Gear VR, and Daydream for $10). The game is rated nearly five stars on each of its available platforms.
Image courtesy Tender Claws
Virtual Virtual Reality tells the story of a far future where a company called Activitude offers up human labor to artificial intelligence personalities for the novelty of human imperfection. Sort of like an ‘Uber for human labor’. Virtual reality headsets, which act as the access points for performing your human service tasks, are littered throughout the game’s world, and players can put them on and take them off at will, going deeper and deeper into virtual reality as they explore the depths of Activitude. It’s an exploratory adventure—with a dash of puzzle solving and meta-humor—and one that’s worth taking without having too much spoiled for you.
If the news that Tetris is coming to PSVR hasn’t flipped any wigs, the makers of Space Pirate Trainer (2017), the super successful arcade shooter, have just tossed out a not-so-subtle hint that PSVR owners will soon be able to dive head-first into the galactic robot shooter.
Indie studio I-Illusions tweeted out today that it’s “time to get off the couch,” featuring the game’s logo wearing a PSVR headset.
Space Pirate Trainer, which left Early Access back in October 2017, has been a fan favorite since the early days of room-scale VR, first launching on HTC Vive, and then adding support for Oculus Rift and Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets.
The game shows an impressive level of polish and a diverse set of game mechanics to make it more than just a simple shooting gallery, as it currently holds a [10/10] rating on Steam, and a [4.5/5] stars on both the Oculus Store and on the Microsoft Store.
There’s no word on when the PSVR version of Space Pirate Trainer is due, but we’ll be updating this article as soon as we know.
Sqaure Enix just released Tales of Wedding Rings VR, an experience for Rift that lets you engage with the popular Japanese Manga in a whole new way.
Expertly blending 3D rendered anime with traditional manga, Tales of Wedding Rings VR takes you through the story of Satou, a mild-mannered high school student, and Hime, a self-proclaimed princess from a world unlike our own.
Cast in the iconic monochrome tone familiar to manga fans, you’ll follow Satou as he traverses fully realized 3D environments and makes the difficult decision to give into his unrequited for Hime—all shot through what Square Enix calls a ‘LiveWindow’ which takes the standard static manga frame shots and pushes it to its logical extreme with its sweeping camera shots, closeups, and 360 environments that envelope the user so you experience the story in the first person.
To boot, since you have a frame as context during moving scenes, it’s an extremely comfortable way of watching the action unfold.
The entire story takes around 30 minutes to watch, and includes the original Japanese voice overs accompanied by speech bubbles, either in Japaneses or English. While I’m not really one for manga love stories, Tales of Wedding Rings VR is a truly a revolutionary way of experiencing a narrative from the third-person perspective. As an opening gambit, Tales of Wedding Rings VR is incredibly high quality as well, giving it the potential to spark an entire VR manga genre based on the experience’s innovative melding of written word and 3D action.
According to an Oculus blogpost, the Project Hikari team spent “years designing a signature sound for Tales, complete with original score and sound effects, all recorded on-location in Japan.” An ensemble cast of voice actors, motion capture, and immersive spatial audio truly bring the manga to life.
“After months of prototyping, it became clear to me that VR would evolve into a gateway to new worlds,” says Project Hikari Lead Kaei Sou. “I was convinced these new worlds could be filled with rich narratives that capture people’s imagination.
Sou continues: “As a fan [of the manga], I’m always excited to experience my favorite titles in a new way,” notes Sou. “It’s important to me such adaptations remain true to the source material. This was the number one goal of the project—to make sure we don’t disappoint fans of the original work.”
Tales of Wedding Rings VR is now available on Rift for $20, and while it may be a steep price for some, it’s a remarkable step forward in storytelling tech to say the least.
In Death, the roguelike bow-shooter in Early Access from Everest VR (2016) developers Sólfar Studios, just opened up a free access weekend on Rift.
With access already in effect, In Death is free and open to Rift users until Sunday, June 3rd at 11:59 PM PT (local time here).
In Death is one of the most polished VR games out there, featuring excellent bow-shooting mechanics which includes several different arrows to help you defeat the increasingly difficult enemies such as ghosts that can morph through walls, and seven foot-tall knights strapped with broadswords and shields. Check out our hands-on with In Death for more about what makes this incredibly fun (and curiously fatalistic) game tick.
Set in a procedurally generated medieval world, you drive forward unlocking achievements; some help may you, some may make enemies even more difficult, changing your experience of the game as you get more proficient.
This isn’t a melee brawler; you’re only given a bow and a shield, making it all about shooting, dodging, blocking, and tactically teleporting out of the way as in-coming arrows and enemies threaten to end your run.
Image courtesy Solfar Studios
In an April update, Sólfar Studios added optional dungeons, which if you choose to enter in hopes of receiving a big loot payout, you can’t escape until you reach then end, and battle an imposing demon boss. Previously featuring only leaderboards, the update also brought with it an asynchronous challenge mode that lets you post a challenge to other players, making them play through your best run with all of your unlocked achievements.
In Death is truly shaping up to be a must-play worthy of at very least a weekend of monster slaying to get a taste of what a the medieval archer’s Purgatory is all about.
Insomniac Games, developers behind The Unspoken (2017), Edge of Nowhere (2016), and Ratchet & Clank, showed off a sneak peek of their next VR game. While still unnamed, the studio is aiming to break boundaries with what they say is ‘an open world adventure.’
The whole developer spotlight video (below) is pretty tight-lipped about what’s next, although the studio’s Principal Designer Duncan Moore says “[we wanted to] create really beautiful, immersive spaces and apply it to a new palette of open world adventure.”
“In this new project, you’ll be able to go wherever you want,” says Nina Fricker, Insomniac’s Lead Technical Animator. Fricker continues: “To be able to bring that into the VR space is definitely the next evolution of what we’re going for.”
The video’s description has a cryptic line too, saying “Reclaim Your World – June 7, 2018.”
Although target platforms are still unknown, the video was published by Oculus, possibly pointing to a new Rift exclusive in the works. Both The Unspoken and Edge of Nowhere are exclusive to the Oculus platform.
No launch date is set yet, so we’ll just have to wait and see on June 7th for what Insomniac has planned next.
The upcoming game, which is developed by Dream Reality and published by Rebellion, is targeting PSVR, Steam VR, Oculus Rift, Oculus Go and Gear VR, with launch slated for later this year.
Rebellion says in a recent blogpost that no controller is needed to play, as the game relies solely on the VR headset for input.
The studios haven’t released much more information around Arca’s Path, only saying it has puzzle elements, and requires “a little bit of skill but not too much, and that it’s incredibly easy to pick up and play.”
Dream Reality Interactive’s core team previously worked at Sony’s London Studio, with titles such as PlayStation VR Worlds and AR games for Wonderbook.
