Dreams, Media Molecule’s creation-focused game, launched out of Early Access lat week, but without the hotly-awaited addition of PSVR support. Although the studio has spoken very little about its plans to support PSVR in the preceding months, a Video Games Chronicleinterview with studio co-founder Mark Healey reveals VR support for Dreams is coming down the bend—notably before multiplayer online support arrives.
Update (February 18th, 2020): Speaking to Video Games Chronicle, Mark Healey said the studio is “currently working on VR, so we’re going to do a VR update with VR content.”
Although there’s no official launch date yet for the dedicated update, Healey says it will arrive “[j]ust as soon as possible. I’ll probably get in trouble if I try and say a date, but literally as soon as possible.”
Critically, multiplayer support for Dreams—or rather the ability to create multiplayer online games and experiences—is slated to arrive after the PSVR update.
Update (February 11th, 2020): In response to UploadsVR’s Jamie Feltham, Media Molecule developer Martin Taylor says in a tweet that the team is “still working on it,” referring to the game’s long-awaited PSVR support.
There’s still no firm launch date for PSVR support, although we’re hoping it won’t be too far behind. Users who didn’t order the game whilst in Early Access will be able to grab the full game on February 14th.
Original Article (December 6th, 2019): Although somewhat confusing, Media Molecule announced that the last day you can purchase the Early Access version of Dreams will be December 8th, which is currently priced at $30.
There’s no official release date yet of the full version (see update), which we imagine would come with a slight price hike. It’s unclear what updates are planned in the interim, although the studio says that EA players will still be able to play Dreams after the 8th and will upgrade to the full version when it launches for no extra cost.
Media Molecule Communications Manager Abbie Heppe confirmed with Road to VR that Dreams definitely won’t support PSVR at launch, although it is still planned.
It won’t, but it’s something we’re working on currently and plan to support ASAP. (She types as she walks by team members immersed in their VR worlds).
Launched into Early Access on PS4 back in April, we were a bit dismayed that the studio didn’t include its long-promised VR support to the list of features, however Dreams was admittedly in an early, and unfinished state.
Heppe says in a PS blog post that on the road to releasing the full version the studio will be adding a non-motion control scheme for the game, helping new players learn to create, more tutorials and how-to content for players, improving existing features like Community Jams, the Homespace and Imp Quests and adding more content, including their “first piece of Mm story-telling in Dreams.”
Immersive VR Education, the studio behind VR experiences Apollo 11 VR (2016) and Titanic VR (2018), is set to launch its next mission into space on PSVR soon, this time taking you to the Hubble Space Telescope to go hands-on with an accurate recreation of the mission, shuttle cockpit, and space telescope itself.
Called Shuttle Commander, the experience is already live on the European PlayStation Store, and is slated to arrive to PSVR users in North America on December 11th, 2019.
Here’s how Immersive VR Education describes it:
Celebrate the discoveries and experience how this remarkable apparatus changed our understanding of the universe around us through science visualization segments which are based on actual data discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope over the past 3 decades.
Fly the space shuttle in an accurate physics based landing simulation and take control of the Canada Arm in space as you witness the Earth pass below during a full day / night cycle.
Shuttle Commander is also supposed to arrive on SteamVR headsets at some point, however the studio hasn’t mentioned when we should expect it to land.
First launched on PC VR headsets back in March, indie studio Vitruvius VR is only a few weeks away from bringing its medieval melee adventure Shadow Legend VR (2019) to PSVR.
Shadow Legend is now set to launch on PSVR on January 21st, 2020, and will be priced at $25.
The game heavily features combat with swords, bows, and mage-based attacks, meaning users will need PS Move controllers to play. Movement Options are said to include free locomotion, teleport, snap-turning, and smooth turning. Vitruvius is the same team behind RPG platformer Mervils: A VR Adventure (2016).
Its initial launch on PC didn’t go without complaint however, which developer Blake Stone says in a Reddit thread was primarily due to the length of the game. The Ontario, Canada-based team has spent the better part of a year adding content, something Stone says has made the game feel “very complete now.”
After adding two more levels since its launch on PC, Stone says it should take seven hours of gameplay to complete the main story, with new trophies added to encourage replayability.
