Project Hellsweeper – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

September 3, 2021

Mixed Realms Opens Playtesting for Hellsweeper VR, Details Roadmap

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

July 19, 2021

See More of Hellsweeper in New Alpha Trailer

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.

June 8, 2021

Sairento Dev Teases New VR Horror Combat Project

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.

June 7, 2021

The Next Project from Sairento VR Creator Looks Brutal

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

— Mixed Realms (@mixedrealms) June 5, 2021

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 as the 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.