Awesome Sci-Fi Puzzle Adventure Red Matter Confirmed for PlayStation VR

After launching its debut title Daedalus, a surreal puzzle experience for Samsung Gear VR in 2017, Spanish developer Vertical Robot followed that up with a much grander adventure Red Matter for Oculus Rift earlier this year. Now, the studio has revealed it’ll be porting the title to PlayStation VR this week.

Thanks a lot! Yes! Red Matter PSVR is happening! We don’t have a NA release date just yet, but we are working hard on it. Europe will get it December 6th, NA possibly just a few days late. We are still not sure

— Vertical Robot (@Vertical_Robot) November 30, 2018

Making the announcement via it’s Twitter account Vertical Robot has confirmed that Red Matter will come to European PlayStation VR customers this Thursday, 6th December. A North American release is also on the cards but a specific date hasn’t been set just yet.

Red Matter is a narrative-driven puzzle experience set in an alternate future where an ongoing cold war ensues between two superpowers: the Atlantic Union and the People’s Republic of Volgravia. You play Agent Epsilon, an astronaut from the Atlantic Union dispatched to an abandoned base on Rhea, one of Saturn’s moons. Your mission is to recover top-secret information concerning research carried out by members of the People’s Republic of Volgravia.

While the videogame isn’t a full-blown horror experience it keeps the atmosphere tense and foreboding with you being the only person wandering around the base. Keeping with Vertical Robot’s penchant for the unusual, Red Matter dables in surreal and weird moments as you complete puzzles and unlock more of the story.

In VRFocus’ four-star review of Red Matter we found that: “All in all, Red Matter is a very high calibre VR experience, neatly weaving its story and puzzle elements together. It by no means perfect, following the line of other puzzles in VR that are seemingly unable to offer plenty of reasons to come back for more. So like a good meal take it slowly and savour the moment.”

With the PlayStation VR version only a few days away from launch, last month Vertical Robot expanded PC support to HTC VIve and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, making the title available through Steam. For any further updates on Red Matter, keep reading VRFocus.

September 23, 2018

Something For The Weekend: Beat The Cold Winds With Deals On Oculus Titles

Time for another entry of Something for the Weekend, the weekly series where VRFocus bring you a number of deals on virtual reality (VR) titles. As the cold winds are blowing this weekend why not stay inside and experience a new VR adventure. With plenty of deals to be found on the Oculus store, below you’re find a number of titles that are sure to be of interest. This includes intense multiplayer action in the likes of Onward, a relaxing experience in Monzo VR and even a fantasy adventure in Lila’s Tale. As always, be sure to check back every weekend for even more deals right here on VRFocus.

Onward screenshot 1

Onward

Engage in intense tactical multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) action in this immersive title. Coordinate and communicate with your team to complete objectives in online infantry combat. How you perform as a team along with your marksmanship skill to claim victory over the enemy team. Featuring a range of different maps set during day and night, complete with unique weather effects, players will feel the rush of being in combat. With only one life, every action counts.

Onward is available now for £10.99 (GBP) down from the usual £18.99 for the Oculus Rift.

Dead Ground Arena Screenshot 03

Dead Ground: Arena

Maybe you are looking to enter an arena full of horrible monsters and unleash massive amounts of damage from over twenty different types of weapons. If so, then Dead Ground: Arena is the one for you. With a number of different missions and challenges that will have your protecting VIP’s to surviving waves of enemies in small areas, this action packed title will keep your heart pumping as you feel the adrenaline rush.

Dead Ground : Arena is available now for only £7.14 (GBP) down from £10.99 for the Oculus Rift.

Budget Cuts

“Budget Cuts is a great title, with substantial story and meaty, challenging gameplay, and an entertaining style, but it does suffer from some significant performance problems that do detract from the experience. Budget Cuts could be elevated from good to utterly brilliant if it is given a little more time in the oven to bake in and correct the issues.” – Read VRFocus’ Staff Writer Rebecca Hills-Duty preview of Budget Cuts.

Budget Cuts is available now for £19.99 (GBP) down from £22.99 for Oculus Rift.

Monzo VR-CoverArt

Monzo VR

Have you wanted to build model kits within VR? If so, then Monzo VR is the title for you. Featuring a range of highly detailed model kits to build including cars, World War 2 planes and even a Da Vinci Paddle Boat, players can enjoy the peaceful process of building model kits all within a relaxing and beautiful environment.

