Survios, the studio behind Raw Data (2017), today announced closed beta testing for Sprint Vector, its multiplayer competitive foot racing game. The closed beta will start January 19th and go through January 28th.
Update (1/20/18): The Sprint Vector closed beta has begun and runs all week until January 28th. We’ve got 20 keys granting access to the closed beta through Steam (which supports both Vive and Rift).
We’re not going to make you sign up for anything to get them (though if you aren’t already following us on social media, feel free to link up with us on Facebook and Twitter); the keys are hidden in the screenshots in this article, use these instructions to redeem your code through Steam. After you’ve redeemed your code, it would be mighty kind of you to drop your code as a reply in the comments below, that way your fellow readers don’t waste their time trying to redeem codes which have already been claimed.
Original Article (1/16/18): The beta, which will include up to 8-players in competitive racing matches, will be available through both Oculus Home and SteamVR. Survios is now accepting beta signups here.
The full release of Sprint Vector is slated to launch globally in Q1 2018 on PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
The beta will include access to three competitive maps, a number of different playable characters, and all of final game’s power-ups. The studio is also debuting a challenge mode featuring two single-player maps with “unique challenges,” arriving alongside quick play and private lobbies.
Sprint Vector Closed Beta Schedule
While the solo portion of the game will be open to beta testers throughout the 10-day period, Survios will only be opening multiplayer servers during the weekends from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM PT in the US, and from 18:00 to 21:00 CET in the EU.
Featuring a unique locomotion scheme dubbed ‘Fluid Locomotion’ which requires you to pump your arms as if you were actually running, our hands-on with Sprint Vector proved to be extremely comfortable despite the fast-paced nature of the game. By fast-paced, I mean zipping through a Mario Kart-style track while making a 40-foot jump, all at an unbelievably blistering speed.
We’ve been following Sprint Vector since it was first teased early last year, and hope to see just how the game has shaped up in the meantime. We’ll be bringing you our impressions in the next few days, so check back soon.
Lone Echo (2017), one of the Rift’s most critically acclaimed titles (including one of our 2017 Game of the Year winners), has received a new update today which improves visuals for those playing on high-end hardware and offers up dubbing and menu conversion for three additional languages: French, German, and Spanish.
Lone Echo stands as one of VR’s most highly produced titles to date. Suitably, the game was also the fastest to reach $1 million in revenue on the Oculus store as of October. So it’s good to see that developer Ready at Dawn has continued to tweak and polish the title now almost six months after its July release; the studio says this will be the game’s final update.
Today Ready at Dawn deployed the new ‘Atlas’ patch. Those with high-end hardware (Intel i7 -7700k or above suggested) will now be able to enable three new features in the game’s settings to enhance its look and feel, the game’s development blog explains:
Enhanced Set Dressing
You’ll find higher concentration of floating props in various areas of the Station Interior and the Mining Facility. This change will be most noticeable on the Kronos II Bridge, in the Activation Bay, and at both the Primary and Depleted Dig Sites.
Tractor Device
This unique physics toy sucks in small props while you’re pressing the trigger, shooting them out at high speed upon release. There are two available in the game — look for them in the Activation Bay and at the Primary Dig Site.
Ragdoll Jack Husks
Normally, rigid, inanimate husks of Jack are left behind to mark your death locations. Now, these bodies can gain full ragdoll physics, so you can throw them around the environment with full limb mobility. Note that Jack Husks created by touching Bio Threat challenges will remain static objects attached to the Bio Threat.
Voiceover and Text in French, German, and Spanish
Speakers of French, German, and Spanish can now enjoy Lone Echo with a complete voice and menu text conversion in addition to the game’s native English composition.
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These rather late (but welcomed) additions to Lone Echo suggest that Ready at Dawn is very much continuing their work in the VR sector; as the development blog notes, “This is just the beginning of our continued investment in the Echo Games universe.” Some of the new features we’re seeing patched into Lone Echo may even be experiments derived from ongoing development work for Echo Combat—the studio’s forthcoming FPS combat game based in the Echo universe—you can imagine how ragdoll physics and the Tractor Device could be useful in a first person shooter!
