Category: Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin

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Original Content? Na, Just Create an VR/AR Spinoff

When a new entertainment platform arises, one method of testing the waters is to take something popular and create a spin-off for the new platform, to see if fans will follow. Alternatively, a spin-off can let you test out new ideas and mechanics with less risk, something that is particularly true for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). VRFocus examines a few examples of franchises that have now crossed into a more immersive world.

ARK Park

ARK: Survival Evolved attracted immediate attention when it was first revealed, with its fantastically detailed open world and, of course, the perennial fascination that human beings seem to have for dinosaurs. So when Snail Games revealed its VR spin off, there was much interest. This is especially true for players who like a more relaxed experience, since ARK Park has a more gentle, exploratory approach than the title it was originally based on.

The Walking Dead: Our World

Despite many people believing zombie-based media is at saturation point, The Walking Dead has continued to be incredibly popular. Originally starting as a comic book, it was then adapted into a TV show in AMC, where its popularity exploded. The Walking Dead: Our World is still awaiting its official worldwide release, but anticipation for the location-based AR experience is high.

Pokemon Go

Pokemon is a worldwide phenomenon, so it was originally something of a surprise that a tiny company like Niantic Labs were the ones chosen to create the AR mobile app for the franchise, Pokemon Go. Despite repeated technical issues, this still seems to have done fairly well, single-handedly raising the profile for AR around the world.

L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files screenshot

L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files

L.A. Noire was a very impressive release for its time, with its groundbreaking facial scanning and animation technology that tried to create a realistic and absorbing world for the player. As such, it seems like a natural fit for VR. Though the entire game content isn’t available in VR, seven cases are available to solve in VR, with a complete makeover to take advantage of the immersive technology.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin

The original Psychonauts came out in 2005, and despite its originally disappointing sales figures it quickly gathered a core of dedicated fans and garnered a reputation as a cult classic. An unexpected Twitter conversation led to talks of a sequel, and also to the creation of a VR ‘mid-quel’ Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin that was originally released on PlayStation VR before getting posted over to SteamVR earlier this year.

Final Fantasy XV: Monster of the Deep

Plenty of Final Fantasy fans viewed the epic road trip of the four pretty boys as something of a return to form for the series, which had been flagging somewhat. Many players sank somewhat more time than is wise into the fishing mini-game. Apparently aimed at those players, that fishing mini-game got the VR treatment in Final Fantasy XV: Monster of the Deep, resulting in some surprisingly absorbing gameplay.

Killing Floor: Incursion

Killing Floor started life as a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, first seeing life in 2005 before getting an upgrade to a standalone commercial release in 2009. It later received a sequel in 2016. Both the original and its sequel were examples of the ‘wave shooter’ that gained popularity in VR, so a conversion to the VR platform seems like a logical choice. Killing Floor: Incursion was born in 2017, originally for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive before being ported to PlayStation VR this year.

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Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Comes To Rift/Vive Today

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Comes To Rift/Vive Today

It’s been a little over a year now since Double Fine’s weird world of Psychonauts graced the PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset, and now PC VR owners can get a taste of it too.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is now available on the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive through Steam and Oculus Home. This appears to be the exact same version of the game that launched on PSVR last year. In it, you step into the shoes of series protagonist, Raz, a young boy with supernatural abilities that he uses as an agent of the titular organization. While the original Psychonauts is played from third-person, Rhombus of Ruin let’s you actually embody Raz from first-person, as well as several other characters.

The game picks up from where the original left off, answering a cliffhanger that’s now over 10 years old. It’s not a full Psychonauts sequel, only lasting a few hours and lacking many of the elements of the original game such as platforming, but it does bridge the gap for the upcoming Psychonauts 2. As Raz, you use abilities such as telekinesis and pyrokinesis to solve a series of puzzles to save your friends, body-swapping between characters as a means of locomotion.

Sadly, we weren’t too hot on the original release of Rhombus of Ruin. While it’s likely worth playing for hardcore fans of the series, gameplay also feels restrictive, more closely resembling the point-and-click adventures of Double Fine’s heritage. Hopefully Double Fine is planning bigger and better things for VR’s future.