Monzo VR is available now for £3.49 (GBP) down from £10.99 for Oculus Rift.

Sairento VR new screenshot 3

Sairento VR

“In the end though it all comes down to how much time and enjoyment you’ll get out of Sairento VR and rest assured it’ll be plenty. If Mixed Realms hadn’t managed to nail down the movement system then Sairento VR could’ve been just another FPS with a myriad of options. Instead, Sairento VR is one of the best free flowing combat titles available for VR headsets, showcasing how far development of VR locomotion has come.” – Read VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer review of Sairento VR.

Sairento VR is available now for £17.24 (GBP) down from £22.99 for Oculus Rift.

Lilas Tale VR screenshot

Lila’s Tale

When Lila’s brother suddenly entered a mysterious dungeon, all things went from fun to trouble. Afraid of the dark, Lila took a deep breath and entered the darkness filled dungeon. Now, players enter this fantastic and magical experience and help Lila find her lost brother by overcoming the darkness and the puzzles that await within.

Lila’s Tale is available now for £2.29 (GBP) down from £3.99 for Oculus Go and Gear VR.

Please, Don’t Touch Anything

“Theoretically, you can see everything Please, Don’t Touch Anything has to offer in less than an hour and, at present, there’s little reason to return beyond that. However, the puzzle challenges get increasingly convoluted once you’ve broken everything once and found clues to what should (or could) be coming next. It’s still unlikely to take you more than an evening to find all 30 of Please, Don’t Touch Anything’s endings, but it’s a journey that will remain with you due to it’s constantly evolving nature and it’s return to 0 upon every completion.” – Read VRFocus’ Editor Kevin Joyce’s review of Please, Don’t Touch Anything.

Please, Don’t Touch Anything is available now for £5.09 (GBP) down from £10.99 on Oculus Rift. It is also available on Oculus Go and Gear VR for £3.49.

Worlds at War

Worlds At War

When the world is at war with aliens it is up to you to defend your carrier-group from a relentless attack. Control airplaces, helicopters and combat-boats as you unleash all your firepower to stop the onslaught. This action-packed horde-mode videogame will have you dealing with a lot of enemies at once so get ready for a challenging fight.

Worlds At War is available now for £7.99 (GBP) down from £12.99 for Oculus Rift.

Virtual Ninja VR

Pick up your Katana and Shuriken as you step into the shoes of a mighty ninja and must defeat the enemies that want to see you dead. Throw, slash and defeat the enemies to face each of the five bosses before taking them down and claiming victory. With online leaderboards your score will be up for everyone to see and beat. Want to be a master ninja? Then prepare to master the art of combat.

Virtual Ninja VR is on sale now for £4.49 (GBP) down from the usual £7.99 for Oculus Rift.

Red Matter

“All in all, Red Matter is a very high calibre VR experience, neatly weaving its story and puzzle elements together. It by no means perfect, following the line of other puzzles in VR that are seemingly unable to offer plenty of reasons to come back for more. So like a good meal take it slowly and savour the moment.” – VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham’s review of Red Matter.

Red Matter is available now for £19.49 (GBP) down from £24.99 for Oculus Rift.

That is all for this week but remember that VRFocus gathers all the best sales and deals every week, so check back next weekend at the same time to discover more.

May 24, 2018

Review: Red Matter

Having previewed Red Matter last week, VRFocus instantly liked Vertical Robot’s virtual reality (VR) follow-up to Daedalus. Continuing with the puzzle genre, Red Matter takes you on a sci-fi adventure that features an engrossing story, moments that terrify and just enough complexity to get you stuck – just not for too long.

As you should be aware by now from VRFocus’ previous coverage, Red Matter is set on one of Saturn’s moons. You’re a secret agent sent from an Earth at war between two factions, the Atlantic Union and the People’s Republic of Volgravia. As an agent of the former you’ve been tasked with locating secret documents from Volgravia’s base on the moon of Rhea.

Straight from the off Red Matter is beautifully inspired by the design of the ex-Soviet Union, and its cold war methodology. From architectural details like Volgravia’s crest to finely rendered designs on the clothing, it seems like Vertical Robot has left nothing to be picky about. The entire base whisks you back to the 1950’s, immersing you in a location that just begs to be explored.

