Playful Corp has already cemented its name in the virtual reality (VR) industry with its cute platformer Luckey’s Tale which launched alongside the Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD). For its next VR title the studio is sticking with those platformer roots with Star Child, a neon drenched sci-fi adventure for PlayStation VR.
Unveiled during Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE) Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 press conference with a brief teaser trailer, Playful has shown a very early demo at the event, giving a hint at the rich universe it intends to create.
Star Child seems to be a homage to classic side-scrolling platformers of yesteryear (the 90s and early 00s), enriched with the dynamic depth and immersion of VR. Playing a female protagonist, you run and jump through a world that encourages you to lean in and explore. While the character can only move left and right, you can still peer in and see into this beautiful looking world, so much so that you can even look down the path your character is following.
The demo felt very much like an opening level – a common occurrence with these short presentations – with a short cinematic of a spaceship flying in and landing on an elevator that takes you deep into an alien world. As it descends deeper and deeper you get to see all sorts of luminous creatures scurrying across the walls, and glowing plants creeping up the rock face. Playful has really gone to town on the design of Star Child, easily differentiating it from the far more child like design of Luckey’s Tale.
At this stage the character doesn’t have a great deal of options available, boiling down to running and jumping through the area. What Star Child did offer were a couple of puzzles. With these you approach a console which then activates a giant purple orb. This can then be moved around the area, bobbing it higher with multiple presses of the X button to grab a purple neon string that needs to be attached to a certain point, opening up the next area. The next puzzle offered more of the same, as an early challenge you’d expect it to be easy but it was somewhat rudimentary in nature.
It all came to an end with a big finale. A really big, robotic looking, spider monster came out of the darkness seeming very intent on doing some harm. Luckily a saviour was slumbering, waiting for the right time to come to your aid, an even bigger robot, whose hand you jump onto ending the demo. Naturally, this raises more questions than revealing answers, what’s the robot for? Do you get to pilot/control it in some way? What the hell is going on? And so on.
If the videogame caught your eye during SIE’s E3 2017 press conference – after the massive Skyrim announcement – then you’re right to be intrigued. The Star Child demo was certainly a delightful experience, and over far too soon, so expect good things to come in the future.
On a visual front, Archangel is a very impressive looking videogame. Far reaching draw distances and densely populated environments are matched by striking particle effects. The animation of the mech’s arms seemed so accurate as to almost know where the player’s elbow was in relation to their movement, and the attention paid to signposting – highlighting of enemy units, indicators for both friendly and incoming fire – has certainly been born of experience.
The combat is basic in this early build. A three-hit combo allows Quill to get the better of enemies, even when multiple are attacking at once. Should she take damage the player can heal her by locking onto with one of the triggers and wiggling the controller. It’s simple and intuitive to control both Quill and your own interaction simultaneously, as is demanded by the aforementioned puzzle.
While no videogame should be judged on the merit of its visual quality alone, the beauty of Moss’ art direction is more than worthy of note. Created using Unreal Engine 4, Moss features a staggering amount of detail in its densely populated areas; leaves that rustle under feet, particle and water effects that bring life to the forest Quill calls home, and Quill herself is one of the most elegantly animated character models not just in VR, but in videogames as a whole. Quite simply, Moss looks stunning.
The experience began outside Bleak Falls Barrow, with a small number of bandits reason for an easy takedown as the player gets used to the control system. Using two PlayStation Move controllers, an ability can be assigned to each hand using the ‘favourites’ menu on the left controller’s Circle button. The menus will appear familiar to anyone who has previously played any version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, though scrolling through them is controlled by the Square and Cross buttons.
The visual quality of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR is, surprisingly, very close to that of the PlayStation 4’s recently released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. Though the demonstration was brief (a lot more time with the videogame would be needed to evaluate the minutiae of the visual differences) effects such as mist and reflection were all present and correct. The detail on magic attacks, such as ice bolts, did seem to have been significantly lessened, however.
Ahead of the opening of the show floor, 
Maintaining control of your own body is actually less fun when there’s the pressure of rival players coming towards you. It may just be another level of adjustment, but the fact that you can directly attack another player – stunning them momentarily with a blow to the head – is currently more irritating than a Mario Kart blue shell on the home straight of a final lap.
Using the PlayStation Aim controller with PlayStation VR actually works far better than might be expected with Arizona Sunshine. Performing similarly to 