Having launched VR support for No Man’s Sky (2016) back in August, Hello Games is nearly ready to launch the latest update to the open-world sandbox game, which is slated to include a mess of community requested features and bug fixes for both VR and non-VR players.
Dubbed ‘Synthesis’, the update is slated to arrive tomorrow, November 28th, on all supported platforms including PSVR, SteamVR headsets, desktop, Xbox One, and PS4.
Hello Games’ studio head Sean Murray says in a PS blog post that while the list of changes is quite large in Synthesis, that the studio is working on something “even more impactful.” Just what that will be, we’re not sure.
Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new in Synthesis:
VR Photo Mode: see an amazing vista in PS VR? Shoot it and share it.
VR Creature Riding: saddle up on your favorite pet in full Virtual Reality.
Starship Scrapping and Upgrading: trade in unwanted ships for valuable technologies or add inventory slots to your favourite starship, or spend nanites to upgrade its class.
First Person Exocraft: now available to non-VR and VR players alike.
Multiple Multi-Tools: added the ability for players to own more than one Multi-Tool. Purchased Multi-Tools will be added to the Quick Menu for easy swapping.
Terrain Editor Enhancements: flatten or restore terrain at the press of a button.
Personal Refiner: refine materials on the go, wherever you are.
Multiple Outfits: save a range of custom outfits to quick change into.
New Technologies: long-distance inventory management; mid-air jetpack recharging; emergency warping to flee from combat.
New Base Parts: square is good, triangle is better!
Starship Space Map Enhancements: improved quality and clarity of the visuals.
You can check out the full release notes here, which includes a comprehensive list addressing some VR specific bugs.
You’ll find No Man’s Sky on Steam (Vive, Index, Rift) and the PlayStation Store (PSVR). If you’re wondering whether or not to jump in, make sure to check out our deep dive review to find out why we gave it a [7.5/10].
Facebook today announced it has acquired Beat Games, the studio behind the hit VR rhythm game Beat Saber (2018). Beat Games is joining Oculus Studios as an independently operated team based out of Prague.
Facebook didn’t release any further info in regards to the terms of acquisition, however the company had some choice words on what it meant to the game’s users on all supported platforms, which includes Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows VR headsets.
Mike Verdu, Facebook’s Director of AR/VR Content, said Beat Games will “continue to ship content and updates for Beat Saber at the same time across all currently supported platforms.”
Concerning the moddablity of game, which is a cornerstone of its functionality on PC VR and to some extent also Quest, Verdu had this to say:
We understand and appreciate the value that modding brings to Beat Saber when done so legally and within our policies. We’re going to do our best to preserve the value that mods bring to the Beat Saber player base. As a reminder, our most recent policy updates give more clarity to how developer mode is intended to be used, such as helping developers build their apps or for enthusiasts to explore new concepts. It is not intended for engaging in piracy or illicit modding, including mods that infringe on third-party IP rights or contain malicious code.
Although not stated specifically, it’s not unlikely that by “third-part IP rights” Facebook is implying the distribution of music and its corresponding beat maps may no longer be sanctioned by Beat Games under Facebook, which has thus far operated in a grey area legally. Sony doesn’t allow modding of Beat Saber for PSVR for the same legal reasons. We’ve reached out to Beat Games to clarify this, and will update when/if we hear back.
As for the road map forward, Verdu says Beat Games has “only scratched the surface with Beat Saber in terms of social features, new modes, music, and more.”
After Sony’s acquisition of Insomniac Games, it’s possible Facebook has begun looking to strategically mark its territory by locking down the rights to Beat Saber, one of the most visible games in VR right now. Facebook thus far hasn’t publicly acquired a VR studio, potentially making this a big first for the company, which is confident in securing what Mark Zuckerberg hopes will one day reach a billion people, even if it’s admittedly taking longer than he initially hoped.
As an indie studio that’s sold well over one million copies of its game as of March 2019, and also signed some fairly high-level deals with bands such as Imagine Dragons and Panic at the Disco!, Facebook’s cash will undoubtedly also provide the studio with a means to secure more and bigger music deals. What Beat Games has up its sleeve next, we aren’t sure yet though, and whether Facebook bought it defensively or offensively is still to be determined.
Arizona Sunshine (2016), one of VR’s early acclaimed titles, launched nearly three years ago on PC VR headsets, bringing with it VR gunplay and zombie-killing like few had ever experienced in the new medium. Arizona Sunshine is finally coming to Oculus Quest today after a week-long delay.