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Spring Into VR With Steam Spring Sale

As the year advances and Christmas becomes a distant memory, your videogame library might need a bit of a refresh. Steam are here to assist with some wallet-friendly special offers in celebration of the warming weather and blooming flowers of the Spring season.

There are deals of up to 70% off selected titles in the Steam VR Spring Sale, with some of the biggest virtual reality (VR) hits getting substantial discounts.

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Despite only being released today, the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift version of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is available with a 20% discount, lowering the price to a respectable £12.39 (GBP).

One of the best deals in the sale is for the Serious Sam VR bundle, which comprises of The First Encounter, The Second Encounter, The Last Hope and Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE. This bundle has a huge 70% discount, which brings the price down to only £36.26 from its normal price of £120.96.

Also available with a substantial discount is Star Trek: Bridge Crew, which allows Star Trek fans to take control of a Federation starship, playing alongside three friends to take rolls on the bridge and seek out new life and new civilisations. This is on the Steam VR Spring Sale at only £15.99, a 60% discount on the normal price of £39.99.

If you are seeking a sliver of sci-fi horror, Dead Effect VR is available for only £7.79, a 60% discount, letting players roam around spooky abandoned spaceships and shooting down alien zombies for a very reasonable price.

From Bethesda there is DOOM VFR and Fallout 4 VR, both of whom received very favourable reviews from the team at VRFocus, and both are available with 30% discounts as part of the sale, putting DOOM VFR at £13.99 and Fallout 4 VR at £27.99.

Fallout 4 VR screenshot

Over fifty VR titles are available as part of the sale. VRFocus will keep you updated on the latest deals for VR hardware and software.

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Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Out Now for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift

A little over a year ago Double Fine Productions released its first virtual reality (VR) title for PlayStation VR, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, bridging the story gap between the original Psychonauts and the forthcoming sequel Psychonauts 2. Today, the studio has announced the release of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin on Steam, supporting both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

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Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a mind-bending adventure puzzle videogame where players will assume the role of Raz, an intrepid young psychic and fully fledged member of the Psychonauts — an elite group of international psychic secret agents. Taking place through Raz’s eye in first-person, players will be able to use his various psychic powers to affect the world, and solve the various challenges. Double Fine Productions has designed to be fun for long time fans, as well as those new to the franchise.

These powers include Clairvoyance, allowing players to see through the eyes of others, and explore the environment, whilst other abilities such as Telekinesis and Pyrokinesis enable them to move things around with the power of their mind, or just set them on fire.

The story picks up exactly where it left off at the end of Psychonauts (2005)—with Raz, Lili, Sasha, Milla, and Coach Oleander flying off to rescue Truman Zannotto, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. Their mission takes them straight into the heart of the Rhombus of Ruin—a mysterious part of the ocean as deadly as two Bermuda Triangles back to back.

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To keep things consistent with the first videogame original voice actors Richard Horvitz, Nicki Rapp, and others have returned to reprise their roles, and original composer Peter McConnell has written brand new music for this latest adventure.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is available now for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift for $19.99 USD. For the first week there will be a 20 percent discount available. For any further updates from Double Fine Productions, keep reading VRFocus.

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Review: Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin

Double Fine has become know for its unique approach to creating videogames, which usually boast an individual style and look that makes them stand out. One of its most beloved properties is Psychonauts, which has gained a substantial cult following. Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin came out on the PlayStation VR in March 2017, over a year later it has made the jump to PC, has the platform switch done it good?

Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin acts as an interquel between the original Psychonauts and the upcoming Psychonauts 2, picking up almost directly where the original title ended. The group, consisting of Raz, Lilli, Sasha, Milla and Coach Oleander stumble upon the mysterious Rhombus of Ruin, the location of a long-abandoned Psychonauts facility where our heroes find themselves trapped, forced to solve the mystery of the facility before they can escape.