And explore it you must, to learn as much as possible about what happened in this empty base whilst searching for clues that can help in the quest. Thankfully movement is well catered for, with short teleport dashes, smooth locomotion when teleporting feels too immersion breaking or then there’s the long jump (this is a low gravity installation) which is awesome and novel to begin with but too slow when nipping in between rooms.

A nice little feature thanks to Oculus Rift exclusivity are the inclusion of Oculus Touch controllers in the videogame. This adds that extra feeling of presence to the whole shebang, bringing the sensation of touch into play that haptic rumble feedback on its own just can’t match. And with the left controller there’s a host of additional functionality to choose from that’s quick and intuitive to pick.

On the actual puzzle side of things they never get too overly complicated or drawn out. It can at points seem like several tasks are somewhat similar – find this to unlock this…- yet the pacing is such that it never becomes boring or mundane. And should you get stuck simply stepping back and looking at your surroundings should help. Oh, and scan everything. This can get a bit repetitive – especially when the scanner locks onto another mug for the umpteenth time – and isn’t needed unless you’re a proper completionist but does help with longevity.

If there is one thing to moan about with Red Matter is its gameplay time. An initial gameplay session my take 5- 6 hours depending on how thorough you want to be, however a second quick play through will probably only last a couple of hours. And there’s no real hidden secrets that VRFocus could find, which reduces the need for further gameplay sessions.

All in all, Red Matter is a very high calibre VR experience, neatly weaving its story and puzzle elements together. It by no means perfect, following the line of other puzzles in VR that are seemingly unable to offer plenty of reasons to come back for more. So like a good meal take it slowly and savour the moment.

80%

Awesome

Verdict

May 17, 2018

A Little Taste of What’s to Come in Red Matter

After revealing a launch date for its upcoming puzzle-solver Red Matter last week, indie developer Vertical Robot let VRFocus get some early hands-on time with the videogame. And of course we recorded some gameplay footage for our readers to enjoy.

Purely for Oculus Rift, Red Matter is a story-driven VR puzzle adventure experience set during a dystopian sci-fi Cold War. You play a secret agent, code named Epsilon, working for the Atlantic Union. You’ve been dispatched to an abandoned base on Rhea, one of Saturn’s moons, run by the People’s Republic of Volgravia to find top-secret information concerning the research being carried out there.

Having previously created surreal puzzle title Daedalus for Samsung Gear VR, Vertical Robot is turning its VR ambitions up a notch with Red Matter. The videogame is a far bigger and more involved experience than the studio’s first project, whilst still keeping with the puzzle genre its known for.

The gameplay video only shows a couple of areas as VRFocus wasn’t allowed to go too far into the videogame and spoil every before release. So you get a quick intro to the backstory, and then it’s planet side to begin the adventure. Both the Oculus Touch controllers have been mapped into the title, helping aid that sense of immersion that what you’re holding is what you’re actually seeing.

One of the neat little features in Red Matter is the movement system. As you’ll see it mixes teleportation with low gravity locomotion. So you can pop from point to point with air time sped up or decreased depending on how comfortable you are in VR. As this is only a early introduction to Red Matter the puzzles are expectedly easy to easy players in to the mechanics.

As for the rest of the videogame VRFocus can’t say anymore just at this moment. Be rest assured that a review will be coming soon.

May 14, 2018

16 Minutes of ‘Red Matter’ Gameplay Revealed – a Sci-fi Soviet Retrofuture Adventure

Ahead of its launch later this month, we got a chance to dive into the beginning of Red Matter, an upcoming VR adventure puzzle exclusively for Oculus Rift that puts you in a wonderfully weird Soviet-style retrofuturistic world.

With launch quickly approaching, Spain-based developers Vertical Robot gave us the green light to show off a respectable chunk of the game’s beginning, which places you in the boots of an astronaut—Agent Epsilon of the vaguely American-sounding Atlantic Union.

Because we were only allowed to show so much in the press preview of the game, which let us experience the very beginning—a botched landing on a suspiciously Slavic-sounding Volgravian test site on Rhea, Saturn’s second-largest moon—we had to cut off right as we got deeper into the search for some key documents that would help us unravel the truth behind the test site.

We had a pretty similar experience jumping into Red Matter at its debut at Oculus Connect 4 last year, but one of the caveats at the time was we weren’t allowed to show anything but the vetted press images to go along with our written impressions. You can check out our hands-on here, which covers basically everything up until we hit the elevator, which in the OC4 demo was replaced with a mysteriously glowing substance. That’s gone (I think. I haven’t played past the preview’s cutoff).