Update (December 5th, 2019): Arizona Sunshine is now live on the Oculus Store for Quest. Vertigo Games says it has “no less than five content drops scheduled, including weapons updates, fresh horde mode maps and epic story expansions.”
The first update is said to arrive this month, which will be the ‘Two-handed Weapons Update’. A variety of free DLC and paid DLC will roll out in 2020 with Oculus Store cross-buy support.
Update (November 25th, 2019): Vertigo Games and Jaywalkers Interactive today announced that Arizona Sunshine is set to arrive on Oculus Quest on December 5th, 2019. And if your hopes were up for cross-platform multiplayer, unfortunately the Quest version doesn’t support it, with Vertigo citing the reason that it was re-built from the ground-up for Quest.
Arizona Sunshine is now available for pre-order in the Oculus Store with a pre-order discount of 10% running up to December 2nd. DLC is said to arrive on Quest in the following months; a timeline and details will be announced shortly.
Check out the new screenshots below:
1 of 5
Image courtesy Vertigo Games
Image courtesy Vertigo Games
Image courtesy Vertigo Games
Image courtesy Vertigo Games
Image courtesy Vertigo Games
Original Article (June 10th, 2019): Arizona Sunshine is a co-op VR zombie shooter which launched at the end of 2016, not long after the first wave of consumer VR headsets hit the market. Despite its age, the game has remained a frequent community recommendation for those looking for some zombie shooting and co-up fun in VR.
Since launch, the game was brought to PSVR and adapted for VR arcades. And soon Oculus Quest owners will get to jump into Arizona Sunshine too. Vertigo Games says the release date for Arizona Sunshine on Oculus Quest will come some time in 2019, but has yet to confirm a specific date.
From information the studio has provided so far, it sounds like both Campaign mode and Horde mode on Quest will offer co-op with 2 and 4 players, respectively, just like other versions of the game. That said, we don’t yet know if Arizona Sunshine will support cross-play with any of the other versions, or cross-buy on Oculus.
Arizona Sunshine on Oculus Quest will also get ‘The Damned’ DLC when the game comes to the headset later in the year, but it’ll come first to PC headsets and PSVR on August 27th. Today the studio release the first gameplay footage of ‘The Damned’:
Set before the story of the main game, ‘The Damned’ brings a new mission to Arizona Sunshine which Vertigo Games says is the game’s largest yet. Players will infiltrate a zombie infested hydroelectric dam (see what they did there?) to return power to a missile defense system. The price of the DLC has yet to be announced.
For better or worse, so far Konami has shown zero interest in bringing its long and storied Metal Gear series to VR. But if you’re looking to scratch that stealth combat itch with more than a flair for superhuman acrobatics, you may find Espire 1: VR Operative a serviceable Generic Snake, albeit a bit rougher around the edges than you may like.
Developer: Digital Lode Publisher: Tripwire Interactive Available On:Steam (Vive, Rift, Index, Windows MR), Oculus (Rift, Quest), PlayStation Store (PSVR) Reviewed On: Rift, Vive Release Date: November 22nd, 2019 Price: $30
Gameplay
Espire 1 offers up a pretty standard story that fits in the same basic vein as many entrants in the Metal Gear franchise; there’s a terrorist group, superhuman agents, infiltration of opaque national intelligence agencies, and plenty of talking heads that radio in to give you constant guidance and objectives along your stealthy way—that’s of course in addition to the game’s trope of puppeting a military-grade telepresence robot, of which there is ample supply stashed at various points throughout the game, making death an inconvenience, and not a total showstopper.
Robot-stuff notwithstanding, you should feel right at home dispatching the faceless, nameless baddies with a variety of weapons, some silent, while others announce your presence to the world. It’s your job to slink around, avoid security cameras, defuse trip mines, crawl through conveniently placed air ducts, you know, spy stuff.