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Knowledge of the original Psychonauts does help, here, but isn’t completely essential, as Rhombus of Ruin has a largely self-contained story, though there are some interesting character insights to be had for fans of the series. The writing is top-notch, containing sharp, observational humour without being mean-spirited. The characters posses a camaraderie which helps build the world and contribute to the sense of immersion.

The graphics maintain the peculiar, almost Tim Burton-esque style of the first Psychonauts, featuring strange and surreal environments that work surprisingly well in virtual reality (VR). The animation is excellent, and everything moves along at a great pace and smooth, stable framerate. The story plants you in an area that causes hallucinations, which can result in some very strange and trippy visuals, though despite this, nothing that cause headaches or simulation sickness.

In fact, its a very comfortable experience to play overall. The gameplay is primarily puzzle-based, with Raz trapped in a chair for the majority of the story, using his psychic powers to body-hop around, meaning that this is mostly a seated experience. The controls are very good, and using the Oculus Touch is decidedly a step-up from the somewhat clunky PlayStation Move controllers, and everything quickly becomes second nature.

As with the first Psychonauts, exploring and playing around is pretty much encouraged, and there are some cute and amusing Easter Eggs to discover – in fact, at least one of those might be new to the PC version, though this is yet to be confirmed. Of course, messing with psychic powers in VR is glorious fun.

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The only two real issues are the body-hop mechanic, which works as a means of providing movement, does get tedious later on, and can be frustrating at times and feels a little primitive in a time where an increasing number of titles are using free locomotion. The other is the length. It is very short, at roughly two and a half hours of content and not a huge amount of replay-ability unless you want to hunt for Easter eggs.

In all, there feel like somewhat minor gripes for a well-crafted, if somewhat brief, VR experience that delivers great storytelling and characterisation in a fascinating and funny universe. If it had a proper ended instead of just..stopping, it would be truly sublime.

80%

Awesome

  • Verdict
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‘Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin’ for PC Review – a Veritable Saturday-morning Cartoon in VR

Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin takes place between the events of Psychonauts (2005) and the upcoming Psychonauts 2 due out later this year. Exclusively available in VR, In the Rhombus of Ruin strays from the 3D platformer genre of its flatscreen cousins and harks back to the early days of point-and-click games using a locomotion system that lets you teleport your consciousness into other living creatures.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Details:

Official Site

Developer: Double Fine
Available On: Steam (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows VR), Oculus Home (Rift)
Reviewed On: Oculus Rift
Release Date: April 19th, 2018 (Feb. 21st, 2017 on PSVR)

Gameplay

The story picks up exactly where it left off at the end of Psychonauts—with Raz, Lili, Sasha, Milla, and Coach Oleander flying off to rescue Truman Zannotto, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts. For Raz’s first mission as a honest-to-goodness member of the super hero team, you’re taken into the heart of the Rhombus of Ruin, an ultra mysterious and dangerous part of the ocean similar to the Bermuda Triangle. With the rescue party’s plane drawn into the Rhombus of Ruin and held prisoners, you find yourself immobilized with only your psychic abilities to reunite the rest of the Psychonauts, reveal the identity of the mysterious kidnapper, and free Truman before the madness of the Rhombus turns everyone crazy. In short, it’s basically the plot of an animated adventure you might find in theaters or on Cartoon Network.

Despite being kidnapped and having your team put under a mind-bending spell by a mysterious nemesis, the game includes only one (very tame) combat situation while primarily focusing on puzzles. With the ability to teleport your consciousness to any living being in sight, you’ll explore levels and generally solve puzzles through buttons and levers, but also using some of your other psychic skills such as pyrokinesis and a psy-blast, a percussive surge of psychic energy.

image courtesy Double Fine

Puzzles range from extremely simple (find the code) to a little more taxing, but ultimately pretty easy difficulty level. Much to my chagrin, Raz the protagonist is voiced, so you’ll always have that helping hand to lead you through each puzzle. Personally I find this annoying on principle, because if you don’t immediately get something right, you’ll be forced to hear an exclamatory (and entirely unprompted) bit of repeating dialogue to the effect of “I wonder what will happen when I do this obvious solution.” The voice acting itself is very well done however, taking the edge off what might otherwise be a fun-breaking annoyance. In the end, I found the puzzles varied, but too simple to really keep my attention.