VRChat, the social chatroom for VR and non-VR users, is doing booming business. According to SteamSpy, the app has seen a mind-boggling 1 million fresh installs in only the last 10 days, putting it currently at 2 million installs in total.
Update (01/19/18): SteamSpy reports now that ‘VRChat’ has over 2 million installs. Concurrent users have cooled down somewhat, although we’ll have to see what the weekend brings. SteamSpy reports yesterday’s high at about 11,000 peak concurrents, a surprisingly low .05% of the overall install base.
Original article (01/15/18): According to Valve’s Steam report, VRChat garnered20,000 peak concurrent users on January 14th,putting it in the top 30 games with highest concurrent user rates. The next day, a Monday morning, over 13,000 people were playing VRChat concurrently.
While neither SteamSpy nor Valve offer enough granularity to know whether the bulk of the players are indeed wearing VR headsets, or simply playing via PC monitor, one thing is certain: VRChat is a ‘VR first’ social space, and entering the app to see a room full of gesticulating avatars (enabled by VR motion controllers) is bound to tease PC players’ curiosity at what playing in VR headset is really like.
As for its meteoric rise in popularity, there’s little room for speculation as to the cause. While the app is free, and works equally on traditional monitors and PC VR headsets, VRChat owes much of its recent viral success thanks to coverage by YouTubers like PewDiePie, videogamedunkey, and Jameskii, not to mention a host of Twitch streamers. The app’s ‘anything goes’ user-generated content system, which lets you import your own self-made avatar replete with animation macros, has also produced plenty of meme magic since its launch on Steam – no doubt drawing more curious would-be users to the social VR platform.
We’ll be going deeper into the app’s unique meme culture in a future article. For a taste of some of the freestyle chaos that’s attracting users to VRChat, take a look at one of the strangest and most popular living memes currently: ‘Ugandan Knuckles‘ (warning: NSFW language). The video, created by VRChat regular Stahlsby just before Christmas, has over 8.8 million views and rising.
Because of its quick rise in popularity and consequent influx of new users, the developers recently released an open letter to the VRChat community in effort to reign in some of the less appealing behavior of its users.
In the open letter, the creators say they regularly combat ‘bad’ behavior with a trained moderation team “that monitors VRChat constantly.” While the developers plan on releasing more troll-nullifying systems, they suggest using the app’s mute/block functions or setting up private instances of rooms to inoculate yourself from trolls. According to VRChat, ‘bad’ behavior entails the standard no-nos like hateful speech, overtly sexual content, illegal activities, etc, but also includes seemingly innocuous things like talking publicly talking about politics or religion, or organizing a protest. Here’s the full list.
While the team are likely devising some sort of auto-moderation tool to scale to the massive number of users, for now they suggest reporting users on their Moderation Report Form. We’ll be watching VRChat as it continues to pioneer in the social VR space, but just hope some of the physical world’s hard-won civil liberties aren’t erased simply because they’re inherently messy to deal with.
Update (1/18/18): The word ‘user’ was mistakenly used in place of ‘owners/installs’ in the first paragraph, making it sound as if the app had garnered millions of regular users. While the app has seen more than 1 million installs, actual usership is of course only a fraction of that, as the concurrent user numbers show.
Tabletop real-time strategy game Brass Tactics, which launches on February 22nd, is now available for preorder on the Oculus Store at a promotional price of $24.99. A free-to-play version of the game called Brass Tactics Arena is also open for Early Access registration, and is slated for a February release.
A new post on developer Hidden Path’s blog explains the free-to-play Brass Tactics Arena will feature “unlimited cooperative, competitive, and vs AI play on a single hand-detailed map,” whereas the full version of Brass Tactics will feature “20+ uniquely crafted, hand-detailed maps” and a “6+ hour story campaign.” Registration for Early Access to Brass Tactics Arena, which will go into Early Access at a still indeterminate time in February, is now open via this web page.
Brass Tactics is a highly-anticipated VR title from the creator of RTS classic Age of Empires II (1999). Hidden Path aims to bring the spirit of Age of Empires to VR by presenting it in the style of the opening credits of Game of Thrones. We took an early hands-on with the title at GDC last year.