At Red Matter‘s Oculus Connect debut, Design Director Tatiana Delgado told Road to VR the game’s Volgravian setting was a “cross between the encroaching surveillance of George Orwell’s dystopian societies and Kafka’s absurd bureaucracy.”

From what we’ve seen, Red Matter is shaping up to be a highly polished experience with plenty of intrigue to boot. A good measure of retro CRTs, propaganda posters, handy translator guns, and manipulator claws all make ridiculously charming experience thus far.

Delgado told me at the time that Red Matter was aiming for a 2.5-3 hour gameplay length, although they have since communicated that it will be closer to 3.5-4 hours. We’ll have our full review here at the game’s launch, which is slated for May 24th.

The post 16 Minutes of ‘Red Matter’ Gameplay Revealed – a Sci-fi Soviet Retrofuture Adventure appeared first on Road to VR.

May 10, 2018

Sci-Fi Cold War Adventure Red Matter Gets Rift Release Date

Vertical Robot’s super-promising Cold War-era sci-fi adventure, Red Matter, is very nearly here.

The studio today confirmed that the game would be launching on the Oculus Rift in two weeks’ time on May 24th. A pre-order page is already up on Oculus Home, offering a limited-time discount to get the game for $29.99 instead of the usual price of $34.99. A new trailer to celebrate the release date has been revealed too.

Red Matter is definitely one you should be looking out for. The game takes place is a dystopian version of the Cold War. As an astronaut of the Atlantic Union, you’re sent to an abandoned base on one of Saturn’s moons in search of a secret research project. In order to make your way through the facility, you’ll need to solve puzzles and study the environment using a number of different tools.

Based on the trailer, though, Red Matter looks like it will be a fascinating, atmospheric discovery. We’re hoping for something that really roots us in the experience.

Tagged with: Red Matter

May 10, 2018

Vertical Robot Reveal May Launch Date for Red Matter

Spanish indie studio Vertical Robot revealed its second virtual reality (VR) title Red Matter during Oculus Connect 4 (OC4) last year. Today, the studio has announced that the official launch date has been set for 24th May, with pre-orders now available through Oculus Store.

Red Matter is a narrative-driven puzzle experience specifically for Oculus Rift. Set in an alternate future where an ongoing cold war ensues between two superpowers: the Atlantic Union and the People’s Republic of Volgravia, you play Agent Epsilon, an astronaut from the Atlantic Union dispatched to an abandoned base on Rhea, one of Saturn’s moons. Your mission will be to recover top-secret information concerning research carried out by members of the People’s Republic of Volgravia.

“For this game we wanted to create a distinct, out-of-the-ordinary sci-fi world,” remarks Tatiana Delgado, Vertical Robot co-founder in a statement. “We found inspiration in Soviet space race visual propaganda, because of how bold and iconic those images are. However, we wanted to distance ourselves from reality by creating a dystopian fantasy in which the Cold War is waged between two made-up nations: the Atlantic Union and the People’s Republic of Volgravia.”

To succeed you’ll need to solve puzzles in the highly-detailed yet brutal environment which only becomes more and more surreal as the story progresses. At your disposal are an array of hi-tech tools to decipher hidden messages and mechanisms whilst uncovering ever deepening secrets in the facility.

Vertical Robot has sought to offer players complete freedom of interaction with all objects and the environment in a natural, unrestricted way. To do this, the team decided to feature the Oculus Touch controllers directly inside the videogame world to which different tools can then be wielded. “One of such tools is a set of claws that allow your to interact with the environment in a surprisingly natural and intuitive way, allowing players to grab, inspect, and handle objects and solve puzzles encountered in-game with literally no restrictions,” the team points out.

With the launch taking place in a couple of weeks time pre-orders are open at a slightly discounted rate. Red Matter can be purchased for £22.99 GBP rather than £24.99 up until release. For any further updates on Red Matter, keep reading VRFocus.

October 12, 2017

Hands-on: ‘Red Matter’ is an Adventure Puzzle Set in a Wonderfully Weird Pseudo-Soviet Dystopia

Red Matter is an upcoming story-driven VR adventure puzzle game, first revealed at Oculus Connect, that puts you in a retro-futurist world that borrows elements from the Cold War-era and teases them out to an interesting logical conclusion.