Humor is on the campy side, but it’s the sort of corny dad jokes that make you groan, but also smile a bit too; that’s the Psychonauts franchise for you.

Tossing a roll of burning toilet paper to Coach Oleander in his time of need, image courtesy Double Fine

Level design, while only allowing for a straight path through the game, takes you through an interesting assortment of environments. After a while though, the whole forward push through got a little too paint-by-numbers for me, as you teleport from nodes that always appear on cue, be it a fish that conveniently swims into view or a rat that scurries out from a hiding place just in time. Combined with the fact that you’re constantly swept along by Raz’s helpful direction, there’s unfortunately little to no true exploration to be had—a shame considering how inviting everything seems.

In the end, I found the 1.5 hour gameplay length on the short side, including an abrupt ending that left me a little deflated.

Immersion

One of the first things you notice about the Psychonauts in Rhombus of Ruin is just how good everything looks. The art style totally captures an incredible vibe that actually makes you feel like you’ve stepping straight into a late ’90s Saturday morning cartoon.

image courtesy Double Fine

The character design is nothing short of masterful, not only making good use of color and texture, but also shows great attention to detail in how characters express themselves. To that effect, I felt the world’s humanoid characters creep a little too close to the uncanny valley—if only because of how human they acted while still appearing truly bizarre from the 1:1 immersive viewpoint of a VR headset. It’s not something I got too hung up on though, because most of the time you’re zipping from one cartoony animal to the next, or to the occasional diving suit-wearing antagonist.

image courtesy Double Fine

Hand presence is unfortunately nill, as you are a bodiless, handless entity that pops into the minds of other people and species. But even when you should have arms, you don’t, making it a little less immersive than it could have been. Since you don’t have any hands, you interact with the world’s many objects through telekinesis, which fits in well at least.

My primary beef immersion-wise with Rhombus of Ruin is the constant chatter from both Raz and your teammates, but you’ve already heard me gripe enough about that. From the difficulty level to the art style – everything leads me to believe Psychonauts is skewing more for the younger teenage crowd, and let’s face it: those people don’t know when to shut up, so it’s a lot less damning than I make it seem on face value.

Comfort

Gaze-based controls, while fitting the whole psychic ability motif, can be fiddly at moments. Highlighting and selecting an object or node isn’t always an easy task, and I found myself having to use my neck for something it isn’t designed for—as a fine point device that I know with time can lead to neck strain. Because of the relative length of the game, I didn’t have any issues with my neck seizing up, but I wouldn’t want to go in for a 2 hour session if it the game were somehow longer.

Besides that, node teleportation is by far one of the most comfortable ways of moving through a VR game, although it carries with it the usual caveats of limiting the visual continuity, knocking a few ticks from the player’s overall immersion.

The post ‘Psychonauts In the Rhombus of Ruin’ for PC Review – a Veritable Saturday-morning Cartoon in VR appeared first on Road to VR.

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See Behind-The-Scenes in the Making of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin

Double Fine Productions jumped straight into virtual reality (VR) with their latest release, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, recently released on PlayStation VR. Their first VR project posed unique challenges that come with the territory, and we get a better idea of how the team tackled those challenges in this Making Of video.

The video heavily features recognisable Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer, who talks about how his design team plunged into VR development and created a faithful Psychonauts experience.

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We even get to see the well-humoured Schafer laughing and joking with his team during meetings, and giggling at their creations while immersed in Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin in PlayStation VR.

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin was released quite suddenly earlier this week, giving gamers something new for their PlayStation VR head-mounted displays (HMDs).

In our preview of the game, VRFocus said; “Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is a very clever design for bringing well loved franchises into a medium where they arguably wouldn’t otherwise fit. A great deal of attention has been paid to the strengths and weaknesses of VR in order to make the best of the technology, and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin’s preview build teases a memorable experience lying ahead.”

Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is available now on PSN. If you want to see more of the game, of course watch The Making of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin below.

For everything on PlayStation VR and more VR news, stay with VRFocus.

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Double Fine Get Physical With Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin Release

Those of you with a PlayStation VR headset might want to pick it up again – Double Fine just released Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin. The game is available to purchase right now, physically, from GameStop  and of course digitally via PlayStation Store. The game is also available on Amazon for pre-order, with them shipping the game on June 13th 2017.Psychonauts: Rhombus of Ruin

Psychonauts is a beloved cult franchise, with fans of the series eager to get back into Raz’s unique world. VRFocus said of the sequel “A great deal of attention has been paid to the strengths and weaknesses of VR in order to make the best of the technology, and Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin’s preview build teases a memorable experience lying ahead. Despite all the action and adrenaline-pumping videogames on the horizon for PlayStation VR, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin’s more sedate adventure is one of the most promising yet seen for the format.”

Physical copies of the game can be bought from GameStop and Amazon for $29.99 USD, while on the PlayStation Store it can be found for $19.99. As a bonus, the physical editions come with a voucher for the original Psychonauts on PlayStation 4. If you’re interested in The Rhombus of Ruin, take a look at the trailer below.

For more on Psychonauts in The Rhombus of Ruin and PlayStation VR stay on VRFocus.

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Grab a Bargain with These PlayStation VR Discounts

With Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) now sorting out the supply issues that dogged the launch of PlayStation VR, more PlayStation 4 owners are now getting the hands on the headset. This month also saw a major videogame release in the form of Farpoint, which raced into second spot in the UK charts. But there are further deals to be had for those wanting to expand their collection with several discounts now available on the PlayStation Store.

Mainly for the UK market – with a couple of US discounts for good measure – there a five new titles on sale until June. If you’re quick there are also four available which end tonight at midnight GMT.

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  • Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin – £9.79 GBP (36% discount) – UK
  • DYING: Reborn PSVR – £4.99 (37% discount) – UK
  • Darknet – £5.49 (38% discount) – UK
  • DEXED – £3.99 (39% discount) – UK
  • Waddle Home – £4.99 (37% discount) – UK
  • Crystal Rift – £3.69 (53% discount) – UK – offer ends today
  • Resident Evil 7 biohazard – £29.99 (40% discount) – UK – offer ends today
  • Here They Lie – £9.99 (37% discount) – UK – offer ends today
  • Driveclub VR – £15.99 (46% discount) – UK – offer ends today
  • DiRT Rally VR – $34.99 USD (50% discount) – US
  • Mervils: A VR Adventure – $14.99 USD (25% discount) – US

For the last PlayStation VR news from around the world, keep reading VRFocus.

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Job Simulator Tops February PSVR Downloads

Job Simulator Tops February PSVR Downloads

Sony shared the top 10 downloads for February on Playstation VR and, despite releasing in October last year, Job Simulator continues to be a leader on the system.

Psychonauts In The Rhombus of Ruin [Review: 5/10] had a strong debut too, arriving at second on the list even though it was released later in the month. It wasn’t enough to overcome Job Simulator though, which continues to secure its position as one of the most popular VR games — earlier this year developer Owlchemy Labs revealed the game cleared $3 million in sales.

Mini-game collection Carnival Games VR [Review: 6/10] is number three on the list while Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes came in at number four. Keep Talking originally released all the way back in 2015 but became a viral hit as it worked outside VR headsets as well. It allows for a unique kind of multiplayer experience where one player reads instructions from a manual for defusing bombs while another works in VR on the bomb itself. Fruit Ninja VR rounds out the top five.

Here’s the full top 10 list:

  1. Job Simulator
  2. Psychonauts In The Rhombus Of Ruin
  3. Carnival Games VR
  4. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
  5. Fruit Ninja VR
  6. Batman: Arkham VR
  7. I Expect You To Die
  8. PlayStation VR Worlds
  9. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood
  10. Surgeon Simulator: Experience Reality

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