Frontier Developments today announced an open beta test for the upcoming update to the third season of Elite Dangerous (2014), the open-universe space simulator for VR and non-VR players. Called ‘Beyond – Chapter One‘, the update will officially arrive sometime in Q1 2018 following the open beta which starts January 25th.
The ‘Beyond’ update will follow the Thargoids assault on humanity’s starports, the space-faring alien baddies first introduced back in September with the Horizons update. Beyond – Chapter One is said to introduce gameplay enhancements including team-based ‘Wing Missions’ and a better in-game Trading Data system for smoother transactions. The developers are also promising a “more realistic and beautiful” galaxy, changes to the engineering mechanics, an overhaul of mission rewards, and an altered crime and punishment system.
A new Alliance warship called ‘the Chieftain’ will also be added to the roster of available ships.
The update will be available for free to Elite Dangerous players on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in Q1 2018. For VR players, Elite Dangerous can be purchased both through Oculus Home (Rift) and Steam (Vive and Rift).
Virtual reality is a great medium for shooters. The problem is, because it’s so natural to virtually transform motion controllers into pistols, the genre is pretty crowded with low-effort wave shooters at the moment. Enter Cold Iron, a western-themed shooter from indie studio Catch & Release that hopes to make a name for itself in the newly coined ‘puzzle shooter’ subgenre.
According to studio co-founder Matthew Taylor, Cold Iron isn’t your bog standard wave-based shooter. “There are no waves of copied-and-pasted enemies: every duel is different, every challenge is unique, and every moment will leave your heart pounding and your palms sweating.”
The closest thing that comes to a ‘puzzle shooter’ in my not-so-recent memory is Police Trainerlight gun arcade series from the late ’90s and early ’00s, so it’s hard to say what’s in store. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough though, as it’s slated to arrive on PSVR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive on January 30th.
Here’s a quick look at some of the features Catch & Release published on the game’s Steam page.
FEATURES:
● Puzzle Shooter: The most lethal challenge in VR–speed, accuracy, and cunning combine for a heart-pounding adventure.
● Action Packed: Split-second showdowns against notorious outlaws, sorcerers, and unstoppable killing machines.
● The Weird West: Forge a dark pact with Cold Iron to avenge your father’s murder.
● All The World’s A Stage: A complete narrative experience told in bite-sized VR chunks, Cold Iron is a story rich with gripping voice acting and thought-provoking characters.
● Into Another Dimension: Explore new worlds filled with lightning-fast gunfighters and long-forgotten beasts.
● The Future Is Here: Cold Iron is a new genre for a new medium. Experience it exclusively in virtual reality.
VorpX is a 3D driver which allows users to play their non-VR game library immersively through an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headset. Version 17.3.0 brings a new ‘Direct VR Settings Optimizer’ feature which automatically tweaks many titles for optimal VR performance.
While there’s many awesome made-for-VR games now on the market, VR has a tendency to spoil us with its immersion, and make us yearn to be able to step inside of our favorite non-VR games too. While games built from the ground-up for VR are always going to yield the best VR experience, VorpX is a longstanding option that adapts DirectX 9, 10, and 11 games for playing through a VR headset, giving players an immersive taste of their non-VR game library.
VorpX, which first became available back in the days of the Rift development kits—and now supports the Rift CV1 and Vive—has been updated to version 17.3.0 which makes it easier to dial in each game’s settings for ideal immersion and performance in VR.
The ‘Direct VR Settings Optimizer’, as it’s called, offers one-click configuration for a range of game-specific settings, including FOV and resolution. 90+ games are said to support the automatic optimizations, and have seen improved and expanded settings profiles to take advantage of the new feature. The Optimizer can also undo the adjustments with just a click, for when you want to switch back to your non-VR settings.
For games that support it, the Optimizer can achieve “perfect FOV,” according to its creator, and smartly adjusts game resolutions to a square aspect ratio to better fit the displays of each VR headset and reduce unnecessary rendering.
VorpX 17.3.0 also brings a new ‘Immersive Screen Mode’, a preset for the Cinema Mode which displays games on a virtual monitor that’s been dialed in for maximum immersion (size and distance from the screen). The creator says this mode is ideal for third-person games and those which lack variable FOV.