Image courtesy Digital Lode
Shooting is predictably a big part of Espire 1, and it’s a pretty unforgiving experience; you don’t simply line up the dot in your red dot scope or your green glow sights and blast away. I mean, you can totally do that, but there’s actually significant recoil applied to your gun after every shot. That’s not to say it’s inherently a bad thing, although it does make your rely on a few other tricks at your disposal so you aren’t wasting an entire magazine on a single guy, namely your ability to temporarily go into bullet time. Not only does it slow down time, but it also smooths out your hand movements so you can get a better, more focused shot when it counts the most. Reloading is done by jamming your gun down onto an available magazine sticking out of your hostler, which is less fiddly than it sounds.
You can also use what’s called ‘Espire Vision’, which highlights in the vicinity all enemies, objectives, and traps like auto-turrets and laser mines. This feels a bit cheaty to be honest, but I can see why it exists; it eliminates some of the frustration of coming around a corner with your pants down. There’s also a tossable camera that you can throw around corners, which is actually an even cooler idea in practice, but I found myself more readily abusing Espire Vision instead simply because of how easy it was, and how regularly I was allowed to use it. Espire Vision, repairing, bullet time (more on that in a bit), and stunning guards with the repair tool all takes energy, which auto-refills over time.
There are genuine moments in the beginning when you’re scared stiff of being caught, as you slink around corners and hope the guards aren’t alerted to your presence. I’m not the most stealthy of players though, and I only died once throughout the campaign, which lasted a little under six hours for a single play-through (end game content prolongs this substantially, but more on that below). That’s true even near the end, where you encounter heavies that take multiple shots to kill, and a few baddies with active camouflage that require you to use your Espire Vision—one of the few times when you actually have to use it outside of detecting otherwise unseen laser mines.
Image courtesy Digital Lode
I didn’t die that many times because it’s super easy to fix yourself with your repair tool, and you also seem to have a pretty large number of hitpoints available to you. Juice is infinite too, and while it takes its time regenerating, you can easily wait it out by ducking into an air shaft or in a quiet place behind a box. Repairing is done by touching the device to a number of holographic orbs placed in front of you. Why? Because you’re a robot in the future and you should stop trying to make sense of things, that’s why (apparently).
Like the Hitman series, you don’t necessarily need to be a silent killer to pass any of the game’s missions, although your score will take a major hit as you’re expensed for every bullet, gun, death, etc. The less Rambo-like you are, the less money you’ll spend, and the more cheats you’ll unlock for end game fun. I would have liked to see a higher level of difficulty here in place of the unlockables, which include cheats and starting weapons. There isn’t any difficulty levels to speak of too, only progressively harder objectives to fulfill such as freeing all hostages under a minute, or using your repair weapon to knock out all the guards in a level. That’s up to you though.
Image courtesy Digital Lode
There are a few real sore spots in Espire 1, the most egregious of which is melee. It’s rough, and I never once felt like I actually intentionally landed a punch on a bad guy after running out of bullets. When you get too close to an enemy, their character animation magically teleports them a meter away from you, which feels wrong on so many levels. You can also technically “hold up” bad guys by snatching their weapon from their hands, but this is really hit and miss unless you’re using bullet time, and even then it’s not a sure thing due to the aforementioned animation fuckery.
AI is also painfully dumb, and going undetected whilst walking in front of a guard only 20-feet away is laughably easy. It’s unclear what they can see, and where their field of vision ends, so you’re basically just guessing and hoping they don’t see you as they robotically walk their planned loops. Make not mistake: I’m not hating on planned loops here. After all, that’s a well-established feature of the genre.
That said, it’s still really fun to climb a wall, sneak over and stun a bad guy, or alternatively launch yourself through the air, engage bullet time, and line up a few choice shots to take out multiple targets, all while having zero auto-aim at your disposal for maximum self-pats on the back. All of this just nearly makes up for some of the unsightliness of dumb AI.
Once all is said and done, you can do a few cool things with Espire 1 to keep the fun going. You accumulate unlockable cheats by fulfilling extra objectives during the campaign, which changes up the feel by giving you things like invincibility, invisibility, a one-shot golden gun, etc. You won’t be able to save that progress though, or get on the leader boards, but unless you’re really a points-chaser, you probably won’t care about the leader board anyway. I certainly don’t. But you might, and if you do, there’s plenty of opportunity here.
Not only that, there are challenges too, which are apart from the campaign. Here you’ll be able to hone your stealth, combat, and various objective-focused things.