Created by Madrid-based studio Vertical Robot, Red Matter places you in the role of an astronaut from the Atlantic Union who’s tasked with investigating one of a Volgravian top secret research project located on a distant planet.

Starting out the demo in an a rocky clearing, I find what appears to be a Volgravian sign bearing some faux-Slavic language using the Cyrillic script. With a data tool in my left hand and a gripper claw in the right, I point to the sign to activate the data tool’s translator function, revealing that a research facility is just up ahead.

image courtesy Vertical Robot

The low-gravity environment of the planet means that instead of bounding your way around by foot, it’s more efficient to use your boosters to get from place to place. In real-world terms, this functions as an on-rails teleport; you pick your landing point and are transported there in a lofty arc at a variable speed controlled by the player. The default speed is nice and slow with no abrupt changes in acceleration, although you can speed up the boost from place to place to make it a quicker experience.

Moving towards a brutalist-style concrete building featuring a giant Soviet-style red star above its sign, I point my translator tool again at the illegible Volgravian script sitting below it. Yup. That’s the place I need to get into.

Pushing a button with my claw, the door retracts, revealing an industrial facility of some sort. The research subject is still unclear as I make my way further, replacing some fuses to another door that I scrounge from nearby panels. The door is heavy, and moves satisfyingly slow, giving it a weighty feel.

image courtesy Vertical Robot

With one door puzzle down, I enter a small round room with a strange device in the middle. On the wall is a diagram with written instructions on how to operate it. Reading carefully, I pop open the device to reveal a strange two-handed crank that rotates the interior shell of the room to face an unseen metal blast door, that upon opening leads to an employee area.

I head into the employee area leading to several engineering departments. A schedule on the wall tells me which sector I need (of course with all the Soviet iconography of gold-trimmed red stars), as I’m told by my commander I need to find a specific secure room with who knows what in it.

image courtesy Vertical Robot

Rustling through the employee lockers, I find a keycard. Instead of putting the card into my inventory, I was told I could scan it with my translator tool and record the data so I could then spit it back out later so I could leave the physical card behind. Traveling to the door and opening it up with my copied keycard data, I find a cell-sized room with a single lever covered with a few strange plants. Touching the alien flowers turns them an iridescent color – a sign that something even more strange was next if I pulled that lever.

I knew I had to, so I pulled the lever, and that’s when a strange substance leaked out of the panel, slowly spreading out over my whole field of view to obscure the world around me. Fade to back, demo over.

Design Director Tatiana Delgado calls the game’s Volgravian setting a “cross between the encroaching surveillance of George Orwell’s dystopian societies and Kafka’s absurd bureaucracy.” Delgado told me that while it’s still in development, that Red Matter is aiming for a 2.5-3 hour gameplay length, but it was too early to talk about launch dates at this time. The game is currently being advertised as an Oculus-only experience.

The post Hands-on: ‘Red Matter’ is an Adventure Puzzle Set in a Wonderfully Weird Pseudo-Soviet Dystopia appeared first on Road to VR.

October 12, 2017

Vertical Robot Working on New VR Puzzle Adventure Red Matter

Spanish development studio Vertical Robot, the team behind exploration platformer Daedalus for Gear VR has today revealed its next project. Unveiled during Oculus Connect 4 (OC4) the studio is working on Red Matter, a sci-fi virtual reality (VR) puzzle adventure.

“Set during a dystopian Sci-Fi Cold War, take on the role of Agent Epsilon, an astronaut of the Atlantic Union dispatched to an abandoned Volgravian moon base on a frozen, faraway planet,” reads the studios official description. “Your mission: to investigate a shady top secret research project.As the adventure progresses, paranoia sets in. You’re no longer sure who you really are or who you’re working for. Use an array of hi-tech tools to decipher hidden messages and mechanisms and uncover ever deeper and darker secrets of the facility. But beware of what you may find… Once you discover the truth, will you be able to stomach it? Keep it secret. Hide it from yourself.”

Red Matter - Screenshot 02

Red Matter has so far been confirmed for Oculus Rift, there’s no release date just yet.

Vertical Robot has released an initial trailer for Red Matter showing pure gameplay footage, with some interesting looking grip tools that are used for most of the puzzles.

For further updates on Red Matter, keep reading VRFocus.