VorpX boasts varying levels of support for more than 200 games, with new profiles just added for major titles like Battlefield 1, Star Wars: Battlefront II, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and more. See this list for compatibility details.
Disclosure: Road to VR has an affiliate agreement with VorpX
The Perfect Sniper is an upcoming tactical shooter from Toronto-based indie studio Sinn Studio that aims to soften the blow of shooting someone in the face with its charming low-poly visuals. First revealed in October via the cinematic trailer above, The Perfect Sniper is now slated to release on January 15th on Steam.
CEO and lead developer Alex Sinn released news via the game’s Discord channel, confirming it will release on January 15th on Steam for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The game’s Steam page also lists support for Windows ‘Mixed Reality’ VR headsets, although Sinn made no specific mention.
Sinn maintains the PSVR release will come in “a few weeks” after its release on Steam. The PSVR release will include support for PS Aim.
Here’s how Sinn Studios describes it:
The Romano family has taken over the city. Corrupt politicians and police agencies do nothing to stop them. Become the morally ambiguous champion this city needs as a Sniper in Virtual Reality.
The Perfect Sniper is a stylized, story-driven and action-packed VR game that lets you take on the role of a deadly vigilante as you take down the Romanos, an organized crime family involved in an underground market for weapons, drugs and human trafficking. Tactical target eliminations, car chases and more; prevent minor crime with sharp precision and stop major crime with nothing but deadly force.
The Perfect Sniper will be the studio’s second VR game following their shooter Wraith (2017). Wraith is a bog standard wave shooter, likely a reason for its tepid release last October, so we’re really hoping The Perfect Sniper can dive deeper in terms of story and varied gameplay.
The studio says story mode will likely “take anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on the player,” although an Arcade mode will be available so players can snipe for fun.
Partnering with DJ Kyroman and music school Pyramind, Tribe VR’s DJ School aims to teach the art of live mixing with real DJ equipment modelled in VR, with the goal of allowing your virtually acquired skills and knowledge to transfer to real life mixing equipment. The app launched in Early Access on the Oculus Store in December.
San Francisco-based VR development startup Tribe VR is concentrating on immersive learning applications for virtual and augmented reality to enable users to learn real-world skills. Tribe VR DJ School is their first project, a VR application currently optimised for Oculus Rift and Touch. It was recently showcased on the official Oculus blog alongside live performance platform NOYS VR (Early Access, 2017) and interactive music video Show It 2 Me (2017) as three examples of immersive music experiences created for VR.
In its current form, the user is presented with two digital decks and a mixer based on high-end Pioneer DJ equipment, and the basics of operating the mixer, such as adjusting equalisers and crossfading is explained by a virtual ‘Mentor’. For now, the features are limited, as the single ‘lesson’ only teaches you to play around with two preloaded tracks that are already synchronised. The ‘free play’ mode allows a little more room to experiment with sounds, but the app is missing the crucial feature of being able to import your own music.
Image courtesy Tribe VR
Vinyl Reality (2017), another Early Access VR DJ app on Steam, appears to be further along the path of features, as it allows music import, but appears to be focused on simulating mixing with traditional turntables. Tribe VR DJ School, as the name implies, wants to lean heavily towards teaching, and the developer plans to implement “DJ masterclasses” and “extensive lesson content” over the coming weeks.
This is highlighted by Tribe VR’s partnership with leading San Francisco music production school Pyramind. According to the Tribe VR blog, the team is working together with Pyramind to “develop course content, music tools and services.”
“We see VR and AR as the next steps in improving the way people learn and create music,” says Gregory Gordon, Pyramind CEO and Founder. “We are excited to be working with Tribe to develop methods and approaches for people to learn immersively.”
“We are delighted to be working with Pyramind,” writes Tom Impallomeni, Co-Founder and CEO of Tribe VR. “Greg has built an amazing business and their deep knowledge of all things relating to Music Production and DJing is a massive help to us in our quest to improve the way people learn.”
DJ School is just one example of an immersive learning experience; Tribe VR seems to have ambitions for further learning-focused VR and AR projects.