Level design is actually one of the real high points to Espire 1. While the game’s multilayered levels offer admittedly contrived, conveniently person-size air ducts, they play an important role in filling a melange of attack vectors, be it through an air duct, overhead by way of pipeworks, through easier side routes, or straight down the middle through a gang of guards. It’s really up to you, and this makes me actually think about where to go and what to do next as opposed to dumbly following orders and waypoints to my next bullet sponge. Ok, enemies are bullet sponges, and I would have liked at least more than a single boss to fight, but you catch my drift. Anway, I like it when games don’t hold your hands and simultaneously offering help—not forcing it upon you—when you need it most.
Image courtesy Digital Lode
It’s easy to get lost in the sprawling government facility throughout the game’s six missions, and there’s a degree of backtracking that you have to do too, although I was happy to see that Espire 1 avoids the temptation of simply giving you a map and floating objectives, which would otherwise make it feel a little more flimsy, and a little more hand-holdy. You can however toss your repair device on the ground to give you a line to your next objective if you do find yourself in a tight spot, however your omnipresent mission buddies will always give you some sort of clue as to where to go to next.
That said, voice acting is particularly good, but the rate at which the game launches the same lines at you over and over really makes me want to turn off audio completely. The cutesy teenage Japanese girl voice goes from interesting to downright unbearable as you’re fed the same prompting dialogue, something that magnifies in the game’s challenge portion. The same goes for whenever you’re hurt, as your served up a barrage of the same shrill lines about heading for covers and healing. Here, I would have liked to be left to my own devices, and the game definitely steps on some toes by insinuating I can’t see the plainly visible health meter.
Visually the game is fairly dark, drab, and doesn’t offer a bunch in variability when it comes to the environment, but it seems to be cohesive enough graphically.
Positional audio is less-than-alright however, as solid structures don’t occlude sound in the slightest, so you can constantly hear enemies prattling away to themselves behind massive concrete slabs, or sometimes entire floors of a building, which forces you to use Espire Vision to confirm they are indeed not walking on top of your head, or sticking their heads into your armpits.
Climbing is a missed opportunity due to it lack of haptic feedback the transience of the world’s geometry (i.e. you have ghost hands). There’s a slight audio cue when your hand touches a grabbable surface which is typically metal, but your hands can pass through geometry with zero haptic feedback to help you understand where you can climb and where you can’t, making the world feel like a less solid place in general. Climbing involves guesswork, and that’s not great.
Espire 1 also features voice commands, but not only will you feel silly shouting ‘Freeze’ at an enemy, but I found it didn’t work all the time, so I basically just forgot about them.
Comfort
If you’re looking for maximum movement, you’ll eventually find yourself swinging through the air like Spider-Man. Although you can take it easy by climbing one hand at a time, flinging youself around isn’t only more efficient, but it’s actively encouraged during timed events. Of course, this level of unpredictable movement can cause discomfort in some users.
If you’re planning on going full ham on being Spider-Man, you may want to use the game’s ‘Control Theatre’, which applies a grid around your field of view that creeps in every time you turn or move. I turned this off in the settings immediately, but it is a tried and true method for keeping the player more grounded, as it eliminates movement in your peripheral, something that typically triggers discomfort in sensitive users.
Image courtesy Digital Lode
Variable snap-turn is also available, but you can just as easily forget it if you have an inside-out tracked headset, as you can simply move forward with the stick/touchpad forward movement scheme. Nope, no smooth motion turning here, but you shouldn’t need it if you aren’t on an OG Rift CV1 or a PSVR.
There’s also no teleportation, which is demonstrably the most comfortable (read: not most immersive) way of moving around. That may be for the best of things, as you’ll want to move quickly and fluidly when shit hits the fan.
Stardust Odyssey, a co-op spaceship shooter from Agharta Studio, was announced during PlayStation’s ‘State of Play’ broadcast back in September. Although we’re no closer to really grasping what the mysterious title as to offer in terms of gameplay, we should know pretty soon, as Stardust Odyssey is coming to PSVR next month.
Update (November 20th, 2019): Stardust Odyssey is officially arriving on PSVR December 3rd.
Here’s how Agharta Studios describes gameplay:
“Stardust Odyssey is an adventure steering game, mixing stealth combat, bosses and RPG elements (collectibles/shop/upgrades). The player embodies a smuggler whose mission is to infiltrate convoys of nomad merchant ships. It’s a fantasy world with oriental inspirations like the Silk Road and the nomadic tribes.”