Without any major VR hardware releases on the radar for this year, 2018 is shaping up to be a time for content to shine. We’ve rounded up a list of 20-something VR games launching in 2018 that we’re excited about, covering all three major VR systems: PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Ace Combat 7
Platform: PSVR (2018)
While Bandai Namco’s Ace Combat 7 is advertising “exclusive VR features” instead of straight VR support (meaning the campaign isn’t playable in VR), we’re still excited to strap into either Osean or Erusean jets as the two fictional superpowers duke it out in the skies. Who knows, maybe it’ll be wildly awesome?
ARK Park is a multiplayer adventure game based on the world of ARK:Survival Evolved (2017). While it may have been delayed by the China-based Snail Games from the previously slated late 2017 release, the mix of dinosaur-themed factual and fictional elements has certainly tickled our curiosity. Also: you can ride a dinosaur.
The world needs more fighting babies. To provide this insatiable need for post-natal, pre-toddler carnage, the immensely capable VR studio Kite & Lightning are developing a VR melee party brawler that puts ridiculously dressed infants into kart-based Smash Bros-style combat. We haven’t had a hands-on yet, but the studio has promised a 2018 release, so we’re sure to get one soon enough.
Brass Tactics
Platform: Rift (February 28, 2018)
This VR multiplayer/singleplayer real-time strategy game comes from Hidden Path Entertainment, the minds behind Defense Grid 2: Enhanced VR Edition (2016) and Age of Empires II: HD Edition (2013).Who hasn’t dreamt about bringing their favorite tabletop game to life, and ordering armies of miniature soldiers to ultimate victory?
This online 2-player co-op strategic shooter will force you to take cover as you make your way across a war-torn fictional Eastern European city. While you won’t get the free-wheeling locomotion options like many shooters, instead giving you a sort of ‘on-rails’ point-to-point automatic movement, the strength and amount of enemies will make you think twice before selecting a cover position for fear or getting shot to bits by a machine gun-welding baddies.
Budget Cuts
Platform: Rift, Vive (2018)
Already offering a wildly successful demo the ninja assassin-style Budget Cuts puts heavy emphasis on stealth combat. Set to release sometime in 2018, indie studio Neat Corporation surely picked up some important pointers when they were invited to collaborate with Valve last year—the results of which we can’t wait to see. Seriously. Play the demo now if you haven’t already.
Echo Combat
Platform: Rift (2018)
As if Ready at Dawn’s singleplayer adventure Lone Echo (2017) and free multiplayer sports game Echo Arena (2017) weren’t cool enough, the studio is also bringing out a combat-focused, zero-G game in 2018. Demos aren’t in the wild yet, but if it’s coming from the studio that produced Road to VR’s Best Rift Game of 2017, we’ll be mashing F5 on Oculus’ blog in anticipation of seeing and hearing more.
Firewall: Zero Hours VR
Platform: PSVR (2018)
Revealed at PSX 2017 recently, Firewall Zero Hour is a team-based, tactical multiplayer FPS coming exclusively to PSVR this year. The game is said to support both DualShock and PS Aim, although the developers haven’t made mention of PS Move controllers yet. Either way, this attack/defend shooter looks to fuse VR with some classic assault-style games like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.
Golem
Platform: PSVR (2018)
Originally teased at PSX 2015 with a slated release for an October 2016, High Wire Games’Golem is finally coming to PSVR. In Golem, you play as an adventurous kid who has been seriously injured. You are stuck at home in your bed, dreaming of exploring the outside world. The minds behind the game are ex-Bungie staffers, including Halo composer Marty O’Donnell.
Although it’s been a while since we played, and things have surely changed, check out 6 minutes of gameplay here.
Marvel Powers United VR
Platform: Rift (2018)
Created by Oculus and Sanzaru Games (behind titles like VR Sports Challenge and Ripcoil), there’s plenty of ways to battle in this Marvel-themed arena brawler. Turn into the Hulk, Rocket Raccoon, Captain Marvel, Deadpool, and many more as you battle enemies in online multiplayer arena battles that let you wield real super powers.
From Disruptive Games comes a multiplayer action-packed hero shooter that transforms you into a titan, letting you use your massive size and firepower to compete with others in a quest to become a god. The game is said to come with free locomotion, destructible environments, and put heavy emphasis on strategic gameplay.