Yeah, we’re not sure what that means either, but it does look wholly unique. Check out the new trailer below:
https://youtu.be/OnRvDsz8iW4
Original Article (September 25th, 2019): Although the game put you in the pilot seat of a spaceship traversing the galaxy, it’s not supposed to be ‘hard sci-fi’. The game’s art director and concept artist Jordan Parrin says in a PS blogpost that Stardust Odyssey is rather based on an “80’s-style, French sci-fi universe inspired by the likes of Mœbius and Jean-Claude Mezières, leaning more towards a world of fantasy based on magic and not industrial, advanced technology.”
The sci-fi adventure is said to be playable in either single or co-op mode; the studio says it will offer up 14 levels that are “filled with treasures and secrets,” and plenty of level bosses and underlings along the way.
Image courtesy Agharta Studio
Here’s Agharta’s description of the game:
The evil of the Abyss has returned, and it is up to you to stop the threat! Jump aboard your Ethercraft and explore the most powerful convoys of the world of Stardust Odyssey! Find the 9 Relics and use your magic against the Guardians to restore the balance of your world. Navigate through merchant ships filled with treasures, search for the mysterious hidden Ethers, upgrade your ship, and defeat colossal Guardians in epic boss battles! But beware of the creatures of the Abyss hidden in the dark…
Agharta Studio, the Lyon, France-based team behind Shufflepuck Cantina Deluxe (2016) for Oculus Rift, hasn’t made mention whether they’ll bring Stardust Odyssey to PC VR too. It’s currently listed as PSVR-only, although it will support PS Move controllers, the creators say.
We’re sure to get a bigger reveal closer to its Winter 2019 launch, and hopefully a lot more information to show more of the game’s overall scope. Here’s a quick sizzle reel taken from State of Play to whet your appetite:
The hit spy-themed VR puzzle game I Expect You to Die (2016) is getting a DLC mission soon, this time tossing you into a deadly encounter in space – the final frontier, and consequently the game’s final mission.
Called Operation: Death Engine, the free DLC throws players into a tense space mission, where you’ll again match wits with Dr. Zor and his deadly contraptions. It’s slated to arrive on all supported platforms on November 19th.
If you haven’t played since the game’s launch, there’s been a number of free DLC drops since it initially went live on PSVR and Rift in 2016 (later adding support for other PC VR headsets and Quest). The penultimate DLC—Seat of Power—introduced the ‘Death Engine’, which is now precariously floating in earth’s orbit.
Schell Games says players must infiltrate Zoraxis Space Corporation to stop the deadly device before it fires on “some unknown target.” Sounds pretty ominous.
“When I Expect You To Die launched three years ago, none of us could have imagined the incredible level of support we would receive from fans. We are proud to have made a game that has stood the test of time for so many players,” said Schell Games CEO Jesse Schell. “Without the ingenuity and skill of our development team, I Expect You To Die would not be the success that it is today. For the sake of fans everywhere, the team hopes to be able to continue this franchise into the future.”
You’ll find I Expect You to Die on Steam (Vive, Rift, Index), Viveport (Vive, Rift, Index), the Oculus Store (Rift, Quest), and the PlayStation Store (PSVR).
Beat Games, the Czech Republic-based studio behind Beat Saber (2018), is again making good on their promise to keep the fresh music flowing to their block-slashing VR rhythm game. Starting today, you’ll be able to download the newest paid DLC pack featuring some of the catchiest tunes to find their way into Rocket League (2015).
The game’s newest music pack contains six songs you may recognize from the popular vehicular soccer game, provided by Monstercat, long-time music partners of both Rocket League and Beat Saber.
To go along with the tracks, the music pack is also adding a new beat-slashing environment inspired by Rocket League, which features goalposts flanked by a pair of rocket-powered cars.
Selling for $9, you’ll find the Rocket League x Monstercat music pack on Steam (Vive, Rift, Index, Windows VR), the Oculus Store (Rift, Quest), and the PlayStation Store (PSVR).
In a bit of a weird crossover, Rocket League also now features two new Beat Saber-themed customization items—a beat-block Topper and Boost animation—letting you show off your love for the VR game.