Moss
Platform: PSVR (February 2018)
A charming third-person action-adventure puzzle game from Polyarc, Moss gives you control of the small but fierce mouse named Quill. With a tiny sword in hand, you vanquish pint-sized enemies as you solve large puzzles. There’s a free demo available already on the second PSVR demo disc, so there’s no reason not to fall in love with little Quill already.
The result of a successful Kickstarter in 2015, Pixel Ripped has been in development well before consumer headsets released. Heavy on nostalgia, the game tosses you into the world of 1989 as Nicola. Going ‘one level deeper’ into the virtual world, you incarnate a heroine named Dot who is on a quest to return the magical rock that contains the soul of Dot’s world, Adventureland, which has been stolen by the Cyblin Master. Cyblin has other plans though as he tries to break into the Nicola’s ‘real’ world.
Space Junkies
Platform: Rift, Vive (Spring 2018)
From Ubisoft Montpelier, Space Junkies is an upcoming zero-G multiplayer shooter that puts straight into team-based or deathmatch-style combat. Yes, there are light sabers, but the focus is ultimately on the game’s impressive assortment of guns. Visuals are really polished, and from what we’ve played, so is the overall deathmatch concept.
Sprint Vector is a racing game that has integrated a unique locomotion arm-swinging locomotion style that moves you forward through a Mario Kart-style race course. Hailing from Raw Data developer Survios, we had a lot of fun in trying out the fast-paced, nausea-free racer.
From Playful Corp comes another third-person platformer, albeit less boisterous and family-oriented than the studio’s last VR game, Lucky’s Tale (2016). With some puzzles thrown in for good measure, you guide a mysterious traveler on her way through a subterranean landscape. She soon discovers advanced alien technology, is stalked by an ominous beast lurking in the shadows, and finally has a very close encounter with a giant being of unknown origin.
The Inpatient
Platform: PSVR (2018)
Originally expected for Q4 2017 release, Supermassive Games standalone prequel to Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (2016) has been delayed until 2018. When we first demoed the psychological horror game, the level of realism was remarkable thanks to some very well-tuned facial motion capture. We can’t wait to see more soon.
From Ubisoft Montreal and Elijah Wood’s studio Spectrevision, Transference is a physiological thriller that blends movie and reality in what promises to be a disquieting experience. Popping into the memories of people suffering from PTSD and reliving their nightmare-fuel pasts sounds pretty disquieting to me.
Vacation Simulator
Platform: PSVR, Rift & Vive (2018)
Announced at this year’s Game Awards, Owlchemy Labs’ Vacation Simulator is following in the footsteps of its breakout multi-platform success Job Simulator (2016). While it’s unsure if the tongue-in-check simulator style will find the same level of launch day success its spiritual predecessor, we’ll be there ready to play to see if it tickles our collective funny bones.
Windlands 2
Windlands (2016), the high-flying exploration game from Psytec Games, is getting a sequel this year that’s looking to alter its predecessor’s formula with the addition of co-op adventuring as well as combat. Combat has altered the zen-like nature of the game somewhat, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it. Multiplayer adventuring is a net positive though, so we can’t wait to see what Windlands 2 will serve up.
While Valve is still mum on its three games originally confirmed back in February 2017, Dan O’Brien, Vive general manager for the Americas, revealed to The Rolling Stone that Valve was still “very committed” to the promise of delivering its three VR games. Valve has produced The Lab (2016) and plenty of content for the SteamVR Home space. We’re itching to see any game with the level of fit and finish we see in both productions.
Blood And Truth
Platform: PSVR (TBA)
Sony’s London Studio first released Blood and Truth’s spiritual predecessor with the first PSVR demo disk; London Heist. The demo’s Guy Ritchie-style Cockney crime theme is an awesome backdrop to the demo’s shooting sequences, so the thought of having a full game where you’re essentially an action hero looking for revenge, well, it sounds pretty badass.
While the solo portion of the game will be open to beta testers throughout the 10-day period, Survios will only be opening multiplayer servers during the weekends from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM PT in the US, and from 18:00 to 21:00 CET in the EU.
